Lightning

by Felicity Volk

Amid the chaos of sweeping bushfires, Persia gives birth alone at home with tragic consequences. Traumatised and grieving, she travels north, and encounters Ahmed, a refugee fleeing deportation and his past in Pakistan.

So begins a road trip to the dead heart of Australia, a journey that transcends the limits of ordinary experience. In Persia and Ahmed's world, ancient winds wreak havoc across generations, lightning ignites flames that both destroy and rejuvenate, and water drowns then delivers.

Lightning is an odyssey that crosses continents and centuries, exploring identity, connection and our yearning to reveal ourselves even when cloaked in crippling grief. A moving meditation on finding hope in the rubble of our lives, Lightning celebrates the way our stories and their telling keep us alive when all else is pulling us under.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Book Club

382 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2013

Reviews

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Stories are all we human beings are... Every time we open our mouths we are telling stories. And in the way we breathe and what we eat and when we are silent and when we find our tongues and how we move and when we pause and when we carry on. In all these ways we are telling our stories." p178

Lightning by debut Australian author Felicity Volk is a compelling, lyrical journey of two strangers as they travel from New South Wales to Alice Springs. It explores identity, loss, grief and the healing that comes from discovering a connection to the past, present and future.

Persia has given birth at home to a stillborn daughter during the devastating Canberra bush fires ignited by lightning in 2003. As emotionally razed as the landscape around her, Persia flees with her nameless child swaddled in a suitcase. Stranded in Grafton with no real destination in mind, she accepts the offer of a ride from Ahmed, a refugee with his own secret baggage, on his way to Alice Springs.

Lightning is not only the story of Persia and Ahmed but also the people they meet, the land they travel, of strangers and ancestors. Through wind, fire, earth and water, stories of life and death are told and shared and lived.

The stories Ahmed tells are inspired by the names of the towns the pair travel through on their journey to Alice Springs. Grafton leads to a tale of a grieving man who sews a patch of his dead lover's skin to his own so that he may always keep some part of her with him, Bald Nob the story of the death and rebirth of love, while Tenterfield inspires a tale of a 'tented field' that absorbs the grief of a young woman. How much truth or fiction each story holds is unknowable, though each holds at least some of both.

It is some time before Persia shares her own stories with Ahmed, of her life, of her family, of her daughter. Her own journey of grief is a private one and for Persia, naming it will mean she has begun to let go when she so desperately wants to hold on.

Lightning is a beautifully crafted novel and an impressive debut from Volk. I would expect that it will be one to receive the attention of the 2013 Miles Franklin or Stella Award committee's.

[MarciaB - Book Muster Down Under]

I won't be posting a review as I didn't really enjoy this one - beautifully written, but not my cup of tea.

[Pepita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great storytelling.

[Yuyutsu Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book!

[Dianne Pymble-Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book for the book club I’m a member of. All ten of us churned our way through it. Most of us felt there were a lot of redundant paragraphs of lengthy descriptions of things that we found frustrating. It was a tough book to read.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Lightning' features wonderful story telling. The plots are woven across time and landscapes as characters and places come together. This novel is very easy to read.

The protagonist journeys through various forms of story telling from Persia to Central Australia. The complex tragedy of the first landscape is movingly revealed.

Volk is skilled at creating complex characters. The character of Ahmed is deftly drawn. I felt his agonies but was not depressed by them. I loved the way Volk conveyed a sense of optimism about life and the fact that she did not choose to wallow in depression or get stuck in it.

Volk also created some wonderful cameo characters, my favorites being the truck driver and the Turkish tour guide.

As with the best of authors, Volk brings the landscape on which her story is painted to life. I loved the way the stories within the story linked to the names of the towns the characters visited. It assumes an important role in her story and functions as a 'character'.

'Lightning' is layered complex story telling told elegantly. It is a novel for discerning and intelligent readers.

[Christie Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the hardest things about having to give a book a 'rating'. This was not a bad book, but it was definitely not my type of book. Way too allegorical, didactic and I felt it tried desperately for some sort of profundity, to the point of being derivative of past literature, philosophers, poets and playwrights.

This is so unfortunate, because the writing itself is good. Volk has an excellent command of language, there are some lovely images and the structure of the novel is ambitious.

But at the end of the day if you can't identify with the characters, they bore you and you don't really care where their journey is heading, then it is a struggle to read on. Which just goes to show that not all good writers are good storytellers.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written road trip into 'the dead heart' by a Pakistani refugee & a woman mourning the death of her baby at birth. The two exchange tales to amuse each other building a picture of their pasts. Particularly interesting to learn about the lives of the Afghan camel trains to transport across the desert. Small town Australia was well depicted though I felt Ahmed emerged a rather enigmatic figure whilst Persia was more indulged & received a resolution that was denied Ahmed, even though his need was more pressing.

[Valerie Volk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book to relish: 'Lightning' is beautifully written, and tells a story that sweeps the reader along on a journey that is poignant and painful, but deeply moving and ultimately a cause for rejoicing. The side stories in 'Lightning' add enormously to the interest of the book, and each sheds light on some aspect of the central saga. There are moments of such tenderness in this novel that the reader is moved to tears.

[David Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable book. Think of it as a combination Life Journey novel combined with Scheherazade. The springboard of the plot, a child still-born during the fatal bush-fires which destroyed parts of Canberra, leads to a journey full of fascinating side-roads and revelations. Beautifully written, this book is a joy.

[Jacki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been superb. It's too long, seems unedited, and has some awful prose. It tries to be funny but often doesn't succeed. And yet, amongst that is so much absolutely breathtaking prose that it is worth the effort. The book contains many beautifully crafted fantastical sub-stories which made the book for me. 3.5 stars.

[Deb Kingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read with many stories intertwined with the main story. Takes you on a journey with not only Persia and Ahmed but with generations before.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting ideas and characters presented in an unconvincing, haphazard manner - disappointing.

[Anthony Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book - unusual story but believable and engrossing

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Rebecca Altmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I've read anything quite like this before. It is so many things at once.
The first part of the book exhausted me and I took a break to read something else. I'm glad I took the break and glad I came back.