Continuing with my project to read all of Tim Winton’s novels this year, I have just finished Shallows, first published in 1984. As usual for his works, the location and geography feature strongly and I was happily thrown into an immediate sense of place along the south coast of Western Australia. In the small town of Angelus, everyone knows everyone and the inhabitants have been there for generations. It’s the late 1970s and when some Greenies have arrived to protest whaling, the historic economic driver of the town. Local girl Queenie (great name!) joins them; leaving her new husband and her elderly grandfather to take up the cause. Concurrently, the history of whaling in the area in the 1830s is revealed as Queenie’s husband obsessively reads her ancestor’s journals.
I found this a challenging read, for a few reasons. First, there were many characters introduced in the space of the first few chapters, making it a bit hard for me to keep up (I had to keep reading and re-reading and almost had to resort to taking notes). Second, the sexism and racism were confronting. I’m not suggesting at all that this reflected the author’s views but rather it just reflected the time in which the book was written. Nevertheless, it did impact my experience of reading the book.
It wasn’t all bad though, far from it. I like the way that the author keeps some details sparse rather than over-explaining, which allows the reader’s mind to wander and imagine a little. Plus, as already mentioned, the descriptions of the land-(& water-) scapes made me feel like I was really there.
Overall, I am glad I read this and am now looking forward to the next one on the list.
