I finished The Secret River last week and am now about halfway through Songs for the Dead.

I liked The Secret River. I didn’t love it but I think that’s mostly because of how frustrated I was while I was reading it, which is actually probably a big bonus for the book. What I did appreciate about it was that it told a much more honest narrative about what really happened when Europeans invaded ‘Australia’.

I don’t have too much to comment on it apart from that I thought it was well written. I really liked the descriptive languages and the characters. I also hated a lot of the characters as well. When finishing it, however, I really can’t think of much to comment on. Usually I have something that I remember distinctly or something that I want to talk about but there really isn’t anything specific that I can think of.

I do recommend reading the book though, especially if you are a non-Indigenous Australian and don’t actually know that much about the reality of this country’s histories. It might give some perspective that will hopefully lead into better education about Australia’s history with First Nations People and it’s current circumstances.

I’ve found a way to incorporate reading into my daily routine, and am getting through books I was even struggling to pick back up so that’s a plus. I might talk about The Secret River another day if something comes back to me but other than that, it was a nice style of writing, I like the story and it’s honesty with it’s themes. I like the character development and how it wrapped up but can’t think of anything intelligent to say about it.

Keep on reading!