Read Women discussion

August's Open Choice fiction read will be The Yield by Tara June Winch. Michaela wil be leading this discussion, so I will simply open the thread and leave it here.

Thanks Anita!

Tara June Winch was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, in 1983 and lives in Australia and France. Her father is from the Wiradjuri nation, a group of Aboriginal people scattered over central NSW, but united through kinship and shared traditions. Their terrritory was first penetrated by European colonists in 1813.

Winch´s first novel Swallow the Air won several Australian awards, and her second one, After The Carnage also got positive reaction.

The Yield describes Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi trying to save the language of his people, and his granddaughter August, living on the other side of the world, who´s returning home after ten years to learn that a mining company wants to claim their land. It´s a story about dispossession of people and culture as well as well as the reclaiming of Indigenous language and identity.

I'm looking forward to reading this. It has been on my TBR for a while. I should be starting this around mid-month.

Starting this myself, on audiobook so I can listen to it a little each night. Sounds like one of those generational sagas, which I've found I tend to enjoy even though I might not think I will when I initially pick a book up. Looking forward to reading the indigenous pov as well.

Anita wrote: "Starting this myself, on audiobook so I can listen to it a little each night. Sounds like one of those generational sagas, which I've found I tend to enjoy even though I might not think I will when..."

I am also listening to this on audio, read by Tony Briggs who I think does a wonderful job. I wish I could spend a couple of hours each day with it but my home is full of summer guests at the moment so it is slow going.

Same here Sophie! I listened to a little bit each night. I didn't think I would like it early on, but found myself easily absorbed in the story after a while

I finished the book yesterday, and thought it really good, esp. the two narrative streams of Poppy´s dictionary and August´s return, mixed with letters by a Protestant missionary. Inbetween I thougt it began to drag, but the end was at least partly hopeful.

Michaela wrote: "I finished the book yesterday, and thought it really good, esp. the two narrative streams of Poppy´s dictionary and August´s return, mixed with letters by a Protestant missionary. Inbetween I thoug..."

I have also now finished and was pleased that it ended on a hopeful note as well.

Here's a 2019 interview of Winch by 2019 Miles Franklin winner, Melissa Lucashenko. It's 51 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG0P5...

and a June 2020 Q&A with Winch published by readingwomenpodcast.com

https://www.readingwomenpodcast.com/b...

For podcast fans, The Garret offers a 36-minute podcast of its interview with Winch about this novel.

https://podcasts.apple.com/sc/podcast...

Thanks Carol for the links! Will have a listen later! :)

Michaela wrote: "Thanks Carol for the links! Will have a listen later! :)"

you're very welcome!

I read The Yield back in Feb 2021 and had been hanging out to read it, after learning it had won The Miles Franklin Award. I was also particularly interested given her mentorship by Wole Soyinka, who had a profound influence on her development.

My thoughts after reading are here on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and a more detailed review on my blog here:

https://clairemcalpine.com/2021/02/04...

If you enjoyed The Yield, I would highly recommend Potiki by Patricia Grace, now a classic, recently republished as a penguin classic, it tells a similar story but from the point of view of New Zealand's indigenous Maori.

My thoughts here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks for your thoughts Claire! I got Potiki on my tbr list. :)

I tried listening to this on audiobook but struggled to follow it. I am very particular with audio which i often find goes too fast for me, especially when the language is quite lyrical. My library has it in ebook format so perhaps I'd have more luck with this if I could take my time absorbing it and see the language laid out. I loved potiki

Claire wrote: "If you enjoyed The Yield, I would highly recommend Potiki by Patricia Grace, now a classic, recently republished as a penguin classic, it tells a similar story but from the point of view of New Zealand's indigenous Maori...."

That was a Group Read earlier this year, wasn't it?

We read Potiki in January, yes. Here's a link to that discussion thread.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I finished this last night and gave it 5 stars. I enjoyed the constant intermingling of the three different narrative forms along with their narrators. It is a reminder of how intertwined the present is with the past.

I actually found this to provide a very nuanced view of things that have happened. The letter from Reverend Greenleaf illustrates how even those with good intentions aimed at aiding a people that they saw were being mistreated, were at the same time contributing to the destruction of their culture by interfering with their language and their beliefs.

Poppy's dictionary is wonderful because it doesn't just give you a definition but it provides context for the meaning in terms of his history and his life. I did think that one improvement to this part would have been a phonetic illustration of how to pronounce the words. When I arrived at the discussion of the word for mouth (I think it was), there was a discussion about the different sounds produced when encountering different letters & that made me very aware that I was not certain about how these words should sound.

August's story was the most heartbreaking but at the same time it was encouraging to see her finding her connection to the land of her people. I agree that it finished on a fairly positive note but not so much that it left readers thinking that there isn't still important work to be done towards achieving reconciliation.