By Lynne Dunn
If you only read one book a year, I recommend that you make Boy Swallows Universe the book for 2024. It follows the life of a young boy and his family through to his late teens, and it will make you laugh and cry in equal measures. The story is based loosely on the author鈥檚 life and Trent Dalton has done an excellent job.鈥�
The novel is set in late 1980s Brisbane, among the drug users and dealers. It is beautifully written, so much so that I sometimes looked up from my reading and was surprised to find that I was in 2024 Richmond and not in 1988 Brisbane. It is possibly the best book that I have read in a long time.鈥�
The characters in this story are so well drawn, they immediately become part of your life. You feel as though you know these people, and, as a result, you care for some and hope that the law catches up with others. It is a tale told through the eyes of Eli Bell. Settings, neighbourhoods, prisons – they are all so beautifully sketched in order to draw the reader into his world as it was at that time.鈥�
The horror is real, the fun is funny, the sadness is heart-rending – the story is superbly told.鈥�
In an interview with Trent Dalton that I read recently, he spoke of his family and his early years. He is one of four sons of an alcoholic father and a drug-addicted mother. Both his mother and his stepfather spent time in prison for various offences, and on this he based his story of two boys in the same circumstances. When asked how they had overcome all these 鈥榙ifficulties鈥� to become the people that they are today, his answer was 鈥渓ove鈥�. He was loved by his parents, by his stepfather, who also loved his mother, and by his babysitter, a convicted killer. He, in turn, loved them. It is a beautifully crafted story of that love, and well worth the read.
Link Wentworth wishes to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which we work and pay our respect to the Elders past, present and emerging, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.