Leon Campbell

I suppose the theme of coming to terms with lifes challenges is the crux of this book.....I was going to give it 3 stars, but I was thinking to much of the story, or the conveyor of the message. I enjoyed the fairy tale tone of this novel and it's dark humour.

Deep down there is something wrong with people...the fight between order and disorder...where do our thoughts and actions come from....turning America inside-out....good literature.

Half way through this book I got sick of it, the way she was a big hero etc....then for fun I started arguing with the first person narrative. Then, I realised she is an unreliable narrator and hence the mother is dangerous to the child. We only get one side of the argument/scenes, the husband and mother in law concerns are downplayed; the women in the forest is picky, anyone can almost drown a baby in the middle of the night whilst walking along a disappearing sandbank. Maybe wrong, so, the women and narrator are both suffering from PND. Clever book.

I have read all the Booker's....this one brutally stands out.

I am just reading the Miles Franklin winners and this one is my besty for the last 15 years. Funny, tragic, funny, sad, funny, self doubting, funny, violent, funny, etc...great hard boiled detective story.

I enjoyed this book....it has some very entertaining, funny characters whom deal with land issues in perculia ways. It remains pragmatic,, not preachy, regarding issues of humans trying to live together in a tight community where history clashes with modern life.

You can feel an intelligent mind chipping away with ideas and stories of us humans. Seems to tackle issues from a different perspective in a journal style format. Her later work ...book of Jacob...was fantastic and should have won the international Booker as well. However, I felt a little lecturing going on here, but rode with it and enjoyed the this very informative book/ novel.

He writes differently to others in a seemingly simple style, but I could only read a few pages on each seating. Reminded me a little of David Storey in that stream of consciousness form of writing. Certainly, keeps the reader engaged in this love/mourning tale.