The Slow Natives
The Slow Natives (1965) is a Miles Franklin Award-winning novel[1] by Australian author Thea Astley, the second of her record number of four wins. It also won the 1965 Moomba Award.
 First edition | |
| Author | Thea Astley |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Angus and Robertson |
Publication date | 1965 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 210 |
Plot summary
Set in sub-tropical Queensland, the novel examines the relationships between suburban Brisbanites including a priest, nuns and a couple and their teenage son.
Style and themes
The novel represents a departure for Astley from her earlier novels in that rather than focusing on one or two particular characters, she moves "freely among a group, switching attention omnisciently from one to another. Almost all the characters suffer from some form of spiritual aridity; in Astley's vision, there often seems nothing between repression, and empty or even corrupt sexuality".[2]
Astley's characters in this novel often only realise their failings after disaster has beset them. The father, for example, only realises after his teenage son has lost his leg in a "joy-riding accident", that he has "failed to give his son 'the sort of discipline ... [he] wanted more than anything in the world'."[3]
Notes
References
- Clancy, Laurie Thea Astley Biography: Thea Astley comments
- Middlemiss.org
- Taylor, Cheryl and Perkins, Elizabeth (2007) "Warm words: North Queensland writing" in Patrick Buckridge and Elizabeth McKay (ed.) By the Book: A Literary History of Queensland, St Lucia, University of Queensland Press
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by My Brother Jack |
Miles Franklin Award recipient 1965 |
Succeeded by Trap |