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shelleyrae's review
5.0
Darkness on the Edge of Town is a haunting tale of loss, tenderness and violence set in an isolated Australian valley. On the road outside the hilltop home Vincent shares with his teenage daughter Gemma, he finds an upturned car and a young woman cradling the lifeless body of her baby son. A collector of broken things and broken people, when the woman reappears just days later, barefoot, bruised and distraught, Vincent takes her into his home, and his heart.
Despite the differences in age and gender, Cole has given both Vincent and Gemma an authentic voice which each resonate with me in a way that is difficult to articulate. Though grounded in simple first person narrative, the prose creates a haunting melody of loneliness, grief and desire.
I developed such genuine compassion for the protagonists of the novel, Vincent's kindness, Gemma's confusion and Rachel's grief are deeply affecting as they they vacillate between hope and despair.
Violence, compassion, love, responsibility and abuse entwine to create ambiguous relationships complicated by grief, jealousy and loneliness. Darkness on the Edge of Town explores the dynamics of intimacy with a rare sensitivity and truthfulness.
While the ending is perhaps more abrupt than I liked, it also creates a pleasing, if sad, symmetry.
Darkness on the Edge of Town is a compelling novel whose essence is powerful and honest. There are simply some stories that echo somewhere deep within, and for me, this was one of them.
lisa_setepenre's review
1.0
Gemma's dad, Vincent, collects broken things, including people. One night, he finds a woman, Rachel, crashed on the side of the road and takes her under his wing.
I'd read and loved Jessie Cole's second novel, [b:Deeper Water|22524254|Deeper Water|Jessie Cole|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403059921s/22524254.jpg|41972402], and was eager to read her debut, The Darkness on the Edge of Town. Sadly, I didn't love it. I didn't even like it. The writing is fine. It's decent, good – but nothing that made me sit up and fall in love with it.
Mostly, I was annoyed by Rachel and I was annoyed I was annoyed. Rachel is a victim of domestic abuse who flees her abusive partner with their baby. Her accident happens on a dangerous stretch of road and her baby is killed. Her circumstances automatically make me feel sorry for her, but it doesn't last. And instead, all I do is find myself frustrated by her. All she was a cipher. A theoretical victim, a plot device. I hate to say this but she felt a bit too much like a damsel in distress mixed in with a Manic Pixie Dream Girl – she did whacky things, spoke idiosyncratically and made things hard for everyone else. She desperately needed some agency that wasn't her running away from hospital/care to turn up on Vincent's doorstep or requiring his help in something that involves her boobs.
Vincent himself wasn't much better characterised and was somewhat unsavoury in the light of climax. The only character I liked that did have some characterisation was Gemma. But then, she adopted a kitten. Full marks, Gemma.
The plot felt a bit laboured, the ending abrupt and bewildering. All up, not one of my best reads this year and very disappointing after I'd loved Cole's second novel so much.
I'd read and loved Jessie Cole's second novel, [b:Deeper Water|22524254|Deeper Water|Jessie Cole|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403059921s/22524254.jpg|41972402], and was eager to read her debut, The Darkness on the Edge of Town. Sadly, I didn't love it. I didn't even like it. The writing is fine. It's decent, good – but nothing that made me sit up and fall in love with it.
Mostly, I was annoyed by Rachel and I was annoyed I was annoyed. Rachel is a victim of domestic abuse who flees her abusive partner with their baby. Her accident happens on a dangerous stretch of road and her baby is killed. Her circumstances automatically make me feel sorry for her, but it doesn't last. And instead, all I do is find myself frustrated by her. All she was a cipher. A theoretical victim, a plot device. I hate to say this but she felt a bit too much like a damsel in distress mixed in with a Manic Pixie Dream Girl – she did whacky things, spoke idiosyncratically and made things hard for everyone else. She desperately needed some agency that wasn't her running away from hospital/care to turn up on Vincent's doorstep or requiring his help in something that involves her boobs.
Vincent himself wasn't much better characterised and was somewhat unsavoury in the light of climax. The only character I liked that did have some characterisation was Gemma. But then, she adopted a kitten. Full marks, Gemma.
The plot felt a bit laboured, the ending abrupt and bewildering. All up, not one of my best reads this year and very disappointing after I'd loved Cole's second novel so much.
wtb_michael's review
3.0
A solid Australian novel about the appearance of a young woman in a small town and the subtle (and not so subtle) shockwaves that reverberate through the town. Nicely written and tightly plotted, but not hugely surprising.
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