Book 12 - 2020
Book 12: Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton - 496 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. It's not as if Eli's life isn't complicated enough already. He's just trying to follow his heart, learning what it takes to be a good man, but life just keeps throwing obstacles in the way - not least of which is Tytus Broz, legendary Brisbane drug dealer.
But Eli's life is about to get a whole lot more serious. He's about to fall in love. And, oh yeah, he has to break into Boggo Road Gaol on Christmas Day, to save his mum.
A story of brotherhood, true love and the most unlikely of friendships, Boy Swallows Universe will be the most heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novel you will read all year.
Thoughts:
This book has been winning awards left, right and centre, and the first few pages are just lists of glowing reviews from every man and his dog. It's probably not a genre I'd normally read, but its set in my hometown of Brisbane, Australia, and it was recommended to me by my Aunt, so I felt I better read it. My overall rating is probably more a four and a half stars than five; I'll explain why.
Eli Bell and his mute older brother August are growing up in the outer western suburbs of Brisbane in the 1980s. His step father Lyle is running drugs for a pillar of the local community, Tytus Broz, who runs a company developing prosthetics as a front to the drug business. With this intro, its pretty clear that some serious stuff is going to go down. And while it does Dalton vividly re-creates 1980s Brisbane. This is the bit of the book that I both loved and hated. Loved because I could almost smell, taste, hear the Brisbane he had created, because it doesn't look dramatically different to the Brisbane I live in now. Descriptions and details drip off the page and I could picture it so vividly in my mind that I went to google whether the movie rights had been brought - the script writes itself. However, I'm a local, and the thousands of references littered throughout mean something to me. Whilst the glowing international references suggest otherwise, I couldn't help wondering whether all these references would be lost on international readers, and whether this would detract from the book. And as someone also writing (unpublished) stories set in Brisbane, I kind of hate the Australian tendency to vividly describe our country in our books - as if we are terrified that if we don't lay on thick the Australian-ness our stories won't have merit. As if being Australian is the most influential part of our identity. Maybe it is. But its almost an Australian trope now, and whilst walking so vividly through my city was wonderful, it also drove me insane.
Putting that to one side, the story is compelling and wonderfully told. Perhaps my only other gripe is the fact that it does seem to drag on a bit, with a few red herrings thrown in, and a rather bizarre almost magical thread to it that never truly gets resolved. Still it held my interest, and I can't fault Dalton's story telling capabilities or word smithing. Certainly a worthy read, and worthy of the praise it has received. I would love to speak to a non-Australian about it, though, to get their take.
12 / 50 books. 24% done!
3743 / 15000 pages. 25% done!
Currently reading:
Journey to the West by Cheng-En Wu - 673 pages
The Husband List by Janet Evanovich & Dorien Kelly - 309 pages
Fire in the Sky: Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth by Gordon L. Dillow - 267 pages
And coming up:
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 3: White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson - 500 pages
The Odyssey by Homer - 324 pages
The Truth of Different Skies by Kate Ling - 369 pages
Description from bookdepository.co.uk:
Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. It's not as if Eli's life isn't complicated enough already. He's just trying to follow his heart, learning what it takes to be a good man, but life just keeps throwing obstacles in the way - not least of which is Tytus Broz, legendary Brisbane drug dealer.
But Eli's life is about to get a whole lot more serious. He's about to fall in love. And, oh yeah, he has to break into Boggo Road Gaol on Christmas Day, to save his mum.
A story of brotherhood, true love and the most unlikely of friendships, Boy Swallows Universe will be the most heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novel you will read all year.
Thoughts:
This book has been winning awards left, right and centre, and the first few pages are just lists of glowing reviews from every man and his dog. It's probably not a genre I'd normally read, but its set in my hometown of Brisbane, Australia, and it was recommended to me by my Aunt, so I felt I better read it. My overall rating is probably more a four and a half stars than five; I'll explain why.
Eli Bell and his mute older brother August are growing up in the outer western suburbs of Brisbane in the 1980s. His step father Lyle is running drugs for a pillar of the local community, Tytus Broz, who runs a company developing prosthetics as a front to the drug business. With this intro, its pretty clear that some serious stuff is going to go down. And while it does Dalton vividly re-creates 1980s Brisbane. This is the bit of the book that I both loved and hated. Loved because I could almost smell, taste, hear the Brisbane he had created, because it doesn't look dramatically different to the Brisbane I live in now. Descriptions and details drip off the page and I could picture it so vividly in my mind that I went to google whether the movie rights had been brought - the script writes itself. However, I'm a local, and the thousands of references littered throughout mean something to me. Whilst the glowing international references suggest otherwise, I couldn't help wondering whether all these references would be lost on international readers, and whether this would detract from the book. And as someone also writing (unpublished) stories set in Brisbane, I kind of hate the Australian tendency to vividly describe our country in our books - as if we are terrified that if we don't lay on thick the Australian-ness our stories won't have merit. As if being Australian is the most influential part of our identity. Maybe it is. But its almost an Australian trope now, and whilst walking so vividly through my city was wonderful, it also drove me insane.
Putting that to one side, the story is compelling and wonderfully told. Perhaps my only other gripe is the fact that it does seem to drag on a bit, with a few red herrings thrown in, and a rather bizarre almost magical thread to it that never truly gets resolved. Still it held my interest, and I can't fault Dalton's story telling capabilities or word smithing. Certainly a worthy read, and worthy of the praise it has received. I would love to speak to a non-Australian about it, though, to get their take.
12 / 50 books. 24% done!
3743 / 15000 pages. 25% done!
Currently reading:
Journey to the West by Cheng-En Wu - 673 pages
The Husband List by Janet Evanovich & Dorien Kelly - 309 pages
Fire in the Sky: Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth by Gordon L. Dillow - 267 pages
And coming up:
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 3: White Gold Wielder by Stephen Donaldson - 500 pages
The Odyssey by Homer - 324 pages
The Truth of Different Skies by Kate Ling - 369 pages