Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett: book review

Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett (2011) is set in Cloudy Bay on the remote south coast of Tasmania, an island off the mainland of Australia. Out past the shallows is deep water.

The story is about an abalone fishing community and the lives of three brothers: Joe, Miles, and Harry. Their ‘deep water’ is their unpredicatable, moody, bitter, secretive father, just called Dad. Joe, the oldest, left home, but Miles and Harry are too young to leave. Their relief from their father is the beach and its treasures – seaweed, seabirds, surf, shells, fish, dunes, and driftwood.

Sometimes they visit their mother’s sister, Aunty Jean, but she is old with arthritis, and she cuts their hair too short. She comes to their place too, to collect their dirty laundry on washing day.

They live and breathe the coast and its waves. Miles says, ‘There were things that no one could teach you – things about the water. You just knew them or you didn’t and no one could tell you how to read it. How to feel it.’ Miles knew not to trust it.

Harry, the youngest, is the most popular. Everyone loves Harry, except his father. Miles tries to protect him from Dad’s anger, but he can’t be with Harry all day, especially when he’s cleaning the fishing boat.

Harry is afraid of the water, but sometimes he goes on the boat with Dad, Miles, and the other fishermen. And then there was the accident.

This is a poignant story of brothery bonds, fatherly anger, loss, and loneliness. Told simply, the narration is evocative but sparse. Some things just can’t be said – to each other – to their father. The brevity of conversation is striking.

MARTINA NICOLLS

MartinaNicollsWebsite

Global Gentlemanliness

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Apes go to the movies - and remember the scenes

Apes remember major events in movies, even after a single viewing. That’s the findings of primate research in Japan (New Scientist, September 17, 2015). Researchers at the Kyoto University in Japan conducted experiments with two species of apes – chimpanzees and bonobo primates – to test their memory and recall. Instead of using food to test memory, they used films. The researchers made two short movies to show to the apes. Fumihiro Kano and his colleague, Satoshi Hirata, starred in the films with another person dressed as an ape. They wanted to have strong dramatic scenes to see if the apes remembered them. In the first 30-second movie the character ape bursts through a door on the right hand side (there is also a door on the left hand side) and attacks the two researchers (characters) 18 seconds after the start. After 24 seconds a human character choses one of two weapons next to each other and launched a revenge attack on the ape. In the second 30-second movie t...

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog