What do you think?
Rate this book
Dusk
In the distant highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds. Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there's far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they're forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal.
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 8, 2024
About the author
Robbie Arnott
12 books399 followersRobbie Arnott was born in Launceston in 1989. His writing has appeared in Island, the Lifted Brow, Kill Your Darlings and the 2017 anthology Seven Stories. He won the 2015 Tasmanian Young Writers’ Fellowship and the 2014 Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers. Robbie lives in Hobart and is an advertising copywriter.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
October 24, 2024
Robbie Arnotts 4th novel and I have again listened via Audiobook.
This is the first of his very good stories that I had an issue with the audio narrator. Fine in most instances except for the narration of the male characters. There was something forced about the breathlessness that I found off-putting.
Audio complaints aside, it is hard to be nothing but impressed that Arnott has again given his readers a fine tale of the Tasmanian goth kind, one that had me enjoying the descriptions of the land and being fairly gripped by the story of the hunt for Dusk, a Puma, a survivor of several brought to Van Diemen's land to hunt feral deer. At least I think it is Van Diemen's land, as the 2 main protagonists, twins Floyd and Iris, are the children of convicts. And a big cat in Tasmania? Stories worldwide abound with tales of big cats being where they should not be, so why not Tasmania.
The one part of the tale that I liked was the peat diggers being a testament to the past, first nations people that had little to say until it counted. With one sentence alone, Lydia, the matriarch of the tribe, clarified as to what became of all that were ever disposed of their land.
Arnott is now high on the list of must-read Tasmanian authors. His sheer consistency of story telling and his ability to write descriptive prose with an economy of words gives him a power that one could only aspire to.
This is the first of his very good stories that I had an issue with the audio narrator. Fine in most instances except for the narration of the male characters. There was something forced about the breathlessness that I found off-putting.
Audio complaints aside, it is hard to be nothing but impressed that Arnott has again given his readers a fine tale of the Tasmanian goth kind, one that had me enjoying the descriptions of the land and being fairly gripped by the story of the hunt for Dusk, a Puma, a survivor of several brought to Van Diemen's land to hunt feral deer. At least I think it is Van Diemen's land, as the 2 main protagonists, twins Floyd and Iris, are the children of convicts. And a big cat in Tasmania? Stories worldwide abound with tales of big cats being where they should not be, so why not Tasmania.
The one part of the tale that I liked was the peat diggers being a testament to the past, first nations people that had little to say until it counted. With one sentence alone, Lydia, the matriarch of the tribe, clarified as to what became of all that were ever disposed of their land.
Arnott is now high on the list of must-read Tasmanian authors. His sheer consistency of story telling and his ability to write descriptive prose with an economy of words gives him a power that one could only aspire to.
October 24, 2024
My fourth adventure with Robbie Arnott and in the end another satisfying one. Once again some magical realism and although not specified, likely taking place in Tasmania, Arnott's home. Having walked the Overland Track there some years ago over several days, I could mostly picture the setting for the story. Similar to the Rain Heron, another seeking of a mystical creature in the hills.
I found this to be a slow starter, it took me nearly half the book to feel anything for the characters and story, but once the twins were into the hills and Dusk was at hand, the story came alive. Four stars for me, a library ebook.
I found this to be a slow starter, it took me nearly half the book to feel anything for the characters and story, but once the twins were into the hills and Dusk was at hand, the story came alive. Four stars for me, a library ebook.
September 18, 2024
Guys he’s done it again
August 9, 2024
In the beautiful language style Robbie Arnott is known for, we are given a thoughtful, at times tense, and at other times warm story of brother and sister Floyd and Irish Renshaw. With beautiful descriptions and a masterful construction of story, we learn more about the twins, their lives, thier hopes and desires in little bits and pieces, cumalating in a reader anxiousness that they get everything they hope for. And let's not forget Dusk. A presence that scares, intimidates, and yet offers even more.
