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Australiana
One small town, a multitude of stories.
When the river runs dry, the town runs red.
This could be any small town. It aches under the heat of summer. It flourishes in the cooler months. Everyone knows everyone. Their families, histories and stories are interwoven and well-known by one and all. Or at least, they think they are. But no-one sees anything quite the same way. Perceptions differ, truths are elusive, judgements have outcomes and everything is connected. For better or for worse.
This is a version of small-town Australia that is recognisable, both familiar and new, exploring the characters, threads, and connections that detail everyday life to reveal a much bigger story. A tapestry that makes up this place called home.
From the acclaimed author of The House of Youssef comes this extraordinary and unique novel shining a light on Australian rural life.
When the river runs dry, the town runs red.
This could be any small town. It aches under the heat of summer. It flourishes in the cooler months. Everyone knows everyone. Their families, histories and stories are interwoven and well-known by one and all. Or at least, they think they are. But no-one sees anything quite the same way. Perceptions differ, truths are elusive, judgements have outcomes and everything is connected. For better or for worse.
This is a version of small-town Australia that is recognisable, both familiar and new, exploring the characters, threads, and connections that detail everyday life to reveal a much bigger story. A tapestry that makes up this place called home.
From the acclaimed author of The House of Youssef comes this extraordinary and unique novel shining a light on Australian rural life.
304 pages, Paperback
First published March 2, 2022
13 people are currently reading
270 people want to read
About the author
Yumna Kassab
9 books37 followersYumna Kassab was born and raised in Western Sydney. She completed most of her schooling in Parramatta, except for two formative years when she lived in Lebanon with her family. She went on to study medical science at Macquarie University and neuroscience at Sydney University. She currently teaches in regional New South Wales.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
March 6, 2022
“When the river runs dry, the town runs red”
Exquisite is my first word for Australiana by Aussie author Yumna Kassab. The chapters flow and circulate around one another as we hear about more and more people in the Australian outback. The families, the children, the depressed mum, the grieving dad – all set in and around a small country town in the midst of the harsh summer. The drought and the plight of the farmers; the people who rush to leave the country for the big city of Sydney. A small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business, whether they want to or not. But do they really know?
As the stories roll into one another, we get a different perspective of the same event. Everyday life moves forward, until you’re the old person with the youngsters following, the ones who don’t want to stay in the small town. A tapestry that makes up this place called home is a perfect perception.
There were times he would think about giving it up, going somewhere with a patch of sand, a wave machine, ice blocks flavoured with cordial. Enough of this dust bowl his people were determined to call home. P122.
An extraordinary novel, Australiana draws the reader’s attention to rural living in the vast Australian outback, the author’s prose poetic, lyrical and distinctive. I was initially drawn to the book by its spectacular cover; the contents inside that cover didn’t let me down. A unique and outstanding novel, Australiana is one I recommend highly.
With thanks to Ultimo Press for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
Exquisite is my first word for Australiana by Aussie author Yumna Kassab. The chapters flow and circulate around one another as we hear about more and more people in the Australian outback. The families, the children, the depressed mum, the grieving dad – all set in and around a small country town in the midst of the harsh summer. The drought and the plight of the farmers; the people who rush to leave the country for the big city of Sydney. A small town where everyone knows everyone else’s business, whether they want to or not. But do they really know?
As the stories roll into one another, we get a different perspective of the same event. Everyday life moves forward, until you’re the old person with the youngsters following, the ones who don’t want to stay in the small town. A tapestry that makes up this place called home is a perfect perception.
There were times he would think about giving it up, going somewhere with a patch of sand, a wave machine, ice blocks flavoured with cordial. Enough of this dust bowl his people were determined to call home. P122.
An extraordinary novel, Australiana draws the reader’s attention to rural living in the vast Australian outback, the author’s prose poetic, lyrical and distinctive. I was initially drawn to the book by its spectacular cover; the contents inside that cover didn’t let me down. A unique and outstanding novel, Australiana is one I recommend highly.
