- Paperback: 217 pages
- Publisher: Walker Books Ltd (2 Jan 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0744559960
- ISBN-13: 978-0744559965
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 242,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"* "Sonya Hartnett, the Australian author of slick, chilly psychological thrillers for teenagers, is at last being published in the UK." The Times Educational Supplement
Product Description
Now I would like to tell you about my brother, Tin. James Augustin Barnabas Flute, he was, born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings...During the long, hungry years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute's family struggles to cope with life on the hot, dusty land. Her younger brother Tin seeks refuge in the contrast of an ancient subterranean world. A world that nurtures but - as disturbing events in the community reveal - can also kill. A world that is silent, yet absorbs secrets. A world that has the power to change lives for ever. Young readers will find themselves both challenged and entertained by this sophisticated, entertaining new title from an internationally acclaimed author.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read another book by this author (What The Birds See) and I found the ending too upsetting for me, so I was apprehensive about reading this... but it was one of those books which is so beautifully written that you could read it simply for the taste of the words.
The characters seem real - they are very well crafted - and the plot is involving, too. It reads as an older style book: John Steinbeck, someone compared it to. I don't normally like that sort of thing - I get impatient or feel I can't really relate to it enough - but this was an unexpected jewel. And the ending was unexpected, though completely believable, and hopeful.
Give yourself a good couple of chapters to get into the style and pace of it, and then you will be gripped.
Try it.
The characters seem real - they are very well crafted - and the plot is involving, too. It reads as an older style book: John Steinbeck, someone compared it to. I don't normally like that sort of thing - I get impatient or feel I can't really relate to it enough - but this was an unexpected jewel. And the ending was unexpected, though completely believable, and hopeful.
Give yourself a good couple of chapters to get into the style and pace of it, and then you will be gripped.
Try it.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The caving-in of the muddy banks near Harper Flute's home, burying alive her younger brother, sets the tone for this book. It's a life where the characters appear to be suffocating.
The young narrator watches her impoverished family continue to life in isolation while their neighbours move on. Her strange brother, Tin, burrows tunnels for himself underneath the house, to catastrophic effect. But his path echoes their father's self-imposed refuge; a retreat he beat away from his own Pa's bullying demands.
As the family's troubles worsen, Tin, attempts to leave them behind, literally carving out a new place in his interior world. Far from merely 'digging himself a hole', Tin's route is deliberate, becoming the dynamo at its centre. As a reader we're urged on; we need to know what will become of the Flute family. Despite the arid landscape that serves as its backdrop the prose is lyical and its climax expertly built.
Hartnett says there are those that accuse her work of being too old in its approach or bleak to qualify as children's literature. In her defense she says: "I do not really write for children: I write only for me, and for the few people I hope to please, and I write for the story".
And write the story she does, magnificently.
The young narrator watches her impoverished family continue to life in isolation while their neighbours move on. Her strange brother, Tin, burrows tunnels for himself underneath the house, to catastrophic effect. But his path echoes their father's self-imposed refuge; a retreat he beat away from his own Pa's bullying demands.
As the family's troubles worsen, Tin, attempts to leave them behind, literally carving out a new place in his interior world. Far from merely 'digging himself a hole', Tin's route is deliberate, becoming the dynamo at its centre. As a reader we're urged on; we need to know what will become of the Flute family. Despite the arid landscape that serves as its backdrop the prose is lyical and its climax expertly built.
Hartnett says there are those that accuse her work of being too old in its approach or bleak to qualify as children's literature. In her defense she says: "I do not really write for children: I write only for me, and for the few people I hope to please, and I write for the story".
And write the story she does, magnificently.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is my first taste of Sonya Hartnett's writing and her 11th novel (published in 2000) - no mean feat for a then 32 year old. Thursday's Child is set in rural Australia during the Great Depression although the environment is somewhat generic with little to identify it as antipodean apart from a few sundry references to plant life and some place names. However, this is, first and foremost, a novel about people rather than place.
The story is narrated by Harper Flute with the Thursday's Child of the title being her younger brother "Tin James Augustus Barnabas Flute, he was, born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings, but we called him Tin for short". Her other siblings are Caffy, her youngest brother and her older brother and sister, Devon and Audrey. Not only are the name choices quirky but so is the fact that Tin becomes a feral child living in a series of subterranean tunnels and that his parents barely bat an eyelid! As Tin merrily excavates his way underground, literally, his parents, meanwhile, stick their heads in metaphorical sand as they blithely go about life, barely eking out a living on their soldier settlement. The father, ex soldier,Court, knows nothing about farming and doesn't seem interested in learning so he hunts rabbits most of the time whilst his family and home degenerate around him. The mother doesn't contribute much either and it seems that Audrey and Harper are the mother figures here with Harper taking the most interest in Tin and his exploits.
This is a novel for Young Adults so I suppose the author can be forgiven for having a certain lack of depth to her characters but I feel it had so much potential as a novel for all ages. Lots of philosophical questions are raised like how small and fragile human beings are when pitted against nature and how, if we're not careful, lethargy can swallow us up just like the earth consumed Tin and others. It's a coming of age story, with moments of brilliance in its deeply lyrical narrative. The overall tone is sadness as the family disintegrates under the weight of grinding poverty. You feel that Harper has grown as a result of all this turmoil but at what cost?
There is an ethereal, mystical quality to Sonya Hartnett's writing which has really impressed me. Part of me wishes the setting could have been more distinct but I guess the indeterminate background serves to highlight the Everyman element of this tale as poverty is universal and doesn't recognise geographical borders! I will most definitely be on the look out for more from this author.
The story is narrated by Harper Flute with the Thursday's Child of the title being her younger brother "Tin James Augustus Barnabas Flute, he was, born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings, but we called him Tin for short". Her other siblings are Caffy, her youngest brother and her older brother and sister, Devon and Audrey. Not only are the name choices quirky but so is the fact that Tin becomes a feral child living in a series of subterranean tunnels and that his parents barely bat an eyelid! As Tin merrily excavates his way underground, literally, his parents, meanwhile, stick their heads in metaphorical sand as they blithely go about life, barely eking out a living on their soldier settlement. The father, ex soldier,Court, knows nothing about farming and doesn't seem interested in learning so he hunts rabbits most of the time whilst his family and home degenerate around him. The mother doesn't contribute much either and it seems that Audrey and Harper are the mother figures here with Harper taking the most interest in Tin and his exploits.
This is a novel for Young Adults so I suppose the author can be forgiven for having a certain lack of depth to her characters but I feel it had so much potential as a novel for all ages. Lots of philosophical questions are raised like how small and fragile human beings are when pitted against nature and how, if we're not careful, lethargy can swallow us up just like the earth consumed Tin and others. It's a coming of age story, with moments of brilliance in its deeply lyrical narrative. The overall tone is sadness as the family disintegrates under the weight of grinding poverty. You feel that Harper has grown as a result of all this turmoil but at what cost?
There is an ethereal, mystical quality to Sonya Hartnett's writing which has really impressed me. Part of me wishes the setting could have been more distinct but I guess the indeterminate background serves to highlight the Everyman element of this tale as poverty is universal and doesn't recognise geographical borders! I will most definitely be on the look out for more from this author.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good Read, Unusual and Sometimes Odd
Winner of a Guardian Children's Book Award, I picked this up on a bargain book stand. The story is about a family in Australia (it is never stated as Australia I think, but... Read more
Published on 14 April 2010 by Sir Furboy
The pinnacle of children's literature
"Thursday's Child" by Sonya Hartnett, has exceeded in exporting a stunning debut novel. I like to read some of the finest exponents of children's fiction today, ie... Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2002
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