I've started and stopped this one a few times and I just don't think it's for me. Fully believe this could be someone else's fave book and it has a lot of potential! *graciously bows out*

I really enjoyed this story. The prose was precise, and the novel was elegant, pristine, and haunting. Recommended.

While I appreciated the writing within THE SUN WALKS DOWN, the story overall wasn’t for me. Maybe it was my timing and I wasn’t in the mood, but this book felt cold and it was difficult for me to get into. Again, maybe this was just me and my timing as the synopsis seemed really intriguing, but I struggled wanting to pick this hookup.

Not only was this a slow moving story, there were a lot of characters to keep track of. Not only that, a lot of nothing happened, giving this book no plot vibes. Forever questioning if this was on me, but I was having a hard time understanding the gist of the book.

Big thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Netgalley for the gifted copy.

Content warnings: racism, infidelity, animal death, death

I really could not get into this. Too many characters. Very loose connections. I only finished 25%, so I did not post a public review.
I love historical fiction, so I am sad that I couldn't connect with it.

When I look back on this book, I'll remember most of all the slow, gentle yearning and the lens on the Aboriginal experience. While I think the slow pace is what helps drive the tense atmosphere and feeling of sheer terror over a lost child, I did find myself losing focus while reading this quite often. Really conflicted because I thought the writing was beautiful, but also am not sure I can fully recommend this read - I'd say this probably lands as more of a 3.5 / 5 for me.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

The language of this book is beautiful, and so vivid. However, I just couldn't get into it as much as I tried. The ever changing perspectives was hard for me to follow in audio book format, and the pacing was slow. When I did tune in completely I enjoyed it! Just wasn't for me. The narrator was good though!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year – it was solid, but not excellent. From the very beginning, I knew this was going to remind me a lot of Disappearing Earth, and it truly did in so, so many ways. Evocative natural setting that feels like a character in the book, plot that loosely revolves around a near-tragedy involving children; small-town setting; rotating perspectives from many different types of people in the town; long and meandering.

I thought the writing and characterization were overall strong - I was surprised that I was able to follow all of the many different perspectives and still identify individual personality traits with each character. I loved the setting (as I expected I would) - I'm a sucker for books set in Australia, especially rural/bush Australia, and I had never read an Australian book set in the late 1800s as this one is. The time and place are powerful components of the story. In terms of the social/cultural aspects of it, though, the author tried to share some commentary on the relationships between white European immigrants and Native Australians, but it was a bit half-baked; I couldn't quite tell what she meant to convey other than some slightly caricatured portraits of Native trackers.

Finally, even though this book is only about 350 pages, it felt very, very long. When a book is so literary and "no plot just vibes," I can only go on for about 300 pages max, and that's only if the writing is very strong (I know, it's a shortcoming of my own!) and this one just seemed to drag and drag around the 60% mark. I think I would have liked this a lot more if it were just a bit shorter and tighter. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC via Netgalley.

Beautifully narrated story that reads like poetry. About the harsh realities of life in Australia and the disparaties of race and colonialism. A little too slow and monotone for the length of the audiobook.

Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm, and if you have read any of Jane Harper’s books or know anything about Australia this is not a place you want to be lost. The entire town is intent on finding him, and after a few introductory chapters on setting the stage, the remainder of the book is about finding Denny and is told from a few POV’s. Relationships are explored, and we get a couple of chapters from Denny’s POV as he realizes he is lost. There is also the perspective of the belief in many gods and how that factors into whether Denny will be found alive, including the sun as a god and its rising and falling, or ‘walking down’ each day.

Let me tell you, this is an absolutely exquisite book. It is a good mix of plot and character focus, all trying to achieve one goal - finding Denny. I thought it might drag or be too much but no, it was not. I put this on audio when starting a walk with Jaxx and thought I would listen to it off and on over the next few days but holy cow I was so hooked on this story that I could not stop and finished in half a day.

I was fascinated by the ‘trackers’, who know what to look for when finding someone who is lost, as well as the determination of the entire town trying to find the boy, along with how they would find signs and not know what or why they found what they did, and the artistry that was incorporated in here in addition to the overall atmospheric setting in general. I am really trying to convey how well done this book is without spoiling anything, as it was a hidden gem that I did not expect would become a five star read. I loved this one so much and I highly recommend it. The audio was clearly my preferred choice but I think either way it is one that is not to be missed.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for the advanced copy and Macmillan Audio / NetGalley for the ALC to review.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this one. I find it brave for the authors to make a community the main character of a story. While I think the McFarlane made this work, I had trouble connecting to this story.

Thank you to FSG for the review copy of this book! Its awesome blurbs (and the fact that FSG put so much detail/budget into the ARCs) convinced me to pick it up, and I really enjoyed it.

The Sun Walks Down is interesting because it’s one of those books where the setting is the main character. It’s told through the voices of probably a dozen different members of a late-1800s colonial town in South Australia after a young, neurodivergent boy named Denny goes missing. That includes his family (I think his badass and queer-coded sister, Cissy, was my favorite), but also the police constable’s new wife, a painter visiting the area, Denny himself, and more. The story looks at not just how the community responds to the crisis, but also racism, colonization, class, and more.

One thing to know going in is that this is a slower-paced book and asks for your patience. The 7-day structure moves the story forward, not the prose — that lingers with the members of the town. So if you’re primarily interested in books where you’re invested in individual characters, this may not be for you. That said, it does what it’s trying to do very well.

