Review: Only Killers and Thieves

Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel about the Australian outback and the racism and disgusting things that happened there is so raw that it was very difficult to read. Much like an American western, the bush was a wild place in 1885, where white men took what they wanted anytime they wanted. It definitely wasn't a nice place to live if you were a woman or a person of color.

Fifteen-year-old Tommy and his older brother Billy have a bleak, but happy, existence on their family ranch. They struggle, thanks to the lack of rain and money, and a horrible landlord, John Sullivan. After a disaster, the two brothers quickly must become men, but Tommy doesn't swallow the crap that Mr. Sullivan gives them as much as his older brother does. There is a lot of violence, especially toward women and the Kurrong, and I had to step away from the book a few times. The British colonists were evil in Australia--I had no idea that it was so much like how white Americans treated the Native Americans. Ugh. I'm glad I read this, and it's beautifully written in the way that westerns can be, but, it was so difficult.

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