“Ol' Bill's bein' all cagey because it's hard for blokes to admit a woman might choose death over putting up with more of their bullshit.”

 

Samurai, Hobart. August 2021.

All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton

I have no problem with a protagonist being a precocious child, but there is a point where precociousness becomes aggravating, and young Molly Hook hit that point for me early on. In part, this is because I did not believe in her. Given the trauma and neglect of her upbringing - told in unyieldingly graphic detail - she is remarkably erudite and thoughtful. There is a difference between "taking a strength-based approach" to building a character and "taking the piss".

In terms of other characters, Greta and Yukio were fine, albeit thinly sketched. My main issue concerns the construction of Aubrey. Dalton wants to have his cake and eat it when it comes to Molly's cruel uncle. Dalton frames Aubrey as evil personified, making some effort to explain how he came to be this way. We have many (many) pages expended on how the traumatising childhood of young Aubrey has programmed him with hate. Hate is repeatedly cited as his key motivation, yet we are to accept that spurned love triggers his actions that propel the book. Make up your mind! This jarred for me.

Mostly though, I found the treatment of the landscape – and we’re talking the awe-inspiring, gorgeous but deadly Kakadu – slight and incomplete. Given that our protagonists are on foot and alone in far north Australia in late February, they have an effortless time of it. How and where Molly learned so much bushcraft is not entirely explained, and her preternatural gifts did have me rolling my eyes on occasion.

The story's arc is solid, and there are plenty of thrills, near misses to keep you on your toes. Still, the shallow treatment of Yukio and Sam’s respective cultures had me cringing. One might have hoped that the editing phase would have corrected this course.

In summation, if cliched characterisation, anachronistic behaviours and whimsical, trite self-help-isms are your thing, this may well be the book for you. If not, best give it a miss.

⭐ ⭐