#DiverseReads2017
Written by Demet Divaroren
Contemporary, #LoveOzYA
256 Pages
Published June 2017
Thank you to Allen & Unwin
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★★★★★
We all love someone. We all fear something. Sometimes they live right next door or even closer.
Kane will do everything he can to save his mother and his little brother Sam from the violence of his father, even if it means becoming a monster himself. Mrs Aslan will protect the boys no matter what, even though her own family is in pieces. Ada wants a family she can count on, while she faces new questions about herself. Mr Bailey is afraid of the refugees next door, but his worst fear will take another form. And Gugulethu is just trying to make a life away from terror.
On this street, everyone comes from different places, but to find peace they will have to discover what unites them.
Kane and his family are casualties of alcoholism and domestic violence. His father a violent man who has held his family to ransom, his mother recovering from her fractured marriage. Terrified his father will return, Kane is resolute and will sacrifice his benevolence to defend his family. While Kane is resentful, brother Sam continues to regress and is plagued by nightmares of his father. The narrative commences with perspectives from brothers Kane and Sam, their father physically assaulting their mother before the police are notified and child welfare services intervene. The residents of Hope Street understand the volatile environment of domestic violence, refusing to intervene.
Mrs Aslan cares for Sam and Kane as though they were her own grandchildren, estranged from granddaughter Ada after an altercation with her mother. Ms Aslan now lives alone, migrating to Australia as a young woman from Türkiye, her devoted husband passing away shortly before her abandonment. Elderly neighbour Mrs Aslan is a compassionate woman and a thirty year resident of the suburban Hope Street. While neighbour Angie is hospitalised, Mrs Aslan cares for her children while aspiring to reconnect with her granddaughter Ada. Ada is a young woman exploring her sexual identity and pushing against her parental guidelines.
Mrs Aslan cares for Sam and Kane as though they were her own grandchildren, estranged from granddaughter Ada after an altercation with her mother. Ms Aslan now lives alone, migrating to Australia as a young woman from Türkiye, her devoted husband passing away shortly before her abandonment. Elderly neighbour Mrs Aslan is a compassionate woman and a thirty year resident of the suburban Hope Street. While neighbour Angie is hospitalised, Mrs Aslan cares for her children while aspiring to reconnect with her granddaughter Ada. Ada is a young woman exploring her sexual identity and pushing against her parental guidelines.
Gugulethu's family have very few possessions but are among the wealthiest families on Hope Street, the Bulawayo family sought refuge in Australia and are blessed to live with freedom and opportunity. Mr Bailey is a Vietnam war veteran, living with his wife and experiences debilitating post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the conflict. Perched at his window all day watching his neighbours, bigoted and judgemental.
The houses are debilitated, the gardens parched by the unforgiving Australian climate but in the suburbs of Melbourne resides the residents of Hope Street. Wonderfully diverse characters representative of our families, our neighbours and communities throughout Melbourne. Living on Hope Street explores the lives of immigrant, asylum seeking and Australian families, examining socioeconomic, faith, domestic violence, racism, prejudice and sexuality from considerable and compassionate perspectives. A remarkable and compelling debut from author Demet Divaroren.
Written by Patrick Ness
Contemporary, LGBT, Paranormal
288 Pages
Published May 4th 2017
Thank you to Walker Books Australia
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★★★
Inspired by Mrs Dalloway and Judy Blume's Forever, Release is one day in the life of Adam Thorn It's a big day. Things go wrong. It's intense, and all the while, weirdness approaches...
Adam Thorn is having what will turn out to be the most unsettling, difficult day of his life, with relationships fracturing, a harrowing incident at work, and a showdown between this gay teen and his preacher father that changes everything.
It's a day of confrontation, running, sex, love, heartbreak, and maybe, just maybe, hope. He won't come out of it unchanged.
And all the while, lurking at the edges of the story, something extraordinary and unsettling is on a collision course.
Adam Thorn is sensitive, compassionate, beautiful, complicated. His grief is palpable, poignant and often confrontational. The Thorn family believe in the capacity of faith. To rehabilitate and to offer judgement especially concerning Adam's sexuality. Emotionally depleted after his relationship dissolved, Adam is navigating the parameters of a new relationship, desperate to find love once more.
