A beautiful, complex story of people trying to understand where they’ve been and figure out what to do next. Winner of the 2017 Miles Franklin Award, Extinctions is a moving portrait of one family’s secrets, missed opportunities, and hopes for another chance at life. Beautifully written, with strong, memorable characters, Wilson’s latest takes readers on a deeply satisfying journey and reminds us of our power to create change.
All may be allegory, but Extinctions gets its hands dirty with a real plot and realistic characters ... takes a hard look at the politics of adoption, cultural appropriation, loss, deracination, and professional frustration, without Wilson letting up her fictional grip ... [Wilson] writes with great intention, calling upon us as individuals and as a society to change.
A story full of death, yet held together by subtle, lyrical prose that refuses to give way to despair ... Wilson's paragraphs and sentences have a rounded shape, in contrast to the currently fashionable way of writing, which tends to jagged, broken sentences. Her style encourages readers to savour each image and insight as it is revealed, without feeling that the narrative is constantly rushing forward to the next piece of "action". Some would call this style old-fashioned; in my view it has a lot going for it.