October 8, 2024
This book was nothing short of amazing. I’m sitting here at 12:53 am just pondering about the whole book while my worries of the world (and work starting at 7 am tomorrow) are quietly being swept under the carpet to make room for my thoughts 🥲
I don’t think I can quite write a coherent review on this lyrical and poetic story. It’s nothing like I’ve ever read before - both in terms of plot and narrative. Robbie Arnott writes soft and beautiful prose while still hitting the mark with unflinching honesty. I was engrossed the whole length of the book. The luscious flora and fauna descriptions in this also made it the perfect autumn book to curl up with in the late chilly nights of October. It’s a beautiful and sad and (at times) dark story, but in itself is a quiet tale of a pair of twins trying to find a place to belong. The brutality of the story coupled with the gentle writing is something so otherworldly. This is definitely a book that will stick with readers for a very long time.
The story will take you on a journey of loss and love. I might be biased, but I love anything with twins in it! I’m a twin myself, so the palpable connection and closeness between Iris and Floyd makes my heart melt a little every time. Robbie Arnott completely nailed their relationship, which at its core reveal the fierce protectiveness both siblings possess for one another, even through the toughest circumstances. I could not have related to this more.
In a word, this book is enthralling. I’ll be recommending this book for days and months and years to come.
Thank you so much to Pan Macmillan for sending over an ARC of my new favorite book 🤍
I don’t think I can quite write a coherent review on this lyrical and poetic story. It’s nothing like I’ve ever read before - both in terms of plot and narrative. Robbie Arnott writes soft and beautiful prose while still hitting the mark with unflinching honesty. I was engrossed the whole length of the book. The luscious flora and fauna descriptions in this also made it the perfect autumn book to curl up with in the late chilly nights of October. It’s a beautiful and sad and (at times) dark story, but in itself is a quiet tale of a pair of twins trying to find a place to belong. The brutality of the story coupled with the gentle writing is something so otherworldly. This is definitely a book that will stick with readers for a very long time.
The story will take you on a journey of loss and love. I might be biased, but I love anything with twins in it! I’m a twin myself, so the palpable connection and closeness between Iris and Floyd makes my heart melt a little every time. Robbie Arnott completely nailed their relationship, which at its core reveal the fierce protectiveness both siblings possess for one another, even through the toughest circumstances. I could not have related to this more.
In a word, this book is enthralling. I’ll be recommending this book for days and months and years to come.
Thank you so much to Pan Macmillan for sending over an ARC of my new favorite book 🤍
October 25, 2024
As a Robbie Arnott Completionist, I've decided reading this book will be a very different experience based on whether you're an Arnott virgin, or a seasoned campaigner and particularly someone who has read The Rain Heron.
As we've come to expect from Arnott, Tasmania is the main character, though like in The Rain Heron it remains unnamed. Partially because Arnott has run this version of Tasmania through a gauntlet of his own fantastical visions. Arnott's eye for nature and his ability to depict it is world class, those who have experienced the Overland Track or the inland parts of Tasmania will be taken back there immediately, it just happens that there'll be a few unfamiliar features added.
The first element of fantasy in Dusk is the idea of Pumas being introduced to Tassie. This one is not particularly far fetched and quite believable. I never forget that Roosevelt wanted Hippos in America, and Escobar brought that to reality in Colombia (they're now a pest there). Human history has a litany of examples of animals being moved around the globe to sometimes catastrophic consequences. For some reason we seem to loathe animals that adapt to the environment as well as we do. Aussies alone will know the destruction and change wrought by rabbits, cane toads, camels, foxes, fire ants etc. But Arnott has chosen an Apex predator, and the colonial mistake of thinking one can control nature becomes far more personal.
The second component of Arnott's magic-realism is to reimagine Tasmania through a sort of post-apocalyptic/wild wild west lens. The bones of ancient sea creatures litter the plains. Men ride around trying to collect bounties on animals. Fat cat graziers rule the towns (not that far from true Australian history, just not in Tassie). There's a villain in here too, who is your typical wild west weasel. There's also the Patagonian (the man from out of town). While the specific features are different to the Rain Heron, the process is so similar.
Arnott's also woven in his now regular reckoning with the first people of Australia. Here the first nations characters don't play a huge part but make a few asides and comments that come across as both wise and ruthless in their true judgement of the settlers.
