Reviews

Home by Larissa Behrendt

mistymoon24's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I learned a lot more about the stolen generation from this book than any other source of media. It was well written and all of the characters developed well. It was difficult on the audiobook to follow the changing POVs - even just a chapter header would have helped a lot of confusion.

febyidrus's review against another edition

3.0

A powerful book - its plot is very compelling. But Behrendt's style is nothing to write home about. Ha! Pun! And I didn't even mean that.

gemini_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

lucyp21's review against another edition

4.0

This book was one I picked up on impulse in the library, partly because it promised a family saga kind of story, which I am finding I like, and partly because I'm in Australia for a limited time and my library back in the UK is very unlikely to stock books by Aboriginal authors (especially considering how small my usual library is) and I wanted to take advantage of the chance to read a different perspective.

I hate to say that this book is an important book to read, it is, but there are thousands of books which are 'important' and you won't have time to read them all. I personally found this book really compelling, although what happened to a lot of the characters was fairly horrific and hard to read a lot of the time, I really wanted to find out what would happen to all the characters. The characters all had their good and bad traits and they all made mistakes but due to the POV switching, you could see why they made those decisions. Especially Danny, because ouch.

I dropped a star from this book because I felt the ending was quite abrupt and I think there were a few too many characters and it stretched the book a little bit with the different subplots and issues it covered but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

archytas's review against another edition

4.0

An engaging historical novel following the trevails of one woman's children over the years. I have a general liking for this genre, which usually has to contrive reasons for the descendents to be scattered to the winds. Unfortunately, Behrendt doesn't have to resort to that, because the very real policy of child removal of Aboriginal children creates plenty of loss. The large cast are treated with varying degrees of depth, which worked for me, as slices of a life alternate with deep insight in giving a glimpse of changing time, and diaspora. Highly recommended.

thepagesilivein's review

5.0

I really enjoyed this book and found it incredibly valuable. The fact that the book is based on real accounts of the hardships faced by one Indigenous family gives a harrowing reminder of what Indigenous people have faced in the last century, leading up to today.
I didn't find the writing style too difficult to follow, however the story is completely non-linear, so I wouldn't recommend it as an easy read that wouldn't require too much thought. Definitely worth the read!