"Flames" by Robbie Arnott is going to be a difficult novel to review without giving away any spoilers, so I'll be brief.
This is the story of fisherman Karl and his seal, and it's also about his family. It is the tale of Levi who wants to buy a coffin for his younger sister Charlotte, although she is still very much alive and well. It's about their parents too, and other strange characters. And a water rat.
This weird and wonderful novel is not the usual kind of book I would choose to read, but once I began I could not put it down. Each chapter is completely different, but all are intertwined. The writing is wonderfully poetic and the Tasmanian landscape is beautifully described.
I very much enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it wholeheartedly. It's so different from anything I have read before, and it's one of the few books I've read that, once I had finished it, I wanted to turn back to Page 1 and read it all over again.
This is the story of fisherman Karl and his seal, and it's also about his family. It is the tale of Levi who wants to buy a coffin for his younger sister Charlotte, although she is still very much alive and well. It's about their parents too, and other strange characters. And a water rat.
This weird and wonderful novel is not the usual kind of book I would choose to read, but once I began I could not put it down. Each chapter is completely different, but all are intertwined. The writing is wonderfully poetic and the Tasmanian landscape is beautifully described.
I very much enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it wholeheartedly. It's so different from anything I have read before, and it's one of the few books I've read that, once I had finished it, I wanted to turn back to Page 1 and read it all over again.