Customer Reviews

The Rouseabout

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I've read a number of books by rural Australian authors recently, and one thing always annoys me about them: the superiority complex displayed through the writing. How come the farmers always have to write their city characters as stupid, often the bad guys, incompetent and unfit? How come they have to preach to us how much better the people on the land are? Sadly, I have also visited these authors' websites, and this actually appears to be an attitude that carries through into real life - something I find incredibly arrogant and downright wrong.

The general consensus seems to be that this is a better book then Jillaroo/River Run Deep (the title changes depending on what country you bought the book from!). I would have to disagree. I still enjoyed it very much - two nights in a row I stayed up nearly til dawn reading it - but I found it didn't get good until end.

Treasure writes characters who are very self-destructive. In Jillaroo I think this worked quite well. Here, not so much. I had a lot of trouble liking the stars of this book because they didn't seem to have a problem with the fact their actions hurt others. In Treasure's first book what was fascinating was that the characters deeply regretted things they had done, but they were trapped and didn't know how to get out. Here, that's just who they were, and they didn't really care.
For example, the book begins with something I don't like to read: a secret baby storyline. What if the situation was reversed? How would the mother feel if she was denied the opportunity to know she was a mother?!

Treasure keeps her crude country style (frank and gruesome descriptions of birth and motherhood might have benefitted from being toned down, and the drunken behaviour of these people - including sexual assault - is not acceptable just because it's the `country way'), and her country bias with blatant disdain for those living in more populated regions (How DARE the father marry a city woman with city children? Look how evil and stupid they are!). And God forbid you're a `mainlander' - we're such evil people out to destroy Tasmanian society! In fact, Kate was downright cruel to her city stepbrother, for no reason other than he wasn't automatically a farming expert. There is a lot of alcoholism and disgusting, destructive behaviour demonstrated by the young men and women of Treasure's stories. Maybe this is realistic? However, I find it hard to feel compassion for a heroine who not only spends her pregnancy drunk, but goes on to completely neglect her child for years after her birth. I don't care what measly excuses we are given for Kate's behaviour.

But, when all is said and done, Kate went some way to redeeming herself. So when ALL of the characters turned against her at the end, and Kate `realised everything that ever happened was her fault' I was disgusted. There were a lot of bad people here, and everyone turning on the heroine was wrong.

There was a lot of good here though. The author is a natural talent. Her writing flows, and she can convey emotion easily. Even when I wasn't enjoying a particular aspect of the book I still kept on reading because she made me want to know what would happen. The plotline is considerably predictable, but it is the way we get there that makes you want to turn the page. There is a lot more realism in Treasure's work than, say Fleur McDonald's - I felt like I was really there with this book.

The end of the book - though predictable - was very emotional, and I found myself teary. There are a number of Australian writers whose books focus on farming, and Rachael Treasure is by far the best of the bunch. If only the rural writers would let go of their prejudices against, well, everybody else in the world, their books would be so much better.

First sentence: "Kate Webster hung upside down on the spindly Hills Hoist [clothesline] in the backyard of her rented house in Orange." It's the story of a fun, flawed and no-nonsense country girl who'd been hurt by the passing of her mother and then being ignored by her grieving father.

I was hooked after just a few pages!

I loved and hated this book. I loved the enthusiastic writing style that keeps you reading and Kate's free spirit: the way she didn't give a damn what people thought about her, her funny whit, her get-up-and-go, and her smarts. Mostly I loved that she was flawed--human--it made me relate to her & empathise with her right away.

I loved the way she had a passion for her home, the way she wanted to be a better mother (talk is cheap though), the deep need for "more" from single guys she'd meet, her independence and the talks she had with her cute 3y/o daughter, Nell.

I was hooked on the mystery of how she'd get what she wanted, and I was brought to tears when she'd talk about her wonderful mother and not doing so well at motherhood, herself. I loved Kate's brother, Will. I loved the descriptions of the land and the different characters who all had their own distinct voices. My curiosity and love for the main character kept me reading through the things I didn't like, hoping it would get better.