With thanks to Ultimo Press for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
July 16, 2022
What the heck did I just read? The first two-thirds was quite good—a series of individual and family “snapshots”. Pleasant little vignettes allowing us to peek into the lives of rural Australians as they made their way through life on the farm. At about 70%, though, the book morphed into something quite strange. Now, this is a NOVEL, so you wouldn’t be wrong to expect there to be at least a string—something to connect the chapters—so eventually the story would coalesce into something even slightly cohesive to help it all make a bit of sense. Uh-huh.😒 That did not happen.
Those lovely vignettes quite suddenly, and without warning, morphed into what I can only describe as a horror story! Disconnected rants—dream-like sequences—about headless (and body-less) women, murdered and buried children, hiking friends killing one another. And then—just as suddenly—we're reading about Captain Thunderbolt! Yes, seriously!! Only later, after consulting with Dr. Google, did I learn Frederick Wordsworth Ward—aka "Captain Thunderbolt"—was the longest-roaming bushranger in Australian history. O.K. So, are you following along? If so, you’re doing much better than I did! I don’t know if I somehow missed something—skipped over some key phrase that would make it all make sense? But no. I did not.
It really is a shame because, initially, this book was quite enjoyable and so well-written! But what happened in the final third (IMO) was an ill-conceived, incomprehensible, scary mess. My rating, therefore, will split the difference.
3 stars ⭐⭐⭐ and I cannot recommend it.
Those lovely vignettes quite suddenly, and without warning, morphed into what I can only describe as a horror story! Disconnected rants—dream-like sequences—about headless (and body-less) women, murdered and buried children, hiking friends killing one another. And then—just as suddenly—we're reading about Captain Thunderbolt! Yes, seriously!! Only later, after consulting with Dr. Google, did I learn Frederick Wordsworth Ward—aka "Captain Thunderbolt"—was the longest-roaming bushranger in Australian history. O.K. So, are you following along? If so, you’re doing much better than I did! I don’t know if I somehow missed something—skipped over some key phrase that would make it all make sense? But no. I did not.
It really is a shame because, initially, this book was quite enjoyable and so well-written! But what happened in the final third (IMO) was an ill-conceived, incomprehensible, scary mess. My rating, therefore, will split the difference.
3 stars ⭐⭐⭐ and I cannot recommend it.
March 15, 2022
I found the first part of the book where the intertwining of stories are linked by one character in the previous story in a totally new context in the next story a great structural play and it really worked well. The next 3 parts of the book totally lost their way - random stories with no link or theme which seemed just thrown together. After a very promising start I found the collection confusing and very disappointing.
December 24, 2021
This is a really bold and distinctive novel that is difficult to describe. There is a swirling narrative that centres around an Australian town and the stories that are disclosed are poetic and often dark. This one will certainly provoke lots of great discussions when it comes out in March 2022.
March 26, 2022
First half amazing 5 stars with linked stories leaving you wanting more.
Second half very difficult to get through.
Second half very difficult to get through.
December 21, 2023
What a strange book. It's less of a story and more of a collection of ideas of stories, notions of events that are related to Australia. When layered together, it creates a vibe of what this land is. It gallops through motifs that bump into the next one before it swirls into a longer story - one where the characters have names and desires and lives - before then shifting back towards a tumble of tales about bushrangers and the past. You can feel it trying to make the future and the past a whole at its close, but honestly, it's hard to care. It just... is. And maybe that's what Australia is. Somewhere that just... is.
January 16, 2023
To me this book screams Outback life.
May 31, 2024
Vignettes of times gone by.
May 3, 2022
Kassab writes sparse, spellbinding short stories. Like her other book 'The House of Youssef', this collection starts strong with the arrestingly interwoven 'The Town', but dwindled into distractedness in its later stages.
July 11, 2022
2.5 rounded up
"So many dams and so little water in most of them. If there was one silver lining to the drought, it was that drownings were down. Never mind the increase in domestic violence, shootings and suicide."
