The book is dense- each sentence is filled with imagery and requires thought to parse them. The book is poetic-Wright is a brilliant writer as evidenced by the language and weaving in of her #ownvoices storytelling. The Swan Book is intense- it’s a dystopian, post apocalyptic story. It scores in the low threes on GoodReads with quite a few obliviously (and overtly) racist one-star reviews. I knew if I looked at reviews I would see white supremacy on full display. I’ve seen it for years now in the library space, which is part of why, as a librarian, I started reviewing books here and on my blog that do not go through traditional channels.īut the conversation hit home with the book I just finished reading. There is a lot of gate keeping and upholding of white supremacy in the publishing industry (and its review arm) and in libraries. The subject has come up several times recently on Instagram, but it’s by no means a new discussion. ![]() I don’t normally post about books I’m currently reading, but we need to talk about racism and white supremacy in book reviews. I think this is an important conversation so I have put the review here too and edited it a bit to fit better with the blog. ![]() I recently read a book and shared my thoughts about it on Instagram. It follows the life of a mute young woman called Oblivia, the victim of gang-rape by petrol-sniffing youths, from the displaced community where she lives in a hulk, in a swamp filled with rusting boats, and thousands of black swans, to her marriage to Warren Finch, the first Aboriginal president of Australia, and her elevation to the position of First Lady, confined to a tower in a flooded and lawless southern city. The background is a dark charcoal grey and the author’s name and the title of the book are in red and orange overlaid on the picture.įrom Goodreads: The Swan Book is set in the future, with Aboriginals still living under the Intervention in the north, in an environment fundamentally altered by climate change. ![]() The bird is well lit so they feathers shine and look like scales. Image description: A close up of a black swan’s head, neck and shoulders.
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