I read Australian books.
And I read not-Australian books.
I'm tickled when the not-Australian books end up having Australia in them.
Right now I'm reading Sisterhood Everlasting. It's part of Traveling Pants franchise. This one's about the girl's in their adulthood.
Australia plays a part in the story.
I was looking forward to reading something happy and uplifting, because I've been feeling a bit down.
But it turns out the book is very depressing.
It's making me more down. I feel like I'm drowning in a blizzard of uncertainty and hopelessness.
I'm guessing, though, that in the end, the book will have some uplifting bits.
I wrote a really long post about this in my head...in bed. But for here, I'll keep it short.
I'm gonna try to go back to sleep.
And I read not-Australian books.
I'm tickled when the not-Australian books end up having Australia in them.
Right now I'm reading Sisterhood Everlasting. It's part of Traveling Pants franchise. This one's about the girl's in their adulthood.
Australia plays a part in the story.
I was looking forward to reading something happy and uplifting, because I've been feeling a bit down.
But it turns out the book is very depressing.
It's making me more down. I feel like I'm drowning in a blizzard of uncertainty and hopelessness.
I'm guessing, though, that in the end, the book will have some uplifting bits.
I wrote a really long post about this in my head...in bed. But for here, I'll keep it short.
I'm gonna try to go back to sleep.
Ah about a year ago the same thing happened to me. I picked it out to read on the trip from Melbourne back home thinking it'd be a fun read to fill in my journey. WRONG. I was on a coach bawling my eyes out. SO SAD.
ReplyDeleteBut also, i found it really disappointing. I loved the first four books but this one just bugged me, it didn't seem believable at all, especially Carmen.
Oh and as for Australia.. I'm not convinced the author has ever been here.. without giving anything away at one point she mentions catching fireflies in NSW. Umm.. I've never in my life seen one in Aus.. I didn't even think they were a real thing until I lived in PA. I know they exist in like tropical QLD, but not just outside Sydney!!
I was annoyed, because I was excited by the nod to Aus as well. But yeah, that book totally bummed me out. I'd be interested to hear what you think when you finish it.. (the ending is MUCH better than the beginning if that helps)
Kate,
ReplyDeleteIt's a very dark book...at least so far.
I was shocked by what happened. I'm not morally against what one of the characters did...in a general sense. But she did it in such an awful way. I'm waiting to see if there's some twist to the story...some explanation for her actions.
Invite your best friends for a holiday in Greece and then...
No. That's just so wrong.
I don't think the fireflies would be strong evidence of whether the author has been to Australia or not.
I've been to Australia twice and wouldn't know offhand (before you said it) if there were fireflies or not. If someone asked me, I'd probably sit there and say "Well...uh...maybe?"
I think what it indicates is she didn't do enough research. In this day and age, there's no excuse for not getting the needed information.
OR....well, maybe she did do research.
I decided to google to see what I found.
This message board has some talk about fireflies in NSW. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=25721
Okay...I got to the firefly part in the book.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to indicate a lack of research.
From what I read on the message board, fireflies are possible in NSW, but rare.
In the book, it's inferred that their commonplace.
So far I'm getting the sense that Brashares randomly chose Australia as a far away destination. There's no details in the writing to give a sense of Australia.
At least not so far.
I think a parrot needs to fly by....or something like that.
That's how I felt.. Like it's Australia but not really Australia.. It just seemed like somewhere far away but culturally similar enough to the Us that she didn't have to do a whole lot of research to make it plausible.. Maybe she's been here on vacation or something but yeah, it felt a little bit 'let's pick somewhere on the other side of the world that still speaks English'.. Seems like you're flying through it though!
ReplyDeleteI finished reading the book this afternoon. I ended up liking it, and I'm SO glad there was an explanation for certain actions.
ReplyDeleteI do wish more effort was put into Australia. I think you're right. Maybe she just wanted a place far away where English was spoken.
Although it's not like there was interaction with any Australians.
It makes me wonder if London and Greece were handled in the same way. I think I read another one of the books. I can't remember if there's a lot of detail about Greece. Or am I just remembering the movies?
I don't think there's much detail about London.
Ha I wanted to say it from the get go but didn't want to ruin the ending for you... makes a lot more sense now right!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think you may be right.. Especially about London, the name of the place is used but that's about it. Greece there is more detail, but as I've never been to Greece ( sadly) it's hard to know if it was written very generically or not, but it felt more authentic. Maybe because so much more happens there, compared to London/Aus..
But I'm glad you ended up liking it. I really enjoyed reading the part where Carmen was on the train and starts being Carmen again.