Black Water by David Metzenthen
Once again this is a book from one of my favourite Australian authors. And yes, I do have a lot of favourite Australian authors.
In this book Farren Fox is a young man just at the age when he is torn between continuing at school and leaving school to get a job to help the family finances. His older brother is at Gallipoli, while all the shooting is going on. His father is a fisherman based in Queenscliff. Farren is fascinated by the sea and just waiting for his chance to join the fishing fleet. But then one day his father does not return. A few weeks later his brother does, but vastly different from the older brother that went to war.
In many books this would be enough, and the story would continue about how Farren and his brother learned to manage their lives. But Metzenthen adds two more challenges to the lives of these young men. First the child Souki, the only survivor of a shipwreck, enters Danny’s world. And then the father’s boat is found and returned to the family. Suddenly the book becomes much more than a typical coming-of-age tale.
I remember finishing this book with a wonderful feeling of warmth and satisfaction. What could have become a dark and depressing story is actually very uplifting. Again Metzenthen has written a wonderfully comforting story based on events that happened during the Great War.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
[...] Norm wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptFarren is fascinated by the sea and just waiting for his chance to join the fishing fleet. But then one day his father does not return. A few weeks later his brother does, but vastly different from the older brother that went to war. … [...]