The Secret River
1 journaler for this copy...
Read May 2010.
Like Grenville’s ‘The Lieutenant’, this is steeped in the harsh light and heat of Australia. I loved the idea of the waterman, equally at home on this foreign river as he is on the Thames. Thornhill’s desperation to own his little piece of land after his deprived childhood and early days of deportation was quite understandable. Indeed I desperately wanted him to have that land, it seemed only fair. That the author could make me feel this so strongly and yet, at the same time make me sympathise with the aboriginal people, was a skilful piece of writing. The terrible wrongs that were done were reported in a matter-of-fact manner. We understood the fear that drove good men to evil deeds. There was no justice for the massacred native people and Grenville excels in the way she writes about this. No justice, no acknowledgement of wrongdoing, yet Thornhill, for all his prosperity, suffers for the rest of his life because of it. Excellent.
Like Grenville’s ‘The Lieutenant’, this is steeped in the harsh light and heat of Australia. I loved the idea of the waterman, equally at home on this foreign river as he is on the Thames. Thornhill’s desperation to own his little piece of land after his deprived childhood and early days of deportation was quite understandable. Indeed I desperately wanted him to have that land, it seemed only fair. That the author could make me feel this so strongly and yet, at the same time make me sympathise with the aboriginal people, was a skilful piece of writing. The terrible wrongs that were done were reported in a matter-of-fact manner. We understood the fear that drove good men to evil deeds. There was no justice for the massacred native people and Grenville excels in the way she writes about this. No justice, no acknowledgement of wrongdoing, yet Thornhill, for all his prosperity, suffers for the rest of his life because of it. Excellent.
