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Sing Fox to Me
In 1986, the year the Tasmanian tiger is officially declared extinct, fourteen-year-old Samson and his twin brother Jonah travel from the Sunshine Coast to the wild back country of west Tasmania to live on a mountain with a granddad they’ve never met.
Clancy is a beat-up old man who breaks brumbies, hunts tigers, and has spent four years hunting for his missing daughter, River. The resentful, brooding Jonah, and sunny-tempered Samson, who has Down syndrome, feel very lost. The mountain isn’t their home but they become entranced, in different ways, with their surroundings. While Samson finds delight all around, Jonah develops a dark obsession that ties in with Clancy’s desire to bring River home. There’s something out there in the bush, something that seems set on tearing this family to pieces.
Sing Fox to Me is a story built from lost and stolen children, Tasmanian tigers, missing animals, Down syndrome and parents who run away. It is the symphony of three howling male voices, each hoping to find the right pack and live comfortably in their own skin.
Clancy is a beat-up old man who breaks brumbies, hunts tigers, and has spent four years hunting for his missing daughter, River. The resentful, brooding Jonah, and sunny-tempered Samson, who has Down syndrome, feel very lost. The mountain isn’t their home but they become entranced, in different ways, with their surroundings. While Samson finds delight all around, Jonah develops a dark obsession that ties in with Clancy’s desire to bring River home. There’s something out there in the bush, something that seems set on tearing this family to pieces.
Sing Fox to Me is a story built from lost and stolen children, Tasmanian tigers, missing animals, Down syndrome and parents who run away. It is the symphony of three howling male voices, each hoping to find the right pack and live comfortably in their own skin.
262 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2016
4 people are currently reading
514 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Kanake
2 books11 followersSarah Kanake is a Doctor of creative writing and university creative writing teacher. She has a PhD from QUT on the representation of Down syndrome in literature. Her fiction has been published in 'The Lifted Brow', 'The Southerly', 'Award Winning Australian Writing', 'Kill Your Darlings', and 'The Review of Australian Fiction'.
Sarah is one half of the country music duo 'The Shiralee'. She lives on the Sunshine Coast with her partner, daughter and three dogs.
'Sing Fox to Me' is her first novel.
Sarah is one half of the country music duo 'The Shiralee'. She lives on the Sunshine Coast with her partner, daughter and three dogs.
'Sing Fox to Me' is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 31, 2016
I thought this was a beautifully written book. It's a rich dark, tale of lost children and vanished animals on an evocative Tasmanian mountain top forest. It's mostly seen through an old man's eyes, Clancy, whose fourteen year old daughter disappeared many years ago. He is still grieving for her and searching for her, expecting her to reappear at any moment. When his son David's wife leaves him with teenage twin sons he brings them up the mountain and more or less abandons them with the old man. There is little to entertain teenage boys on the mountain and Clancy pretty much leaves them their own devices to explore the mountain.
There used to be Tasmanian tigers in the forest until quite recently and Clancy is convinced they are still there and may have been involved in his daughter's disappearance. For me this was a strangely unresolved story that left me wanting more. The mysteries are never solved except perhaps in the old man's imagination, but it is a book with powerful imagery that continues to resonate with me after finishing the book.
There used to be Tasmanian tigers in the forest until quite recently and Clancy is convinced they are still there and may have been involved in his daughter's disappearance. For me this was a strangely unresolved story that left me wanting more. The mysteries are never solved except perhaps in the old man's imagination, but it is a book with powerful imagery that continues to resonate with me after finishing the book.
October 17, 2016
My wont each morning, around seven, immediately after I arise from my slumbers, is to stand in our little back room, here by the river, to look out at my twin mountains. The window that faces upriver affords me a view of twin-humped Dromedary, the down river aspect leads my eyes to the organ-piped ramparts of Mount Wellington. These days many Tasmanians, myself included, prefer the name our first peoples bestowed on it – kunanyi. Its original name, early on in colonial times, was Table Mountain, before being rebadged after Waterloo. Some mornings neither mountain can be espied due to them being cloaked in mist, cloud, or the jerry coming down from the upper valley. Often one, or both, are iced by snow. If this is the case with Dromedary, we know during winter that yet another layer of clothing needs to be added. Both river and twin mountains, despite their ever changing moods, soothe me from the get-go; they set me up for the day ahead.
So it is perhaps circumstance that I was destined to read twin books, on booksellers' shelves around the same time, where a local mountain shaped the fictionally occurring events.
