Volcano Street

by David Rain

Marlo said suddenly, 'I don't like it here.' Something in her voice was wild, almost pleading, and Skip turned to her sharply. Marlo looked helpless, lost, and with an aching heart Skip vowed that somehow, in some way, she would make things better for them both...


After their mother is sectioned, Skip and Marlo Wells are farmed out to relatives in a backwater town called Crater Lakes. Sixteen-year-old Marlo spends her days working in the family hardware store, while twelve-year-old Skip spends hers avoiding their overbearing aunt and fighting at the local school. Both sisters dream daily of escape, but first impressions can be deceiving -- when they meet their new neighbours, Skip's classmate Honza and his older brother Paul, they begin to see a different side to the town. As the hot Australian days roll by, the Wells sisters begin to settle into Crater Lakes, where they discover that prejudice and violence run deep, but belonging and family run deeper.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

311 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 2014

About the author

David Rain is an Australian writer who lives in London. He is the author of the novels Volcano Street and The Heat of the Sun. He has written poetry, articles, and reviews. He has taught literature and writing at Queen’s University of Belfast, University of Brighton, and Middlesex University, London.

Website: www.davidrain.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/David.Rain.author
Twitter: @DavidRainAuthor

Reviews

[Aditi · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A sister is both your mirror - and your opposite"
----Elizabeth Fishel, a journalist and author


David rain, the Australian author, have spun an enthralling tale about sisterly love, childhood, Australian adventure, haunting ghosts across a pond and theater acts set across an Aussie town called, Crater Lakes in the 1970s, in his new book, Volcano Street .

Synopsis:

In the tradition of great Australian literature Volcano Street is a wonderfully vivid portrayal of small-town life and the uncertainties of childhood.

'What would Germaine do?'

This is the mantra that Skip and Marlo Wells turn to as they navigate their way through the twists and turns that life brings. Such as the sectioning of their mother Karen Jane.

Marlo puts her faith in her hero, Germaine Greer, and twelve-year-old Skip trusts her clever big sister to know the right thing to do. But when the sisters are forced to move to their Auntie Noreen and Uncle Doug's home in the backwater city of Crater Lakes even Marlo can't think of a solution.

At age sixteen, Marlo is forced to quit school and work in the family hardware store. Skip manages to get on her auntie's bad side from the get-go and is an outcast at school as she vehemently declares the injustice of the Vietnam War - not what Noreen wants to hear with her precious son Barry off fighting.

Against the backdrop of a broken home, the fight for equality and a far off war Volcano Street is a heartfelt tale of acceptance and belonging, and learning what family truly means.

This is David's second book and it's equally powerful like his debut book, but one thing I noticed in this book, which was apparently missing in his first book, The Heat of the Sun is emotions, which are portrayed with depth and compassion and their chords are so strong that reading about them will instantly play you with it's rhythm.

Skip and Marlo are two sisters sipped off to the Crater lakes in Australia at their Aunt's residence after their mother being admitted to the mental asylum, Skip is the youngest, a completely tomboy, wild, vulnerable, strong, ready to face anything, Skip is a girl, yet her demeanor is that of a boy, whereas her elder sister Marlo is calm, composed, sad and is the one desperate to get away from their new establishment with a college admission. But little did they knew that their new home would be harder for them to not only adjust but also to contemplate with the harsh Australian lifestyle. Upon their arrival to their aunt's home at Crater Lakes in South Australia, Marlo and Skip had to follow their aunt's orders even if it includes that Marlo have to quit school and work in their family hardware shop to sustain them. Marlo meets Pavlo Novak, a young man working at the hard ware store and soon their friendship blossoms into something promising. Skip becomes friends with the thug boy and Pavlo's younger brother Honza, but Skip's friendship with Honza makes him leave his pack of other thug boys who loved to bully other kids in the school. Soon these two girls are drawn into the compelling past scandal of their town through their local theater group, which unravels a lot of secrets about certain prejudices and narrow mindedness of this town.

