Reviews

Hare's Fur, by Trevor Shearston

scribepub's review against another edition

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At once touching and exuding charm, this still manages to pack a punch. It’s a study of what can grow from trust and caring despite grief and misfortune, that no matter what stage of life a person is at, rebirth can be unexpected and come in many forms … uplifting and satisfying.
Scott Whitmont, Books + Publishing

The descriptions of landscape, on the plateaus as well as in the deep valleys, have the ring of truth about them that only comes from years of walking the area.
Good Reading

Hare’s Fur is a tale of convalescence, a restrained, moving story about how we discover new meaning in the wake of anguish ... Hare’s Fur is about the inevitable reconfiguring of a life. It shows us that, like Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with seams of gold, we too can mend ourselves, we too can reconnect our pieces.
Jack Callil, Australian Book Review

With luminous prose and ekphrasis, Shearston depicts the ubiquitously relatable challenge of handling change in everyday life. Hare’s Fur is a poignant story of the literal and figurative pottery of trust, friendship and new beginnings, dirty hands and all.
Jeremy George, Readings Booksellers

It’s a gentle tale about grief, hope, love and kindness … The elegance of this novel is in the unfolding; it is in the way each of the characters comes to trust the possibility of a future.
Laura Kroetsch, Adelaide Advertiser

This short novel could well become that literary holy grail: the successful young adult/adult crossover. It would also be a fascinating addition to state high school curriculums. The author of nine novels, Shearston is a fine stylist and an assured storyteller.
Mandy Sayer, Weekend Australian

A wonderful novel.
Jenny Barry, Co-organiser of Bathurst Writers’ and Readers’ Festival, Western Times Bathurst

This is a meditative novel about grief, work, loneliness, trust, and dealing with fragility, whether in pots or in children. Trevor Shearston is meticulous in recording the complexity and detail of Russell’s craft, and the unfolding of the plot is moving without ever sinking into sentimentality.
Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald

idreamofallthebooks's review against another edition

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3.0

There was something incredibly moving about the story of Russell and the three runaways.

From the beginning of the story, it was clear that Russell was seeking something to help fill the gap left in his life from the passing of his wife. Finding the children on his way to securing some additional material for his pottery was a blessing – especially for the increasingly isolated life he was starting to live.

Though I loved the premise of this story, I found the shifting points of view – from Russell’s present to his past – to be a little disjointed. As there were no chapters, it made the alternating time lines and trips into his memory a little hard to follow.

The establishment of setting, the bush in the Blue Mountains in particular, was incredibly well done. As he did this quite well, I wanted there to be more backstory for the kids and where they were living before being found in the bush.

Thank you for @scribepub for gifting me a copy to review!

hayley_loves_books's review against another edition

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3.0

3.7 stars.
A beautiful heartfelt book about loss, grief and the possibility of new beginnings.

Lyrical prose written as a short novel of 194 pages without the use of chapters.
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