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Swallow the Air
When May's mother dies suddenly, she and her brother Billy are taken in by Aunty. However, their loss leaves them both searching for their place in a world that doesn't seem to want them. While Billy takes his own destructive path, May sets off to find her father and her Aboriginal identity.
Her journey leads her from the Australian east coast to the far north, but it is the people she meets, not the destinations, that teach her what it is to belong.
Her journey leads her from the Australian east coast to the far north, but it is the people she meets, not the destinations, that teach her what it is to belong.
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First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
Tara June Winch
12 books559 followersTara June Winch is an Australian (Wiradjuri) author. Her first novel, Swallow the Air won several literary awards. In 2008, she was mentored by Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka as part of the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. After The Carnage, her second book was published in 2016 to critical acclaim. Her third, The Yield, was first published in 2019, to commercial and critical success and took out three prizes including Book of the Year at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Voss Prize, and the Prime Minister's Literary Award. She resides in France with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 220 reviews
January 20, 2016
Swallow The Air is absolutely breathtaking. An emotional journey of Australia and it's indigenous community through the eyes of a young girl touched by sadness. Never have I felt so moved by any work of fiction. May was a character representative of aspects of our broken country, where Aboriginal communities are left behind while white society moves forward. Her struggle made my heart ache with grief, losing her mother at such a tender age and trying to find that sense of family once more.
The prose is lyrical, yet incredibly haunting. The vividness of May's journey from the mining Town of Wollongong to the far north of Australia truly is a love letter to outback Australia. She sees beauty in the land we take for granted while her vision without a doubt creating wanderlust in readers. Equally exposed to abuse as she is to the kindness strangers, May's spirit shines. She's determined and intelligent, but hasn't been given an opportunity for an education or carefree life that most children are now afforded, so seeks out the family she never knew to learn about herself and her heritage.
Even beyond the storyline, the writing is immaculate. A mixture of lyricism and stark rawness rarely seen in young adult fiction.
Daylight blanching our dreamings, the gritty air fuming back to our noses, engines starting back in our listening, and we remember what we're all really seeing. Beach lines of gutters, trunks of layered windows, metal wings fleeing the sky, and dinner on the stove. We don't mind, because anytime we can leave in our minds.
One of the realities May also faces is how Indigenous Australians can be treated by our police, authorities and our communities. May's life isn't a stereotype, she's a young woman that society as a whole has neglected, representing our traditional land owners that have been overlooked. May's journey to search for her white father makes for an incredibly emotional read, finding herself, finding who she is and rising above the issues that plague her community and forging her own path.
Swallow The Air is a must read, in particular for fellow Australians who love fictional stories that are true to life. May's story is heartbreaking, poignant and joyful and I loved each and every moment of her journey. It's a love letter to our wide, red land despite our issues and differences. Tara June Winch is a phenomenal author who places the reader on the road to self discovery along with May, where you will share the sadness and hope of this remarkable young lady.
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2016/01/b...
The prose is lyrical, yet incredibly haunting. The vividness of May's journey from the mining Town of Wollongong to the far north of Australia truly is a love letter to outback Australia. She sees beauty in the land we take for granted while her vision without a doubt creating wanderlust in readers. Equally exposed to abuse as she is to the kindness strangers, May's spirit shines. She's determined and intelligent, but hasn't been given an opportunity for an education or carefree life that most children are now afforded, so seeks out the family she never knew to learn about herself and her heritage.
Even beyond the storyline, the writing is immaculate. A mixture of lyricism and stark rawness rarely seen in young adult fiction.
Daylight blanching our dreamings, the gritty air fuming back to our noses, engines starting back in our listening, and we remember what we're all really seeing. Beach lines of gutters, trunks of layered windows, metal wings fleeing the sky, and dinner on the stove. We don't mind, because anytime we can leave in our minds.
One of the realities May also faces is how Indigenous Australians can be treated by our police, authorities and our communities. May's life isn't a stereotype, she's a young woman that society as a whole has neglected, representing our traditional land owners that have been overlooked. May's journey to search for her white father makes for an incredibly emotional read, finding herself, finding who she is and rising above the issues that plague her community and forging her own path.
