My short review of Left of the Rising Sun by John Holland. This, to me, is a story of survival against the greatest of odds. The main character in this book is a young boy of ten years old. Through an unfortunate set of circumstance he finds himself stranded in the Australian Outback. He decides his best chance of survival is to walk the several hundred kilometres to home and safety. This would seem an impossible feat for one of his tender years, but Buck Brown is cut from strong cloth. However he will face a multitude of dangers and challenges on his epic trek. He will also encounter an old blind aboriginal man named Sammy. He and Buck team up. But tragedy is in store. The interactions between Buck and Sammy are some of my favourite parts of this book. Sammy is a man caught between two very different cultures. After leaving tribal life as a young man he has worked with the white man all over the North of Australia. Now blind and old he has returned to his home lands only to find it isn’t so easy to fit back into his old life. I don’t want to give too much away in this review. However, those who read the book can expect the usual strong sense of time and place this writer always displays in his work. John Holland’s work reminds me a little of Jack London and somewhat of Hemingway. However he is too original to typecast. Expect to be fascinated by the strong, clear, very much Australian, voice of the author. I highly recommend this fascinating book. Though there is death in it I think Left of the Rising Sun will appeal to all ages. It is available as an ebook and in print. Available from Amazon: amzn/B00O45SJN2
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 04:34:22 +0000
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