I really wanted to love this book. The synopsis had me immediately hooked. Unfortunately the writing felt all over the place to me. I picked this up and set it down time and again over the months. As it didn’t hold my attention, overall this book fell very flat for me.

Admittedly I know very little about the lives of and history of Aboriginal people in Australia. That said it’s interesting to learn of the people and their culture and the long term effects and generational trauma of colonization has had on them. Kerry and her family are rather dysfunctional but most families are. She’s an interesting character. Her family is rather colorful. The thing with the crows was very confusing at first. I think based in the description of the book I expected it to lean more towards a bit less serious but it was still an interesting read. My first read by this author.

Such an incredible book written by such an amazing author! I've been recommending this book to everyone.

Too Much Lip is at its heart a story about a woman on the run, from her family, from jail, and from the burden of being indigenous in Australia. Kerry Salter is close to being locked up when she hears that her grandfather, Pop, is dying. so, she hops on a stolen Harley and heads to her hometown. She wants to just stop in and see Pop and then be on her way, but she quickly becomes embroiled in family issues. There is the battle between siblings of who will take over the leadership role once their patriarch dies and then there is the issue where outsiders are trying to increase development on the family's beloved river.

This was an interesting and often wryly comic read about a brash young woman who as much as she wants to escape the life she was born into, can't help but trying to figure out what is best for her family. There is a lot of discussion in this book about the relationship between indigenous Australians and white Australians. The author herself is part Goorie, making this an #ownvoices read. This novel was nominated for several literary awards and won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2019. This book was finally released in the States in late 2020, but was well worth the wait for me.

Unfortunately this was just not for me. I think it's more of a me problem than it is a book problem, because that has largely raving reviews. It gives a very real look into racism, but other than that, it was difficult to read. I could not connect with the characters and it dragged for me.

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Now available!

I'll be honest, my knowledge of Australia is woefully limited to TV shows like Wentworth and Melissa Lucashenko is the one of the handful of Australian authors I've ever read. That is to say, reading this book with its colorful use of Australian slang was almost like reading a foreign language at times. However, the lovable and rambunctious Salter clan are almost universally lovable.

Spurred by the news of her dad's ailing health, Kerry Salter returns to her long abandoned hometown. However, she quickly gets tangled in the arms of a new beau, a dugai for once, as well as her family's fight to protect their land. As the family grows closer together, ghosts from their past and present make themselves known and hidden pasts require sudden confrontation.

Stylistically, the novel alternates between a slice of life piece, heavily filtered through Kerry's sassy lens, and descriptions of life in rural Australia. An enchanting and engrossing blend, this drama is worth a cuppa tea and an evening read.

Kerrie Salter returns to her home after her girlfriend Allie gets pinched for robbery. It's been a long time since she has been here.

<i>Much has changed.</i> Her Pop is dying. Her nephew Donnie has retreated into a shell of his former self.

<i>Too much has stayed the same.</i> Her brother Ken seethes with anger, insecurity and jealousy. After all of these years she still finds herself taking measured steps around him and choosing her battles wisely.

She figures she won't have to stay long. Just long enough to do her part as a dutiful daughter. Then take to the hog and run. But before she can get up the nerve to leave she is pulled in by the forces of family and generations.

I loved Kerry's character. She is strong, sassy and resilient. Although I struggled with some of the Aussie lingo at first, I quickly found my place and was able to get absorbed into the story. Set in present day Australia, <b>Too Much Lip</b> blends magical realism and dark humor with historical and contemporary struggles of the indigenous people. Ancestors are revered and imbued with supernatural powers. Crows talk. Scars are a testimony passed through bloodlines. A family's connectedness to the land, its history and each other is used to examine the cycle of abuse and the stain of colonization. We learn of blackbirding^ and the Stolen Generations* and through Lucashenko's characters we also learn about resistance and hope and love.

<b>Too Much Lip</b> by Melissa Lucashenko was originally published July 25th 2018. It has been recognized for several awards among them the 2019 Miles Franklin Award and the 2019 Queensland Literature Award for State Significance.

<blockquote>Note: Despite the efforts by some to minimize the impact of colonization and slavery in Australia <i>(“history wars”)</i>, there is much evidence to the lasting impact it has had on the indigenous peoples. Along with disease, violent conflict and land dispossession <b>The Aborigines Protection Act of 1869</b> allowed for the removal of indigenous infants and children from homes. These children could be placed in reformatory schools or they could be ^kidnapped for free labor. Children of mixed race assumed a greater risk of being taken from their families as assimilation became a national policy. This law was not repealed until 1969. That equals 100 years of state sanctioned separation!

I love reading about Australia, ever since I traveled there in 2013. I was struck by the similarities in the history of Australia and the United States, though I felt Australia was much more open about its troubling treatment of Aboriginal populations.