And this is the theme of this collection of short stories and prose, rural Australia, drought and the struggle to farm, to live, to survive. This was an interesting although often difficult read for me. I really enjoyed the first part, where the stories were loosely connected, an object or a character mentioned in one expanded upon in the next, and so on across a community. The other sections were more disparate, linked only by the overarching theme, varying in length and construction and my response to each was as different as their form.
Overall an interesting read but I have to admit that the strength for me was in the early section and the other stories became more of the same in a different form, a degree of repetition that found me struggling to engage and bemoaning the lack of character and community that existed in the beginning.
"So many dams and so little water in most of them. If there was one silver lining to the drought, it was that drownings were down. Never mind the increase in domestic violence, shootings and suicide."
And this is the theme of this collection of short stories and prose, rural Australia, drought and the struggle to farm, to live, to survive. This was an interesting although often difficult read for me. I really enjoyed the first part, where the stories were loosely connected, an object or a character mentioned in one expanded upon in the next, and so on across a community. The other sections were more disparate, linked only by the overarching theme, varying in length and construction and my response to each was as different as their form.
Overall an interesting read but I have to admit that the strength for me was in the early section and the other stories became more of the same in a different form, a degree of repetition that found me struggling to engage and bemoaning the lack of character and community that existed in the beginning.
July 22, 2023
Started off well but really is not a coherent set of work. Just some random pieces loosely set around the New England part of the country.
Bits are really very good, but there is not enough in this body of work.
There's some encouraging blurbs from other authors, like Favel Parret. But Favel can produce beautiful, interesting cohesive novels.
I wouldn't recommend it unless you are keen to read loosely formed bits and pieces.
I keep wanting to like this authors work, but I think she needs to devout more time to what she's doing and listen to a better editor.
Bits are really very good, but there is not enough in this body of work.
There's some encouraging blurbs from other authors, like Favel Parret. But Favel can produce beautiful, interesting cohesive novels.
I wouldn't recommend it unless you are keen to read loosely formed bits and pieces.
I keep wanting to like this authors work, but I think she needs to devout more time to what she's doing and listen to a better editor.
May 31, 2022
I am a huge fan of Yumna Kassab and I loved her debut and I really enjoyed this one. I look forward to reading what this author comes out with next. I loved the cover, and it’s what drew me initially. This book really drew my attention to the harshness of rural living and the vastness of the Australian outback. Told in 5 parts and set in and around a small country town in the midst of a very harsh summer. In this small town, everyone knows everyone else’s business, no secret goes unnoticed. The stories looks at the drought and the plight of the farmers, the families and the children who are in a desperate rush to leave the country for the big city of Sydney.
‘There were times he would think about giving it up, going somewhere with a patch of sand, a wave machine, ice blocks flavoured with cordial. Enough of this dust bowl his people were determined to call home.’
‘There were times he would think about giving it up, going somewhere with a patch of sand, a wave machine, ice blocks flavoured with cordial. Enough of this dust bowl his people were determined to call home.’
April 24, 2022
What starts as a series of short interlocking perspectives from the various inhabitants of an unknown town facing a drought becomes significantly less cohesive and comprehensible as the stories grow in length and lose their grip on reality. Animals take over a town, ghosts appear, it's unclear whose eyes the reader is seeing through. It's extremely atmospheric and ambitious, but I felt quite lost and disconnected by the end.
July 24, 2022
Australiana begins and ends with a thief. The first are the thieves that break into a well-to-do house. How many there are isn't clear, nor what they're after. They steal only an old silver spoon and otherwise seem harmless. The last is Captain Thunderbolt, the bushranger who roamed central New South Wales between 1863 and 1870. The story doesn't travel very far in between: each section of this book is set in and around the New South Wales town of Tamworth. Some are real places, others fictional, in a book that is straightforward to read, even weightless, but becomes an impossible Rubix cube, shifting every time you try to solve it. Not least the puzzle, or perhaps instruction, posed by the subtitle: "a novel". Read more on my blog.
