Review by Booklist Review
Although this tale is grounded, quite literally, in Australia, its interior landscape and intensity of language carry one over any stray incomprehensibilities of aboriginal or local vernacular. Snip is an artist who lives a nomad's existence, carrying her sleeping bag, her paints, and her heart's wounds from place to place until her grandmother's legacy--a wad of cash and the instructions to "hunt him down" --move her to confront her father, Bud, whose actions have exerted such emotional coercion over Snip and her mother that neither of them can break free. The center of the book is a long, hallucinatory sojourn in the desert, where Bud's folly has dragged them. There Snip learns the vicious answers to the questions that have dogged her about her parents' breakup. We see with pitiless clarity how completely Bud has formed her character, including her longing for and withdrawal from Dave, the sweet man who loves her. A fierce, white-hot read with a rough ending--but, oh, what a journey there. --GraceAnne A. DeCandido
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
FYI: Gemmell's first novel, Shiver, a bestseller in Australia but not published in the States, has been optioned for film by director Roger Donaldson. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Snip Freeman's mother calls her a neophiliacÄalways in search of something new. A 30-year old painter, Snip is the product of a violently broken home, a willing abduction, and a mass of unanswered questions. A bequest from her grandmother sends Snip across the Australian continent in search of her father, Bud. She advertises for a driving companion and finds Dave. Unwillingly, she falls in love with him, but then they part. Snip finds Bud and takes off with him on a disasterous road trip that leaves them stranded in the desert. While waiting for rescue or death, Snip drags the ugly story of her parents' troubles out of Bud. As a result of her desert ordeal, Snip decides to try a more permanent and settled life with Dave. Gemmell tells a compelling story, beautifully laced with a mix of Aboriginal and European culture. She provides a rhythmic see-saw from desert to water, from old to new. The Australian slang used is a little puzzling at first, but this detracts little from a well-told tale. Recommended. [This is Australian Gremmell's second novel but the first to be published in the United States.ÄEd.]ÄJoanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Australian Gemmell's scorched-earth story, her second novel but first to be published here, features an artist drifter and her dad, who, after 20 years, finally face the skeletons in the family closet when stranded together in the heart of the Outback. For Phillipa 'Snip' Freeman the adventure begins with a check in the mail, her grandmother's gift, accompanied by a request to track him down'the 'him' being Snip's father, Bud. Uncertain why but game to find out, she buys an SUV, picks up a traveling companion, and heads far into the desert, to the remote aboriginal community where Bud lives and where she's visited regularly since she was old enough to get there on her own. En route she discovers that her roadmate, Dave, an archaeologist, to be more than compatible; by the time they reach Alice Springs, the last outpost of white civilization, they're completely smitten with each other. It's such a new feeling for them both that when Dave says the wrong thing, Snip drops him in a huff, making the last leg of her trip alone and missing him terribly. As soon as she contacts Bud, circumstances force them to leave together immediately, yet misfortune travels with them: on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere, a rock punches a hole in the SUV's gas tank, and they're stuck. Food and water run out eventually, and in the days of torment that follow, Snip learns the ugly secret that destroyed her family'and also receives a loving letter Dave had sent to Bud. Bud then disappears. In her last, lonely extremity Snip sets the bush afire at night, which draws an aboriginal rescuer, and ultimately she's reunited with Dave. Her happy ending, though, is not without its sorrows. The brittle, complicated Snip is a revelation and truly engrossing, but next to her, every other character is as insubstantial as a desert mirage.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