One of the authors, Sean Rabin, at an early stage in his release, 'Wood Green', listed those on our island achieving success following the vocation he would seem to have a future in, given the quality of his first attempt. The reader was informed, via the voice of a taxi driver, that in our country's literature, Tassie's contribution is 'bigger than you think.' He was not only a verbose but, as well, an extremely well read cab driver, at least as far as his state's product in print was concerned. 'Well of course there are your notables like Richard Flanagan and Christopher Koch and Amanda Lohrey, but I bet you've never heard of Joan Wise or Nan Chauncy, have you?' He then went on to list names commencing with Marcus Clarke and ending with Heather Rose, Gina Mercer, Katherine Lomer and Adrienne Eberhard. The fellow finished off by stating that he too was working on a novel – about the island's early whaling industry.
I wondered, on reading those passages, if Sean himself, or perhaps Sarah Kanake, the writer of the other tome, 'Sing Fox to Me', would one day be spoken of in the same terms as the aforementioned? I do suspect Ms Kanake is the more likely, but time will tell.
And that is not to say that Rabin's 'Wood Green' is a failure by any measure. It is a fine effort really; eminently consumable, but aspects did annoy me. It is lovely to read of my island's multitudinous virtues, but at times the novel invoked a travel brochure designed to attract people to spend their next hols with us. And the constant reference to cutting edge music made me wonder as to Rabin's motivation – in doing so does he think his readers will rush to YouTube to have a gander at what he was on about? For a while I thought that these too may be fictionalised as I hadn't heard of any of them. Then I came across one I knew – Judee Sill. Usually each was accompanied by a precis as to why the musician(s) resonated (so hate that word) with one of the writers in residence in the village of Wood Green. There were similar literary references as well, again obscure - to my knowledge. Just get on with the story Sean. It is a cracker you have come up with. And otherwise, it did have me engrossed.
As with 'Sing Fox to Me', the fulcrum of this tale is a cranky old man – in 'Wood Green's' case, the renowned, but reclusive, novelist Lucien Clarke. He lived on kunanyi's shoulder, in a hamlet perhaps modeled on Ferntree or Longley. The old guy has employed Michael, a man in search of a new start and for whom the author was the subject matter for his uni thesis, to get his affairs in order. Of course, Michael Pollard also aspires to write something or other himself. The location for most of the action has a mix of characters who would do a tele soap proud. There's a gay pub owner and a gay South African, with something to hide, about to take over the local store. Now I wonder what could happen there? The former owners, an estranged couple, have had enough. One just happens to be Lucien's ex-lover, still hankering for his ministrations. There is also a b and b owner described by the cover blurb as 'snivelling'. But the mix, like a compulsive soap, does get one in. The chapters are short and sharp, all 104 of them – and with the last score or so the novel does an about face and it may not be to everybody's taste. But this scribe thinks it works just fine. As for the ending, well even a soap wouldn't countenance going down that path.
There does need, I feel, to be more discipline with Mr Rabin's self-indulgences, but he has come up with a great yarn about my city and its mountain. I'll be lining up for his next release.
But, to my mind, of higher literary excellence was Sarah Kanake's 'Sing Fox to Me'. The Sunshine Coast lecturer and country music singer possesses some serious writerly chops.
The fellow in his winter years in this story's case was Clancy Fox. He lived alone, but for his ghosts, on a mountain with a bleak and pluvial climate. The mountain's elder is still, many years later, grieving for his lost daughter, River. 'People say there's no pain like the pain of losing a child and Clancy knew the truth of that more than most. He knew the missing, the aching. He knew the unending, circling misery of letting a child slip through his fingers, but he also knew the sorrow of forgetting and being forgotten.' Now it is Clancy's habit to go feral, to strip naked, wearing only a tiger skin, when he heads bush in search of his child. She may still be out there - out there somewhere with the tigers. River claimed to have seen them everywhere whilst she was alive – the old man sees hints of them in the shadows.
But then his other offspring turns up – the estranged David. He is in dire need of 'finding himself' after a marriage breakup, but first needs to dispose of his own two sons. He dumps the twins, Samson and Jonah, with Clancy and promptly shoots through. The old fella, with the aid of other local rustics, does the bast he can, but he's no match, particularly for the disturbed Jonah. Samson, conversely, is a lovely creation from Kanake. He has Down syndrome, but this does not prevent him from becoming the most engaging of the denizens of 'Sing Fox to Me'. This is particularly the case after meeting another damaged young soul in the surrounding bush and this soon forms their playground. But all is not right with Jonah. He does a runner, the community groups around old Clancy in his time of need, but soon there is yet another mystery to solve.
