Melissa Lucashenko’s novel Too Much Lip tells the story of stolen land and stolen children ... But this is not a story of suffering. This is a story of fighting back ... Lucashenko’s writing glides steadily forward even as it expands outward beyond Kerry’s point of view, moving smoothly from one character’s thoughts to another’s ... Lucashenko deftly voices these characters’ pain and rage, but her humor also crackles across the pages. The writing is consistently funny, but rather than serving to soften or balance, the humor instead lances and sharpens and reveals ... Vibrating with energy, both heartrending and hilarious, Too Much Lip offers a compelling multi-dimensional portrait of human strength in the face of human failure.
It is true that none of the characters in Too Much Lip ever pick up a book, but they are not without culture – yet it’s a culture we generally denigrate. Even the more positive reviewers focused too much on Too Much Lip’s gritty, dark undercurrents of dispossession and violence. I couldn’t understand how so many failed to acknowledge the crazy, lusty, pulsating-with-life joy that permeates every page ... Lucashenko’s is a rare and powerful voice ... Too Much Lip is ultimately a book about family, and love, and redemption, told by a strong and clear voice throbbing with unassailable humanity.
A daughter gets caught in her Aboriginal Australian family’s complicated legacy in Indigenous Australian writer Lucashenko’s darkly funny U.S. debut ... With strong voices and kinetic prose, Lucashenko’s engrossing narrative speaks to the ongoing traumas of indigenous life in Australia. This deserves to make a splash.
