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tatterededges's review
1.0
I did not finish this. I just couldn't get into it. I found the writing clumsy, forced and heavy handed in descriptive language that seemed to be at odds with the characters and setting of the book. After a few hours, I realised I just didn't care about either character at all so I put it down.
k2_hancock's review
2.0
I liked it until the last two chapters. I thought the story was presented in an interesting and I was hooked up until that point. I didn't even feel sad, I felt disgusted and a little angry with it, honestly.
kcfromaustcrime's review
4.0
Bleak, stark, pitiless, violent, hypnotic and strangely satisfying was my immediate reaction to THE LOW ROAD, and interestingly it's staying with me for quite a while after I've finished it. Mind you, THE LOW ROAD is not by any means an easy or enjoyable book.
Bleak - well the landscape in which the book takes place could be any dirty, grimy, lost city and the despairing suburbs. In fact it's very very hard to tell where the book is actually set until very late in the finale, so it could be New York, Stockholm, Sydney, anywhere really. Not only is the landscape bleak, the characterisations are bleak - there's nobody much in this book who, on first reading, seems much like anybody you'd want to know. Lee's just another pathetic little gangster - shot in the process of pinching something that doesn't belong to him - who could possibly care what happens to him. Wild is a drug-addicted, suspended General Practitioner - self-loathing and self-justification in equal parts.
Stark in that there's an honesty to these characterisations that is searing - everybody's stripped back to the bare essentials of who they are.
Pitiless in that Womersley lays out the stories of these characters without asking for understanding, pity, sympathy or acceptance for who they are or the situation they are in - and yet....
Violence is implicit in most of the moves that the 3 characters make - they intimidate, kill, demand their way ahead to their ultimate goals. Even in attempting kindness there is a violence in their approach which is startling and very confronting.
Hypnotic in that despite all of the previous components you just can't put THE LOW ROAD down.
Strangely satisfying in that the main characters slowly reveal their human frailities and you can't help but feel a connection - despite their intrinsic awfulness - to people who have placed themselves into their respective positions, but perhaps, just perhaps, there's reasons why we all do what we do.
Bleak - well the landscape in which the book takes place could be any dirty, grimy, lost city and the despairing suburbs. In fact it's very very hard to tell where the book is actually set until very late in the finale, so it could be New York, Stockholm, Sydney, anywhere really. Not only is the landscape bleak, the characterisations are bleak - there's nobody much in this book who, on first reading, seems much like anybody you'd want to know. Lee's just another pathetic little gangster - shot in the process of pinching something that doesn't belong to him - who could possibly care what happens to him. Wild is a drug-addicted, suspended General Practitioner - self-loathing and self-justification in equal parts.
Stark in that there's an honesty to these characterisations that is searing - everybody's stripped back to the bare essentials of who they are.
Pitiless in that Womersley lays out the stories of these characters without asking for understanding, pity, sympathy or acceptance for who they are or the situation they are in - and yet....
Violence is implicit in most of the moves that the 3 characters make - they intimidate, kill, demand their way ahead to their ultimate goals. Even in attempting kindness there is a violence in their approach which is startling and very confronting.
Hypnotic in that despite all of the previous components you just can't put THE LOW ROAD down.
Strangely satisfying in that the main characters slowly reveal their human frailities and you can't help but feel a connection - despite their intrinsic awfulness - to people who have placed themselves into their respective positions, but perhaps, just perhaps, there's reasons why we all do what we do.
albionloveden's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
srdaine's review against another edition
2.0
Me ha costado mucho engancharme pese a que el estilo no es malo, pero la trama es muy burda y no empiezas a empatizar con los personajes hasta el final, y dura cinco minutos: el capítulo final lo echa todo por la borda de manera innecesaria, gratuita y perversa.
martamarne_'s review against another edition
5.0
24 horas me ha durado. Qué mal cuerpo te deja, una mezcla de dolor y angustia, y sabor a tierra y a sangre. La historia es buena, pero lo que lo hace brillante es cómo te la cuenta.
elmolibrary's review against another edition
5.0
This books is completely such a detective-crime book! and i loved it! Wild, Lee, Josef (the characters i guess) they make me insane and my imagination beyond how it has been written. Even though the conversations were not using these marks (“) but i can understand it after a while reading it. This is such a great books like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot but this book used some metaphor and Chris wrote the best words he used to made this book completely amazing!
Well done Chris, i do really like this book ❤️
Well done Chris, i do really like this book ❤️
elmolibrary's review
5.0
This books is completely such a detective-crime book! and i loved it! Wild, Lee, Josef (the characters i guess) they make me insane and my imagination beyond how it has been written. Even though the conversations were not using these marks (“) but i can understand it after a while reading it. This is such a great books like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot but this book used some metaphor and Chris wrote the best words he used to made this book completely amazing!