August 11, 2022
I really enjoyed Australiana. Kassab has written a quintessential great Australian novel. It is a book to be savoured in one sitting as Kassab has written it in vignette form that flows from one to the other so successfully that you are drawn in until you are released at the end wondering at the marvel of her talent. A great read.
April 20, 2022
I thought that Kassab's The House of Youssef was one of the most underestimated Australian debuts of recent years, so I was thrilled to see Australiana garnering a swathe of critical praise. And if in the end, I didn’t adore it quite so much as that book - and it shares some similarities - that isn't to say it isn't very good.
The book is divided into sections - in the first, we hop through the town and time, jumping perspectives. It is a wonderfully applied technique, highlighting relationships and feeling like an introduction to a town. Kassab's characters are often overcome, swamped by a moment, and she uses the crisis - even over something as simple as buying a jumper - to show us who we are.
The second section is more experimental short fiction and feels the least pulled together.
In the third, we meet an unreliable narrator in a wonderful piece that captures so much of contemporary small-town tensions, the politics of the city and the country and the deep sense of betrayal.
The longest single narrative piece is the creepy survivalist Pilliga - an unforgettable piece of writing that captures the tension between settlers and harsh terrain and something about how small communities both know and don't know each other.
Each section contains callbacks to the others, something Kassab uses effectively across both works. It creates both a sense of cleverness in the reader and is yet destabilising - are you getting more insight or just being fooled into assumptions? Kassab's capacity to get the reader to question what they actually understand builds upon the ways reading creates empathy - it opens up perspective by causing doubt.
Finally, this is a book fiercely concerned with climate change, and the very real effects on rural communities (and food production). The alternating floods and draughts are as unbelievable to the characters as they were to us a decade ago. Kassab's stories demand recognition of what is happening and impact not only of the weather but of the denial.
The book is divided into sections - in the first, we hop through the town and time, jumping perspectives. It is a wonderfully applied technique, highlighting relationships and feeling like an introduction to a town. Kassab's characters are often overcome, swamped by a moment, and she uses the crisis - even over something as simple as buying a jumper - to show us who we are.
The second section is more experimental short fiction and feels the least pulled together.
In the third, we meet an unreliable narrator in a wonderful piece that captures so much of contemporary small-town tensions, the politics of the city and the country and the deep sense of betrayal.
The longest single narrative piece is the creepy survivalist Pilliga - an unforgettable piece of writing that captures the tension between settlers and harsh terrain and something about how small communities both know and don't know each other.
Each section contains callbacks to the others, something Kassab uses effectively across both works. It creates both a sense of cleverness in the reader and is yet destabilising - are you getting more insight or just being fooled into assumptions? Kassab's capacity to get the reader to question what they actually understand builds upon the ways reading creates empathy - it opens up perspective by causing doubt.
Finally, this is a book fiercely concerned with climate change, and the very real effects on rural communities (and food production). The alternating floods and draughts are as unbelievable to the characters as they were to us a decade ago. Kassab's stories demand recognition of what is happening and impact not only of the weather but of the denial.
January 5, 2026
I feel as though people have read this book with certain expectations, before finding themselves disappointed or confused, perhaps because it's described as a novel. This is more of a collection of short stories and poems told from different perspectives, yet with a consistent overarching theme.
I felt as though this was more of a collection of stories, poems, thoughts and ideas that were moved and shaped by the landscape and by people living in rural parts of Australia. The author has put great thought into the language used, the descriptions of abundance and loss, of isolation and judgement, of joy and terror and has balance everything with considered observations on human behaviour in the often challenging lands described in the stories.
Many comments mention feeling lost after the first few parts, but as someone who has lived in regional Australia, I could understand the themes of parochialism and shame layered with incredible isolation both physically and socially. I also appreciated the tales of local folklore that were interwoven into the stories of being lost in remote areas, which gave me the impression that the author truly understands idea of an enduring presence (told in Dreamtime stories which in turn inform urban legends like that of the Pilliga princess).