Adam identifies as gay, his father using his faith to thinly veil his homophobic beliefs and whilst his sexuality isn't acknowledged categorically, he is often discussed as being dishonourable and needing to rediscover his own faith. Adam is nursing the heartbreak of first love while trying to commit to a new relationship. Adam's narration was wonderful, profound, often poignant and takes place over the span of a single day. Throughout his narration, Adam questions his own faith by being in a same sex relationship and when reaching out his evangelist father, he is ridiculed and dismissed.
Release touches on issues such as homophobia, substance abuse, manslaughter, sexual assault and the religion verses sexuality contention. Courageously and compassionately. The incorporation of sexual relationships was wonderful, a mature inclusion rarely seen in young adult novels accentuating same sex relationships.
The emphasis of Release is familiar relationships and in particular, the relationship Adam shares with his father. LGBTQIA teens and adult readers as an extension may find these particular passages confronting as it explores homophobia and erasure. Adam's family is homophobic, expressing the view that gay love is fraudulent.
Release touches on issues such as homophobia, substance abuse, manslaughter, sexual assault and the religion verses sexuality contention. Courageously and compassionately. The incorporation of sexual relationships was wonderful, a mature inclusion rarely seen in young adult novels accentuating same sex relationships.
The emphasis of Release is familiar relationships and in particular, the relationship Adam shares with his father. LGBTQIA teens and adult readers as an extension may find these particular passages confronting as it explores homophobia and erasure. Adam's family is homophobic, expressing the view that gay love is fraudulent.
It's not real love. Everybody's convinced themselves that it is, but it isn't. And it never will be.Angela is a tremendous support to Adam, compassionate and maternal. Angela's adoptive family are wonderfully inclusive of her Korean ancestry, supporting Angela who identifies as bisexual and offering sanctuary to Adam.
The magical realism elements of Release were enchantingly lyrical, perplexing and synonymous within Patrick Ness narrations. A Queen infused with the spirit of a young women, dying from asphyxiation by her narcotic effected partner. Her companion is an anxious Faun. The two narratives converge and although peculiar and lyrically enchanting, the significance was nonsensical other than two characters seeking release.
Patrick Ness is a magnificent author and Release is a tender and compassionate read, confronting and captivating until the final page.
Written by Renée Watson
Contemporary, Diverse, Realistic Fiction
352 Pages
Published April 1st 2017
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia
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★★★★
Contemporary, Diverse, Realistic Fiction
352 Pages
Published April 1st 2017
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia
Add to Goodreads
★★★★
Maya Younger and her identical twin sister, Nikki, have always agreed on the important things. Friends. Boys. School. They even plan to attend the same historically African American college. But nothing can always remain the same.
As their Portland neighborhood goes from rough-and-tumble to up and coming, Maya feels her connection to Nikki and their community slipping away. Nikki spends more time at trendy coffee shops than backyard barbecues, and their new high school principal is more committed to erasing the neighborhood's ghetto reputation than honoring its history.
Home doesn't feel like home anymore. As Maya struggles to hold on to her black heritage, she begins to wonder with whom, or where she belongs. Does growing up have to mean growing apart?
Senior Maya Younger is a remarkable young woman, articulate, intelligent and ambitious. Identical siblings Maya and Nikki aspire to attend Spelman College, a historically black liberal arts college for women. The Portland neighbourhood is evolving, a predominantly black community displaced by white residents and corporate franchise stores.
They've painted and planted and made beauty out of decaying dreams. Block after block, strangers kept coming to Jackson Avenue, kept coming and changing and remaking and adding on to and taking away from.
Best friend and neighbour Essence is forced from the rental property she shares with her alcohol dependant mother, the landlord an opportunistic man exploiting the real estate demand. Another white family are now residents within the Portland community while her suburban school begins to diversify.
Maya's frustration was palpable. Her community flourishing black family homes are being acquired and businesses financially constrained while residents acclimatise. Maya has inherited her parental legacy, her mother and father community activists while encouraging Maya to uphold her ideals. As Maya and Nikki form a tentative friendship with new neighbours, Nikki is thriving, exploring the contention of Caucasians encroaching on black communities.
As senior president, Maya will collaborate with the new principle who is determined to innovate and positively influence education for all students. As Richmond tradition, the school celebrates Black History Month but as the new diversification has been introduced, African American students will celebrate diversity. The principal seemed awfully misguided. While attempting to promote inclusion, he erased the cultural signification of black teens and as a black educator he was inconsiderate and dismissive.
