Having read her previous books, I am used to Caroline Overington's unique yet highly effective story telling style - so it was no surprise that No Place Like Home was told through the voice of a middle aged man. And as always she totally nails the character - in this case a Catholic Priest (and police chaplain) named Father Paul Doherty.
Father Paul gets a call about a siege that is underway at Bondi's popular Surf City Shopping Centre. It is a very unusual situation - after all things like that rarely happen in laid back (and exclusive) Bondi. What is even odder is the instigator of the siege - a former Tanzanian refugee named Ali Khan - has made no demands and seems just as perplexed by the whole situation as the four hostages holed up with him in a lingerie shop.
Father Paul's experiences are recounted while cleverly weaving the background stories of the hostages and Ali Khan into the narrative. Rejected in his home village due to his albino condition, Ali has lead a shockingly tragic life at the mercy of various government decisions (in both Africa and Australia). As the story unfolds you know it is not going to end well, but at the same time are drawn in by the numerous threads and feel compelled to know more.
Overington has the ability to highlight shocking social issues that for most of us simply slip under the radar. While we may hear about the plight of refugees in detention centres, most of us have no direct involvement with them and have no clue as to the way "the system" works. No Place Like Home is a tragic story that is also entirely plausible. Like most sieges the one at Surf City was not a sudden, rash decision by a crazed individual - rather it is the end product of a long list of bad decisions, each pushing Ali closer to the point of no return.
Amid all this sad subject matter, Overington's writing style is simple and concise and very easy to read. As I mentioned earlier she captures perfectly the voice of a fifty-something Australian man who almost all of us can easily relate to.
Overall a sad but gripping story that will leave it's mark and make you realise that for some people life is just not fair.
No comments:
Post a Comment