Swallow The Air is a must read, in particular for fellow Australians who love fictional stories that are true to life. May's story is heartbreaking, poignant and joyful and I loved each and every moment of her journey. It's a love letter to our wide, red land despite our issues and differences. Tara June Winch is a phenomenal author who places the reader on the road to self discovery along with May, where you will share the sadness and hope of this remarkable young lady.
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2016/01/b...
August 4, 2023
May Gibson grew up poor in Wollongong, abandoned early on by her father. She and her brother, Billy, spent evenings around a fire pit as Mum told stories of her Aboriginal upbringing.
It turns out, though, that Mum is “head sick”. She committed suicide when the kids were still fairly young so Aunty took them in. But Billy starts abusing drink and drugs, so May decides to leave at the tender age of 14. With nothing but a head full of family memories, she decides to go looking for “her people”. She hitches a ride North, thinking she might find her father up in Darwin. Sadly, that doesn’t go well but, thanks to the kindness of strangers, she finally finds the last remaining Gibsons in NSW.
[What happens next might shed some light on why Canadians have such an affinity for Australia and its people. There are certain things we truly have in common…]
Once inside, and after assuring her cousin she’s not looking for money, she tells him her Mom told her all kinds of stories, so she’s just looking for family.
5 “You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It turns out, though, that Mum is “head sick”. She committed suicide when the kids were still fairly young so Aunty took them in. But Billy starts abusing drink and drugs, so May decides to leave at the tender age of 14. With nothing but a head full of family memories, she decides to go looking for “her people”. She hitches a ride North, thinking she might find her father up in Darwin. Sadly, that doesn’t go well but, thanks to the kindness of strangers, she finally finds the last remaining Gibsons in NSW.
[What happens next might shed some light on why Canadians have such an affinity for Australia and its people. There are certain things we truly have in common…]
Once inside, and after assuring her cousin she’s not looking for money, she tells him her Mom told her all kinds of stories, so she’s just looking for family.
‘Stories, ha! What do you want to know? Where ya get ya skin from, ya tribal name, ya totem, ya star chart, the meaning of the world? Thought us Gibsons’d give ya the answers, ha!’ … ‘You’re just like your grandmother, you know that? But she knew it. She died of hope, you know that? The thing is, we weren’t allowed to be what you’re looking for, and we weren’t told what was right, we weren’t taught by anyone. There is a big missing hole between this place and the place you’re looking for. That place, that people, that something you’re looking for. It’s gone. It was taken away. We weren’t told, love; we weren’t allowed to be Aboriginal.By now she’s pretty heartsick but she continues to put one foot in front of the other. And I’ll have to leave it there, but I recommend you read this very short book (100+ pages) and find out for yourself if her journey ends on a happier note.😉
5 “You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
March 7, 2016
May Gibson is a young woman of mixed Aboriginal and European heritage, living in disadvantaged circumstances in Wollongong. Billy, May’s older brother, is her closest companion, although he has a different father. The story follows May’s life after the sudden death of her mother when she was a child. She and her older brother Billy were taken in by Aunty, who loved them, looked after them to the best of her ability. However Aunty has alcohol and gambling problems and an abusive boyfriend. May loves going to the beach to hang out, until one day she is raped by white boys in the dunes. Eventually she runs away.
Throughout her teenage and young adult years, May moves around a lot, and mixes with many people of Aboriginal heritage, living with drug, alcohol, unemployment and violence issues. She has drug abuse issues of her own, and a lack of identity. Initially she tries to trace her natural father in Darwin, but returns to Sydney without finding him. Later she looks in western NSW for members of her mother’s family, part of the Wiradjuri nation. She is desperately trying to find herself and her true family, and to locate her real home. Eventually she returns to Wollongong to resume contact with her Aunty and brother Billy.
The book is slight, and the chapters are brief, more like vignettes than full-blown chapters. The writing is spare, lyrical, poetic and entrancing. There is a lack of sentimentality which I found refreshing. May talks about social problems with a calm, matter-of-fact voice, belying the pain and sadness which sits underneath.
Winch simply writes about a life which to me seems to be based in reality, perhaps being semi-autobiographical. She illustrates clearly the circumstances under which many Aboriginal people live, but she does not over-dramatise or become self-indulgent. There are flashes of humour which enliven the narrative, and May’s character shines through in the end. Some readers may find the subject matter not to their taste, or find the spare prose unsatisfying. However, the book did win the David Unaipon Prize for Indigenous Writing in 2006, a deserved winner in my opinion.
