Review: On a Barbarous Coast

On a Barbarous Coast by Craig Cormick
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

*heavy sigh*

Honestly, I hate writing reviews like this for books given to me by publishers, but WOW was this a piece of work.

My biggest problem with it - aside from being incredibly boring - is that it basically feels like an old white dude trying to cram anti-racism down your throat. I'm all for supporting anti-racism, but the delivery was all wrong and I found it so patronising.

There's also just no story to it. It's so dull! I blame Jock Serong's Preservation for giving me unrealistic expectations for this book. I was expecting a fascinating survival story set in the early days of Australia. I was expecting unprepared white fellas confronted by harsh climate, unforgiving scrubland, and the perplexing conundrum of interacting with the local Indigenous population when they're (the white dudes) all racist bastards. I was expecting insight into the fascinating practices, customs and general way of living of older Aboriginal cultures. I was expecting a thoughtful exploration of this early racism in the midst of a great story.

What did I get?

White dudes fighting with white dudes. White dudes complaining about everything. White dudes talking about murdering the locals coz they're black. One white dude reflecting on FRIGGING EVERYTHING instead of ACTUALLY TELLING THE STORY.

Not gonna lie, I skimmed the last 200-odd pages HARD.

This was supposed to be a 'fierce, intriguing and thoughtful retelling' and none of those things are true. The basic history is that the English invaded Australia, murdered a bunch of the locals then spent their lives trying to convert the rest of them to the 'white people' way of living. This book doesn't even come close to turning that on its head. This book is essentially just white people complaining and I had no time for it. Then you've got random chapters here and there finally told from the point of view of a local, and he just wants to throw random words at you and tell you random Aboriginal legends. This book STILL doesn't care about telling his story.

I just found the whole mess so frustrating.

When there are man-eating crocodiles around and I'm still bored, it's a bad sign.

There is definitely a lot of interesting information about the practices of Aboriginal people, but if I was interested in the facts of things delivered as bluntly as this I'd pick up a non-fiction book (I am, in fact, slowly working my way around to Dark Emu, which has been highly recommended for this kind of information). This book purports to be an intriguing re-telling, which automatically suggests everything about the story is false, and then it doesn't even give a story worthy of all the 'what if?'s.

It was utterly disappointing.

There were some moments that were interesting, but they were so scarce it felt like too little, too late. For a book that implies a necessary appreciation for the importance of Indigenous culture, it was told an awful lot from a white guy's point of view, and is predominantly about the discomfort of these white dudes. I HAD NO TIME FOR IT.

I'm just incredibly frustrated by how much this missed the mark. Maybe others more detail-oriented will appreciate it but for me it was too much about the author trying to make his own points rather than any kind of decent story.

If you are interested in a great story from the early days of Australian settlement, I'd highly recommend Preservation, my review of which can be found HERE
I also want to link to a friend's review of Dark Emu because it provides some great insight into the book, as well as other resources to check out. You can read Patty's review HERE

With thanks and apologies to A&U who sent me an ARC to read and review

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