With each of Arnott's books I've felt a similar atmosphere and feel. His previous work Limberlost was the most realistic of his novels; being tied to his grandfather's early childhood. I felt that the lean towards realism actually favoured his style which is naturally prosaic. Dusk is a tilting back to the magic side of the magic-realism equation. Its major similarity with the Rain Heron is this almost amnesiac blanket that lays over the top of the whole text. While names are important, and we find the Renshaw twins constantly fighting the reputation their name carries. The places aren't named, nor are many of the underlying societal issues. We've got a quest to capture a big cat and that's the driving force of the narrative, even if the real story is the Renshaw twins escaping their parent's legacy. Arnott's prose is also more spartan than his previous novels, the imagery is still exceptionally strong but it's almost like he's put a sepia lens over everything.
The cat Dusk is named but she has far less personality than the Rain Heron, as such she's less of a load bearing structure in the story. The Rain Heron was mythic and carried with it some kind of divine judgement, Dusk is just a puma that's lonely and hungry.
The flashbacks woven into the narrative are a feature of Arnott's last few novels and he's always been quite good at them. Unfortunately, they're almost too familiar as a feature of his writing now. Just as the great sea creature was embedded as a flashback in Limberlost and it surfaced at the climax, so does Iris' experience in the river work in the same way.
So yes this is a good story, it's an easy and enjoyable read, and Arnott's prose is great. But if you've read the Rain Heron it will feel like you're walking along a familiar well-worn path. It's true that the path is surrounded by fantastical scenes but the lack of novelty in the narrative may find you growing slightly bored. If you haven't read the Rain Heron you'll probably give this a star or two more than I do.
As we've come to expect from Arnott, Tasmania is the main character, though like in The Rain Heron it remains unnamed. Partially because Arnott has run this version of Tasmania through a gauntlet of his own fantastical visions. Arnott's eye for nature and his ability to depict it is world class, those who have experienced the Overland Track or the inland parts of Tasmania will be taken back there immediately, it just happens that there'll be a few unfamiliar features added.
The first element of fantasy in Dusk is the idea of Pumas being introduced to Tassie. This one is not particularly far fetched and quite believable. I never forget that Roosevelt wanted Hippos in America, and Escobar brought that to reality in Colombia (they're now a pest there). Human history has a litany of examples of animals being moved around the globe to sometimes catastrophic consequences. For some reason we seem to loathe animals that adapt to the environment as well as we do. Aussies alone will know the destruction and change wrought by rabbits, cane toads, camels, foxes, fire ants etc. But Arnott has chosen an Apex predator, and the colonial mistake of thinking one can control nature becomes far more personal.
The second component of Arnott's magic-realism is to reimagine Tasmania through a sort of post-apocalyptic/wild wild west lens. The bones of ancient sea creatures litter the plains. Men ride around trying to collect bounties on animals. Fat cat graziers rule the towns (not that far from true Australian history, just not in Tassie). There's a villain in here too, who is your typical wild west weasel. There's also the Patagonian (the man from out of town). While the specific features are different to the Rain Heron, the process is so similar.
Arnott's also woven in his now regular reckoning with the first people of Australia. Here the first nations characters don't play a huge part but make a few asides and comments that come across as both wise and ruthless in their true judgement of the settlers.
With each of Arnott's books I've felt a similar atmosphere and feel. His previous work Limberlost was the most realistic of his novels; being tied to his grandfather's early childhood. I felt that the lean towards realism actually favoured his style which is naturally prosaic. Dusk is a tilting back to the magic side of the magic-realism equation. Its major similarity with the Rain Heron is this almost amnesiac blanket that lays over the top of the whole text. While names are important, and we find the Renshaw twins constantly fighting the reputation their name carries. The places aren't named, nor are many of the underlying societal issues. We've got a quest to capture a big cat and that's the driving force of the narrative, even if the real story is the Renshaw twins escaping their parent's legacy. Arnott's prose is also more spartan than his previous novels, the imagery is still exceptionally strong but it's almost like he's put a sepia lens over everything.
The cat Dusk is named but she has far less personality than the Rain Heron, as such she's less of a load bearing structure in the story. The Rain Heron was mythic and carried with it some kind of divine judgement, Dusk is just a puma that's lonely and hungry.