Ms Kanake, through very fine wordsmithery, evokes and enhances many of our island writers' penchant for the gothic nature of our past - something that endures and afflicts to the present day. There's some magic realism afoot too in this book, as there is in Rabin's. Neither author bangs us on the head with it, but it's there, lurking in the background.
So what we have are twin offerings, both thoroughly worthy of a reader's time. It will be interesting to see if Kanake and Rabin kick on after these debuts. Meanwhile, this old bloke, not on a mountain's saddle, but constantly peering each day to the high country surrounding the river he loves. He measures the mood of kunanyi and Dromedary - these being the twin mountains of his his own contented existence.
So it is perhaps circumstance that I was destined to read twin books, on booksellers' shelves around the same time, where a local mountain shaped the fictionally occurring events.
One of the authors, Sean Rabin, at an early stage in his release, 'Wood Green', listed those on our island achieving success following the vocation he would seem to have a future in, given the quality of his first attempt. The reader was informed, via the voice of a taxi driver, that in our country's literature, Tassie's contribution is 'bigger than you think.' He was not only a verbose but, as well, an extremely well read cab driver, at least as far as his state's product in print was concerned. 'Well of course there are your notables like Richard Flanagan and Christopher Koch and Amanda Lohrey, but I bet you've never heard of Joan Wise or Nan Chauncy, have you?' He then went on to list names commencing with Marcus Clarke and ending with Heather Rose, Gina Mercer, Katherine Lomer and Adrienne Eberhard. The fellow finished off by stating that he too was working on a novel – about the island's early whaling industry.
I wondered, on reading those passages, if Sean himself, or perhaps Sarah Kanake, the writer of the other tome, 'Sing Fox to Me', would one day be spoken of in the same terms as the aforementioned? I do suspect Ms Kanake is the more likely, but time will tell.
And that is not to say that Rabin's 'Wood Green' is a failure by any measure. It is a fine effort really; eminently consumable, but aspects did annoy me. It is lovely to read of my island's multitudinous virtues, but at times the novel invoked a travel brochure designed to attract people to spend their next hols with us. And the constant reference to cutting edge music made me wonder as to Rabin's motivation – in doing so does he think his readers will rush to YouTube to have a gander at what he was on about? For a while I thought that these too may be fictionalised as I hadn't heard of any of them. Then I came across one I knew – Judee Sill. Usually each was accompanied by a precis as to why the musician(s) resonated (so hate that word) with one of the writers in residence in the village of Wood Green. There were similar literary references as well, again obscure - to my knowledge. Just get on with the story Sean. It is a cracker you have come up with. And otherwise, it did have me engrossed.
As with 'Sing Fox to Me', the fulcrum of this tale is a cranky old man – in 'Wood Green's' case, the renowned, but reclusive, novelist Lucien Clarke. He lived on kunanyi's shoulder, in a hamlet perhaps modeled on Ferntree or Longley. The old guy has employed Michael, a man in search of a new start and for whom the author was the subject matter for his uni thesis, to get his affairs in order. Of course, Michael Pollard also aspires to write something or other himself. The location for most of the action has a mix of characters who would do a tele soap proud. There's a gay pub owner and a gay South African, with something to hide, about to take over the local store. Now I wonder what could happen there? The former owners, an estranged couple, have had enough. One just happens to be Lucien's ex-lover, still hankering for his ministrations. There is also a b and b owner described by the cover blurb as 'snivelling'. But the mix, like a compulsive soap, does get one in. The chapters are short and sharp, all 104 of them – and with the last score or so the novel does an about face and it may not be to everybody's taste. But this scribe thinks it works just fine. As for the ending, well even a soap wouldn't countenance going down that path.
There does need, I feel, to be more discipline with Mr Rabin's self-indulgences, but he has come up with a great yarn about my city and its mountain. I'll be lining up for his next release.
But, to my mind, of higher literary excellence was Sarah Kanake's 'Sing Fox to Me'. The Sunshine Coast lecturer and country music singer possesses some serious writerly chops.
The fellow in his winter years in this story's case was Clancy Fox. He lived alone, but for his ghosts, on a mountain with a bleak and pluvial climate. The mountain's elder is still, many years later, grieving for his lost daughter, River. 'People say there's no pain like the pain of losing a child and Clancy knew the truth of that more than most. He knew the missing, the aching. He knew the unending, circling misery of letting a child slip through his fingers, but he also knew the sorrow of forgetting and being forgotten.' Now it is Clancy's habit to go feral, to strip naked, wearing only a tiger skin, when he heads bush in search of his child. She may still be out there - out there somewhere with the tigers. River claimed to have seen them everywhere whilst she was alive – the old man sees hints of them in the shadows.
