Oyster by Janette Turner Hospital is brilliant. Set in the isolated Australian Outback town of Outer Maroo, the towns inhabitants are struggling to survive a heat wave, drought, and an awful smell that seems to hang over the town. You know something ominous and dreadful has happened but you have to wait while the suspense builds and events are slowly revealed. Many of the residents of the town are just as secretive and, perhaps, delusional as the many young followers of the cult leader who calls himself Oyster. There is a cult, an illegal opal trade, some dark secrets and the terrible knowledge that foreigners are not welcome and mysteriously disappear in Outer Maroo.

Hospital carefully and skillfully develops her characters through some incredible prose. The writing is really incredible as you have to carefully piece clues together, sometimes from very dream-like inner thoughts of characters, to start to make sense of what has happened and is happening here. The terror felt by the characters is palatable. Much of the apocalyptic story is told through the thoughts of young teen Mercy Givens, but it isn't told in a linear narrative. The thoughts of other characters add to the chorus trying to tell the complete story.

The plot of Oyster, originally published in 1996, shows influence from a couple cults - Jim Jones and Jonestown in 1978 and especially David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in 1993. Knowledge is powerful and dangerous. The natural and enforced seclusion of the inhabitants of Outer Maroo combined with a suspicion of strangers, and a predisposition to believing in charismatic leaders all combine to make for an explosive story with a moral.

The quality of Janette Turner Hospital's writing is what carries this novel, as much as her brilliant plot.
Very Highly Recommended http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/

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Intense and powerful. Somewhat draining like the heat of the desert. Those curious about cults would like this. ( )

The towns that were being gossiped about in the railway pubs bore names like De Profundis, Deep Thought and Pascal's Pit. Entering such towns without a guide was hazardous, the rumour went. People disappeared with no more ado than the sound of an indrawn breath. Abandoned shafts lay in wait for them, lured them, lapped at the edges of their desire for final truth. Without warning, they hurtled down toward the ultimate black opal of their dreams

Why did the commune at Oyster's Reef disappear so suddenly? Everybody in the outback town of Outer Maroo knows, but nobody is saying and the townsfolk have turned in on themselves due to their shock and shame. Their town may be so remote that is isn't even on the map, but people still come looking for relatives who were living at the commune, and Outer Maroo is not a safe place for outsiders any more, if indeed it ever was.

A very atmospheric tale - I loved how slowly the information about what had actually happened at Oyster's Reef was payed out. ( )

Another JTH book with Evil and an underworld / underground setting. This one is based in a remote outback location. What's great about the book? The author's style of releasing the plot through the stories of a number of different characters, so you have to concentrate. The language and dialogue is always a feature of JTH novels and you are always left with enough uncertainty to think about the novel for a number of days. The characters are real people for JTH. She cares for them, even if they are not always safe. ( )

don't worry...this is not a spoiler, just a synopsis

Told mostly in reverse sequence, Oyster begins with two people coming into a tiny mining town called Outer Maroo, which is "off the map" in Queensland's outback. Strangers are not welcome in this place, especially these two, because they come with questions about their missing children. It seems that their children (grown adults, actually) had joined some kind of group which was supposedly a commune led by a charismatic religious man by the name of Oyster. No questions can be asked, though, that the townspeople are willing to answer and no matter what, these two strangers cannot be allowed to leave and let anyone know of the existence of this place. Life wasn't always like this, but things changed with Oyster's arrival. After Oyster came, people came in by the truckload, drawn to his message and by whatever it is that draws people to cults. They took up residence at a place called Oyster's Reef, where, for the grace of God and the commune (and of course, more mundane reasons unknown to them), they drew together and mined opals. But by then, many of the townspeople are either in on the action or are alarmed at the rising number of people at Oyster's Reef, and you can literally feel the tension as the action progresses.

As the book opens, the reader knows something terrible has happened and that draws you in immediately, trying to figure out what's going on. Bits and pieces of the story escape until you've got the ugly picture of just what has happened in the town of Outer Maroo, and the incidents leading up to the mysterious event that opens the story.

I don't know why so many reviewers panned this book...it was excellent. I have to say that at first the style was a little off-putting until I realized that things were happening not sequentially, but being revealed little by little. For the most part, the characterization was great. I grew to hate some of the characters and really pulled for my favorites. It was compelling and a page turner.

I don't know if I'd recommend this to all readers, actually. Although the story is excellent, people who want their standard plot line & a nice neat tidy bow at the end tying all things up will be disappointed. You really want to take this one slow...it is well worth the time it takes to get through it. ( )