The flashbacks woven into the narrative are a feature of Arnott's last few novels and he's always been quite good at them. Unfortunately, they're almost too familiar as a feature of his writing now. Just as the great sea creature was embedded as a flashback in Limberlost and it surfaced at the climax, so does Iris' experience in the river work in the same way.
So yes this is a good story, it's an easy and enjoyable read, and Arnott's prose is great. But if you've read the Rain Heron it will feel like you're walking along a familiar well-worn path. It's true that the path is surrounded by fantastical scenes but the lack of novelty in the narrative may find you growing slightly bored. If you haven't read the Rain Heron you'll probably give this a star or two more than I do.
October 14, 2024
the ending gave me a headache cos i was clenching my jaw in stress.
September 16, 2024
Back on my Robbie Arnott grind! Beautiful and very true to his distinctive writing style. I was going to be feeling somewhat hm about the ending but then the actual ending happened and I was like yes 😌
November 3, 2024
Robbie Arnott’s writing has an effortless and distinct quality to it that draws me right in. This is a colonial adventure novel where the landscape is a character, at times so real it’s breathtaking, at others reimagined and constructed, all its own. The weary Renshaw twins are moving north looking for work and an elusive puma with a taste for human flesh. As the terrain transforms so too does their understanding of the land they are on and the violence perpetuated on it. This is Robbie Arnott terrain and he does it so well. The ending felt like pure catharsis. Robbie’s writing always makes me look at landscape in an entirely new way, nothing escapes his eye. So glad to be a reader while he’s a writer.
November 3, 2024
Wonderful writing. Iris and Floyd are intriguing characters and it takes a while to get into the story but once it gets going I was unable to stop reading. The descriptions of the landscape and Dusk herself are evocative and capture their power. A great read.
November 8, 2024
Breathtaking. Full review to come.
October 27, 2024
Yes! Absolutely yes! The most beautiful love story between two siblings and a land and history that is both haunting and hostile towards them. Dusk is simple, disarming and devastating. Brimming with unleashed peat and punch. I kinda don't really know where (and when exactly) it's set, but I'm okay with that! I loved the rendering of Iris and Floyd, Jon and Lydia and most importantly Dusk. And I finished in pretty much one sitting. Rare.
October 24, 2024
He’s done it again
Like nothing you’ve ever read before. Again.
Like nothing you’ve ever read before. Again.
October 25, 2024
4.5⭐️
Another fantastic story from Robbie Arnott and again completely different from his previous novels.
Another fantastic story from Robbie Arnott and again completely different from his previous novels.
September 4, 2024
4.5 rounded up.
This was my first Robbie Arnott and as it turns out, I’m a fan. It’s such a different style of writing and story telling for me, but it worked and I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit since I finished it over a week ago. I loved the quiet character development of the siblings and the wonderful descriptions of country. Plus the BIRDS!
This was my first Robbie Arnott and as it turns out, I’m a fan. It’s such a different style of writing and story telling for me, but it worked and I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit since I finished it over a week ago. I loved the quiet character development of the siblings and the wonderful descriptions of country. Plus the BIRDS!
October 16, 2024
Robbie Arnott's fourth novel Dusk is — amongst other more significant issues — a captivating adventure with the Australian myth of the predatory Big Cat. True, there are no predatory large beasts of any kind in Australia — no wolves, bears, lions, cougars — you are more likely to die from the bite of a tiny octopus or an even smaller spider though you have to be rather careless for that to happen. But almost as if we need to invent a more impressive danger, there are numerous stories of panthers haunting the bush, and in Robbie Arnott's novel, it's a puma released into the bush by the same kind of fools who created Australia's problem with wild rabbits.
From Zoo Chat, I learned that rumours of wild big cats abound, and there's a story about an American serviceman who brought a puma as a mascot to the WW2 US base in the Grampians and released it into the wild when they left. I read more about the numerous panther and puma mascots released in Australia at that well-known reliable source of information, the UK Daily Mail. Quite apart from the practicalities of keeping a puma fed, watered, housed and under control (presumably caged) during the long sea voyage of a troopship to Australia and then at a base, I don't find it plausible that there was a US base in the Grampians. Neither would anyone else if they'd been there. Strategically, militarily, it makes no sense at all. It's not even the right kind of terrain to train soldiers for jungle warfare.
