Thea Astley
Paperback | Pages: 294 pages Rating: 3.81 | 315 Users | 33 Reviews
Mention Of Books Drylands
| Title | : | Drylands |
| Author | : | Thea Astley |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 294 pages |
| Published | : | 2000 by Penguin Books Australia (first published 1999) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Australia. Literary Fiction |
Description In Favor Of Books Drylands
In her flat above Drylands's newsagency, Janet Deakin is writing a book for the world's last reader. Little has changed in her 50 years, except for the coming of cable TV. Loneliness is almost a religion, and still everyone knows your business. But the town is being outmanoeuvred by drought and begins to empty, pouring itself out like water into sand. Small minds shrink even smaller in the vastness of the land. One man is forced out by council rates and bigotry; another sells his property, risking the lot to build his dream. And all of them are shadowed by violence of some sort—these people whose only victory over the town is in leaving it.List Books In Pursuance Of Drylands
| Original Title: | Drylands |
| ISBN: | 0140283803 (ISBN13: 9780140283808) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Queensland(Australia) |
| Literary Awards: | Miles Franklin Literary Award (2000), Queensland Premier's |
| Literary Awards: | for Fiction (2000), Nita B. Kibble Literary Award Nominee (2000) |
Rating Of Books Drylands
Ratings: 3.81 From 315 Users | 33 ReviewsColumn Of Books Drylands
Well written but very depressing depiction of life in a small Australian town. More a collection of interlinked stories than a novel as such. Astley does a good job getting into the heads of a diverse group of characters.I have never read Thea Astley before and I have to say I was quite overtaken by this novel. I was swept into the world and her writing is such that you are just sucked into this lovely rhythm of words. The story resonates because so many people have been touched by small country towns that struggle to survive. Once the central part of the community the gradual demise due to drought, crime, foreclosures so creeps up and the town becomes a husk. There are several character threads that weave their
this was a real nice snapshot of rural life in qld. good perspectives of each town member that wove together but not in an obtrusive way. protagonist could be gone into more and ending less cliche.. but the overt references to her writing didn't excuse the hackneyed ending
i was reading maybe 3 or 4 books at a time, so it took me a while to get through.life in these dusty landscapes, that i love, is much less desirable for these characters.like waiting for something to happen that never does, or screaming and no one can hear, or like being invisible.some stories are harder to finish than others, not because they aren't good, they just touch us differently. maybe not the right kind of escapism?
A series of vignettes detailing the lives of the residents in a dying town (Drylands) in Outback, Australia. All of them want to stay, want to find hope, community, and a home there, but they are forced out one by one in varying circumstances and ways - almost all of them violent in some respect. Meticulous, dense prose written by a quintessential Australian writer - once you get the hang of it, it's hard to put the book down. This book won the Miles Franklin Award in 1999, Australia's leading
This reads like Astley's last book & on checking it is. This might sound negative, but not so, Astley is still as dry humoured & witty & acerbic as ever.She thumps her soapbox over the increase in interest of electronic gadgets over reading: no one writes, or reads or is interested in world events in Drylands. The stock in the newsagency is going yellow and the owner is forced to stocking videos. The serious novel is dead! is a frequent mantra. Astley was watching book stores die as
depressing look at country towns dying due to drought...
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