Too Much Lip tells the story of Kerry Salter, a young woman who comes from the Bundjalung community. She left home years ago for Brisbane; now she’s back because her grandfather is dying. She arrives in the small town of Durrongo on a stolen Harley, and she’s already trying to figure out how to get out as soon as possible. Of course getting away from home won’t be so easy. Kerry is reminded how much she loves the land when it’s threatened by the local mayor’s plan to have the area developed and turned into a prison.

Importantly, this is a book about race and history in Australia. It’s about what the white colonists stole from the natives, and about the many abuses that impact families to this day. It’s about how abuse repeats itself over generations – it doesn’t just go away as we might like to think. Be warned – this isn’t an easy book, and it shouldn’t be. Its characters endure slavery, rape, extreme violence, and children separated from their families.

There was so much I loved about this book, particularly the way Lucashenko weaved together Kerry’s culture and mythology, including animals as totems and the importance of land and family history. I liked the magical realism elements, which were minimal enough that they added to the story without detracting from the very difficult issues. And I really liked the way Lucashenko uses local dialect. Though I had trouble at first understanding a lot of the words, I enjoyed trying to figure them out and over time the book became much easier to read.

Kerry dropped into second as she cruised past the corner store, clocking the whitenormalsavages, a dozen blue eyeballs popping fair outta their moogle heads at the sight of her. Skinniest dark girl on a shiny new Softail, heart attack city, truesgod. So yeah, let’s go for it, eh, you mob. Let’s all have a real good dorrie at the blackfella du jour.

Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
Lucashenko is described on Goodreads as an Australian of European and Goorie heritage (I looked up the term “Goorie” and it is also spelled Koori and refers to the Aboriginal communities in New South Wales and Victoria). This book won the Miles Franklin Award in 2019, an annual prize awarded to “a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases” (from the award’s website).

Kerry is not an easy character to like; she’s hot-headed, sarcastic, and makes a lot of poor decisions. Her morality is dubious at times (at one point she congratulates herself for not having committed any crimes recently). But I did like her, quite a bit. The title of the book is a reference to her struggle to manage her temper and think before she speaks – although “too much lip” also refers to the fact that her outspoken nature draws the ire of her abusive brother, so maybe she’s not the one that needs to fix anything. Clearly, too many women are too silent about the things that upset them. But at the same time, Kerry does need to learn to deal with her issues more productively.

The one thing I wasn’t sure what to make of, Kerry identifies as a lesbian (she’s just broken up with her girlfriend) yet she’s drawn into a relationship with a local guy, Steve. Much is made about the fact that Steve is not only male, he’s also white. He’s good to her though, and while she resists it, their relationship deepens. One way I read this is that love can happen between two people regardless of what categories or restrictions they place on themselves. On the other hand, Kerry doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about whether she’s bisexual, and I worried that the message conveyed is that gay people can change their orientation if they just meet the right person. There is another character who is gay and in a strong relationship so that helps.

You can see there are a lot of layers in this book, although there are also clear messages about honoring culture and land, supporting family, and communicating openly and without violence. At its heart, this is a book about troubled family relationships, and dealing with abuse and conflict. I really appreciated the vivid characters and the sense of humor throughout what is a dark story. I also appreciated the historical detail and the fact that it allowed me to experience a place and a culture I would otherwise know little about. There is a lot of violence and profanity, but it all feels necessary to the story. I definitely recommend this book to readers looking to read about diverse cultures.

Note: I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher HarperVia. This book published in Australia in 2018, and in the U.S. on November 3, 2020.

Owen Salter hasn’t been a model grandfather—in fact, he’s been cruel, misogynistic, homophobic, and abusive to his family. But when Kerry finds out he has little time to live, she decides to return to her hometown. Speeding south on a stolen Harley also allows her to avoid the warrants out for her arrest.

As soon as she arrives, she realizes why she’s stayed away so long: her critical mother, her angry brother, the ghost of her missing sister, not to mention the systemic racism keeping the indigenous community in poverty and depriving them of opportunities and the intergenerational trauma passed down through the years. Yet, she can’t deny the solace from Granny Ava’s Island, her family’s spiritual home, nor can she ignore the responsibility she feels for her nephew, Donny, or her surprising attraction to Steve, a white man.

Soon, the Salters learn that developers have targeted Ava’s Island as the site for a new prison. Though they need to join forces to combat the corruption and greed, the longer they are together, the more old resentments surface and new conflicts arise.

Kerry, always criticized as having “too much lip,” draws attention to the fault lines, which if not mended will tear the family asunder for good.

At times, the experiences depicted were difficult to read (I cried), but they were beautifully rendered. Though the subject matter was heavy, moments of levity released emotional tension. Kerry frustrated me at times, but I had to admire her grit, and I wish I had an Uncle Richard.

As an American reader, I was unfamiliar with some of the historical and cultural context of the story (set in Australia). However, I don’t think that should be a deterrent to reading the book. In fact, I would argue that makes it even more important to read and learn. Furthermore, it’s impossible to ignore the parallels between the indigenous people of Australia and BIPOC in the US. Two systems seem to rule the citizenry: one for those with power, defined through race and class, and one for everyone else.