Rain have described the childhood fictional town, Crater Lakes brilliantly, a typical Australian town where there is not much to do for youngsters like Skip or Marlo. The moment they step into this town, they make a vow that they would get out of this miserable town through studies and college admission. But this town held some intriguing mysteries which finally made them realize the importance and value of this dead end town. From the heat to the dusty streets to the old linguistic tone, to the local delicacies to almost everything, the whole picture of the town that Rain painted is vividly Australian and with this novel, you are bound to transport yourself to the 70s period in an old Australian town. If you have never been to Australia then this is the perfect book for you.

Rain embodied himself into his 12-year old primary character, Skip and brought out her spirit and voice so distinctly. Skip is naughty and tremendously wild, and would do anything to protect her elder sister, Marlo, but her flaws and her tomboyish nature are what makes us root for her character. The scenes unfolded in Skip's school with bullying and the fights are strikingly portrayed by the author.

In the beginning of the novel, it's hard to decide what the author is trying to portray with his novel whether the miserable situation of the two sisters or whether the history of a scandalous past about a man who haunts Crater Lakes as a ghost. In the first part, it's all about Skip and she is the best thing in the whole novel and from her POV, we get to see the larger picture about the Wells' sisters past, their mother being sectioned, dealing with bullied at school backyard, her wild adventures with Honza. Next half, the novel shifts from Skip's POV to general POV about a secret of the town. Except Skip, I don't think so there are any other characters, that I could connect with like the tacky bus driver, Sandy Campbell and his racist and sexist remarks, Aunt Noreen with her obesity and TV series addiction, Pavlo Novak, a young accountant at the hard ware store and his constant admiration for Marlo. Well the characters that Rain created are visual and striking enough to get an idea about them quite easily while on the other hand, due to lack of depth, we couldn't feel them in the story, they felt more like some passing characters in this novel. The narrative is captivating, yet not that alluring to hook us till the very end.

Overall, it's a realistic novel with a bit of surreal drama, which is heart-touching and intriguing and it's mainly because of the 12-year old girl, Skip, who will grip us from the very first page.

Verdict: David Rain's Volcano Street is one of the best Australian novel, that unravels a story of mystery, love, restitution, and full of wild childish adventures.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, David Rain, for giving me an opportunity to read and review his book.

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

I really enjoyed this, David Rain captures the spirit of twelve year old 'Skip', an adventurous tomboy, and sixteen year old Marlo, both desperately unhappy to find themselves living with their estranged aunt and uncle in Crater Lake. The cast is lively and interesting, from obese Auntie Noreen to Skip's on-and-off-again best friend, Honza, to the enigmatic Ghost of Dansie House. Rain vividly evokes some of the best and worst elements of Australian life in the 1970's and the claustrophobic oppression of a small country town.

[Scott Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book cover looks very nice. I give this book 5 stars.

[Odette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about two sisters, Skip and Marlo, who move to Crater Lake to live with their aunt. I really enjoyed reading this book. The story is set in a small country town and all the characters are very memorable. The author has captured well the atmosphere of the town.

The two sisters move at a critical stage in their life and to me is their coming of age story. Part of the story line is set in the past, which relates to the past inhabitants of an old neglected house located near a swimming hole. At certain stages, there seems to be mystical or an unreal quality in the storyline, and other times the story was quite confrontational.

I like the style of writing and found this book hard to put down, and just wanted to keep reading it.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skip and Marlo Wells find themselves stuck living at their Aunt Noreen's house when their mother, Karen Jane, has been committed to a mental hospital. Marlo, a studious sixteen year old girl is forced to leave school and work in the family's hardware store. Ironically Skip, Marlo's twelve year old younger sister, isn't that interested in school but she's the one who gets to go, unfortunately for Skip. The story mostly follows Skip as she tries to find some sort of comfort in the town of Crater Lakes. Many times, she considers running away from her Aunt's sad house. She has trouble fitting into the school and several times finds herself in fights. Even her relationship with her sister is at risk because Marlo doesn't seem to understand Skip's problems.