4.5★s
Throughout her teenage and young adult years, May moves around a lot, and mixes with many people of Aboriginal heritage, living with drug, alcohol, unemployment and violence issues. She has drug abuse issues of her own, and a lack of identity. Initially she tries to trace her natural father in Darwin, but returns to Sydney without finding him. Later she looks in western NSW for members of her mother’s family, part of the Wiradjuri nation. She is desperately trying to find herself and her true family, and to locate her real home. Eventually she returns to Wollongong to resume contact with her Aunty and brother Billy.
The book is slight, and the chapters are brief, more like vignettes than full-blown chapters. The writing is spare, lyrical, poetic and entrancing. There is a lack of sentimentality which I found refreshing. May talks about social problems with a calm, matter-of-fact voice, belying the pain and sadness which sits underneath.
Winch simply writes about a life which to me seems to be based in reality, perhaps being semi-autobiographical. She illustrates clearly the circumstances under which many Aboriginal people live, but she does not over-dramatise or become self-indulgent. There are flashes of humour which enliven the narrative, and May’s character shines through in the end. Some readers may find the subject matter not to their taste, or find the spare prose unsatisfying. However, the book did win the David Unaipon Prize for Indigenous Writing in 2006, a deserved winner in my opinion.
4.5★s
November 5, 2016
Just want to rate this because for almost 8 months I struggled through this book. It's not a long book either, but I struggled. I deconstructed 80% of this book and then wrote countless essays for my final year of high school. I have so much hatred for this book and the characters.
Sure, the language is beautiful. But, it's so descriptive that I was frustrated.
However, the story is both fiction and fact because the author contributes parts she herself experience. Still, this does not change my opinion.
Sure, the language is beautiful. But, it's so descriptive that I was frustrated.
However, the story is both fiction and fact because the author contributes parts she herself experience. Still, this does not change my opinion.
August 11, 2016
Swallow the Air by indigenous Australian author Tara June Winch has been on Year 12 reading lists almost from its first release in 2006, and I think it’s a very good choice of text to introduce young people to indigenous writing. It’s confronting, because Winch writes with disconcerting frankness about indigenous issues and lifestyles, but it’s also beautiful, uplifting, and often rather funny. In other words, it resists attempts to stereotype indigenous people head on, and I like that.
It is true that there are some very dark themes tackled in this, the author’s first (and so far, only?) novel. Structured in very short chapters which are not always entirely coherent, the novel depicts a life that is not coherent. There is domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, discrimination, depression and suicide. But it is not a ‘misery memoir’ in style, but rather an honest acknowledgement of how things are, for many indigenous people. The central character, May Gibson, of mixed descent, lives in a dysfunctional family, and when after her mother’s suicide she takes off across Australia to find her family, her father and her identity, she encounters more than a few dysfunctional characters on the way. But she herself is strong, and although she briefly drifts into drugs and crime in Redfern, she is determined not to succumb to the hopelessness that dogs her brother.
I have refrained from writing too much in my review because it is a text on Year 12 reading lists but if you are interested to read further, please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/03/22/sw...
It is true that there are some very dark themes tackled in this, the author’s first (and so far, only?) novel. Structured in very short chapters which are not always entirely coherent, the novel depicts a life that is not coherent. There is domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, poverty, discrimination, depression and suicide. But it is not a ‘misery memoir’ in style, but rather an honest acknowledgement of how things are, for many indigenous people. The central character, May Gibson, of mixed descent, lives in a dysfunctional family, and when after her mother’s suicide she takes off across Australia to find her family, her father and her identity, she encounters more than a few dysfunctional characters on the way. But she herself is strong, and although she briefly drifts into drugs and crime in Redfern, she is determined not to succumb to the hopelessness that dogs her brother.
I have refrained from writing too much in my review because it is a text on Year 12 reading lists but if you are interested to read further, please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/03/22/sw...
December 23, 2019
A contemporary but ancient story. One with a lot of pain and sadness but also love and belonging.
