Sarah Sweet is a watcher. She sees the way the smoke rises from the sulphide works to wreath the little Australian town of Boolaroo; she watches Dad, when he's not being a policeman, breaking horses in the back paddock behind the house. Sarah has learnt to observe, to be quiet, to avoid notice, filled with a fury so intense it threatens to overwhelm her.
The Breaking is the story of a family tainted by the force of rage, of a young life haunted by it, but also of the strength it gives to fight back. In its evocation of the parched landscape of rural Australia, the strange cadences of the language and the filmic vividness of its characters, The Breaking is a unique, lyrical testament to the power of the human spirit.
***
The main road of Boolaroo begins and ends at the primary school, depending on which way you are travelling. ONE
***
(@AllenAndUnwin, 4 May 2021, ebook, 256 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @BorrowBox)
***
***
I really enjoyed The Breaking. It's a bleak book and quite dark at times as Sarah's life is tainted by the threat of violence that surrounded her every day in the house where she grew up. She is her father's daughter. The author does a great job bringing rural Australia to life. I felt like I was really there observing Sarah's life. The book touches on domestic violence but with a gentle hand. It's not graphic. It's implied more than anything. I was mesmerised by this book.