Instinctive prejudice and stereotyping of the African American community is predominant within the Portland suburb and touches upon black residents campaigning for community safety, beautification and infrastructure. Landlords evicting tenants from debilitated homes, refurbishing to satisfy white families. The community seems reluctantly accepting of the suburb transformation, Nikki in particular and Maya begins to challenge her sister and her ideals, causing a fracture within their relationship.
Instinctive prejudice and stereotyping of the African American community is predominant within the Portland suburb and touches upon black residents campaigning for community safety, beautification and infrastructure. Landlords evicting tenants from debilitated homes, refurbishing to satisfy white families. The community seems reluctantly accepting of the suburb transformation, Nikki in particular and Maya begins to challenge her sister and her ideals, causing a fracture within their relationship.
A point of contention is the flourishing interracial relationship between Maya and new neighbour Tony, shortly after her dissolving relationship with Devin.
And women throughout our neighborhood pull me aside, saying things like, "I'm glad he's dating you and not one of them." And by them they either mean a white girl or hood girl.
Although Tony is attentive and considerate, Maya experiences a sense of expectations within the wider community. Her concern of being hypocritical, dating a Caucasian Tony in contrast to diversifying her Portland town with the influx of white families. While at Richmond, white and Hispanic students are instrumental in a new diversity inclusion policy, at the detriment of black students and Black History Month. It raises the discussion of marginalisation and the erasure of racial identities in favour of inclusion. Inclusion is paramount in creating safe spaces especially with adolescents but the cultural and historical significance of Black History Month in particular should be celebrated. Black teens should be celebrated. One month per year shouldn't be infringed upon.
This Side Of Home is an intelligent read, wonderfully diverse and encourages discussion about cultural significance and inclusion. Compelling, compassionate reading.
This Side Of Home is an intelligent read, wonderfully diverse and encourages discussion about cultural significance and inclusion. Compelling, compassionate reading.
Written by Jen Wilde
Contemporary, LGBT, Diverse, Romance
Published April 24th 2017
288 Pages
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia
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★★★★☆
Charlie likes to stand out. She's a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she's over her public breakup with costar Reese Ryan. When internet famous cool girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie's long time crush on her isn't as one sided as she thought.
Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there's one thing in her life she knows will never change, her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie, no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favourite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.
Eighteen year old Charlie is an internet sensation and has been invited to attend the premier fan based pop culture convention to promote her debut independent film. Escorted by best friends Taylor and Jamie, the convention is an opportunity for Charlie to establish her career after her relationship dissolved with actor Ryan, who is also in attendance.
Taylor stands in line at her first convention, sharing her experience on her Tumblr page, a inspiration for societal anxiety and Autism Spectrum Disorder. While Chalie attends promotional panels to promote her independent film, Taylor and best friend Jamie are left to immerse themselves, the pinnacle is fictional Queen Fireheart, a heroine that fought alongside Taylor during her moments of need.
Positive friendships are quintessential in young adult literature and should be celebrated and encouraged. Charlie and Taylor are contrasting characters, both determined young women who share a quiet resilience to our ever changing societies. Jamie and Taylor have a wonderfully gentle friendship, encouraging, supportive and quite flirtatious. Jamie was tremendous support for Taylor and although has never experienced anxiety, is compassionate and considerate of Taylor's needs.
The relationships were beautifully portrayed. Taylor's narrative explored her relationship with Jamie, the anxiety and hesitation. Charlie's relationship with her fellow actor Ryan has dissolved, celebrating the emergence of her independence. At the tender age of fourteen Charlie identified as bisexual, a positive and affirming realisation that she has embraced despite Ryan's biphobia. Internet sensation Alyssa Huntington is a wonderful character, tenacious and comfortable within her sexuality. A passionate intersectional feminist, the attraction between Alyssa and Charlie was captivating. I appreciate a relationship in which characters communicate and although Charlie is hesitant to embark on another public relationship, Alyssa is a wonderful support for Charlie.
It also addresses sexism, especially within the entertainment industry. Male actors are revered for their capability to perform whilst their female counterparts are distinguished by their appearance.