It's the familiar story of indigenous people trying to find solace in their sorrow and loss through substance abuse leading to a cycle of more sorrow and more loss. There's also quite a bit of hope in the amount of love and sense of belonging from that love once the cycle is broken. Certainly not a hopeless story, one with a lot of hope and powerfully told.
I'll be reading this again, I'm just that fascinated by this author's work. I also hope to read The Yield again sooner than later.
Can't wait to read more from this brilliant author.
It's the familiar story of indigenous people trying to find solace in their sorrow and loss through substance abuse leading to a cycle of more sorrow and more loss. There's also quite a bit of hope in the amount of love and sense of belonging from that love once the cycle is broken. Certainly not a hopeless story, one with a lot of hope and powerfully told.
I'll be reading this again, I'm just that fascinated by this author's work. I also hope to read The Yield again sooner than later.
Can't wait to read more from this brilliant author.
September 25, 2021
Ehh.. didn’t really like it because of the writing but everyone says her other books are a million times better so I can’t wait to read more from this author!
My sister is aboriginal and blak, so I was raised seeing how she was treated just because of her race and culture, so terrible.
I started reading this after I got my first dose so I couldn’t really focus, I read the rest today but the day after the first dose… absolutely horrible. I feel like I’m dying. So I have to give this book another chance because I feel like my mind wasn’t focused when I read this so I’ll definitely come back to this book another time !!
My sister is aboriginal and blak, so I was raised seeing how she was treated just because of her race and culture, so terrible.
I started reading this after I got my first dose so I couldn’t really focus, I read the rest today but the day after the first dose… absolutely horrible. I feel like I’m dying. So I have to give this book another chance because I feel like my mind wasn’t focused when I read this so I’ll definitely come back to this book another time !!
April 7, 2020
Sadly this one didn't work for me. Winch does have writing talent but she was doing quite a bit of overwriting in this novella. I say too many metaphors kill the metaphors. Despite that, I feel like the best parts of the book were the first quarter and the last quarter. It was the middle where everything fell down, in my opinion. The themes of the book were family, culture and trying to find them along with racism. I sort of wished she would have been more specific on that. This was her debut so I'm sure that has a lot to do with the writing. I'm looking forward to getting to The Yield. I'm sure Winch will have ironed out all the difficulties that were found in this one. My rating is actually 2,5 stars!
June 30, 2025
4.5 ⭐️s
Tragically beautiful. So exquisitely descriptive. The language is lyrical and elegant. It was a rewarding experience to read.
Read as an eBook on BorrowBox
Published by: University of Queensland Press
216 pages
Tragically beautiful. So exquisitely descriptive. The language is lyrical and elegant. It was a rewarding experience to read.
Read as an eBook on BorrowBox
Published by: University of Queensland Press
216 pages
January 24, 2019
“...if they stop digging up Aunty’s backyard, stop digging up a mother’s memory, stop digging up all our people, maybe then, we’ll all stop crying.”
This was a powerful read, and I found it particularly poignant in the lead up to a day that we are told we should celebrate despite the fact that it causes so much pain to so many.
This is fiction heavily influenced by the authors own experience as a Wiradjuri woman. It is heartbreaking, yet beautiful. The writing is effortlessly lyrical. Though I at first found some of the descriptions clumsy, I soon found myself drawn in to the rhythm.
Truly fantastic, I cannot recommend this book enough.
This was a powerful read, and I found it particularly poignant in the lead up to a day that we are told we should celebrate despite the fact that it causes so much pain to so many.
This is fiction heavily influenced by the authors own experience as a Wiradjuri woman. It is heartbreaking, yet beautiful. The writing is effortlessly lyrical. Though I at first found some of the descriptions clumsy, I soon found myself drawn in to the rhythm.
Truly fantastic, I cannot recommend this book enough.
October 2, 2018
What a beautifully written harrowing book that manages to perfectly capture the experience of being bereft.
October 24, 2017
While a set of short stories, the stories are connected telling the story of May a young Aboriginal girl living in the Gong. Her mother dies, she and her brother go to live with her Aunty, she goes on a trek to Darwin, Sydney, and western NSW to try to find her family.
The stories provide a chilling tale of life growing up as an Aboriginal. Alcohol, domestic violence, petty crimes, drugs, unemployment, suicide, racism, Government disinterest. The writing is poetic in describing the world May lives in. A book of great impact.