The characters intrigue me. They are not regular at all. Many, even the people in the background, have some sort of unique persona or traits that make them special. I really liked Skip. For a young girl, I felt quite like I could appreciate many of the situations she found herself in and could certainly understand what she was going through. Essentially, if we break down the story line to the essentials, she's just a young girl who tries to fit in when she finds herself in a new town. She doesn't know what to do or how to deal with the problems and people around her, but she does the best she can, even without very good (real) role models. I also appreciated the relationship with Marlo was dwindling and, though they were pretty close earlier in the novel, they were sort of losing each other bit by bit. It seemed pretty realistic to me, that Skip was worried for her sister and that she still held out hope that they'd escape the town. Going on with Marlo, I felt that her character was pretty natural. There's just something about the way she was written that makes it kind of sad, but I liked that she kept her head high and just kept trying to follow her dreams. I liked the crush she had on the teacher and appreciated that later on in the book, she got chapters dedicated to what was going on in her life. If I could change anything, I would want her to have a little more of her life in the book. However, I can see why the author might not have wanted to; I guess it might just get a little bit repetitive if we were just to see her, day after day, in the hardware store. Though, a chapter or two more so that we could see her studies or a bit more of the play might have been good. It might help better explain the crush she has on Mr. Brooker and a little more about the other members of cast, seeing as these are essentially kind of important parts of the end of the book.

I felt that the introduction of Roger Dansie was a little bit surprising to me. It just seemed like, later on in the book, he suddenly appeared and that was that. His story is later explained, but I think that it felt just slightly forced. I think the introduction of his character, and back-story, could have been done a little bit better- that we might have the town or theatre group gossiping about him and what had happened. I think that the author could have spent a little more time explaining the relationship between him and Skip. At the end, I felt that they truly had love for each other. However, at the same time, I just think a lot of those portions went unexplained, like the way the group just simply moves into his home. I don't need a step by step explanation of the events, but I would like to read more into this relationship with him and Skip. It just feels like the author skimmed over something really incredible there and it makes me kind of disappointed. I could really quite understand Aunt Noreen and her motives. I think that, though we're meant to dislike her because of what she does and the way she acts, I really do understand her. It must be kind of unfortunate, being stuck with your sister's kids. She needs to feed, cloth and house them. So, to me, it really does make sense that she had sent Marlo to work at the shop. As for the mother, Karen Jane, I did like her free spirit and her unfortunate circumstances. I considered it kind of sad that we didn't see much more of her later on in the book and that the letter she had sent seemed to be a one-time event. I would have liked to see a little more. For the Lum's Den characters, I really did like the way it turned out. Though, I felt like their bullying went a little unexplained in some portions. Like when they turned up at the well, for example, and the dislike for cats could have been better explained as well.

My first thoughts regarding the plot and writing is that I quite like it. I like how snappy the sentences are and the way the author writes it the book. There's a lot of personality in this book and a lot of that comes from the author's writing style. It really helps that the author has included all sorts of varying emotions in it. In many portions, I could feel fear for the characters, embarrassment, upset and heartbreak. Likewise, I was pleased when something went right and many of the good feelings as well. For the plot, I think that it all came together really well. In some portions, the scene changes made it a little difficult to tell what was going on and sometimes during these changes, I didn't realise whether they were flashbacks at first. I think that one of the things that I liked most about the book is that it doesn't seem to have a specific plot line other than the girls moving to the town. Usually, I might consider that a bad point in a book. However, the author does it really well in Volcano Street. The author is not just writing the story of the characters; it's that he's also writing the story of a whole town. We get to experience the small plot of the time capsule and visit the fair; we get a view into the potential of the acting society and a bit of a look into the interests of the townspeople. I think that Crater Lakes is an interesting place and if the author were to write more about the town, I would really like to give it a read. The overall story kind of reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird by Gregory Peck. I didn't necessarily feel it at first, but at the end, I just mentally felt like there was some sort of connection. They're both sort of narratives on the way social problems effect people. It's difficult to explain my thoughts on that point.

I was lucky enough to have won an uncorrected bound proof copy as a prize from a First Reads giveaway, thanks to Allen and Unwin. I'm really glad that I got the chance to read it, because it was a pretty incredible book. I think that, though it wasn't perfect, it was very well written. I felt empathy for the characters and could see motives for most actions. I think it was interesting to spend a little time in Crater Lakes and see into these peoples' lives. Skip and Marlo were both thoroughly interesting people and it would be nice to share in their adventures again in future, or even to share in the lives of other citizens of Crater Lakes. I'm thoroughly impressed with the book. Five stars!

