Questions of Travel by Michelle Kretser

Miles Franklin award winner this year – but why? This is a long winded book, told from the points of view of Laura, a drab writer of travel material, and Ravi, a refugee from Sri Lanka. Nothing much seems to happen and I spent a lot of the time reading this book wondering what was the point of it. Indeed I found it quite depressing, two hopeless miserable people battling their way through life and never really communicating with anyone else. The writing is, however, often excellent and there is some joy in that. But it wasn’t enough to save this book and I finished it with relief. As for the ending ….. for goodness sake. The woman at the bookshop told me she had read part of it but not finished it, couldn't remember why she hadn't, but it was supposed to be a great read. I should have folowed my instincts there!