To me, this book was rich in language and ideas and diverse in its description of the country and the land, the mysteries it offers and the beauty that we can be blessed with. I absolutely loved its imagery.
I think the best approach to this book is by freeing yourself from expectations of what this book 'should' be, and rather experience it as a collection of works intended to encapsulate the complexity of rural Australia.
I felt as though this was more of a collection of stories, poems, thoughts and ideas that were moved and shaped by the landscape and by people living in rural parts of Australia. The author has put great thought into the language used, the descriptions of abundance and loss, of isolation and judgement, of joy and terror and has balance everything with considered observations on human behaviour in the often challenging lands described in the stories.
Many comments mention feeling lost after the first few parts, but as someone who has lived in regional Australia, I could understand the themes of parochialism and shame layered with incredible isolation both physically and socially. I also appreciated the tales of local folklore that were interwoven into the stories of being lost in remote areas, which gave me the impression that the author truly understands idea of an enduring presence (told in Dreamtime stories which in turn inform urban legends like that of the Pilliga princess).
To me, this book was rich in language and ideas and diverse in its description of the country and the land, the mysteries it offers and the beauty that we can be blessed with. I absolutely loved its imagery.
I think the best approach to this book is by freeing yourself from expectations of what this book 'should' be, and rather experience it as a collection of works intended to encapsulate the complexity of rural Australia.
January 26, 2024
Book #2 of 24 in '24
I thought this was a very appropriate read for the days leading up to 26 January, a date which attracts more infamy and controversy each year. It's very much a love letter to the harshness of Australia, in both reality and concept. While I think it's disingenuous to stick five disparate sections of vignettes and flash fiction together and call it "a novel", it was a very engaging read and I love the cover illustration, capturing the heat and dryness of the interior of this country in all its wonder and terror. Funnily enough, I read two separate things about Pilliga this week and its haunted, tortured landscape has certainly captured my imagination. I also was completely unfamiliar with Captain Thunderbolt. My favourite section though was definitely the first bit, called 'The Town', which managed to capture the intersecting lives of people in a Western NSW town in a brilliant way, zooming in then panning out to zoom in once again. If the whole book had continued like this, I would have been a very happy reader. As it was, I definitely learnt a lot but was also left wanting more.
I thought this was a very appropriate read for the days leading up to 26 January, a date which attracts more infamy and controversy each year. It's very much a love letter to the harshness of Australia, in both reality and concept. While I think it's disingenuous to stick five disparate sections of vignettes and flash fiction together and call it "a novel", it was a very engaging read and I love the cover illustration, capturing the heat and dryness of the interior of this country in all its wonder and terror. Funnily enough, I read two separate things about Pilliga this week and its haunted, tortured landscape has certainly captured my imagination. I also was completely unfamiliar with Captain Thunderbolt. My favourite section though was definitely the first bit, called 'The Town', which managed to capture the intersecting lives of people in a Western NSW town in a brilliant way, zooming in then panning out to zoom in once again. If the whole book had continued like this, I would have been a very happy reader. As it was, I definitely learnt a lot but was also left wanting more.
November 18, 2025
Like many of the reviewers here, I found the first half amazing - and the second half bemusing.
The initial chapters are simply stunning - shifting from the POV of a dozen or so linked characters, they make up a portrait of life in an outback town from the perspective of its residents. And the chapters are personal, intricate, disturbing, affirming, shocking - they run the gamut of human experience, and is a unique and exceptionally clever way to draw you into what her country town FEELS like. I loved it, was hooked into it, and was so impressed with her writing and insight. If she had stuck with this, I was going to give it a rare 5-star rating, for those books that are not only entirely satisfying, but show me something new.
And then she seemed to lose it - with chapters branching into madness, magical realism, poetry - and chapter after chapter about Captain Thunderbolt! Inexplicable, weird, and difficult to read and understand. So odd - almost as if the book was self-published, and there was no editor to reign in those flights of fancy.