The stories provide a chilling tale of life growing up as an Aboriginal. Alcohol, domestic violence, petty crimes, drugs, unemployment, suicide, racism, Government disinterest. The writing is poetic in describing the world May lives in. A book of great impact.
July 14, 2018
I read this in a single night, completely captivated by Winch's prose. The book draws you on this intense journey, tracked by emotional rather than simply temporal flow, that moves across the country. Despite the dreamlike tone, the book sharply invokes instantly recognisable slices of Australia, from the Gong to the Block, to Darwin's surrounds. The section in the Block was so instantly real, local and part of my world that it felt like hitting a dose of fresh, cold water, in a good way, after the slightly surreal parts conjuring the world of drugs and blunted reality. The book is a literary, personal, journey that plays with images, language, vignettes in structure, which allows a tight focus on the protagonist's emotional world. She has a fabulous capacity to conjure sensation through words, bringing readers in. It can be hard for non-Aboriginal Australians to understand the impact of generational trauma and constant racism on the lives of Indigenous Australians, and this book simply shows us what it *feels* like, and in the process helps explain the inexplicable. Winch lets us see the resiliance, generosity and strength of Aboriginal people, while never shying away from the damage. The dreamlike nature of the book works to both soften some of the harshness, and center it on the emotional journey. The relentless optimism of the protagonist - and a determination to find something better - also relieve the book of any grimness, allowing pathos, anger and hope to shine brightly at times. It is an astonishing read - one of the best of the year for me. The kind you feel grateful to live in the same world as.
May 8, 2024
The novella follows the quest of May Gibson, a 15 year old Aboriginal girl with mixed heritage. Her mother has died, her brother has disappeared and her father is gone too. May needs to know who she is and ventures north meeting many interesting people along the way.
The book is written in poetic language with many images that were hard for me to understand. Many words were included with which I was unfamiliar.
Without this excellent review I would have understood very little.
https://www.anikopress.com/book-revie...
But now I do know what a dugong is as it was mentioned and I did some research.
https://oceaninfo.com/compare/dugong-...
"Dugongs are very similar to manatees and are endemic to Australian waters."
Read at your own risk. Hopefully, if you do, you will get more out of it than I did.
3 stars
The book is written in poetic language with many images that were hard for me to understand. Many words were included with which I was unfamiliar.
Without this excellent review I would have understood very little.
https://www.anikopress.com/book-revie...
But now I do know what a dugong is as it was mentioned and I did some research.
https://oceaninfo.com/compare/dugong-...
"Dugongs are very similar to manatees and are endemic to Australian waters."
Read at your own risk. Hopefully, if you do, you will get more out of it than I did.
3 stars
December 2, 2020
Swallow the Air - Tara June Winch
Told from the perspective of 15 year old May Gibson as she tries to find a sense of belonging and discover her roots after loosing her Mum. May’s journey was a really harrowing one to follow. The deep, deep sorrow, oppression and generational trauma left me with a similar feeling to when I read Auē by Becky Manawatu (incredible book!).
Tara June Winch has an incredible writing style. It is very lyrical and clever. The way she writes draws you in and is descriptive but also leaves a lot to the imagination. I definitely want to read her other book, The Yield.
I only have a very, very basic knowledge of Aboriginal and Australian history and I am also slowly learning about the effects colonisation had on Māori here in New Zealand and the generational trauma and systemic racism. In this respect there are definitely many parallels between New Zealand and Australian history. It is books like this that help grow understanding of these issues. This understanding creates the ability to support indigenous people, culture, minorities and those who are disadvantaged by the system.
This is a really accessible way to gain some further understanding on the hardships of indigenous people. It’s under 200 pages, the short chapters were easy to digest and the story sucks you in big time - I had finished this book within 24hours.
Incredibly powerful and jarring read. Highly recommend!!
5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Told from the perspective of 15 year old May Gibson as she tries to find a sense of belonging and discover her roots after loosing her Mum. May’s journey was a really harrowing one to follow. The deep, deep sorrow, oppression and generational trauma left me with a similar feeling to when I read Auē by Becky Manawatu (incredible book!).
