![]() ![]() When sober again he has no memory of what he’s done and becomes tender once more.īut she never forgets. When he’s drunk he beats her, sometimes so savagely that her blood spatters the walls of their home. He adores the child but as his alcoholism worsens and she grows older, that love evaporates. ![]() The young Sonja is offloaded into the care of other families so her father can go to work. More significantly the novel traces the decline of his relationship with his daughter. They reveal Bojan’s memories of killings and piled up corpses from clashes between Nazis and Slovenians, his love for Maria and his descent into depression-fuelled alcoholic binges after she disappeared. Is she hoping for a reconciliation or does she simply want an answer to the question that has plagued her throughout her life: why did her mother leave?įlanagan zig zags between the present and the present in 38 short chapters told from the perspectives of both Bojan and Sonja. Thirty five years later Sonja goes back to Tasmania to seek out her father. She disappears into a blizzard, never to return. Yet Bojan and his wife Maria, having fled the atrocities of war in Slovenia, see this as the start of a new life.īut one night during the winter of 1954 Maria walks out of their home, leaving behind her husband and a three year old daughter Sonja. It’s physically demanding work that most Australians view with distaste. A Place of Safetyīojan Buloh is one of the many refugees employed there to build huge dams that will convert the region’s abundant water resources into hydroelectric power. The novel begins in 1954 at a construction workers’ camp in the highlands of Tasmania. The result is a beautifully written tale that astutely examines despair and pain but holds out a glimmer of hope for the future. Richard Flanagan’s second novel puts the lives of one family into a sweeping historical context of war and the search for fresh beginnings in a new land. Long after I’ll have forgotten the plot details and the names of the characters, I will remember the atmosphere of the book and the emotions I experienced when reading it. The Sound Of One Hand Clapping is one of those novels that has leaves an indelible mark on my mind. ![]()
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