Finally, I also listened to this one on audio as I read along, and thought it was performed very well. It had me entranced behind the wheel of my car a few times!

A powerful historical fiction of a community in the outback of Australia. When a boy from the community goes missing, it effects the entire community. Told through a huge cast of characters and different genres of writing, it is a story of family, love and community that I will not soon forget.

I was given a NetGalley widget for this one a year ago and I just got around to reading it and dangit it was so good. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have consumed this wildly relevant fictional tale, which felt not at all fictional, more like historical fiction, due to the times. The cover initially was what drew me in, but I'm so thankful to have stuck with it because the outcome was magical. I always love listening to audiobooks and when they sweep me off my feet, I'm just utterly captivated!

A brilliant novel told in many voices, which at times reads like poetry. A boy goes missing in the the South Australia outback and the author weaves a web of family stories, survival, colonialism, hardship, immigration, art, harsh landscape, beauty, and love. The reader is transported into the novel and gets lost in its beautiful writing. I was lost for a few days and could not put it down. This book actually exudes love as one reads it. One of the best novels I have read so far this year. Thank you to NetGalley, FSG, and Macmillan audio for the advance copy.

Gosh. I'm an outlier here compared to the other reviewers. But I just didn't love The Sun Walks Down. Despite the glowing reviews from one of my very favorite authors, Ann Patchett, who blurbed the book.

The synopsis was about a lost young boy in the Australian outback. But it was much more about the community members who were looking for him, and their experiences migrating to the country. (Or being from a native tribe).

What lead to more confusion was that each chapter delved into a different set of characters... even time periods. But what about the boy!?! Oh. His story was only 10-15% of the plot.

For me, this was too slow and meandering. Plus, the audiobook put me to sleep several times. To help me focus, I grabbed the ebook to help me follow along and keep all of the rotating characters straight.

I'll pass on recommending it to my fellow readers.

That said, I appreciate the opportunity to listen to this audio via the NetGalley app in exchange for my review.

The Sun Walks Downs by Fiona McFarlane is a very pastoral historical fiction. This novel is very descriptive of the South Australian colonial small town in 1883. It centres around the disappearance of six year Denny and the lives of the community members. There’s a lot of characters and connections between them. The narrator Emma Jones was good. This is a sweeping tale but it was hard to fall in love with the characters. Loved learning about the setting though.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio via NetGalley for my ALC!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for the audiobook ARC!

The Sun Walks Down is a fascinating novel that takes place in a brutal, yet beautiful setting - the Australian Outback. I found the characters to be quite engaging, and I loved how each one had a moment in the spotlight, so to speak, in which their backstory was explained. Some very unexpected and deeply human revelations came out of these biographic vignettes. I would definitely recommend The Sun Walks Down to fans of historical fiction, literary fiction, or to anyone who (like me) might be on an Australian fiction binge at the moment.

Set in the South Australia outback in September of 1883, the stories of people of Fairly are shared as the community searches for a young boy (Denny), lost during a dust storm.

McFarlane describes the child's surroundings and his fear so the reader feels they are with him as he searches for his way home. The families' agony as they search for the young boy, as well as the townspeople, is equally as vivid. A number of voices are used to tell their viewpoint of those searching, those who are selfishly moving forward with little to no concern, and those who know nothing of this young child's exploits.

THE SUN WALKS DOWN is a beautiful book about the varied personalities of a community and how they respond to an incident that impacts everyone's life in one way or another during this time of searching for a lost child.

A six-year-old boy goes out to collect kindling during a dust storm and disappears into the wilderness. It’s 1883 in South Australia and while family and neighbors start looking for the boy, their rural community gather to help, gossip, argue, support each other, speculate, and make things worse. While the tiny town searches and worries, Denny walks into the Flinders Ranges — lost, lonely, and terrified of the relentless sun.

Is this another page-turning Australian thriller set in the hot and dusty outback? Far from it. The boy’s disappearance is just a starting point for portraying a changing farming community in colonial Australia. This is neither a plot driven novel nor a character study as there is no real protagonist here. Instead, it’s a novel of many voices making a whole, reminiscent of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, or Elizabeth Strout’s Amgash stories. If anything, the sun and the harsh Australian land function as the main characters here.

The pace is deliberate, the language lyrical and the many relationships fractured and complicated: we meet farmers and hired hands, constables, maids, vicars, mothers and daughters, as well as aboriginal trackers and a Swedish-British artist couple — the only outsiders and, at least for me, the most memorable characters in the story. I was surprised by the prominent Swedish elements in an Australian novel; I believe the title is a play on the direct translation of the Swedish phrase “solen går ner” (the sun sets).

The Australian audiobook narrator, Emma Jones, told the story in a mellow, almost whispery style. Befitting the slow-burn story, the narration felt melodious, lyrical and languid, almost drowsy. In fact, the story often felt too slow and detached for my taste and I was missing some urgency. I doubt I will remember most of these characters in a few months. Still, I think the beautiful writing, the pervasive mood of alienation and dispossession, the heat and the wilderness will stay with me a while.

Many thanks to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for providing an audiobook copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sadly, I could not get into a groove with this book. I would start it, finding it tough to stay with, would move on to another book and come back to it. On my third pass, I gave up. With all the lovely reviews, I find it hard to do this. Unfortunately I was unable to follow and connect with the characters.
I know Fiona McFarlane to be a wonderful writer and i will definitely continue to look forward to her upcoming works, this was just a miss for me.
My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.