genre: contemporary fiction
When the narrator of our story visits a small religious commune in the Australian Outback, she doesn't anticipate that one day she will choose to make it her home. With losses both personal and existential weighing on her, the women she serves with will become a kind of family. When tragedy comes to the door in more than one form, can the peace she finds within these secluded walls be enough to help her forgive herself?
I decided to read (listen) to this because it recently won the Booker Prize. For me it was slow-going and I always felt like I was watching the story through a dusty window instead of being present. Like our narrator's issues clouded my own viewing of what's happening. I haven't read much about rural Australia or about small religous communities, so it wasn't like I was disinterested, I just didn't find myself connected enough to be eager to keep returning. There are beautiful (and upsetting) parts, I just left it feeling blah.
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