But then his other offspring turns up – the estranged David. He is in dire need of 'finding himself' after a marriage breakup, but first needs to dispose of his own two sons. He dumps the twins, Samson and Jonah, with Clancy and promptly shoots through. The old fella, with the aid of other local rustics, does the bast he can, but he's no match, particularly for the disturbed Jonah. Samson, conversely, is a lovely creation from Kanake. He has Down syndrome, but this does not prevent him from becoming the most engaging of the denizens of 'Sing Fox to Me'. This is particularly the case after meeting another damaged young soul in the surrounding bush and this soon forms their playground. But all is not right with Jonah. He does a runner, the community groups around old Clancy in his time of need, but soon there is yet another mystery to solve.
Ms Kanake, through very fine wordsmithery, evokes and enhances many of our island writers' penchant for the gothic nature of our past - something that endures and afflicts to the present day. There's some magic realism afoot too in this book, as there is in Rabin's. Neither author bangs us on the head with it, but it's there, lurking in the background.
So what we have are twin offerings, both thoroughly worthy of a reader's time. It will be interesting to see if Kanake and Rabin kick on after these debuts. Meanwhile, this old bloke, not on a mountain's saddle, but constantly peering each day to the high country surrounding the river he loves. He measures the mood of kunanyi and Dromedary - these being the twin mountains of his his own contented existence.
August 23, 2023
This was beautifully written and gave me lots to think about. The imagery and characterisation was extremely well done. It is a quiet novel, that left me wanting more. At times I was unsure what was reality and what was a hallucination from Clancy but I still I enjoyed the story. I don’t know if I fully understood what was going on but it resolved some things but not others. Another book by a Tasmanian author that reminded me of Robbie Arnott.
November 13, 2016
What is it about Australian authors? How do they capture our country in such a beautiful yet bleak way?
Parts of this story were so beautiful that I closed my eyes for a minute and just bathed in the feelings it gave me. Others were so brutal and harsh that I threw the book and stalked around grinding my teeth and swearing that I was absolutely done with it.
Simultaneously starkly real, and magically surreal - especially the entire aspect of the Tigers.
Parts of this story were so beautiful that I closed my eyes for a minute and just bathed in the feelings it gave me. Others were so brutal and harsh that I threw the book and stalked around grinding my teeth and swearing that I was absolutely done with it.
Simultaneously starkly real, and magically surreal - especially the entire aspect of the Tigers.
March 29, 2016
‘Clancy Fox waited on the back verandah, his eyes fixed on a horizon just visible beyond the edge of his mountain.’
In 1986, fourteen year old twins Samson and Jonah travel with their father David to a remote location in Tasmania where they will stay with their paternal grandfather, Clancy Fox. Clancy lives near the top of a mountain, which the locals call Fox Hill. It was once sometimes called Tiger Mountain, but in 1986 the Tasmanian tiger was officially declared extinct. Samson and Jonah have never met Clancy Fox before, and while Samson is interested in his new surroundings, Jonah is not. Their stay is meant to be temporary: the plan is that their mum will come after Christmas and they will move to a new house in Brisbane.
Clancy is obsessed with finding his missing daughter, River. He maintains her room as a shrine, and it is off limits to Samson and Jonah. David leaves. While Samson finds a lot to interest him on the mountain, Jonah’s focus is different. He finds his way into River’s room, feeding into his own obsession. Does he understand what he is doing? Samson, who has Down syndrome, seems to have a better understanding of many things than Jonah does. He may have to rely on his brother or Clancy to cook for him, but in many ways he is far more adaptable than either of them.
‘The tiger was Clancy’s secret, but it also had something to do with his dad.’
The story continues: Clancy’s dog Queenie has disappeared and he searches for her, a kookaburra named King has vanished. When another child disappears on Fox Mountain, past and present combine and seem to overwhelm Clancy.
Ms Kanake’s writing took me into this story and held me there, albeit uncomfortably at times. I was too busy keeping pace with what was happening on the page to stop to try to analyse the actions of some of the characters. But once I’d finished the novel, I was left wondering about how Clancy and David could be so indifferent to each other and how David could so casually take Samson and Jonah to Fox Hill, and leave. The past has a way of claiming the present for Clancy. There are other people whose lives intersect with Clancy, Samson and Jonah, and the location and weather both have their own part to play.
And Tasmanian tigers? Do they still live on Tiger Mountain? What is real, and what is not?
