AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'After briefly introducing Palm Island and its history as a place of punishment for Indigenous people, this essay looks at how readers respond to three books about Palm: Thea Astley’s The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow (1996), Chloe Hooper’s The Tall Man (2008), and Cathy McLennan’s Saltwater (2016). Using reviews posted by contributors to Goodreads, I investigate the colocation of terms which recur in positive reviews, in search of a specific form of reading, described here as “absorption.” Against the publishing and broader cultural conventions which differentiate fiction from non-fiction, the evidence shows that readers who describe themselves as having become absorbed tend also to praise these books for their truth, regardless of genre. The essay proposes some points of reference for thinking about the reading experience, and concludes by briefly noting the limits of using of genre in marketing, reviewing, and studying books. The essay is built on an awareness of the radical imbalance in the distribution of literacy in the region these books depict.' (Publication abstract)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
- The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow 1996 single work novel
- Saltwater : An Epic Fight for Justice in the Tropics 2016 single work autobiography
- The Tall Man : Death and Life on Palm Island 2008 single work prose
- Palm Island, Ingham area, Ingham - Cairns area, Queensland,