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we live with myriad trees
brush boxes engulf our balconies
October skins bursting pistachio green
beneath in bark litter
Chinese boys carry lattes
crack basketballs down the middle seam
Shallows
Dear Editor,
I write regarding Nancy Keesing’s complimentary but insufficient review of Tim Winton’s second novel, Shallows, in ABR (February–March, 1985). The reviewer’s expectations appear to have predetermined her evaluation of the novel’s worth. That Shallows exhibits the trademarks of a sophisticated narrative and structure, surpassing what one would normally expect from a young person, merely causes the reviewer to draw attention to the exceptionable nature of this fact rather than evaluate the merits of the novel in its own terms. As a result, her praise is patronising (albeit unintentionally).
A more serious consequence of such an emphasis on Winton’s youthfulness is that the fuller dimensions of the narrative have not been sufficiently related in the review. As Nancy Keesing correctly observes, it is true that Winton has captured the smalltown life of Albany, WA. It is true that he provides many interesting points of information re: whales and whaling. So also does he capture the nuances of social conversation and the contradictions of political activism.
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