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In 1986, fourteen year old twins Samson and Jonah travel with their father David to a remote location in Tasmania where they will stay with their paternal grandfather, Clancy Fox. Clancy lives near the top of a mountain, which the locals call Fox Hill. It was once sometimes called Tiger Mountain, but in 1986 the Tasmanian tiger was officially declared extinct. Samson and Jonah have never met Clancy Fox before, and while Samson is interested in his new surroundings, Jonah is not. Their stay is meant to be temporary: the plan is that their mum will come after Christmas and they will move to a new house in Brisbane.
Clancy is obsessed with finding his missing daughter, River. He maintains her room as a shrine, and it is off limits to Samson and Jonah. David leaves. While Samson finds a lot to interest him on the mountain, Jonah’s focus is different. He finds his way into River’s room, feeding into his own obsession. Does he understand what he is doing? Samson, who has Down syndrome, seems to have a better understanding of many things than Jonah does. He may have to rely on his brother or Clancy to cook for him, but in many ways he is far more adaptable than either of them.
‘The tiger was Clancy’s secret, but it also had something to do with his dad.’
The story continues: Clancy’s dog Queenie has disappeared and he searches for her, a kookaburra named King has vanished. When another child disappears on Fox Mountain, past and present combine and seem to overwhelm Clancy.
Ms Kanake’s writing took me into this story and held me there, albeit uncomfortably at times. I was too busy keeping pace with what was happening on the page to stop to try to analyse the actions of some of the characters. But once I’d finished the novel, I was left wondering about how Clancy and David could be so indifferent to each other and how David could so casually take Samson and Jonah to Fox Hill, and leave. The past has a way of claiming the present for Clancy. There are other people whose lives intersect with Clancy, Samson and Jonah, and the location and weather both have their own part to play.
And Tasmanian tigers? Do they still live on Tiger Mountain? What is real, and what is not?
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
October 21, 2016
Sarah Kanake's debut novel, Sing Fox to Me, is a haunting and lyrical story set in the wilds of Tasmania. I love Kanake's poetic writing style, which evokes the beauty and dangers of the Tasmanian bush. Here's a sample:
"Samson kept walking. He saw birds and nests and hollows beneath trees where insects and spiders made wide silver webs. He saw stumps covered in flowering vines. He saw dappled light and dark hollows, large rocks and huge trees. He saw drooping branches that cast shadows like cages, hollowed-out logs and new little plants growing from thick sheets of iridescent moss. Everything smelt like dust turning to mud, or a cocoon just as it opened."
Samson, the story's main character, is a teenage boy with Down Syndrome. I found his perspective on life, and the events that occur during the novel, quite beautiful. He is a likeable and charming character, and while his twin brother Jake, his father and his grandfather all struggle with demons they cannot resolve, Samson searches for lightness, and a way to cope with the extra chromosome he describes as weighing him down. To me, Samson represents love and acceptance in a broken family that is heavy with grief. It is the rest of his family that is weighed down by guilt, loss, and anger; Samson lives with his heaviness while searching for a way to successfully navigate the situation he has been placed in while the rest of his family seem to lose their way.
The novel's mix of reality and speculative elements evokes a dreamlike quality which is enhanced by the wild natural environment. The mountain where Samson and Jake visit their grandfather looms over the novel as both a refuge and a warning, and it acts as the perfect backdrop for a story where the real and imagined are closely intertwined.
This is a thoughtful literary novel, one for readers who enjoy being drawn into a different place and time, and being shown a world that is in equal measures confusing and clear, harsh and gentle, angry and loving. Highly recommended.
"Samson kept walking. He saw birds and nests and hollows beneath trees where insects and spiders made wide silver webs. He saw stumps covered in flowering vines. He saw dappled light and dark hollows, large rocks and huge trees. He saw drooping branches that cast shadows like cages, hollowed-out logs and new little plants growing from thick sheets of iridescent moss. Everything smelt like dust turning to mud, or a cocoon just as it opened."
Samson, the story's main character, is a teenage boy with Down Syndrome. I found his perspective on life, and the events that occur during the novel, quite beautiful. He is a likeable and charming character, and while his twin brother Jake, his father and his grandfather all struggle with demons they cannot resolve, Samson searches for lightness, and a way to cope with the extra chromosome he describes as weighing him down. To me, Samson represents love and acceptance in a broken family that is heavy with grief. It is the rest of his family that is weighed down by guilt, loss, and anger; Samson lives with his heaviness while searching for a way to successfully navigate the situation he has been placed in while the rest of his family seem to lose their way.