Kassab has exceptional talent - hopefully she puts them to work on a more cohesive novel soon.
The initial chapters are simply stunning - shifting from the POV of a dozen or so linked characters, they make up a portrait of life in an outback town from the perspective of its residents. And the chapters are personal, intricate, disturbing, affirming, shocking - they run the gamut of human experience, and is a unique and exceptionally clever way to draw you into what her country town FEELS like. I loved it, was hooked into it, and was so impressed with her writing and insight. If she had stuck with this, I was going to give it a rare 5-star rating, for those books that are not only entirely satisfying, but show me something new.
And then she seemed to lose it - with chapters branching into madness, magical realism, poetry - and chapter after chapter about Captain Thunderbolt! Inexplicable, weird, and difficult to read and understand. So odd - almost as if the book was self-published, and there was no editor to reign in those flights of fancy.
Kassab has exceptional talent - hopefully she puts them to work on a more cohesive novel soon.
February 23, 2024
Australiana operates as a mosaic novel, divided into four parts, each to be read as separate entities yet making a whole that is significantly greater.
The prose is elegantly sparse but evocative of a broader palatte of sharp observations and insight into the lives of individuals.
The Town takes you deeper and deeper into the picture of rural life as the end of each chapter leads you to another character and situation, creating a vast vista of people and their lives.
My Face Is Nameless wrings the pain and suffering found in drought, while The Blind Side hones in on a terrible experience and its impact on individuals.
Pilliga is a dark myth and is in contrast to Captain Thunderbolt, the final section, where mythos and mythology of colonial bushrangers collide.
I loved how the language spoke of so much with the sparsest of words. Beautiful.
The prose is elegantly sparse but evocative of a broader palatte of sharp observations and insight into the lives of individuals.
The Town takes you deeper and deeper into the picture of rural life as the end of each chapter leads you to another character and situation, creating a vast vista of people and their lives.
My Face Is Nameless wrings the pain and suffering found in drought, while The Blind Side hones in on a terrible experience and its impact on individuals.
Pilliga is a dark myth and is in contrast to Captain Thunderbolt, the final section, where mythos and mythology of colonial bushrangers collide.
I loved how the language spoke of so much with the sparsest of words. Beautiful.
June 25, 2022
Each bite-sized story bleeds into the next, connected by a single linchpin -- a mother, a businessman, a child, a drifter, a dam worker -- drawing us further and further down a never-ending hole of characters alternately heroic, shy, despairing, and full of love. Lives touch one another for an instant or countless years, ebbing and flowing in a stately, surreal dance. Tiny actions resonate, magnified, through a community populated by wildly differing folk from all walks of life. A favour returned. A gift given. A heart broken. Australiana is poetic, warm, depressing, raw, humbling, and inspiring.
May 1, 2022
I abandoned reading in the section 'Piliga'. There were no completed story lines, the only one I found myself invested in was 'Blind Side' and that had no conclusion. I am uninterested in people's ghost stories, so the short, numbered vignettes of 'Piliga' were pretty dull. I was unable to sense Australia in any of it apart from dry farms, but let's face it,
that's been done before. Gammatically dull, the spare style became monotonous by the end. I understand there was an attempt at experimental writing, and I suppose it is, but even that has to provide some sort of beginning, middle, and end. Most unsatisfying.
that's been done before. Gammatically dull, the spare style became monotonous by the end. I understand there was an attempt at experimental writing, and I suppose it is, but even that has to provide some sort of beginning, middle, and end. Most unsatisfying.
December 8, 2022
Released earlier this year, Australiana by Yumna Kassab is literary fiction, depicting rural lives. An unusual book in that it has six sections with numerous chapters recounting a different character’s story. Whilst seemingly random short stories, the narrative moves from one character to the next in subtle interlocking revelations of small-town Australia. A gentle flowing tale that renders a variety of perspectives, geographies and peoples in a detached seemingly anonymous style. Not for everybody, but if you want to read a new, truly enjoyable contemporary novelist, then this four and a half stars rating is a must. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.
