Sam Watson (1) (–2019)

There is much to commend this book -- the explication of Aboriginal mysticism and structure of gods, the hubris of gods and people who seek to dominate others, and the Queensland attempt at genocide of aboriginal peoples in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These sections of the novel were compelling and engaging. But there are distractions that, for me, reduce the power of the novel -- frequent and exploitative, kinky, and too often brutal sex scenes with multiple partners, gory details of killings by the Queensland Native Police Force and vengeance killing by a half-caste son of a god and mortal, rampant racism, and placing the story in the late 1960s and early 1970s (per a reference to Mick Jagger). These distractions reinforce negative stereotypes and engender revulsion. Is this a confrontational allegory of racism leading to killings intended to provoke sympathy for the Aboriginal position and genocide? If so, I don't find it successful. I was tempted to not look deeper into the Aboriginal genocide, but to date have managed only a shallow dive into understanding some of the basics of unconscionable slaughter that took place over a 100 year period. While the killings slowly diminished by the 1930s, more subtle means of killing (neglect, hunger, lack of rights, unequal justice, and forcible removal of Aboriginal children) took hold and inflicted more lasting damage for several more decades (and probably to the present). [For a similar focus on the Aboriginal story in Australia, I much prefer Thomas Keneally's 'The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith' (1972), while Keneally later admitted he should not have written the novel from the perspective of a black, it remains a powerful story. Admittedly, I read the novel back in 1982 while living in Japan. That may color my memory.]… (más)