Well done Chris, i do really like this book ❤️
Well done Chris, i do really like this book ❤️
raven88's review against another edition
5.0
Chris Womersley’s previous UK release ‘Bereft’ was easily one of my favourite literary fiction reads of the last year, with its beautiful prose and thought provoking examination of human relationships, so I am delighted that Quercus have released this, originally published in Australia in 2007, to bolster his recognition here in the UK. A prizewinning and stylish noir thriller, ‘The Low Road’, transcends the crime thriller genre and is a sublime example of literary crime fiction, defined by its lyrical quality and its power to manipulate our empathy towards the three essentially criminal protagonists.
Opening within the confines of a rundown motel in an unnamed location, Lee is seeking sanctuary after making off with a suitcase stuffed with cash, having received a bullet wound in the course of his actions. Wild, a disgraced medical practitioner with a reliance on drugs is also holed up there, having deserted his marital home, after his malpractice has come to light. Through the machinations of brassy motel owner, Sylvia, the men enter each others lives, and having found out that Lee is being pursued by the sinister Josef, to recover the contents of the suitcase, the two go on the run together, as Lee tries to reach what he perceives to be the relative safety of his sister’s home. As Lee’s physical condition deteriorates, Wild endeavours to seek out an old medical colleague of his to attend to Lee but fate has more in store for them than they could possibly imagine…
As their journey propels them further into danger, herein lies the mastery of Womersley’s writing, and his innate ability to twist our preconceptions of the character’s criminal activities. As the relationship between Lee and Wild progresses, you find your empathy aroused despite your initial impressions, and as Womersley unveils the layers to their essentially damaged personas, he carefully constructs a poignant and thoughtful examination of a relationship forged by the necessity of escape and redemption. As they overcome their mutual distrust of each other and strengthen their bond, fuelled by the pursuance by Josef, who himself is an incredibly interesting character working at the behest of others, Womersley draws us into their strengths and failings, through his sublime prose and dialogue that immerses us completely in the very human weaknesses of this triumvirate. Equally, Womersley highlights the sense of survival that can arise in the bleakest of circumstances, and conversely, how this bleakness can extinguish hope in others, as events overtake our three to a heartwrenching denouement.
Womersley is to my mind, an exceptional writer, with comparisons to Jim Crace or Ron Rash, with his fluidity of prose and his use of imagery. Every scene is so easy to conjure up in the reader’s imagination, and he imbues the novel with a sense of unease, through every change of location. The world ticks on around the characters, but the situation they find themselves in is suffocating with tension, despite their efforts to escape and totally immerses the reader in their trials. This is a sublime and perfectly constructed literary crime thriller that I hope many among you will discover for yourselves.
Opening within the confines of a rundown motel in an unnamed location, Lee is seeking sanctuary after making off with a suitcase stuffed with cash, having received a bullet wound in the course of his actions. Wild, a disgraced medical practitioner with a reliance on drugs is also holed up there, having deserted his marital home, after his malpractice has come to light. Through the machinations of brassy motel owner, Sylvia, the men enter each others lives, and having found out that Lee is being pursued by the sinister Josef, to recover the contents of the suitcase, the two go on the run together, as Lee tries to reach what he perceives to be the relative safety of his sister’s home. As Lee’s physical condition deteriorates, Wild endeavours to seek out an old medical colleague of his to attend to Lee but fate has more in store for them than they could possibly imagine…
As their journey propels them further into danger, herein lies the mastery of Womersley’s writing, and his innate ability to twist our preconceptions of the character’s criminal activities. As the relationship between Lee and Wild progresses, you find your empathy aroused despite your initial impressions, and as Womersley unveils the layers to their essentially damaged personas, he carefully constructs a poignant and thoughtful examination of a relationship forged by the necessity of escape and redemption. As they overcome their mutual distrust of each other and strengthen their bond, fuelled by the pursuance by Josef, who himself is an incredibly interesting character working at the behest of others, Womersley draws us into their strengths and failings, through his sublime prose and dialogue that immerses us completely in the very human weaknesses of this triumvirate. Equally, Womersley highlights the sense of survival that can arise in the bleakest of circumstances, and conversely, how this bleakness can extinguish hope in others, as events overtake our three to a heartwrenching denouement.
Womersley is to my mind, an exceptional writer, with comparisons to Jim Crace or Ron Rash, with his fluidity of prose and his use of imagery. Every scene is so easy to conjure up in the reader’s imagination, and he imbues the novel with a sense of unease, through every change of location. The world ticks on around the characters, but the situation they find themselves in is suffocating with tension, despite their efforts to escape and totally immerses the reader in their trials. This is a sublime and perfectly constructed literary crime thriller that I hope many among you will discover for yourselves.