Queens Of Geek is magnificent and an own voices narrative. Author Jen Wilde also identifies as Autistic, Bisexual, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety. A resounding applause from readers for affirming and positive portrayals. Charlie, Taylor and Jamie are Australian and although the convention transpires in San Diego, the narrative is universal. Friendship, relationships and a sense of belonging.
Taylor stands in line at her first convention, sharing her experience on her Tumblr page, a inspiration for societal anxiety and Autism Spectrum Disorder. While Chalie attends promotional panels to promote her independent film, Taylor and best friend Jamie are left to immerse themselves, the pinnacle is fictional Queen Fireheart, a heroine that fought alongside Taylor during her moments of need.
Two vibrant, realistic and remarkable young women.My Thoughts
Positive friendships are quintessential in young adult literature and should be celebrated and encouraged. Charlie and Taylor are contrasting characters, both determined young women who share a quiet resilience to our ever changing societies. Jamie and Taylor have a wonderfully gentle friendship, encouraging, supportive and quite flirtatious. Jamie was tremendous support for Taylor and although has never experienced anxiety, is compassionate and considerate of Taylor's needs.
The relationships were beautifully portrayed. Taylor's narrative explored her relationship with Jamie, the anxiety and hesitation. Charlie's relationship with her fellow actor Ryan has dissolved, celebrating the emergence of her independence. At the tender age of fourteen Charlie identified as bisexual, a positive and affirming realisation that she has embraced despite Ryan's biphobia. Internet sensation Alyssa Huntington is a wonderful character, tenacious and comfortable within her sexuality. A passionate intersectional feminist, the attraction between Alyssa and Charlie was captivating. I appreciate a relationship in which characters communicate and although Charlie is hesitant to embark on another public relationship, Alyssa is a wonderful support for Charlie.
It also addresses sexism, especially within the entertainment industry. Male actors are revered for their capability to perform whilst their female counterparts are distinguished by their appearance.
Queens Of Geek is magnificent and an own voices narrative. Author Jen Wilde also identifies as Autistic, Bisexual, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety. A resounding applause from readers for affirming and positive portrayals. Charlie, Taylor and Jamie are Australian and although the convention transpires in San Diego, the narrative is universal. Friendship, relationships and a sense of belonging.
For the first time in my life, I don't feel like I have to try to fit in, because I'm surrounded by people who are as passionate and excited about the same things I am. For the first time, I'm not totally alone in my weirdness. My weird is normal here. My weird is embraced, accepted, and expected. You guys, I'm starting to love my weird.Bisexuality, Chinese Australian protagonist, sex positive, same sex female relationships, positive friendships, support networks. Queens Of Geek breaks down the barriers of body shaming, toxic relationships, slut shaming, Austism, mental illness, societal illnesses and the reality of expectations young adults place upon themselves.
Written by Sandhya Menon
Contemporary, Diverse, Romance
Expected Publication June 1st 2017
384 Pages
Thank you to Hachette Australia
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★★★★★
Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the Ideal Indian Husband. Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers… Right?
Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him, wherein he’ll have to woo her, he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.
The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this suggested arrangement so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?
Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.
When Dimple Met Rishi is one of the loveliest contemporary young adult novels I've had the privilege of reading and the epitome of young adult literature. Representative and diverse experiences with an affirming narration.
Dimple Shah is a spirited young woman who is determined to push patriarchal career boundaries. Before she attends Stanford University, Dimple plans to attend an internet development program for aspiring developers, much to the dismay of her traditional Indian mother who believes in the traditional roles of women. To marry and raise children.
Rishi Patel is a quiet and charming young man, a traditionalist that has abandoned his artistic passion to pursue an Engineering degree to placate his parents. Before attending University, Rishi will attend a development program to rendezvous with his intended, unbeknownst to Dimple who is accosted by the enthusiastic Rishi.
The romance was captivating.
The narrative traverses a six week period of the development program and over the course of the duration, Dimple establishes a friendship with a girl who she shared an internet friendship with prior to arriving. It also explores casual racism and stereotypes associated with socioeconomically prestige. It was incredibly sex positive and touches upon the choice of sex before marriage and faith, something I've yet to find within young adult.
The infusion of Indian culture was magnificent. Arranged marriage is often viewed as negative and often oppressive by western societal ideals, ignorant perceptions of forced unions and the lovely Mishma addresses the wonderful representation of Indian culture within her review and the concept of positively depicting arranged marriage.
