The Swan Book (Alexis Wright, Giramondo)

Author and Indigenous academic Alexis Wright’s haunting third novel is hard to capture in simple terms as, similar to her previous fiction, it operates largely through abstraction and metaphor. Wright’s political undertones, however, are always clear. Though set in the future, The Swan Book takes a scalpel to modern-day Australia. Climate change, the ‘NT Intervention’ and asylum seekers are just some of the topical issues refracted through the hard-edged-yet-vulnerable gaze of Oblivia, a mute teenager driven from her remote community following a shocking act of violence. Oblivia’s travels through a dystopic landscape rip open the scars of Australian history—scars which, according to Wright, refuse to heal. While the fantastical plot is sometimes overwhelmed by her dense, poetic style, Wright should be commended for lifting such heavy issues above the artless sloganeering of politicians and the media. Nearly half the size of her Miles Franklin-winning novel Carpentaria, this latest offering is more complex. At times The Swan Book resembles a verse novel, squaring firmly with publisher Giramondo’s commitment to high-art literature. Readers who surrender to the musicality of Wright’s surreal and beautiful prose should be challenged in the best possible way.

Emily Laidlaw is a freelance writer and marketing coordinator for Kill Your Darlings

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews