A review by jetsilver
From Here On, Monsters by Elizabeth Bryer

4.0

I liked what this book was doing more than I liked how it did it, by which I mean its conceit is bloody brilliant and chilling and entirely correct, and at the same time it isn't the most engagingly written book. The idea is in the way of the execution, but also it doesn't matter because it makes its very good points in a very baroque way that I think is pretty effective, even while some readers will hurl the book across the room in frustration. It does not explain itself to you, and for me, that's completely fine. 

Everyone should read it, and it's going to be confusing to a greater or lesser degree depending on where a person sits in their political leanings and familiarity with Australian political and colonial history - particularly from the Tampa scandal onward. Or any version of Western colonial history, quite possibly. 

Extra props for the best, most subtle and damning sketch of how frustrating 'I don't see race' is to everyone who doesn't get that luxury. 

I'll be thinking about this one for a while.