Robbie Arnott knows all this of course. And anyway, his story is set in a different era. So why is there a puma wreaking havoc in the Tasmanian bush in his novel? I'll go out on a limb here: when the twins hunting the puma come in contact with the remnants of the Palawa people eking out a living as peat farmers, I thought that maybe the 'puma' killing the settlers endlessly extending the frontier, was an Aboriginal warrior and the savagery indicated by the remains was wrought by a Tasmanian Devil. Maybe the 'puma' was one of those resistance fighters I'd read about in Lyndall Ryan's Tasmanian Aborigines, a History since 1803: Musquito, Mannalargenna, Kickerterpoller (Black Tom) and William Lyttleton Quamby; Montpeliater, Tongerlongter and Petalega; Umarrah and Wareternatterlerhener.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/10/17/d...
From Zoo Chat, I learned that rumours of wild big cats abound, and there's a story about an American serviceman who brought a puma as a mascot to the WW2 US base in the Grampians and released it into the wild when they left. I read more about the numerous panther and puma mascots released in Australia at that well-known reliable source of information, the UK Daily Mail. Quite apart from the practicalities of keeping a puma fed, watered, housed and under control (presumably caged) during the long sea voyage of a troopship to Australia and then at a base, I don't find it plausible that there was a US base in the Grampians. Neither would anyone else if they'd been there. Strategically, militarily, it makes no sense at all. It's not even the right kind of terrain to train soldiers for jungle warfare.
Robbie Arnott knows all this of course. And anyway, his story is set in a different era. So why is there a puma wreaking havoc in the Tasmanian bush in his novel? I'll go out on a limb here: when the twins hunting the puma come in contact with the remnants of the Palawa people eking out a living as peat farmers, I thought that maybe the 'puma' killing the settlers endlessly extending the frontier, was an Aboriginal warrior and the savagery indicated by the remains was wrought by a Tasmanian Devil. Maybe the 'puma' was one of those resistance fighters I'd read about in Lyndall Ryan's Tasmanian Aborigines, a History since 1803: Musquito, Mannalargenna, Kickerterpoller (Black Tom) and William Lyttleton Quamby; Montpeliater, Tongerlongter and Petalega; Umarrah and Wareternatterlerhener.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/10/17/d...
October 21, 2024
An ethereal blend of a quest narrative in a western novel involving magic realism set in colonial Tasmania. Weirdly good. Gorgeous writing and fast paced - very action packed towards the end. Almost dreamlike in many sequences. Perfect ending. Insights into treatment of first nations people, family, Australia's woeful history with introduced species.
November 2, 2024
I think I loved this book. It cast an evocative and a visceral spell on me but I read it too quickly.
The Tasmanian landscape was described so well. I have to think more about the people who were introduced. The protagonist, Iris, was so beautifully drawn but I am going to reread the book now.
The Tasmanian landscape was described so well. I have to think more about the people who were introduced. The protagonist, Iris, was so beautifully drawn but I am going to reread the book now.
November 2, 2024
Yet again... Wow.
October 12, 2024
To devour or savour was the question upon starting Robbie Arnott’s new book. However, it was impossible not to devour as Iris and Floyd’s story, combined with Robbie’s signature writing style of such lyrical descriptions of nature, made for utterly compelling reading. I’ll savour it upon a re-read. 🤪
October 19, 2024
He's done it again
October 9, 2024
Fantastic storytelling.
October 11, 2024
Robbie Arnott is right up there with another of my favourite Australian authors Hannah Kent. Both have a distinct writing style/prose. The descriptions in Dusk of the Australian landscape are sublime. This is a quiet reflective novel, similar in style to his previous works. Focus in this novel is on both nature and the close bond between twin siblings.
October 12, 2024
‘Word reached the twins that a puma was taking shepherds up in the highlands.’
At 272 pages, this is a comparatively short novel, but Mr Arnott touches on so many different issues that the story kept expanding in my mind. The story opens with a rumour that persists in Australia: that there are big cats in the bush. Have there ever been pumas in lutruwita/Tasmania? It doesn’t matter. For this story, five breeding pairs of pumas were once imported to hunt feral deer, previously imported by graziers. The pumas targetted the sheep instead. And now, Dusk is the last of the pumas and has become a mankiller.
