What do readers think of That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott? Write your own review.

I was looking forward to reading the book because of its interesting topic, but I just could not get into it, and quit after a hundred pages. The book seemed oddly unfocused, with no clear direction. As soon as I'd guess that someone was a main character, he would disappear. The same stories were told at different points in the novel, leaving the reader with no definite idea what had happened. All in all, rather disappointing.

I was interested in reading this book as I love historical fiction and was looking forward to learning about Australia. Unfortunately, I really struggled to get thru the book and didn't end up finishing it. I couldn't get past the writing style, and had trouble following the characters. If you have a strong interest in the topic, you may be fine with it, but it lost me along the way.

Although the author does a good job depicting the colonization of Australia, I found the reading difficult: too many native words, disjointed text, and awkward sentence structure. Bobby was a delightful character, but I had trouble with some of the other characters seeming real to me. The descriptions of what must be beautiful scenery were repetitive and I did not feel as though I were there. This book probably will have great appeal to Australians or to anyone who has visited there.

While I suspect this novel has much to offer in describing the relationship between white settlers and the Noongar Aboriginal people in 19th-century Australia, I simply couldn't crack it and--uncharacteristically--gave up after about 75 pages. Had I some experience with the culture and history of the people, the setting, and the period, I might have fared better; however, facing the additional challenges of a constantly shifting timeline and disjointed narrative style, I just felt lost. I suppose I'll have to chalk this one up to the adage: "Too many books, too little time."