Debut author Sandhya Menon has woven an incredibly endearing narrative, an affluent and opulent diverse narration that is inspiring and delightful.
And then he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him, one hand moving up to cup her cheek, thumb just under her jaw while his fingers tangled in her hair. Rishi kissed her with purpose, with meaning, like he believed this was exactly where they were supposed to be in this moment. He kissed her till she believed it too.Dimple and Rishi are wonderful individuals. Determined and enterprising but ultimately family orientated. Dimple is comfortable within her Indian American heritage but challenges her traditional parental ideals while Rishi is a traditionalist. Although Dimple opposes the perception of the Ideal Indian Husband she remains faithful to her culture. The eldest of two children, Rishi perceives his younger brother as carefree while abandoning his own aspirations of becoming a comic book illustrator, burdened by parental expectations. Rishi allows Dimple to establish the parameters of their tentative friendship, consistently the gentleman.
The narrative traverses a six week period of the development program and over the course of the duration, Dimple establishes a friendship with a girl who she shared an internet friendship with prior to arriving. It also explores casual racism and stereotypes associated with socioeconomically prestige. It was incredibly sex positive and touches upon the choice of sex before marriage and faith, something I've yet to find within young adult.
The infusion of Indian culture was magnificent. Arranged marriage is often viewed as negative and often oppressive by western societal ideals, ignorant perceptions of forced unions and the lovely Mishma addresses the wonderful representation of Indian culture within her review and the concept of positively depicting arranged marriage.
Debut author Sandhya Menon has woven an incredibly endearing narrative, an affluent and opulent diverse narration that is inspiring and delightful.
Written by Melissa Keil
Contemporary, Diverse, Romance
Published April 1st 2017
328 Pages
Thank you to Hardie Grant Egmont
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★★★★☆
The unsolvable problem. If Sophia is a genius, why can’t she crack the puzzle of what to do with her life?Fact. Sophia is smart. As in, certified child prodigy, breezing through uni subjects even though she's only in year twelve, smart. This terrifies her, because geniuses have a tendency to end up as recluses and weirdos, and with her current social ineptness, she’s halfway there already.Truth. Joshua is good at magic tricks, ignoring most things about year twelve, and not thinking at all about life after high school.Fact. Sophia can’t even talk to her best friend Elsie about her anxieties, because Elsie is firmly focused on her own future, and on plans that will mean leaving Sophia behind.Truth. Joshua has had a secret crush on Sophia since forever, but he doesn’t have forever to act on it.Fact. There are some things no amount of genius can prepare you for... And the messiness of the real world is one of them.Truth. Timing is everything.
Sophia is a quiet achiever. Intelligent and a highly decorated student, seventeen year old Sophie is facing an existential crisis, feeling fatigued, adrift and socially anxious. Joshua is an illusionist, deceptively disguised as an enigma and enamoured with shy and reserved Sophie. Living their lives parallel to one another, Joshua believes in the impossible while Sophie the probability of statistics. Until a Melbourne University open day brings Joshua and Sophie together, unexpectedly.
Magic happens.
Magic happens.
My Thoughts
Australian with Sri Lankan heritage, Sophia is an intelligent young woman, a prodigy mathematician enduring debilitating social anxiety and becoming increasingly infatuated with Grigori Perelman, a recluse Russian mathematician. Sophia is a wonderful character, ingenious and accomplished which often leads to a lack of perception. Unlike Elsie who is leaving for the United States, Sophia isn't optimistic about university and consistently devalues her own intuition. The depiction of Sophia's social anxiety was wonderfully portrayed. As her narrative progressed, she begun to recognise how her anxiety manifested but also sought professional guidance. The tension between Sophia and her brother Toby furthered Sophia's anxiety, especially spending time with Elise and the effortless relationship with her siblings.
Joshua is enchanting. As an illusionist he believes in the impossible. Joshua doesn't place importance on his education and is ostracised by his peers. He's a modest young man who has been captivated by Sophia since the tender age of thirteen but as an introvert, feels intimidated by Sophia's presence. I loved the relationship Joshua shared with thirteen year old sibling Gillian, who has perfected teenage angst. Often a formidable presence, Joshua continues to persist to rebuild his relationship with Gillian despite her defiance.
