I received a free review copy of Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey from Booktagger‘s free book review program. Thanks Booktagger and thanks Allen & Unwin!

A poignant tale of the shedding of childhood innocence

‘Jasper Jones’ is set in a small Australian country town where the maintenance of reputation and the keeping of secrets prevail over honesty. It follows the journey of one young boy’s struggle with his dreams, the meaning of courage, and love.

The steam of the hot Australian summer combine with dioramas of what small town Australia must have been like in the mid-60s (at the height of the Vietnam war) and its hidden ugliness – ignorance, the fear of the unknown and racism – that manifests itself from time to time in anger, frustration and violence.

While the mystery part of the book is riveting, I feel it is the eloquence of the dialogue and debates on good and evil with all its attendant grey areas that is at the book’s core. There are some truly good characters, and some truly bad ones, but the majority seem to fall in between – just like real life.

At times uplifting, but mostly bittersweet, I quite enjoyed reading this book for the above reasons but also for its charming usage of Australian slang (so that’s how you spell ‘carn’!). If I had to quibble with it, I’d say it’s too much like an Australian version of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and its liberal and unsubtle references to said book were distracting.

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