Tara June Winch has an incredible writing style. It is very lyrical and clever. The way she writes draws you in and is descriptive but also leaves a lot to the imagination. I definitely want to read her other book, The Yield.
I only have a very, very basic knowledge of Aboriginal and Australian history and I am also slowly learning about the effects colonisation had on Māori here in New Zealand and the generational trauma and systemic racism. In this respect there are definitely many parallels between New Zealand and Australian history. It is books like this that help grow understanding of these issues. This understanding creates the ability to support indigenous people, culture, minorities and those who are disadvantaged by the system.
This is a really accessible way to gain some further understanding on the hardships of indigenous people. It’s under 200 pages, the short chapters were easy to digest and the story sucks you in big time - I had finished this book within 24hours.
Incredibly powerful and jarring read. Highly recommend!!
5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
April 11, 2018
First I want to make a point that from what I can see, many of the low ratings of his book were people who studied it in high school, and although I can see that the language and the themes explored in the book make it an excellent text choice for senior English students, of course some of their reading enjoyment is going to be diminished when you have to analyse it constantly over months and months! But I think this was wonderful - truly stunning, poetic language, a set of vignettes or short stories almost that have a loose linear structure and are all entwined. Very eye-opening and honest, and at times very heart-breaking. Not a book where I felt truly connected with the characters, but much more with the writing and messages.
November 26, 2012
"my mother was head sick"... So begins Tara Winch's faux-memoir of May Gibson's search for her Aboriginality and home. Winch's opening leaves us with little doubt where she is taking us. It is a journey through constant jarring simile and bizarre metaphor. It is a road-trip where character development is the roadkill along the monotonous white-lined bitumen that is the plot. And the characters only elicit the same momentary empathy as those roadside victims.
By choosing to manufacture a fiction an opportunity to explore Aboriginality and Aboriginal issues is lost. As a story, there is no room for suspension of disbelief between the poetic, technically overloaded text and manufactured street language of "head sick".
On the positive side, it is short. So it won't take more than a few hours to appreciate the couple of gems in the text. Like the Crocodile Dundee Moment, when May finally meets the family she is searching for.
By choosing to manufacture a fiction an opportunity to explore Aboriginality and Aboriginal issues is lost. As a story, there is no room for suspension of disbelief between the poetic, technically overloaded text and manufactured street language of "head sick".
On the positive side, it is short. So it won't take more than a few hours to appreciate the couple of gems in the text. Like the Crocodile Dundee Moment, when May finally meets the family she is searching for.
May 5, 2022
3.5* - started slowly but with some moments of beautiful imagery. I wasn't sure it would end up going anywhere, but it turned out pretty well.
April 18, 2025
A coming of age, search for belonging and home, filled with beautifully vivid moments and heart.
Young Aboriginal May has her world shattered after the death of her mother, and her and her brother go to stay with Aunty. The thrill of the chase for a win takes over for Aunty, making staying difficult for the siblings.
Moving from place to place, May finds good and bad people and influences. She learns about herself, the world at large across Australia, and her own family, in all it's versions.
My library book has a sticker that indicates that this is a higher education certificate read in NSW, which is a significant way to ensure the next generations learn about Aboriginal experiences in Australia, such as poverty, high suicide rates, the loss of culture and place, and homelessness and displacement.
Young Aboriginal May has her world shattered after the death of her mother, and her and her brother go to stay with Aunty. The thrill of the chase for a win takes over for Aunty, making staying difficult for the siblings.
Moving from place to place, May finds good and bad people and influences. She learns about herself, the world at large across Australia, and her own family, in all it's versions.
My library book has a sticker that indicates that this is a higher education certificate read in NSW, which is a significant way to ensure the next generations learn about Aboriginal experiences in Australia, such as poverty, high suicide rates, the loss of culture and place, and homelessness and displacement.
September 28, 2023
Absolutely loved The Yield so was excited to pick up Tara June Winch’s debut. Swallow the Air is a poetic story about May, a young Aboriginal girl, and her journey to find belonging which takes her across Australia. The descriptive language was very evocative but I did find it hard to follow at times and a bit superfluous. Still a worthwhile read though!
June 2, 2025
This story beautifully explores the connection between identity, culture and place. As Mim journeys around Australia in an effort to understand her identity, the impact of intergenerational trauma and the oppression of Aboriginal culture become more and more apparent.
However, I spent this novel feeling like an observer of the experiences of Mim, rather than being immersed within the narrative. Intentional or not, this made the book less impactful than it could have been.
However, I spent this novel feeling like an observer of the experiences of Mim, rather than being immersed within the narrative. Intentional or not, this made the book less impactful than it could have been.
January 17, 2022
So beautiful and so sad
March 26, 2022
This was a completely different read. I enjoyed it but the style took some getting used to.
October 17, 2015
The plot of this coming of age novel is very simple - after her mother commits suicide, May, a young indigenous girl goes on a journey to find her family, her identity and the place in the world she can call home.
I found the author's writing style mesmerizing - flowing and poetic, yet simple and economical at the same time, with similes and metaphors that make you stop in your tracks and re-read them because of their originality and aptness. She excels when describing places and uses all the senses to transport you to the small towns and outback of Australia.
It's also an evocative insight into the disadvantaged lifestyles of many indigenous people, but it ends on an uplifting notes, as May sums up the courage to lift herself out of the substance abusing environment of her peers and find her own path.
I found the author's writing style mesmerizing - flowing and poetic, yet simple and economical at the same time, with similes and metaphors that make you stop in your tracks and re-read them because of their originality and aptness. She excels when describing places and uses all the senses to transport you to the small towns and outback of Australia.
It's also an evocative insight into the disadvantaged lifestyles of many indigenous people, but it ends on an uplifting notes, as May sums up the courage to lift herself out of the substance abusing environment of her peers and find her own path.
June 18, 2024
June 2024:
This simply was not for me. The prose was needlessly convoluted in the name of being "poetic". Although I probably understood the story much better than I did when I was sixteen, I still struggled through most of the book. But the ending sort of made it worth it? Idk.
March 2016:
Swallow the Air is about a girl called May Gibson and her search for her family and her home. Although this book was beautiful, it was also pretty confusing at times. It was hard to see what was going on sometimes. The story manages to stay interesting because of the characters and how different their lives are. It is about the Indigenous people and how their lives were in Australia. I particularly liked the ending.
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway.
This simply was not for me. The prose was needlessly convoluted in the name of being "poetic". Although I probably understood the story much better than I did when I was sixteen, I still struggled through most of the book. But the ending sort of made it worth it? Idk.
March 2016:
Swallow the Air is about a girl called May Gibson and her search for her family and her home. Although this book was beautiful, it was also pretty confusing at times. It was hard to see what was going on sometimes. The story manages to stay interesting because of the characters and how different their lives are. It is about the Indigenous people and how their lives were in Australia. I particularly liked the ending.
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway.
July 20, 2020
Winch's writing is poetic, at times breaking into sections that are miniature poems in themselves. After her mother dies, May Gibson is on the verge of losing herself, becoming immersed in a culture of drugs as she tries to find a place to fit in. Her path intersects with her brother's, sending her on a journey to find the missing pieces of her family, to know who she is, and find her home. This journey is told through short chapters, each a short story within themselves, mostly linear, but the past breaks into her quest. Memories of her mother and father, of the stories she told herself and was told, are revisited and rearranged, as the shape of where she calls home becomes clear.
April 16, 2015
I suppose somewhere in this book was an important message and important values but it was to much of a struggle to see them. The major issue with this book is that it seems to have confused a novel with a collection of phrases. Even though some of the phrases were beautiful, it did not flow, and it was difficult to read. I would not have finished this book if I hadn't needed to. This book was 90% metaphor, which made it hard to understand what was happening without huge amounts of effort. And a novel shouldn't require huge amounts of effort.
January 23, 2018
Her first book and she writes like a dream---such lyrical prose. The story is about an aboriginal woman growing up with severe disadvantage and abandoned by both parents, and her search to find meaning for her life by trying to track down her family. The quality of the writing kept me reading. The story drifted like the main character.
April 25, 2022
'Issy says they don't understand that just because you can't see something, don't mean it's not there. She says that under the earth, the land we stand on, under all this there is water. She's says that our people are born from quartz crystal, hard water. We are powerful people, strong people. Water people, people of the rivers and the lakes.
They look at the land and say there is nothing here.'
They look at the land and say there is nothing here.'
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