Read by Theme discussion

alas I Didn't really enjoy this too much. it was one of those books where the writing is so dense, I'd find myself asleep after only a few pages. so it was slow going. Joe Cashin is a Homicide detective who is on secondment to a small town on the Victorian coast. there's been some sort of workplace trauma that's left him obsessing about this old case as well as physically injured. first event is when Charles Bourgoyne, wealthy local business man is found killed in his home. from this the book moves into a odd place - it moves at snails pace where nothing much happens yet at the same time it's almost too dense with characters and random scenes. the book reads in its early pages as a series of character studies and exercises in descriptive sketches - windswept coast, small town secrets. but I found myself saying when is something actually going to happen? the last 3/4 of the book move at a racketing pace which makes for a much better read. It.s almost like the writer decides to get on with actually telling the story instead of trying to impress us with his technique. The seagulls on the cover are apt. they fit the bleakness of the writing and the story. I wasn't convinced by the dialogue. it didn't ring true to me. The writer made a attempt to pull all the threads and sub-plots (term used loosely) but in the end the "happy ever after" nuances of that didn't sit well with the brutal sparseness of the writing and story generally.

(What do you know, I figured out how to choose a specific cover!)

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it as much as you'd hoped. :( Glancing at the reviews, it seems a lot of people had the same kinds of complaints as you did about it, so it's definitely not one I'll be adding to my to-read shelf.

I don't like not loving a book. this one didn't work for me.

Cate wrote: "I don't like not loving a book. this one didn't work for me."

I feel the same way. I hate feeling like I've wasted my time on a book when I could have been reading something else. (Or writing something, or going somewhere, or anything else, really.) There's just so much in life to do, so it's definitely frustrating to realize you've sunk your time into something that wasn't worth it!

As an example of Australian crime fiction i think Prime Cut Prime Cut by Alan Carter is a MUCH better read. It too is set in rural Australia - this time in remote Western Australia. As an aside, a lot of Australian writing grapples with "the bush"/"the outback" as a both a setting and theme. I really loved that book.

In that case, I'll be sure to keep that one in mind for when the "Set in Australia/Oceania" theme rolls around! :)