The novel's mix of reality and speculative elements evokes a dreamlike quality which is enhanced by the wild natural environment. The mountain where Samson and Jake visit their grandfather looms over the novel as both a refuge and a warning, and it acts as the perfect backdrop for a story where the real and imagined are closely intertwined.
This is a thoughtful literary novel, one for readers who enjoy being drawn into a different place and time, and being shown a world that is in equal measures confusing and clear, harsh and gentle, angry and loving. Highly recommended.
July 28, 2016
A father takes his twin sons, Samson and Jonah, to stay with their grandfather, Clancy, on a mountain in Tasmania. Clancy is obsessed with discovering what happened to his daughter, River, who disappeared into the surrounding bush some years ago, and the boys soon find themselves entranced by the new, wild environment they've entered into.
Sing Fox to Me was an enthralling read. I found myself glued to the pages and overawed by Sarah Kanake's skill with the words. I read the first chapter just before going to bed and though it was a pretty lengthy chapter, I almost started reading the next chapter along. The characters of Samson, Jonah and Clancy are complex and the relationships at play are equally as complex.
The first chapter really highlights Kanake's strengths as an author. She switches between various points-of-view, allowing the three main characters to become vivid and sympathetic. I felt for Jonah, overlooked and neglected by his parents, I felt for Samson, isolated and made heavy and slow by his "extra chromosome" (he has Down Syndrome), and I felt for Clancy, struggling to cope after the catastrophic losses of his wife and daughter.
But, as much as I loved the experience of reading this book, I found myself let down by the ending. It began to verge into fantasy and hallucination, making me question what was real, what wasn't, what the real story was, the resolutions and solutions to the mysteries were. Maybe it's not the story where that matters, but I never felt as though anything was resolved in a clear, satisfactory manner. I don't mind the use of fantasy, but I just wished for a little bit more clarity.
And for me, that was a disappointment – that everything I enjoyed about the novel was squirreled away for a heavy "what is real" ending.
Sing Fox to Me was an enthralling read. I found myself glued to the pages and overawed by Sarah Kanake's skill with the words. I read the first chapter just before going to bed and though it was a pretty lengthy chapter, I almost started reading the next chapter along. The characters of Samson, Jonah and Clancy are complex and the relationships at play are equally as complex.
The first chapter really highlights Kanake's strengths as an author. She switches between various points-of-view, allowing the three main characters to become vivid and sympathetic. I felt for Jonah, overlooked and neglected by his parents, I felt for Samson, isolated and made heavy and slow by his "extra chromosome" (he has Down Syndrome), and I felt for Clancy, struggling to cope after the catastrophic losses of his wife and daughter.
But, as much as I loved the experience of reading this book, I found myself let down by the ending. It began to verge into fantasy and hallucination, making me question what was real, what wasn't, what the real story was, the resolutions and solutions to the mysteries were. Maybe it's not the story where that matters, but I never felt as though anything was resolved in a clear, satisfactory manner. I don't mind the use of fantasy, but I just wished for a little bit more clarity.
And for me, that was a disappointment – that everything I enjoyed about the novel was squirreled away for a heavy "what is real" ending.
March 4, 2016
Historical in that it's set in 1986. Not so long ago I know. I say multiple narrators, then say there's a male MC (I am talking about my shelves here, btw), and by that I mean, we do get a lot of voices and they are all male.
This is a story told by men. Grieving men. Lost and broken men. Not all are men, two are boys. Surly Jonah and bewildered Samson. All the women are absent, pregnant or lost (except Matty), and I found the neglectful parents difficult to accept.
I found it all quite troublesome.
But that's ok. I am glad to have read it.
This is a story told by men. Grieving men. Lost and broken men. Not all are men, two are boys. Surly Jonah and bewildered Samson. All the women are absent, pregnant or lost (except Matty), and I found the neglectful parents difficult to accept.
I found it all quite troublesome.
But that's ok. I am glad to have read it.
July 9, 2016
It's taken me a while to review this book because I knew I needed more time to contemplate the story. It's a compelling, albeit dark, tale of men and boys (the female characters are only on the periphery of the story) in the Tasmanian bush. It's a story of grief, family, survival and what it means to be different to society's norm. A well written and engaging story that has had me thinking a lot since putting it down.
September 5, 2016
Sarah Kanake's debut novel Sing Fox to Me is a haunting, atmospheric mystery set in the forbidding wilderness of the Tasmanian mountains. It is 1986, and the Tasmanian Tiger has just been declared extinct. Clancy Fox lives alone with his memories, particularly of his daughter River who was lost years earlier to the bush, or as Clancy believes, to a Tasmanian Tiger pack. When Clancy's son, David, arrives on the isolated mountain with Clancy's twin grandsons, the power of the mountain reasserts itself. The brothers have a complicated and fraught relationship - Jonah is troubled and insular; Samson has Down Syndrome. All of the characters become obsessed in different ways with finding whatever the bush is hiding.
