A review by kathryn08
Spirits of the Ghan, by Judy Nunn
4.0
I enjoyed this, and learnt some things along the way! I hadn’t realised that the full Ghan railway hadn’t run all the way through from Adelaide to Darwin until the 21st century! I also hadn’t thought about what was involved in bringing the project about - the blasting through rock, the negotiations with Aboriginal elders, the remoteness from major centres…
Like my first Judy Nunn (Elianne), this was an interesting read. I read a Q&A with Judy Nunn on her website where she said that taking a train journey on the Ghan piqued her interest in writing about it, but I’m not sure how she got the idea to include the spirits of Aboriginal ancestors. In her Q&A she said that she wanted to make people think about what they believe about an afterlife. As a Christian, I definitely believe in an afterlife, but I’ve never had the experiences that Jess or Matt encounter. But perhaps as a product of Western civilisation (even growing up in a Christian environment), I am just less attuned to the spirit world than our Indigenous people, or even than people working in the outback environment.
ETA: I'm going to bump this one up to 4.5★, since I'm still thinking about it!
Like my first Judy Nunn (Elianne), this was an interesting read. I read a Q&A with Judy Nunn on her website where she said that taking a train journey on the Ghan piqued her interest in writing about it, but I’m not sure how she got the idea to include the spirits of Aboriginal ancestors. In her Q&A she said that she wanted to make people think about what they believe about an afterlife. As a Christian, I definitely believe in an afterlife, but I’ve never had the experiences that Jess or Matt encounter. But perhaps as a product of Western civilisation (even growing up in a Christian environment), I am just less attuned to the spirit world than our Indigenous people, or even than people working in the outback environment.
ETA: I'm going to bump this one up to 4.5★, since I'm still thinking about it!