Oh gawd dammit look who’s crying again

Review only no rating as I DNF. It’s very rare I don’t finish a book. I’m too nosy for that. I also have zero triggers. But something hit differently when reading this & that was it. If you take anything from this - take the trigger it is a tough read!

I didn’t like this book. It is based on a true story and almost every character dies. Very different writing from his other stories so I didn’t enjoy it as much.

I couldn’t believe this was a true story. As always, Bryce’s characters come alive in this book and will have a lasting presence in my mind. This book is full of wisdom, inspiration, historical and political insights and interesting relationships outside the norm. It explores how one’s true self and the truth one knows can be entirely wiped out in the real world if those that care about you are not there. It reveals the brutality of living in Australia in the early-19th Century, a life so detached from my cushy city existence yet somehow Bryce makes the story and characters relatable in some ways. It was great to read a story of a powerful, strong-willed, independent, practical and tough woman dealing with motherhood, heartbreak, farm work, estrangement, and so much death and betrayal and finding her own community and contentment despite all that.

I read this book REALLY quickly, over two evenings, so I did skim read quite a bit as I was on a deadline to finish. This was a book club book, which I had already made up my mind not to read, but then some other members shamed me into trying to read it before our meeting! So I was determined to get it finished.

Even though I did skim read this book, it did not stop my enjoyment from it!

The book it separated into 3 parts of the main character, Jessica's life. I loved the first part of the book, the way that the hard life of outback Australia at the start of the 20th century was narrated. The way the countryside was described was fantastic, I really could imagine the beauty in the dry, dusty land with all the wild life (especially all the detail about the snakes!). Courtenay really brought it all alive for me, I really was there! The hardships of being brought up to be the son that her father never had, really interested me, and captured my interest. I loved all characters, they felt very fleshed out and realistic. The love I felt for Jessica and her father, Joe, was very real, and the hated for her mother and sister was extremely strong! For this section it would be a 4/5 stars.

Parts 2 and 3 didn't capture my imagination as much, it was still interesting reading about what happened to Jessica after the climax at the end of part 1 but I did not find it as exciting. Though the side character of Solly Goldberg will stay with me for a long time, because he was so amazing! Part 3 focused very heavily on the rights of aborigine women after WW1, and this was fascinating, I learnt so much about this group of people that I didn't know much about. But it felt like a separate book to me, where I didn't think Jessica featured as much. This read to me almost like a history book, where part 1 and 2 was a historical fiction, I would have preferred to have this part in a different book completely where it was all about aborigine rights. I can appreciate that this book is based on a real story, and real life doesn't often follow a pattern of a fictional story, so I can understand how part 3 was included! These parts were 3 stars for me, which is why the book is 3 stars overall.

I will certainly be looking into more books by Courtenay!

This is a story that will linger. It will stay with you for a while.

Jessica is based on a true story of a hardworking tomboy growing up in the bush, helping her father tend to the farm. The second born girl when the family really needed a boy.

Bryce Courtenay, as always, writes beautifully, depicting the harsh landscape of the Australian bush and life early in the 20th century in vivid detail. The characters are so well developed I can still picture them all in my head.

I think the description on #goodreads sums it up perfectly; “this novel is heartbreaking in its innocence, and shattering in its brutality”.

Not as good as The Power of One. Lots of cliches and lots of padding, but the main character kind of got to me. Courtenay could have found a better ending, I think.

Jessica is a story of an extraordinary girl who has a close relationship with her father and a non-existent one with her mother, who simply detests her. Jessica has one sister who is groomed to become, at all costs, the wife of a local wealthy farmer's son.

Money is short in Jessica's family and they exist solely on the small income Jessica and her father Joe earn from working on their small family farm, as well as working seasonally in the local shearing shed. Jessica works as hard as any young man in both places and soon earns the respect of everyone, except of course, her mother and sister.

Her best friend is the son of a local wealthy farmer and their friendship is a deep and special one. A terrible accident occurs that starts a trajectory of change. Jessica's humanity rises to the fore and shines. Her life is open and truthful and she cannot stand by and watch any injustice done to another human being.

World War I looms and sends many a young man off to war. The family structure changes for Jessica and for four years she suffers terribly because of her mother's hatred for her. Along the way she earns the respect of several different characters who enter her life. Each admire her spirit, grit and determination and their lives intertwine.

The book contains disappointment, love, loss, loneliness, despair and some hope along the path to achieving justice where it is most deserved.

Jessica is ‘A striking and … moving story’ the Age extract on the cover announces, and it is. Moreover, I found in this work the character remarkably real, the Australian land she lives in powerfully described and very satisfying. This strong young woman comes to life vividly without the aid of contrived mannerisms Courtenay had used in earlier books for his central characters.

Her life is hard and yet she is likable and loving, thoughtful and caring, isolated but not alone. She copes with her fathers’ silent love and her mother and sisters rejection of her existence when she is pronounced guilty of committing an unpardonable sin. Ultimately Jessica is sinned against, in a far more vile way, by her own family as they use her dilemma to their own advantage.

Rather than finding the ending tragic, and yes I did weep, I found it uplifting. The plot is triumph over adversity, a beautiful young woman who quietly achieves a great deal in a short time affecting many people while being giving of herself along the way.

I have to add, this is one of the few Courtney books I have enjoyed, many others have disappointed me with tragic with endings involving horrible deaths.

READ IT. One of the best books ever. I'm going to re-read it this summer <3

Our library book club choice. What a complete waste of time ploughing through the 676 pages of this novel. I could have edited down to 176 pages and it still wouldn't have passed muster. Implausible plots and unbelievable characters make a turgid and disappointing read.

Not bad but not as good as other Courtenay novels.

I liked this novel well enough however, having read a few of his books by now, this was not a favourite. I felt it lacked the interesting content and characters of some of the other novels such as The Power of One, the Potato Factory trilogy and Four Fires. Although I enjoyed the references to the lost generation of aboriginal mixed race children (lest we forget) and the education on Australian snakes, I doubt that these nods to Australian social history and wildlife will endure in my consciousness as much as the wonderful information I gleaned from Four Fires, regarding Australian bushfires/firefighting and the fascinating Eucalyptus species, which I find ever more relevant given I am writing this in Jan 2020 as one of the fiercest bushfires rages out of control in New South Wales. Who ever even knew there were 700 species of Eucalyptus in Australia? I certainly didn’t prior to reading Four Fires.

What I enjoy the most about BC novels is the interweaving of brilliantly researched fact with fictional, colourful characters, spanning decades. This story did not entirely disappoint in this respect however, I felt he could have gotten another couple of decades out of this story, particularly given the length of BC’s novels (another attraction for me personally). Without wanting to add too many spoilers, I did feel a little let down that some of the characters in this particular novel, did not get their comeuppance as I would have liked to have seen, while others could, in my opinion, have credibly re-emerged from the dead (eg: surely a certain person would have had an interest in wanting to be presumed dead, as opposed to coming back to a woman he did not love, while having to watch his true love take a separate path) which would have made the story more satisfying. There was so much more potential in this novel. I hate to say that I found myself somewhat bored on occasions and a little disappointed at the lost opportunities. Overall it’s a novel, it’s OK to be fantastical on occasions, we can take it.