Kent

I was as lost as the character was in the book. Very disorientating.

Was expecting aliens but what I got was a beautiful heartfelt coming of age story and beyond. Much better than aliens.

It felt loaded with promise but I kept wondering when any "horror" was going to happen. Then it all just kind of puttered around the edges and ended.

I came from a recommendation from Insta and had the impression it was going to be a weird fiction style story revolving around killer lettuce on a remote farm. Instead it went on forever and ended in a predictable and non weird fashion, well for me it wasn't very weird at all. Nice to spend some time on a farm though but the story was as slow as watching grass grow so I guess it's appropriate.

I keep thinking about this book even though I read it a month ago it's still in my peripheral vision. It's Australian so that helps that I can visualise and feel the people like they are my own since they are :) Set in Tassie and not in a city so it's an isolated town in the middle of an outbreak that no one knows what is going on. Just like the beginning of covid in Feb/March 2020. Add on the caring for your dying mother and your life imploding at the same time. I loved the lived in life of the mother, the reluctance of the daughter and all of the support cast of characters from the neighbours to boys at the pub. Where it ends up is my favourite and I'm not spoiling that. The writing isn't some flowery prose but it's immersive just the same. I read it over two days just to make it last a bit longer. It's sad and atmospheric but also a bit funny in an Australian humour kind of way.