Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

9 reviews

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

My first Australian gothic! This book was filled with descriptions of college and aristocratic life in direct contrast with the natural landscape of the outback. The building tension from the outset to the aftermath of the picnic was well done in building dread, and you could really feel everything crumbling apart before your eyes. It felt a bit like a fever dream as you’re taken along on this atmospheric ride with the characters, like you’re right there with them. So glad I finally read this one and I’m keen to watch the movie/show adaptations of it.
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crowyhead's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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heddasch's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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rosemaryandrue's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

On St. Valentine’s Day in 1900, three Australian schoolgirls and their teacher vanish while on a school outing at Hanging Rock. Though they have disappeared from view like a rock dropped into water, the consequences of what happened will ripple outward until they touch the stories of even those who had been on the periphery of their lives.

I’ve had my eye on the book for a few months now, so when I opened my Cannonball Book Exchange package from ElCiccio to find she’d send me a copy, I was super excited. And quite without meaning to I picked the perfect time to read it.

I took my copy on holiday to Fort Lauderdale, where I started reading it on a blustery afternoon at the beach and finished it after a leisurely few hours strolling around the Bonnet House Museum, an idyllic time capsule of a house that was built and occupied by the same family for the past hundred years, with the last resident turning it over to the state of Florida as a museum when she passed away at the age of 109. It was an apt place for Picnic at Hanging Rock, a book which among other things deals with the peculiarities of time.

This is a short but deliciously written book, and I savored every chapter I read. Though the central mystery of the disappearances is not solved, it doesn’t really matter because the story is more about the people who are left behind. Lindsay plays with reality and time with gleeful abandon – I understand now why so many doubts have swirled around about if the story was based in fact or not. I came away from the end of the book with sense of sadness and dread, but fascination too at the tricks that ‘destiny’ can play. Perhaps I have discovered a new favorite book.

I did, of course, read the famous Chapter Eighteen, which was cut off the original manuscript before publication. It contains the solution to the fate of the girls (well, as much as the reader can know, anyway), and the parting imagery I was left with thoroughly creeped me out. It’s a mark of how perfect Picnic at Hanging Rock is that I concluded I hadn’t really missed its absence.
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ellie_deb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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edamamebean's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I’ve been wanting to pick this up for at least three or four years. It was just as good, if not better, than I hoped it would be. Lovers of open-shut mysteries won’t like it very much, as it leaves you with more questions than answers, but those questions linger long after the last page. This one will definitely stick with me and I won’t be surprised if I end up reading it again someday. 
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kumquats87's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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simone_ebony's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Although the writing at times felt almost deliberately full of jargon, I think the end really saved it from being about a 3 and a half. As soon as
Dora Lumley died, it really took a turn for the better and I really enjoyed the end. The suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere was very well crafted and I think I'll be thinking about this book for a long time. I see why its a classic
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ramblingravioli's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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