This novel is literary fiction at its best - the language is tight and descriptive, the setting is wild and inhospitable and even frightening, the characters are subtle and complex. Sarah is very skilled at giving away clues to the characters' personalities and histories only a little at a time; nothing is over-explained or resolved for the sake of it. She credits readers with the intelligence to ponder the mysteries themselves; to tease out the various threads of story and weave them together as we see fit. There are many unanswered questions in this novel, and that only contributes to its enigmatic magic.
The novel includes many characters who are vulnerable or disenfranchised - Samson has Down Syndrome, Mattie is deaf, Clancy is elderly and isolated, Murray is Indigenous. All are treated with empathy, compassion and sensitivity, but without sentimentality or pity.
There are many themes running through this book, including blame, recrimination, grief and loss, animal cruelty and the preservation of animals, discrimination against people of colour and the disabled, family ties, the lasting impact of those who have been lost, the need to reconnect, and the search for self and identity.
Sing Fox to Me is a beautifully written and skilfully crafted novel that explores what it means to be lost, and how important it is to be found.
This novel is literary fiction at its best - the language is tight and descriptive, the setting is wild and inhospitable and even frightening, the characters are subtle and complex. Sarah is very skilled at giving away clues to the characters' personalities and histories only a little at a time; nothing is over-explained or resolved for the sake of it. She credits readers with the intelligence to ponder the mysteries themselves; to tease out the various threads of story and weave them together as we see fit. There are many unanswered questions in this novel, and that only contributes to its enigmatic magic.
The novel includes many characters who are vulnerable or disenfranchised - Samson has Down Syndrome, Mattie is deaf, Clancy is elderly and isolated, Murray is Indigenous. All are treated with empathy, compassion and sensitivity, but without sentimentality or pity.
There are many themes running through this book, including blame, recrimination, grief and loss, animal cruelty and the preservation of animals, discrimination against people of colour and the disabled, family ties, the lasting impact of those who have been lost, the need to reconnect, and the search for self and identity.
Sing Fox to Me is a beautifully written and skilfully crafted novel that explores what it means to be lost, and how important it is to be found.
December 20, 2017
A wonderful book picked up from the book swap at a hostel in Berlin.
The stand-out from this book for me was the descriptions of Australian Sign Language throughout. The author describes many of the actions for "Auslan" which is a nice extra while reading, and I adored how she would add "said, with her voice" to the narration at times. A lovely little phrase to distinguish the two and also to remind us that people don't need a physical voice in order to communicate.
The author has a PhD in the representation of Down Syndrome in literature, and it's nice to read passages from the point of view of Samson without it feeling too simplified and clumsy.
There are a couple of Aborignal characters in the book, as I'd expect in a Tasmanian setting. There isn't a terrible amount of focus on the, historical or not, maltreatment of native people by white colonists except a sentence here or there. But I think that a novel already tackling some hard and dark topics is right to not to become too heavy-laden. It has however prompted me to think about where this might be depicted in other books.
The ending is a bit blurred, I have my own idea of what has happened but it's not spelled out.
A quick but pleasing read. A little unsettling at times but still something I'm glad to have read.
The stand-out from this book for me was the descriptions of Australian Sign Language throughout. The author describes many of the actions for "Auslan" which is a nice extra while reading, and I adored how she would add "said, with her voice" to the narration at times. A lovely little phrase to distinguish the two and also to remind us that people don't need a physical voice in order to communicate.
The author has a PhD in the representation of Down Syndrome in literature, and it's nice to read passages from the point of view of Samson without it feeling too simplified and clumsy.
There are a couple of Aborignal characters in the book, as I'd expect in a Tasmanian setting. There isn't a terrible amount of focus on the, historical or not, maltreatment of native people by white colonists except a sentence here or there. But I think that a novel already tackling some hard and dark topics is right to not to become too heavy-laden. It has however prompted me to think about where this might be depicted in other books.
The ending is a bit blurred, I have my own idea of what has happened but it's not spelled out.
A quick but pleasing read. A little unsettling at times but still something I'm glad to have read.
