Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay

Challenge #20 ~ “A book featuring indigenous people of a country.”

bonetalk

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

My opinion in three sentences:

For me, this year’s Carnegie shortlist has been particularly hard to a) stay engaged with, and b) enjoy, so I didn’t necessarily go into this book with high hopes (- I know, I know, don’t judge a book by its cover!) Nevertheless, the characters were relatable, the plot steady and the language such that it could engage a reader young or old. I found Gourlay’s choice of voice interesting, and often wondered how perspectives may change if the story were told from Luki’s perspective or Mister William’s or even a multi-perspective approach.

(Without spoiling anything) the best bit:

I spent much time with myself debating if this was plot- or character-driven, and even now I’m not entirely sure. The subtly of the unravelling plot that clearly had no ultimate climax it was bull-headedly charging towards made for an even more realistic tale, and lured the reader into a calm ease with which to absorb and question the unfolding impacts of the colonisation.

A warning for the book:

My biggest struggle with the novel was some of the terminology. There were times when the protagonists would describe something in a way that was very Western, despite their supposed lack of knowledge on the topic, which betrayed the real strength of the own voices tale. I have to use an example to explain it eloquently (though it’s really no key plot point, but feel free to look away) – there’s a scene when the Americans are taking photographs, though Sam just sees it as a black box, yet he describes the figures as “posing” (a term we definitely use these days when we talk about photography). Maybe I’m being pernickety, but (since even as a reader we aren’t entirely sure what they’re up to before this point) I felt that this (and it wasn’t an isolated circumstance) would have supported the character’s voice much more if it were simply rephrased.

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