Plot summary
The opening, closing and linking chapters of this novel describe introspections and observations by Janet Deakin. Janet lives in a small fictitious central Queensland town, "Drylands", and continues to run the local newsagency following the death of her farmer husband, Ted [2] .
Drylands and surrounds - offset by the relative escape represented by the coastal Queensland city of Rockhampton, and by "the coast" - provides a dusty backdrop for the disheartening experiences of several local residents and town visitors.
Intermittent chapters narrate the lives and misfortunes of a refugee from bureaucracy, Franzi Massig, a consulting writer, Evie, an unsuccessful farmer, Jim Randler and his neighbour's teenage son Toff, an Aboriginal man, Benny Shoforth, an overwrought housewife, Lannie Cunneen, and a frightened barmaid, Joss. Their lives intersect with other central and lesser characters, culminating in a depressing, perhaps "dystopian" patchwork view of life in a relatively remote Australian town.
Most of the main characters end up having to leave Drylands and move to the coast, as life in the town becomes increasingly unsustainable.
Astley focuses on issues such as Australian male violence, particularly directed against women (but also generally) with the theme of violence to women reiterated in several parts of the novel, and portrayed as one of the main reasons why such towns may be very challenging to live in. She also engages with other social problems such as corruption in bureaucracies and communities, pub culture, increasing teenage violence, historic and contemporary mistreatment of Aboriginal people, the difficulty of farming and surviving in Australia's dry outback regions, and the nature of various kinds of work.
Furthermore, Astley is concerned with the importance of the written word to represent "reality" in a way that can be understood by readers, and the potential erosion of this type of understanding, and its facilitation of imagination, through the inroads of our screen-based society.
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