Iris and Floyd Renshaw are thirty-seven-year-old twins, the children of escaped convicts. The parents appear in the story through flashbacks: abusive, alcoholic and violent. Floyd and Iris have lived their entire lives on the fringes of society, surviving with paid work (when they can get it), by hunting and by stealing. When they learn that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they decide to join the hunt. They travel from the lowlands to the highlands via the (fictional) town of Rossdale, where they meet Patrick Lees. They agree to work together to track and kill the puma.
But the journey is not easy, and as we travel with Iris (for the story is mostly told from her perspective) we learn more about the country and about the Renshaws. Iris spends some time with a group of peat cutters, but there is no work for her there. Floyd suffers from chronic pain, the cause of which we learn later in the novel. The bounty becomes uncertain for a period when the son of the man offering it is killed. Floyd, Iris and Patrick Lees travel together, tracking Dusk.
The country is both beautiful and unforgiving. Iris and Floyd rely on each other, mostly, although Iris sometimes wonders about life separate from him. But as the story moves to its conclusion, it becomes both simpler and more intricate. People with different objectives vie for control over Dusk.
I finished this novel needing to immediately revisit some aspects. Mr Arnott’s description of landscape is both captivating and haunting. And I need to pause to think about dispossession, about the collision between past and present. Europeans colonised lutruwita/Tasmania, displacing the original inhabitants, and introduced exotic species which wrought havoc on native species.
This is Mr Arnott’s fourth novel and will be amongst my favourite novels of 2024. Highly recommended.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
At 272 pages, this is a comparatively short novel, but Mr Arnott touches on so many different issues that the story kept expanding in my mind. The story opens with a rumour that persists in Australia: that there are big cats in the bush. Have there ever been pumas in lutruwita/Tasmania? It doesn’t matter. For this story, five breeding pairs of pumas were once imported to hunt feral deer, previously imported by graziers. The pumas targetted the sheep instead. And now, Dusk is the last of the pumas and has become a mankiller.
Iris and Floyd Renshaw are thirty-seven-year-old twins, the children of escaped convicts. The parents appear in the story through flashbacks: abusive, alcoholic and violent. Floyd and Iris have lived their entire lives on the fringes of society, surviving with paid work (when they can get it), by hunting and by stealing. When they learn that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they decide to join the hunt. They travel from the lowlands to the highlands via the (fictional) town of Rossdale, where they meet Patrick Lees. They agree to work together to track and kill the puma.
But the journey is not easy, and as we travel with Iris (for the story is mostly told from her perspective) we learn more about the country and about the Renshaws. Iris spends some time with a group of peat cutters, but there is no work for her there. Floyd suffers from chronic pain, the cause of which we learn later in the novel. The bounty becomes uncertain for a period when the son of the man offering it is killed. Floyd, Iris and Patrick Lees travel together, tracking Dusk.
The country is both beautiful and unforgiving. Iris and Floyd rely on each other, mostly, although Iris sometimes wonders about life separate from him. But as the story moves to its conclusion, it becomes both simpler and more intricate. People with different objectives vie for control over Dusk.
I finished this novel needing to immediately revisit some aspects. Mr Arnott’s description of landscape is both captivating and haunting. And I need to pause to think about dispossession, about the collision between past and present. Europeans colonised lutruwita/Tasmania, displacing the original inhabitants, and introduced exotic species which wrought havoc on native species.
This is Mr Arnott’s fourth novel and will be amongst my favourite novels of 2024. Highly recommended.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
October 27, 2024
Two adult twins, Iris and Floyd, are travelling looking to work. They're down on their luck and have limited funds. They hear about Dusk, a puma devouring sheep and those trying to catch her. She's the last of the pumas introduced by farmers to control the deer population. It's a familiar Aussie story of ignorant settlers introducing fauna without grasping the consequence of their actions - rabbits, camels, foxes, wild horses, camels, cats, and cane toads to name just a few, they're difficult to control and cause immense damage to the environment and fauna.
