RaveNBThis is a very clever novel depicting as it does the writing process both physical and mental. The latter with its need to have confidence to invest time in writing with no real certainty that your work will be either good or considered fit for publication. Casey’s thoughts show this dilemma in all it’s painful twitches and unfolding ... King is an extraordinary skilled writer to give us the contradictions with such subtlety in this rolling account. But of particular interest was that she chose to see the issue—not just of the emerging writer—but to meld it with a woman’s wider uncertainties of life. She could have presented Casey as merely gawky, but instead we have a sympathetic portrait of a woman trying very hard to get on with life—and to be a creative achiever too. This is a very fine read—I will be looking for more of her books.
Thomas Keneally
RaveNB... markedly Australian ... Taken together, the two themes reflect on family life, morality, values, community support, co-operation or violence and maintaining peace – the principles and the realities for both the indigenous Australian and one from a First World or Western culture – over many millennia.