The romance was captivating and a wonderful progression from a gentle, tentative friendship. Discounting the student body, Joshua has a wonderful company of friends who are accepting, supportive and encouraging. I appreciated how Joshua allowed Sophia to set the boundaries of their friendship, understanding that it was important for Sophia to remain in control of her societal environment due to her anxiety.
The Secret Science of Magic is magnificent. A charming coming of age narrative of existing within the moment. Phenomenally sublime. Magical.
Written by Doris Pilkington Nugi Garimara
Biographical, Historical, Australia
136 Pages
Thank you to UQP
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★★★★
The remarkable true story of three young girls who cross the harsh Australian desert on foot to return to their home.
Following an Australian government edict in 1931, black aboriginal children and children of mixed marriages were gathered up by whites and taken to settlements to be assimilated. In Rabbit Proof Fence, award winning author Doris Pilkington traces the captivating story of her mother, Molly, one of three young girls uprooted from her community in Southwestern Australia and taken to the Moore River Native Settlement.
At the settlement, Molly and her relatives Gracie and Daisy were forbidden to speak their native language, forced to abandon their aboriginal heritage, and taught to be culturally white. After regular stays in solitary confinement, the three girls scared and homesick planned and executed a daring escape from the grim camp, with its harsh life of padlocks, barred windows, and hard cold beds.
The girls headed for the nearby rabbit proof fence that stretched over 1,000 miles through the desert toward their home. Their journey lasted over a month, and they survived on everything from emus to feral cats, while narrowly avoiding the police, professional trackers, and hostile white settlers. Their story is a truly moving tale of defiance and resilience.
In the nineteen thirties, three young girls were taken from their Indigenous families in Jigalong, removed by the descendants of white European settlers on behalf of the Australian Government. Fifteen year old Molly is a muda muda, a child born from her Indigenous mother and white English father, a man who tends to the maintenance of the rabbit proof fence that stretches across the land. Often tormented by Indigenous children, the Australian government believe that children born of white fathers can be assimilated into white communities, toiling the land and provided an education.
Molly, eleven year old Gracie and nine year old Daisy, all born to white father's are removed from their community only to begin the long, arduous and liberating nine week journey from the oppressive Moore River Native Settlement back to the Jigalong community. Where they belong.
Molly, eleven year old Gracie and nine year old Daisy, all born to white father's are removed from their community only to begin the long, arduous and liberating nine week journey from the oppressive Moore River Native Settlement back to the Jigalong community. Where they belong.
My Thoughts
Australia has a turbulent and atrocious history of the treatment of our traditional land owners, the Indigenous communities that have endured at the mercy of white European settlement. The late Doris Pilkington has created a narration of her mother's story, born to an Indigenous mother and white English father, deprived of her community when removed from her land to be placed into government custody along with her younger sister and cousin. Throughout the introduction, the author discusses the history of white settlement, communities slaughtered and indigenous women taken and used as sexual servants. Isolated from their communities, the government introduced a policy allowing land to be claimed by white, European farming families. Land that belonged to Indigenous Australians.
The Moore River Native Settlement is a regimented encampment, housing Indigenous children born to white fathers, taken from their communities under the belief that partially white children are superior and can therefore become disciplined servants for white families. Molly is a free spirited young lady and along with Gracie and Daisy, is determined to return to her elders and Jigalong community, the distance spanning over a thousand miles by following the Rabbit Proof fence. The Rabbit Proof Fence was constructed in the early nineteen hundreds to subdue the migration of rabbits into Western Australia from the eastern states and now becomes a beacon of hope and home.
Throughout the narrative, transcripts and newspaper articles are included about the girls disappearance, only further verifying that the young Indigenous girls are little more than a commodity. Although the journey is harrowing and confronting, the terrain is breathtaking as the girls navigate the parched spiritual land. One of the loveliest aspects about Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence is the sense of family throughout our Indigenous communities and the respect for elders that is instilled in their children.
Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence is an integral aspect of Australian history, placing the importance upon the continuing treatment of our Indigenous communities and the destruction brought by white European settlement. A horrific historical narrative that is beautifully written and illustrates the strength and determination of three remarkable young girls.
Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence is an integral aspect of Australian history, placing the importance upon the continuing treatment of our Indigenous communities and the destruction brought by white European settlement. A horrific historical narrative that is beautifully written and illustrates the strength and determination of three remarkable young girls.