I loved how easy going Kate's personality was, and that people ended up liking her even when they were determined not to (won't say who). It was written so well that I understood just how she won them over, because she'd already won me over. Nothing cornball, either.

The author had a wonderful way with words at times, and I'd re-read some things just to experience it again.

This book has re-sparked my desire to move to a more rural location because of the wonderful job the author did at depicting Kate's passion for country life. In that essence, I long to be more like Kate, and I've thought about the world of the novel many times since finishing it. I read it in two days, staying up late, because I was so hooked.

I'm SO glad I read this book, and I think the more a book draws you in, the more critical you can be when let down, so please take that into account for the below dislikes.

I hated: the way the plot was going and poor character progression by half way.

Kate got everything she wanted through everyone doing it for her, even though she did nasty things to them and used her best friend as a babysitting service (eventually paying her). Kate is the most selfish protagonist I've ever read.

I adored her in the beginning for her strength, but by mid-way I was tired of her constantly regressing and going back on her promises to herself. I was desperate for her to become a better person and mother but she stayed pretty much the same, except she fell in love. Tragedy was used for growth points that seemed eyerollingly over-dramatic (like a bad movie) and didn't do much to help Kate's journey (she'd later disregard/act against her epiphany anyway, so what was the point?).

Too many coincidences instead of Kate taking action and solving problems, like she did in the beginning.

Not enough time was spent on why Kate fell for Nick. Suddenly she was stating her strong feelings for him, and I thought I'd skipped a chapter somehow. Boy, there was a lot of cornball stuff in there for a book that started out so gutsy. By the end I think Kate had been abducted by aliens and substituted with a cliché romance novel heroine.

The book's biggest downfall was the romance, and while reading I kept thinking "this is the author's weak point." I've read a LOT better chemistry in fan fiction. There was NO sexual tension, either, between the love interests.

Descriptions of anything farming were interesting but confusing as it seems to be written only to be understood by country people in the same industry as the characters. None of the terms were simplified for me to imagine what was going on, so I felt like a clueless outsider.

Kate could be preachy at times, as if anyone not living the country life weren't true blue Aussies worth respect. Also, there was a lot of in your face Australian-ness, like the author was scared you'd forget they were Aussies (and I'm Australian).

The "bad/evil" characters/antagonists were always the non-country types, who weren't fleshed out, and were one dimensional. I would have loved Kate to put herself out for a second and bond with her step sister, to show her what was great about country life or even join in what her step sister was doing--ask her about what she was up to. But the step-sister was always just in the background as a cut-out character to put down, because she wasn't into anything country.

SPOILERS ...

Kate's step brother seemed like an interesting storyline (he crushed on her & even got creepy, and it seemed he'd make trouble), and I was very invested in where that might go, but he faded into the background, none of his previous actions having meant a thing (misleading).

At the end Kate works out that her step-brother has hooked up with Nick's ex, Felicity, because they both dress non-country. Felicity was a sensible girl, and Aden was an immature pain in the arse (because he's from the big, bad city, you know). Both not being from the country was a very shallow reason for them to hook up, but this is the author's prejudice at work. I suspect this prejudice is the same reason Kate's non-country step-mother got the contrived fate she did. I did not care for that!

It was also contrived for Nick to break up with Kate after he thought she'd been hitting on the guy in the bar, then say he understood a few days later, before she'd even explained anything to him. He got upset purely because the author wanted to infuse conflict & draw out their romance. Take it out of the story, and it affects nothing.

Big plot hole (central to the story): a sexually experienced girl, not on the pill, not even drunk, having unprotected sex on a dare. That's just too hard to believe. Then, even the next day, she didn't go to the doctor for the morning after pill.

END OF SPOILERS

All in all, a VERY easy to read, lively book that I'll never forget and (when all is said and done) remember fondly (if only for the superb first half!).