August 9, 2022
I attended a recent event at the State Library of NSW where Yumna Kassab was one of the authors on the panel discussing their work.
Following that I was keen to read Australiana and I am so glad I did. This is so cleverly written with each short chapter having an element that carries across into the next. The writing evokes the remoteness of rural Australia, the heat, the despair, the love, the violence.
I found it compelling and truly enjoyed how Kassab simply but powerfully put a country town on the page.
Fabulous read!
Following that I was keen to read Australiana and I am so glad I did. This is so cleverly written with each short chapter having an element that carries across into the next. The writing evokes the remoteness of rural Australia, the heat, the despair, the love, the violence.
I found it compelling and truly enjoyed how Kassab simply but powerfully put a country town on the page.
Fabulous read!
August 28, 2022
The format of this novel is interesting - individual vignettes from the point of view of multiple people who all live in the same small rural Australian town. I managed to keep track of a few of the characters and their relationships with others, but in the end I gave up and just read! I guess you could say that the town itself was the main character, with all the dark deeds (including deaths) simmering just beneath the surface and brought out in the open as the drought worsens and tempers fray. Definitely worth a read if you enjoy Australian fiction.
November 21, 2024
This book reminds me of Chinese whispers. Every chapter discusses a person's story then the next chapter jumps somewhere else but with a thread of the original story. Each chapter takes only a thread of recognition to the next one so sometimes I was not sure who I was reading about until right at the end. This is also about the hardship of the outback; the drought, the heat and the isolation. The people are all downtrodden and are desperately looking for a way out. I have been to the outback and thankfully my experience was far happier that this lot.
May 20, 2022
I loved the first third of this book (5 stars) and found myself smiling at the author's brilliance, slipping seamlessly from one chapter to the next.
The second part kept me interested, but a little less so as it went on. After that I struggled to connect with the remaining stories or fully understand what was going on.
Overall, Australiana was different, really engaging in parts, and I liked the style even if the writing lost me towards the end.
The second part kept me interested, but a little less so as it went on. After that I struggled to connect with the remaining stories or fully understand what was going on.
Overall, Australiana was different, really engaging in parts, and I liked the style even if the writing lost me towards the end.
June 9, 2022
I thought this book was interesting in its style, but disturbing in its content.
My jaw became increasingly rigid as I read through the tales of pain, hurt and sorrow.
It’s difficult to understand how painful and lonely it must be to try to stay in an unwelcoming landscape.
However, I couldn’t really find the heart of this book, and while I feel the need to reread it for better understanding, I won’t.
It’s 2.5 stars but a 3 for a different take on storytelling.
My jaw became increasingly rigid as I read through the tales of pain, hurt and sorrow.
It’s difficult to understand how painful and lonely it must be to try to stay in an unwelcoming landscape.
However, I couldn’t really find the heart of this book, and while I feel the need to reread it for better understanding, I won’t.
It’s 2.5 stars but a 3 for a different take on storytelling.
June 9, 2022
I found this book very different from anything I've come across before. It wasn't a novel in verse (although some parts flowed like that) at the start the short pieces were kind of connected but got more confusing as they went along. Towards the end, it was just a little random.
The writing itself was easy to read on its own but it just didn't gel as a whole - the only reoccurring theme was the drought.
The writing itself was easy to read on its own but it just didn't gel as a whole - the only reoccurring theme was the drought.
June 21, 2022
An Australian author small Aussie town , the bush, the vastness, loneliness, meaninglessness, red earth , no water, small lives, big dreams. Listened to while driving WA -NT-SA and feeling the distance , isolation & big skies. Rural-remote oz, is so alone , lonely , unserviced and challenging . This book captures all that so well and left me thankful for the people who choose to live there so we have food and natural resources and tourism . It’s a sad read . But It’s sad in the country .
Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews