Boy Swallows Universe
Book description
'The most extraordinary writer - a rare talent' Nikki Gemmell
An utterly wonderful novel of love, crime, magic, fate and coming of age from one of Australia's most exciting new writers.
Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and…
Why read it?
3 authors picked Boy Swallows Universe as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
What a fantastic and poignant tale, beautifully written with loveable Australian protagonists. Eli is a precocious boy, growing up in hot and humid Queensland during the 1980s with his mute brother, Gus. The nostalgia was pretty strong with Boy Swallows Universe, being of a similar vintage to the author. The fact that Eli also followed his dreams to become a young journalist made the book a real page-turner for me. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Here’s another tantalizing underdog story, this time about a 12-year-old boy coming of age under impossible circumstances, and he does it with such innocence and goodness and almost poetic thoughtfulness that you can’t help but love him.
Our young hero is Australian. His task: Save his mother from disaster, face off against a powerful and violent drug dealer, and find his way into a career in journalism, all the while relying for friendship and advice on an escaped convict.
Dalton’s novel is thrilling, heartbreaking, and heartwarming all at once.
Equal parts quirky, literary, humorous, and touching, Dalton’s debut novel won him a record four Australian Book Industry Awards in 2019, and it’s not hard to see why. Boy Swallows Universe follows the ups and downs of teen protagonist Eli’s descent into a world of drug-lords and prison barons, all while caring for his messed-up parents and mute brother and seeing the world in a uniquely beautiful way. Ex-journalist Dalton’s prose will sometimes take your breath away in this modern classic about life in the far-outer suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, where a ‘normal’ life seems simultaneously too far away and…
From Karin's list on understanding the Australian spirit.
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