MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Literary The Secret River by Kate Grenville

Bookpossum · 10-30-2013, 11:46 PM

You are very welcome, fantasyfan and I'm so glad (and relieved!) that people have found the book interesting to read and have largely enjoyed the experience.

I quite agree about Thornhill's loss of possible moral growth. I find the ending quite haunting because of course it stands for so many people. Safe in what is almost a fortress but deep down knowing what he did was unforgivable (and having that reinforced by his estranged son). The symbolism of building the house over the carved rock, as if to blot out any sign of the first inhabitants, and trying to blot them out of his mind as well, is one of the images which stayed with me after the first time I read the book some years ago.

Thanks again everyone for all your kind comments to me for my list of suggestions, and I'm looking forward to seeing what others' lists offer us in the future.

10-30-2013, 11:46 PM	#43
Bookpossum Snoozing in the sun Posts: 10,146 Karma: 115423645 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: iPad Mini, Kobo Touch	You are very welcome, fantasyfan and I'm so glad (and relieved!) that people have found the book interesting to read and have largely enjoyed the experience. I quite agree about Thornhill's loss of possible moral growth. I find the ending quite haunting because of course it stands for so many people. Safe in what is almost a fortress but deep down knowing what he did was unforgivable (and having that reinforced by his estranged son). The symbolism of building the house over the carved rock, as if to blot out any sign of the first inhabitants, and trying to blot them out of his mind as well, is one of the images which stayed with me after the first time I read the book some years ago. Thanks again everyone for all your kind comments to me for my list of suggestions, and I'm looking forward to seeing what others' lists offer us in the future.