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    Carpentaria: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Carpentaria: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Carpentaria: A Novel
    Ebook606 pages15 hours

    Carpentaria: A Novel

    By Alexis Wright

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    IN the sparsely populated northern Queensland town of Desperance, battle lines have been drawn in the disputes among the powerful Phantom family of the Westend Pricklebush, Joseph Midnight’s renegade Eastend mob, and the white officials of neighboring towns. Trapped between politics and principle, past and present, the indigenous tribes fight to protect their natural resources, sacred sites, and, above all, their people.

    Steeped in myth and magical realism, Wright’s hypnotic storytelling exposes the heartbreaking realities of Aboriginal life. Carpentaria teems with extraordinary, larger-than-life characters who transcend their circumstances and challenge assumptions about the downtrodden "other." The novel "bursts with life" (Daily Telegraph) as Alexis Wright re-creates the land and its people with mysticism, stark reality, and pointed imagination.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtria Books
    Release dateApr 27, 2015
    ISBN9781501122347
    Unavailable
    Carpentaria: A Novel
    Author

    Alexis Wright

    Alexis Wright, a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, is one of Australia’s most acclaimed and fearless writers. Her previous novel, Carpentaria, won the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's most prestigious literary prize.

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    Reviews for Carpentaria

    3.5/5

    73 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 2/5
      I really struggled with this book and was so relieved when I finished it.It's about an Aboriginal community who live in Desperance, north-east Australia, and the Phantom family in particular. That's about as much as I can say about the plot.My trouble with this book was the plot, actually - there wasn't one. Any action is kept until the last fifth of the book, by which point I'm sure a lot of people would have already given up. If I'm honest, the book just bored me.That's not to say that it isn't well-written because it is, but it wasn't for me. There's only so much rambling narrative and lack of dialogue that I can take.
    • 5/5
      Alexis Wright's Carpentaria is masterful. Her voice is singular yet easily understandable—provided one's comfortable with point-of-view shifts and nonlinear narratives. The story largely centers around the Phantom family, Norm and Will, father and son respectively, who are aboriginals living on the peripheral of a rural Australian settler town. A mining concern invades and the novel's literal conflict begins here.While there's much that can and should be said about this novel, I'll bring up several aspects that I found especially noteworthy. Dreamtime metaphysics infuse the novel's narrative consciousness. (In fact, were I forced to declare 'what does this novel tell us,' it might be something like, it's high time to wake up for dreamtime.) What's especially excellent about Wright's book is one does not need much knowledge, if any at all, about dreamtime to get an idea of how it works, at least on something of an intuitive level. With the possible exception of William Faulkner's work, I've rarely read fiction that explains small town life with such deft precision, with such lack of self-congratulatory folksiness. If you live in the sticks, you'll find this book provides great solace. Her style is also similar to that of Faulkner—though a bit less dense and more clearly post-colonial in its orientation. If you like highly-stylized, multicultural books that force reflection, this is a must read.
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed the unique presentation of this modern-day, timeless story. I listened to it as an audiobook and found the reader fully sympathetic to the text. I had to return and listen again to sections as my mind wandered around in the story. I have read much Aboriginal mythology and rewritings and also modern fiction and non-fiction and this is unlike any of them. The images painted in the reader's mind are so vivid particularly so for me as I imagine the locations and the images as recounted. A masterpiece.
    • 4/5
      The author has a distinctive style, which at first made it difficult to follow. However it was well worth persevering as it became easier as the story unfolded. I think I gained a small understanding of how the Aborigial people relate to the land and nature and realise their ancient connection with the land and sea. Brilliant characters and reprehensible actions of global greed. Mother Nature the ultimate power to be reckoned with.