TW: child abuse, racial epithets, animal death

The premise held a lot of promise but I couldn’t get past the writing. I found it hard to get past chapter one and decided to dnf. Thank you so much for the arc regardless.

Unlike many other readers, I had a difficult time getting into this book and pushed myself to finish reading it. I lost track of the novel's purpose several times throughout reading it. I have only read a few other books featuring Aboriginal characters, but this was a jarring and honest look into this culture. I wanted to enjoy this book, but it was a miss for me. I didn't like that I was confused about what the story was actually about throughout the entirety.

Kerry told herself that she would never go back home, but with the news that her grandfather is dying and multiple warrants out for her arrest, that’s just where she finds herself. When she finds out there are plans to build a prison on her grandmother’s land, she knows that she won’t be able to leave as easily as she wants.

Full disclosure, being from the US, I didn’t understand like 80% of what was being said. I was still able to mostly follow along with the dialogue though. Some of the scenes felt hard to follow all on their own though, and I really struggled to understand what was happening a lot of the time.

All of the characters in this are extremely unlikable, but I think that makes the book more interesting. Kerry’s family is a disaster and I probably wouldn’t want to spend any time with them, but that was one of my favorite parts of the book. Everyone was incredibly selfish and that made me unsure of what they were going to do next.

Kerry’s nephew, Donny is the most intriguing character in the book and probably the only likable one too.

One thing that I really didn’t like was the Kerry/Steve romance though. I wasn’t interested when they first met and I was a little disappointed to see that the author chose to continue it, because I wasn’t really feeling anything for them.

TW: animal violence, racial slurs, racism, cancer

Kerry Salter ends up back home, right at the heart of her origins. Her family is just as chaotic and strained as she remembers, and she doesn’t plan on staying. However, harsh reality has other plans for Kerry, and she finds that she can’t leave, for her own reasons and others’. There’s too much at stake.

The novel starts out and ends in a gritty place. Loose ends are tied together, some are cut off, but I didn’t mind. The narrative doesn’t take a clear path forward, which is a kind of style that I’ve gotten used to, and I think it did really well in this novel. I think the style really allowed the choppy, complicated relationships to really be show in great detail. I also especially liked Kerry’s journey in exploring her sexuality, because I don’t think it was something she got to look too far into when she was a kid and the world was a little more volatile when she couldn’t handle herself. I’m definitely going to look into reading more of Lucashenko's work.

I love the cover illustration for this book - that and the description are what drew me in. Being American, I really struggled with a lot of the Australian slang, which led to gaps in my comprehension. While I love that this was marketed as an LGBTQ book, it isn't quite. It is creatively written and I recommend it with reservations.

Yeah... I liked the idea of this book, but the execution wasn’t for me. I wanted to DNF at multiple points, but kept going because I’d read it got better by the end, which I didn’t think it did. <b>Trigger warning: there’s grotesque animal abuse in this book.</b>

What I liked:
- The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s what drew me in.
- Lucashenko helps familiarize readers with Goorie culture, and she calls out white colonizers while she’s at it.
- Kerry, who previously thought she was a lesbian (I think...?), ends up dating a dude. This is really cool to see; it mirrors my identity/experience.

What I didn’t like:
- The narration reads as messy to me. In the beginning, it’s mainly 3rd person from Kerry’s POV, but there’s some random and confusing head-hopping going on. Toward the end, Kerry kind of fades into the background and it seems to switch to omniscient POV? Plus, there are the occasional chapters that switch to a whole separate character/setting, and while these shifts end up kind of making sense, they just don’t flow well imo.
- The plot is all over the place — so much dialogue without resolving anything I found myself thinking come onnnn, let’s find out what happens with the thing that’s actually interesting.
- Humans talking to animals? Dead relatives appearing out of nowhere? I was confused by these scenes. Is the Salter family magical or...?
- The Kerry/Steve romance felt forced and unnecessary to me.
- Ugh, Ken sucks but he’s mommy’s little baby boy. I disliked every scene with him in it.
- I really didn’t vibe with the humor.

Tl;dr: This wasn’t for me, but I can see why most readers enjoyed it.

If you are familiar with the heinous acts of Aboriginal children being stolen from their families you will want to read this book. That subject is covered in the book, along with family relationships, turmoil, and equal rights. The language might confuse some as it is written in Aussie speak but it is a fascinating read. There are some triggering parts so be forwarned. I can see this being used for history classes.

I wanted to love this so much! It sounded good, the cover is so gorgeous, and it's Pub Date is my birthday. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it. I didn't really like the main character, and the writing was off for me. I ended up dnf-ing this one, sadly! It just wasn't for me.

With a no holds barred protagonist and severely underrepresented population, Too Much Lip serves as an excellent portrait of an aboriginal family in current times. Many themes are present that are often not talked about, such as the profitability of land, intergenerational strife, and sexism, and this novel really pulls readers into this completely realistic story.