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous novel about growing up in small town Australia in the 1970s, with its small town minds and small town attitudes. It reminded me very much of Jasper Jones, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

I loved Skip and Marlo, and the author takes you right along their journey with them, getting right inside their heads and showing us just what it’s like for them to be displaced from their comfortable, happy lives and dumped into this alien landscape.

My only criticism concerns a character who’s referred to a couple of times in the earlier 75% of the novel, but then becomes a major character and is given his own little “novella” in the last 10%. This sudden shift in focus didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the book. Nevertheless it was still a thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying novel.

Recommended for people who like stories of the underdog who triumphs through the force of their own undeniable spirit. If you liked Jasper Jones, you’ll like this too.

[Rena · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I commend the author for the attempt at writing a 'strong' female character, I feel like 'Skip' as a protagonist is just a boy character painted to look like a girl.

There are several instances in the book that the author just skimmed over of what it's like to be a 12 year old girl. Then again, I did think this book was supposed to be a coming-of-age type of story....but considering the language and casual violence peppered throughout....maybe not.

There is also just something about the way the author describes the people in the book with complete ire....and nobody is safe, not even the protagonist themselves. Like, if the author doesn't care about these characters at all...why should I?



[Disclaimer: Copy received from Giveaway.]

[Robert Burgon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a stunning tale featuring a 13-year old tomboy sent to live with her less than interested Aunt and Uncle in rural South Australia in the 1970s. At times comedic and at other times quite tragic, this is well worth reading. I was left dangling and wondering what the future would hold for the girl and her older sister. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

I did thoroughly enjoyed this book once I had gotten into it. Looking forward to reading more from David Rain

[Amie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I found this easy to read and follow, I didn't get a connection with this book whatsoever. I'm still struggling to understand the purpose?

[Samira Salimi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not find a connection with this book, even though I live in Australia & names might have rung a bell in my mind. That can be briefed in this way that I live in a new society of Aussies & the book dates back to quite old time. The only obvious point of this book to address is about how parents affect their children's lives. Be kind & mindful of them...

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was lucky enough to win this book from the author David Rain, the publisher and goodreads. at first glance i thought that it was David Reyne from the band Australian Crawl but my hubby laughed at me and said "no it's the author" so i apologise for that! lol.

So i found that i really, truly, enjoyed this story. The characters were believable and each had their own little quirks and the storyline was amazing. i think that for me personally, being an aussie who grew up in a small town, that i was a bit more biased towards liking this book. I also have a sister. The story was based in a small town but set in the 70's which is the decade that i just missed being born into.
My parents have told me stories of what that time period was like and amazingly, it coincides with the realities that have been portRayed in this book. So i know that the author is very observant of the attitudes of many aussies of this decade.

There are many interesting elements to this story and i love the deep sense of family that has been instilled into this storyline. I absolutely love the names Skip and Marlo for the sister's names and these girl's personalities are just as unique. I give this book a rating of 5 stars just because the storyline was so interesting that i couldn't put it down. It is not often that a story will linger in my mind for a few days after i have finished reading it, just as Volcano Street has done.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great atmospheric novel, set during the 1970s in the town of Crater Lakes, which bears a strong resemblance to the South Australian town of Mount Gambier. It's the story of two teenaged half-sisters, Skip and Marlo, who are taken away from their mentally unwell mother in Adelaide, to live with their obese Aunt in Crater Lakes until their mother "comes to get them". Borne out of a dysfunctional situation, the story exposes further dysfunction in the town, yet at the same time brings depth and warmth to the characters. The story revolves mostly around the adventures of Skip, the younger of the two, who observes small town thinking, illicit relationships and friendship. A terrific "cast" of characters embody well the events and attitudes of time and place. It's a book with laughter, drama, pity and mystery. I really enjoyed it!

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Krisz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get it. Couldn't get into it so I gave up.

[Emma Slaughter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much of this book centred around the discovery of illicit liasons. Whilst one of them was very important the others seemed more soap opera.