Sunday, 11 August 2019

Review of a novel 'Bloke' by Bruce Pascoe


“At last Bob ambled into the yard to take a piss
 at the base of the lemon tree.
As you do.
Scratched his napper, rearranged his balls.
I could see the thought of a cup of tea cross his mind.”

The above quote neatly summarises everything I enjoyed of the language of the novel 'Bloke'. The language makes images jump from the page. The reader is in the yard. The reader can see Bob scratch his head. Oddly, the reader can also see the thought of a cup of tea cross Bob’s mind.

This was the first of Bruce Pascoe’s fictional works that I had read. I first read Pascoe’s non-fiction work Dark Emu. Pascoe writes fiction in a manner like Tim Winton; both engaging the reader in the colour and spectacular of the Australian environment.

I particularly enjoyed the use of metyonmy; so swim-fins where referred to as slippers.

Shalom,
Ozhamada

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