Reviews

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan

jmatkinson1's review against another edition

4.0

Francie lies in a hospital bed, she is old and is suffering but her three children are insistent that all attempts are made to keep her awake. High-flying Anna has to balance caring for her mother with dealing with her layabout son and all around her things are disappearing, material things, parts of her body and then parts of other people. Terzo is guilty about the suicide of his brother but in becoming materially successful he has become lonely. Tommy, the youngest, is seen as a failure by his siblings. As bushfires rage, the climate gets warmer and species become extinct, Francie fades.
I really like Flanagan's writing, he has a knack of producing very hypnotic prose that sucks the reader in. Here there are lots of very deep areas explored - superficially the care of the elderly, more deeply different forms of stress affecting mid-lifers and more profoundly the human impact on the environment. This multi-layered approach is really clever and one can almost forgive the rather 'psychedelic' passages.

binstonbirchill's review

4.0

This is a bit of a strange novel with a mix of threads that threaten to resist any intended weaving process. Or something like that. The main thread has our narrator and her siblings deciding what to do about their dying elderly mother. There are some very real moments and anyone that’s been in a similar situation will definitely relate to much of it. There’s an analogy to the environment, somehow there’s people who find it annoying when environmental concerns are encountered in literature, but I personally found it fitting if a bit clunky in execution. There’s also a thread about a finger that suddenly disappears, but whose really gonna notice something that incidental.

achjlles's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

read this for my honours australian literature class & it is the third book to ever make me cry. when

Spoiler

anna went into gus’ room and saw both of his ears and one of his eyes had vanished and she just walked away

i found my face covered in tears and i had to take a walk before i could continue reading. that said i didn’t love this. the form was, at first weird and kind of annoying, but you definitely get used to it and it does make sense. flanagan also isn’t particularly subtle and felt a little heavy handed at times, but i think that might be the point. overall, a solid read

sprezzatura09's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Stunning and devastating - cannot recommend enough.

paigej101's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.75

evathebug's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-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

4.0

ladyeremite's review against another edition

5.0

Once, every so often, we read a book that encapsulates, in words much more eloquent than we could ever summon, a certain imprecise feeling we have about the world. Flanagan's novel does that for me. Perhaps you'd say it's a bit heavy-handed, a bit too on the nose... but then again, that's how I'fe felt for at least this past year and a half. Haunting, melancholic and yet strangely beautiful, an elegy for the end of the world.

carlamaeshep's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

vb_94's review

reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

comet_or_dove's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5