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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Vanishing Moment by Margaret Wild (view source)
Revision as of 14:09, 29 December 2014
, 14:09, 29 December 2014no edit summary
This book appealed to me on various grounds. It is teen fiction (and, joy of joys, devoid of werewolves and dystopia), it is by an Australian author (under-represented on UK shelves), and it involves parallel universes (tantalising philosophical what-ifs). I was intrigued to see if the author could live up to my expectations.
The book isn't obviously Australian until you reach the occasional understated description of a gum tree (whose branches are '''bellying with leaves'''), birds with improbable names ('''The calls of currawongs, honeyeaters and crimson rosellas make her feel as if she's in a concert hall''') and the bushland. Personally, I could have done with a bit more of this, to place the book firmly in its home setting, but perhaps that's being greedy. After all, Margaret Wild didn't set out to write a tourism brochure.
The story revolves around three people, Arrow and Marika and, to a lesser extent, Bob. It isn't at first clear how the three voices will come together but they do, eventually, neatly and cleverly. Typical of Margaret Wild's brevity, the characters are lightly but well drawn. Bob, in particular, has few pages of his own yet we understand his miserable life in an instant. The individual tragedies of the two girls are revealed more slowly. Both girls are overcome by grief and self-blame, for very different reasons, and both girls are likeable for their honesty. There are some lovely cameos too. There is an unlikely, and uplifting, friendship between Arrow and her neighbour Mr Watts where, again, few words say much.
