Reviews

Het spiegelwoordenboek by Tara June Winch

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hoadjie's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

an interesting read. goes into a some history of Indigenous Australians

bookreviewswithkb's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

a deeply moving and beautiful exploration of the horrific outcomes, both at the community and individual level, of colonization, of the dehumanization, the abuse, the violence that Indigenous people have and continue to experience, of the power of revitalization, uncovering and bringing back one of the languages taken away from Indigenous people by white people, of recovering what was stolen [land, peace, seeds], of the cultural knowledge and community history that lives and breathes through language

“this country is made of impossible distances, places you can only reach by time travel. by speaking our language, by singing the mountains into existence.”

maxycat's review against another edition

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5.0

Loved this book. Deserved winner of the Miles Franklin June Winch takes the reader on a deeply personal and spiritual experience. It was really moving and got my in my feels a number of times. An amazing novel.

jaclyncrupi's review against another edition

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4.0

I finished this just in time to add it to my favourite Aus fiction of the year list. Tara June Winch is a dazzling writer (her first two books are favourites) and one of the many jewels of this book is her reclamation of Indigenous language. When I studied First Nation languages at uni in 1998 we were told we were studying languages that had died and a young woman in my class disagreed and told us about the work of Stan Grant Snr. For all I know that woman was Tara June Winch. Thrilled to see his work reach new heights in this book.

lilasky's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-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? No

3.5

marlee_grace's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I found the format challenging to digest and it took me about 50% of the book to actually get into it.

I'm glad I persisted. It has some important topics about indigenous culture from a different angle to what we usually are taught. I enjoyed the concept and reading an indigenous story from a fictional based on fact perspective.