Las preocupaciones que asechan a la familia Flute son completamente profundas, las trae el viento, un viento vivo que tiene tantos humores como cualquier persona. De alegres a tristes y trágicos. Túneles es la historia de esta familia, o al menos parte de ella. La mala, puede decirse.La casi numerosa y sin dinero familia Flute que vive de conejos. Los vende, los come, y aunque esté harta de ello, sabe que lo primero es vivir.La voz de Harper, nuestra joven protagonista, pinta las cosas como su vida le ha enseñado. Soñando con los pies en la tierra, soñando sentimientos y objetos en un real, muy real, alcance de posibilidades. Y es que el tiempo en el que se sitúa la historia es malo, luego de la guerra, con crisis, con gente que huye y es obligada a ser mala para vivir.Pero lo que Harper cuenta en esta historia tiene que ver con su hermano Tin. El niño que estuvo a punto de morir enterrado junto al río y aún así, contra cualquier opinión, continuó con vida. Tin, que un buen día comenzó a cavar túneles bajo la casa y luego de un tiempo la tierra se convirtió en su hogar.Las distintas opiniones que Harper tendrá de Tin a lo largo del libro son las mismas que uno como lector puede imaginar. Todas las que un personaje tan misterioso y de pocas explicaciones como Tin pueden despertar.Para comprender el efecto que esta historia tiene en quien la lee no hay otra forma que conocerla. Como muchas de mis lecturas recientemente estoy seguro incrementa la forma en que uno se siente con su vida, sea cual sea el sentimiento, hasta niveles insospechados.Porque túneles es una historia para pensar en salir adelante teniendo paciencia para ello, soñar con hacerlo hasta cierto punto de seguridad. Y aunque es verdad que los personajes nunca esperan nada y lo que nos cuenta es meramente la vida de una familia pobre en punto de depresión existencial, las sorpresas no faltan. Y cuando aparecen lo hacen en grande. Eso me agrada.Si vas a hacer algo, hazlo bien, dicen algunos.Sonya Hartnett nos muestra de nuevo una historia de vida, la de Harper, con los cambios que surgieron. Con superaciones inesperadas pero que siempre estuvieron en los corazones de los personajes.Para demostrar cómo apreciar la vida. Cómo todos, después de todo, elegimos nuestra propia forma de vivir, la que nos conforme o nos haga sentir nosotros mismos. Porque mentes hay tantas y son tan únicas todas que nadie debe pretender entender nada.Este libro tiene un motivo. Pueden ser todos o ninguno. Como dije: cada mente es única y estoy seguro será diferente con todo aquel que se atreva a leerlo.Aquí está la familia Flute. Que vive sobre túneles y un chico sin palabras rodeado de tierra, pero con mucha mente. Y un desconocido, puede que hasta para él mismo, objetivo sobre sus acciones. Su instinto. Tal vez nunca lo sabremos.Definitivamente, una historia para no dejar de pensar.
Because I liked this author's book "The Ghost's Child", I went right out & got this book from the library, to try another of hers.They were actually very different kind of books. But I thought both were very well written. I enjoyed this book quite a bit.With "The Ghost's Child", I felt it was an eloquently written 'fairy tale', as well as an autobiography of the main character. I compared the story most to things I've read of Neil Gaiman's. With "Thursday's Child", in the beginning I felt the book read somewhat like a "tall tale". It was definitely more 'realistic' & less 'fanciful' than "The Ghost's Child". But amidst the 'reality' of "Thursday's Child", there was one character that was 'not quite real'!? That's the part that made me think of a 'tall tale'. As the book concluded though, I was not reminded of the great American tall tales (Paul Bunyon, Johnny Appleseed, etc), as much as I was reminded of the great American writers of the 20th century. This book ended up reminding me a lot of the way Steinbeck writes (Of Mice & Men, The Grapes of Wrath, etc). So yes, very different from the first book I read by this author, yet equally well written. A very interesting story.(It does not escape me that I have compared this book & this author's writing to American types of stories & I do believe she is actually Australian & the book was set in Australia).A.
What do You think about Thursday's Child (2003)?
What would you do if things couldn’t get any worse? Set during the Great Depression in rural Australia, a family deals with loss after loss: the death of a child, the collapse of their home, the loss of themselves to something dark and craven. Harper, the third child of five and the second daughter, tells of growing up and struggling to survive. She tells of family relationships and how loss can change everything and especially everyone. Her younger brother, Tin, is more comfortable burrowing in the earth than living with the family. Harper must deal with this loss and come to terms with many others, mainly by persevering and using what Americans would call moxie.
—Christy
I found this difficult to read...it seemed so bleak, I actually skipped part of it as I was optimistically looking for a brighter ending. I couldn't believe the strangeness either of Tin who was left to dig, I know strange things happen in families, but from the stories my family tells of these bleak times never indicating this sort of surreal behaviour I found it hard to accept! On the other hand I cannot fault the writers story telling . The book is very easy to read in terms of the text and the structure, just very melancholy.
—Meg
Sonya Hartnett does not write cheery, happy books. No, instead she complex, dark, thoughtful stories that leaves her reader shocked and bleeding - I love it! Her real strength is in her characters, so simply drawn but with such depth you feel you would know them the moment you saw them.She frequently uses the Australian landscape to punctuate the desolation felt in her stories - the stark, dry landscape, the tough, suspicious people it breeds. If I close my eyes, I can see the Flute family standing in front of me, sunburnt and dusty, squinting into the sun, sunbaked earth all around them.Like most of her books, Thursday's Child is character driven. The story happens around the people in it, with seemingly every day events taking on greater meaning as the story builds to it's climax. In less talented hands the story would drag and falter, but Hartnett's characters keep you there with them, watching as their lives fall apart, sharing with them the belief that finally, eventually it must get better. Hartnett is, without a doubt, one of Australia's most talented writers.
—Kylie Purdie