When hearing about a bounty for catching Dusk, the twins and a charming man, journey to the highlands hoping to capture the predator. Will they catch or kill the elusive animal?
Arnott's fourth novel Dusk has elements of historical fiction, while not being historical. It's an Australian Western of sorts, while also having mystical elements. While it's not clearly announced, we're guessing it's set in Tasmania, after all, Arnott is a Tasmanian himself. The descriptions are lush with the environment playing a major role. The twins' relationship is tight, their love for each other unfaltering.
Arnott has carved his place in the Aussie literary world, with his mystical, dreamy writing. If you haven't read him yet, you should try one of his books.
When hearing about a bounty for catching Dusk, the twins and a charming man, journey to the highlands hoping to capture the predator. Will they catch or kill the elusive animal?
Arnott's fourth novel Dusk has elements of historical fiction, while not being historical. It's an Australian Western of sorts, while also having mystical elements. While it's not clearly announced, we're guessing it's set in Tasmania, after all, Arnott is a Tasmanian himself. The descriptions are lush with the environment playing a major role. The twins' relationship is tight, their love for each other unfaltering.
Arnott has carved his place in the Aussie literary world, with his mystical, dreamy writing. If you haven't read him yet, you should try one of his books.
October 25, 2024
This is my favourite book of the year. Even though, or perhaps especially because, it haunted my dreams and my daytime world has been slightly adjusted.
The original story line is so clever; reimagining a Tasmanian like colonial land where puma's were introduced to kill off the introduced deer. Not so far fetched, but far enough removed to make the story fable like.
The descriptions of the landscape and birds are so vivid and beautiful. The whole book sheds light on the way you can feel a strong connection to land but also feel not worthy of that connection.
I loved this line about how Iris felt while leaving the highlands. I feel like this when I leave a natural place I love.
"It was just that she could feel the land ebbing out of her, and with each pulse of peak and plain she felt like she was losing something she would never get back".
There are so many little details to love. Like the way Iris and Floyd talk to their horses; tell them they love them while settling them for the night.
Amongst all this beauty, it is actually a violent story. Which is the haunting part, and the truth of Australia and our colonial past.
The original story line is so clever; reimagining a Tasmanian like colonial land where puma's were introduced to kill off the introduced deer. Not so far fetched, but far enough removed to make the story fable like.
The descriptions of the landscape and birds are so vivid and beautiful. The whole book sheds light on the way you can feel a strong connection to land but also feel not worthy of that connection.
I loved this line about how Iris felt while leaving the highlands. I feel like this when I leave a natural place I love.
"It was just that she could feel the land ebbing out of her, and with each pulse of peak and plain she felt like she was losing something she would never get back".
There are so many little details to love. Like the way Iris and Floyd talk to their horses; tell them they love them while settling them for the night.
Amongst all this beauty, it is actually a violent story. Which is the haunting part, and the truth of Australia and our colonial past.
Read
October 8, 2024Dusk is a novel that is going to imprint on people – mainly because of the character of Dusk. The puma stands as a powerful metaphor for so many ideas, and people will imprint on her as they bring themselves into the story. For some, Dusk will come to represent encroaching industrialisation that has, and continues to, destroy nature. Others will see in her the brutality of men who carelessly and, somewhat ceaselessly, take lives that are not their own; but for me, Dusk represents untapped, untamed female rage.
That will remain the enduring image of this highly visual novel – it creates such a visceral reaction and leaves you reeling. It will be remembered along with other classic images of seekers and fools like that man and boy on that desolate road.
Robbie has created something unique and yet familiar, something that we know but at the same time we've never seen before. Like Cormac McCarthy and Gabriel Garcia Marquez before him he has taken a genre, turned it inside out and made it his own. I can’t wait to see what he is going to do next.
- Kristen
That will remain the enduring image of this highly visual novel – it creates such a visceral reaction and leaves you reeling. It will be remembered along with other classic images of seekers and fools like that man and boy on that desolate road.
Robbie has created something unique and yet familiar, something that we know but at the same time we've never seen before. Like Cormac McCarthy and Gabriel Garcia Marquez before him he has taken a genre, turned it inside out and made it his own. I can’t wait to see what he is going to do next.
