This will hurt me...

Private Pole. Lindisfarne, February 2021. John Crow's Devil by Marlon James This is an exceptionally dark and disturbing book. Not for the squeamish or faint-hearted, this reads like a magical realist Jamaican take on Cormac McCarthy's  Blood Meridian . Heavily religious in tone and written in thick patois, this is no easy read. Nonetheless, it will reward the patient reader. Exceptionally violent at points and brutally frank when it comes to the body. Indeed, I suspect this book has the highest ratio of bodily fluids spilt per page (not to mention the abundant and vivid examinations of various characters' genitalia). It isn't fair to say that I  loved  this book. It was difficult going at times, but given it is a raw excoriation of post-colonial withdrawal and the hypocrisies of organised religion (and prophets of a more disorganised sort), it would not be right if it were easy. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2

Gull on the beach. Rheban Beach, Tasmania. February 2021. Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser I found this an odd little book. While I do understand that the essence of the work was to explore how "life is what happens when you're making other plans", 528 pages is an awful lot to spend meandering about with little focus on what it is that they are wandering towards (or away from, which may be closer to the point). There is an immense sadness that permeates throughout. While I am generally quite comfortable with ragged narrative arcs, multiple narrators or the complex weaving of interlinked stories, I must confess to not quite seeing the point of choosing  these  two characters. Ravi - while less fully realised - was the more compelling of the two. Perhaps due to the more immediately wrenching of the personal narrative, I found myself much more forgiving of his aimlessness and seeming indifference to the currents moving around him. In Laura, I found her aimlessness

Sunshine and clouds. Hobart, February 2021. Flake by Matthew Dooley A dour, but fun little exploration into the trials and tribulations of a mildly depressed ice cream vendor in the bleak north of England. The stark and simple illustrative style and bleak colour palette compliment the incredibly dour tale. An adventure tale (of sorts), there are good guys, bad guys, cryptic crosswords and pub quizzes. Worth a look, and you'll be able to knock it over in a single sitting. ⭐ ⭐⭐