Written by Craig Silvey
Contemporary, #LoveOzYA, Mystery
Published March 31st 2009
394 Pages
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Purchased
Published by Allen & Unwin Australia
★★★★☆
Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress.
Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu.
And in vainly attempting to restore the parts that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.
In the town of Corrigan, a knocking breaks the silence of night. Town pariah Jasper Jones is outside Charlie's window, frantic, desperate and with a secret that will devastate the community. Thirteen year old Charlie knows Jasper only by reputation, his father's alcoholism and rebellious notoriety, racism thinly disguised as small town prejudice due to Jasper's Indigenous mother.
While navigating Jasper's circumstances, Charlie begins to observe the injustices of Corrigan. The racial torment his best friend Jeffrey Lu endures as he is determined to play cricket for the small community, why his mother is so abrasive and unnecessarily stern, Eliza, the town recluse Mad Jack Lionel and Jasper, a boy who under devastating circumstances, has taught Charlie to live.
My Thoughts
Jasper Jones is an honest portrayal of the nineteen sixties in small town Australia, confronting, compelling and captivating.
The Community of Corrigan is a charming town, they're passionate about their sporting prowess, upholding the law and being pleasant to their neighbours. As long as your neighbours are white. On a warm Australian summer night, fourteen year old Charlie Bucktin walked through Corrigan with sixteen year old Jasper Jones, his innocence and naivety abandoned to the night.
How strange and abandoned and unsettled I am. Like a snowdome paper weight that's been shaken. There's a blizzard in my bubble. Everything in my world that was steady and sure and sturdy has been shaken out of place, and it's now drifting and swirling back down in a confetti of debris.
Jasper Jones is a quiet, intelligent, part Indigenous Australian young man in a predominantly white town. He's treated as an outcast and the harbinger of disorder, culpable for crime and leading their youth astray. Since losing his mother, his alcoholic father had abandoned the family home and his son, leaving the sixteen year old to fend for himself. Jasper's discovery is sickening, incredibly confronting and violent but imperative to the narrative.
Charlie is young and charmingly naive. His mother is verbally abusive and acidic, frustrated at her life cemented in small town Australia. His father, a local teacher and a strong advocate for the written word. Charlie's father is a kind and gentle soul, withstanding the vitriolic attitude of his wife. His love of words has encouraged Charlie to read and aspire to become an author himself.
The town of Corrigan is fueled by racial tension and exclusion during the Vietnam war era, experienced by Charlie's best friend Jeffrey Lu and his family, having migrated by Vietnam. Jeffrey was a wonderful friend to Charlie, supportive and endlessly amusing. The racism and cruelty that the Lu family faces was deplorable. The casual bullying by the local cricket team that Jeffrey was so desperately seeking inclusion, the physical and racial verbal abuse by teens and complacent adults was nothing short of disgusting. Jeffrey was inspirational, determined to prove his sporting worth despite his small stature.
Although the community mentality has begun to progress, Jasper Jones is confronting, especially for those who have experienced violence, racism or prejudice, although Charlie's white narrative tends to obscure the explicit nature for the teen audience. An important fictional narrative of Australian history.
It was phenomenal.
Charlie is young and charmingly naive. His mother is verbally abusive and acidic, frustrated at her life cemented in small town Australia. His father, a local teacher and a strong advocate for the written word. Charlie's father is a kind and gentle soul, withstanding the vitriolic attitude of his wife. His love of words has encouraged Charlie to read and aspire to become an author himself.
The town of Corrigan is fueled by racial tension and exclusion during the Vietnam war era, experienced by Charlie's best friend Jeffrey Lu and his family, having migrated by Vietnam. Jeffrey was a wonderful friend to Charlie, supportive and endlessly amusing. The racism and cruelty that the Lu family faces was deplorable. The casual bullying by the local cricket team that Jeffrey was so desperately seeking inclusion, the physical and racial verbal abuse by teens and complacent adults was nothing short of disgusting. Jeffrey was inspirational, determined to prove his sporting worth despite his small stature.
Although the community mentality has begun to progress, Jasper Jones is confronting, especially for those who have experienced violence, racism or prejudice, although Charlie's white narrative tends to obscure the explicit nature for the teen audience. An important fictional narrative of Australian history.
It was phenomenal.
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