- Kristen
October 20, 2024
I will read anything Robbie Arnott writes.
His writing is lyrical, incandescent, and evocative. The Tasmanian landscape leaps off his pages.
Some say that his writing is in the Tim Winton tradition, but no. Winton is earthier, soulful, gritty, heart stuff. Arnott's prose and stories soar, are mythical, and have ancient rhythms through their core. Both are magnificent and in my view, each takes very different paths in expressing their passionate love for Australia, and each shines a contrasting shade of light
in the spectrum of beauty found in the Australian landscape and history. Masterful.
I loved this book. I loved the twins and their relationship. Brother and sister are profoundly tethered by love and a traumatic past. They are down and out and take on the challenge of hunting a Puma for a bounty, a dangerous predator that is killing graziers and their stock. Arnott always writes strong female characters and does so with Iris, who is the heart of this story.
The last paragraph released my heart. What an ending. Loved it.
Highly recommended.
His writing is lyrical, incandescent, and evocative. The Tasmanian landscape leaps off his pages.
Some say that his writing is in the Tim Winton tradition, but no. Winton is earthier, soulful, gritty, heart stuff. Arnott's prose and stories soar, are mythical, and have ancient rhythms through their core. Both are magnificent and in my view, each takes very different paths in expressing their passionate love for Australia, and each shines a contrasting shade of light
in the spectrum of beauty found in the Australian landscape and history. Masterful.
I loved this book. I loved the twins and their relationship. Brother and sister are profoundly tethered by love and a traumatic past. They are down and out and take on the challenge of hunting a Puma for a bounty, a dangerous predator that is killing graziers and their stock. Arnott always writes strong female characters and does so with Iris, who is the heart of this story.
The last paragraph released my heart. What an ending. Loved it.
Highly recommended.
October 27, 2024
I was carried away by Arnott’s prose, described by author Hannah Kent as “incandescent”, and by his “mythic storytelling” (again, Kent). Truly, the plot became secondary to the beauty of his language and the superb characterisation of twins, Iris and Floyd Renshaw, two drifters who chase the bounty being offered for the capture/killing of a puma that has threatened the country. The adult twins carry the burden of their late parents, escaped convicts whose reputation and violence had stained their children’s lives and whose fate was hastened by Iris and Floyd themselves.
The conflicts the twins encounter as they pursue the elusive puma force them to face their own struggles as well as those of the graziers and other bounty hunters they are forced to deal with. Arnott’s descriptions of the land the Renshaws travel, its beauty and its power, often had me stop reading further so that I could reread the passage and immerse myself in the surroundings he had so masterfully painted.
The conflicts the twins encounter as they pursue the elusive puma force them to face their own struggles as well as those of the graziers and other bounty hunters they are forced to deal with. Arnott’s descriptions of the land the Renshaws travel, its beauty and its power, often had me stop reading further so that I could reread the passage and immerse myself in the surroundings he had so masterfully painted.
October 17, 2024
A very well told story about twins, Iris and Floyd, and their quest to hunt a South American puma that is killing livestock and humans in the highlands of Tasmania.
(A number of puma were originally imported to kill wild deer). Iris and Floyd were brought up by a mother and father who were ruthless robbers and murderers.
Iris and Floyd are unemployed and looking for laboring work in outback Tasmania. They learn that there is a monetary reward for killing a wild puma that has not only killed livestock, but killed human beings who were hunting for the puma.
The novel has very good plot momentum and interesting characters. Arnott fans should find this book a very worthwhile, satisfying read. There are many beautiful descriptions of Tasmanian highland country.
This book was first published in 2024.
(A number of puma were originally imported to kill wild deer). Iris and Floyd were brought up by a mother and father who were ruthless robbers and murderers.
Iris and Floyd are unemployed and looking for laboring work in outback Tasmania. They learn that there is a monetary reward for killing a wild puma that has not only killed livestock, but killed human beings who were hunting for the puma.
The novel has very good plot momentum and interesting characters. Arnott fans should find this book a very worthwhile, satisfying read. There are many beautiful descriptions of Tasmanian highland country.
This book was first published in 2024.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews