April 2017 - The Dry by Jane Harper

The Dry by Jane Harper is one of those debut novels which came out of nowhere and generated a whole lot of hype. It is richly deserved. This book is easy to read and the plot line is fairly simple, but almost all of us were drawn into the story. For Anna this was a real departure from what she usually reads, but she surprised herself by how much she enjoyed it.

There are plenty of sites out there that provide a summary of the plot, so I won't rehash it here. Needless to say we could all visualize the township of Kiewarra and its inhabitants. The power of Harper's writing is in its descriptions. We discussed the fact that possibly only Australians would truly understand how big an impact the ongoing dry would have on this little country town, and how easy it would be for the residents to believe the worst of Luke Halder. This small town also has its share of secrets, current and past and explores the nature of trust.

Scores:
Alison    9
Anna     10
Annette  8
Carmel   7
Glenda   7
Kristy     8
Megan    5

Average: 7.7

March 2017 - Small Island by Andrea Levy

March saw us reading Small Island by Andrea Levy. This was a tough read: the quality of the writing was high but the subject matter was often quite challenging and upsetting. Two of us didn't make it to the end because we just weren't enjoying the story and found it too depressing. However, Annette thought that even though it was an uncomfortable read it was definitely worth persevering.

Small Island follows the lives of 4 different characters during and immediately after World War II. Hortense and Gilbert are Jamaican, Queenie and Bernard are English. Most of the storyline takes place in England, though parts are told in Jamaica and India as well. All four character's voices are believable and vibrant and each character is forced to sink or swim in post-WWII England. Despite fighting for the British in the war, the Jamaican ex-servicemen were left with no opportunities. Racism is rampant in this story, and the author based it on the real-life experiences of her parents.

Scores:
Anna      5
Annette  10
Carmel   8
Deb        10
Kristy     7
Megan    8

Average: 8