Compelling. I don't think I'm personally swept up by Scott's lyrical style (which, I think, at times overwhelms the substance) but this is a meaty novel which is rather engaging. Set over several decades in the 19th century, we follow the life of a young Aboriginal man and his encounters with white settlers in Australia, which range from sympathetic to abhorrent. A truthful, yearning novel, made all the more stronger coming from an actual Indigenous voice.

Don't get me wrong; I look forward to reading more of Scott's work. I think this novel is just a bit too 'popular lit' to draw me personally in. Recommended in general to those interested in the Indigenous experience, however. ( )

This book explores the early contact between the Aboriginal Noongar people and the first European settlers, and has been championed by many book lists and many bloggers to be THE definitive book I should read to understand Australia.

So, finally, I read it - and I admit that I wasn't as moved by this book as I expected to be. Australia has the same issues that Canada has -or perhaps any place in the world that Europeans decided to go in the age of the sailing ship. ( )

The style is challenging and it took me a little while to become absorbed in this recreation of what may well have taken place in the early days of colonisation round present day Albany, Western Australia. The story is told from the aboriginal perspective. Prizes bestowed on it are well deserved. ( )

It can never be said our group isn’t willing to try something different in the literature stakes. As a general rule, we love a challenging read and a chance to explore different styles of storytelling.
Unfortunately, in the case of Deadman Dance, desire was not enough. Most of us felt the story to be too disjointed with time jumps and a fragmented storyline. There were positive comments concerning the descriptive passages and depiction of aboriginal culture, but again, this was not enough to engage most of our group at the emotional level they like.
A few of us have been to Albany and the surrounding area, so enjoyed the historical backdrop and also found the interaction between white and black well done. Bobby’s cross culture struggle rings true with many of the stories we have read in this genre, but failed to move the majority of us enough to care.
It was suggested that, unlike other novels that we have read dealing with indigenous history, Deadman was written by an aboriginal and that the story was being told more in the style of indigenous storytelling rather than in the European style we are more accustomed to. Which could explain the perceived disorderly narrative and disjointed storyline. And let’s be honest, this would not be the only time we have misunderstood our indigenous peoples’ culture, to our own detriment. ( )

This was an excellent book. I found it as a result of reading a book of short stories by Australian writers. One of the stories that really impressed me was "Asleep" by this author. At the back of the book the description of the author said that he had won the Miles Franklin Award for his second book, Benang. I wasn't able to find that book in my library but I did find this one. Then I learned that it had also won the Miles Franklin Award.

It spans the time from 1826 to 1844 which is not such a long period of time but for the aboriginal Noongar of Western Australia everything changed. A small garrison of soldiers came to a natural harbour on the coast and established a village that they called King George Town. The garrison doctor, Dr. Cross, realized that the land they were on belonged to the aboriginals and wanted to have friendly relations with them. A few of the young men were quick to learn some English and also quick to learn tasks from the whites. One young boy in particular, Bobby Wabalanginy, became a favourite of the doctor. When Bobby's parents died of a coughing disease (probably TB brought by the whites) Dr. Cross started to teach him to read and write in English. If Dr. Cross had lived he perhaps would have been able to change the course of relations between the two races but he also died of the coughing disease. As Bobby grew up he became a mediator between the whites and the Noongar. Being just a "blackfella" though he was ignored most times.

A book is mentioned as having made the rounds of the white community, The Last of the Mohicans. Although I have not read this book I suspect that the author is drawing a parallel between the relationships between whites and natives in North America and the interaction described in this book. Seems that the example of North America did nothing to change the way things developed in Australia.

Highly recommended. ( )