Very few people managed to make it through to the end of Benang by Kim Scott, I think I was the only person who finished it. I'm not surprised: the book was harrowing reading, dealing with the treatment of the aboriginal people and the relentless rape, murder, institutionalised victimisation and psychological battering to oppress them and remove them from the country. There's barely a moment's respite in the story.
The story unfolds in a disjointed style without a strong sense of narrative direction and it was difficult to keep track of who was whom and, with a lot of jumping back and forth through time, when things were happening. I wondered if that was perhaps a part of aboriginal story telling but maybe it's just the way that Scott has pieced together his family history with other historical sources.
I found myself asking myself how I would have behaved if I'd been there at that time. I want to imagine that I would have been "enlightened" enough to be revolted by the actions of those around me, but I know I'm shaped by my culture and society's values. It left me feeling very uncomfortable.
There was a lot of discussion about the next book which was finally resolved by a vote for Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett. We'll be back at the All Nations Hotel on March 7 to discuss that. See you there!