June 1, 2016
Sarah Kanake calls on the elements of Tasmanian Gothic, together with the archetypal Australian lost-child story, to write a novel that’s fundamentally about loss. All sorts of loss – people, animals, homes, and love. The novel commences with a brief unlabelled prologue describing the disappearance of 14-year-old River Snow Fox on a rainy night (of course!) On the same night one man’s home is lost, another man’s leg is permanently injured by a falling tree, and the kookaburras cackle. We then jump twenty years. It’s 1986, and River’s older brother David Fox is returning to his childhood mountain home with his twin sons, the biblically named Jonah and Samson. He plans to leave them with his father Clancy Fox – the man with the injured leg – who is still grieving, still looking for his missing daughter. Relationships are fraught. Clancy and his son don’t get on; angry, hurt, lonely Jonah is resentful of his loving Down syndrome twin Samson; Samson, with his “extra heavy chromosome”, often feels overlooked; and Clancy doesn’t know how to be a grandfather. For my full review, please see: https://whisperinggums.com/2016/04/22...
March 26, 2016
Sing Fox to Me is a brilliant novel. Like all great Gothic novels the tale is mysterious, dark, unsettling, sometimes terrifying, but also makes you feel intimately connected to the landscape and characters. The vivid description of smells and sounds in the wilderness on top of Clancy’s mountain transports you there. The characters are expertly crafted and by the end of the book you feel as if you know the narrators like family. This book will leave you with questions and loiter in your mind, it is utterly addictive. Sing Fox to Me is the next great Australian novel!
June 1, 2016
A thrilling, gripping, beautifully-written page-turner with so much to explore and analyse - I think I'll need to read it again! Would have been five stars, but there were a couple of aspects I found problematic and implausible. Not the paranormal-esque stuff - that I absolutely bought into and loved - but the neglect of the parents, mainly, and the entire set-up of the boys being left with Clancy. Otherwise, a really atmospheric, creepy, but uplifting story. Highly recommend.
March 18, 2016
A very exciting debut from a formidably talented young author. Kanake paints her story of lost souls and lost histories with captivating, lyrical descriptions. Her characters have depth and significance and the landscape (a character in itself) is vividly illustrated. The kind of novel that leaves the characters lingering at the back of your mind long after you read the final page.
February 13, 2017
Strong beginning and middle however the ending completely ruined it for me.
Kept wondering where the hell the parents were in all this? Why weren't they involved?
Lovely bush descriptions and passages of text but too much wishy washy, fantasy in the end with no conclusion to all the loose ends.
Kept wondering where the hell the parents were in all this? Why weren't they involved?
Lovely bush descriptions and passages of text but too much wishy washy, fantasy in the end with no conclusion to all the loose ends.
April 11, 2023
This novel beautifully demonstrates the power of fiction. Ideas, emotions and relationships, including human to human and human to animal and nature, are not bounded and constrained by the scientific laws of nature. Ontology, epistemology and axiology are opened-up. The novel brings powerful insights into identity, including as affected by disability - “heavy chromosomes.” I love the Australian setting, beautifully described.
November 24, 2017
Laborious.
July 3, 2019
I loved this book and couldn't put it down. It is so thought provoking and at times confronting. A very powerful tale of loss and trying to exist with it.
May 26, 2025
Great book, interesting how it delves into the boy’s mind and the setting of the book. It a nice easy read throughout the way.
October 3, 2016
A gothically dark tale of extinction, wild at heart children, and damaged boys and men. There are so many themes...grief, intellectual and physical disability, stress, breakdown, loss, racism, cruelty and more. The multiple voices, complex themes and recurrent use of the F word, lead me to recommend for strong readers aged 14+, as it would be a challenging read for less able readers to follow.
June 17, 2023
During a violent cyclone, a young girl runs away from home during a period of teenage turmoil. She's never seen or heard from again, the circumstances of a disappearance leaving traumatic reverberations for the brother and recently widowed father she leaves behind.
A generation later her brother returns to their secluded home in the Tasmanian wilderness to reconnect with their estranged father, this time with his twin sons Jonah and Samson in tow. Like all literature that incorporates elements of Indigenous mysticism and spirituality, there is a firmly rooted concept of the cyclical nature of time and the inescapable repetition of the past-no matter how much we try to outrun it.
Sarah Kanake brings together elements of family drama, Aboriginal spirituality, and the rare joy of granting the positive POV representation of a character with Down Syndrome to weave together a multigenerational tale. It's an incredibly loose novel that occasionally stumbles due to what feels like Kanake's unwillingness to sink into full prose while not conforming to a coherent flow. Regardless there are parts that are absolutely beautiful, and the importance of the book in regards to representation of multiple characters with disabilities cannot be understated.
A generation later her brother returns to their secluded home in the Tasmanian wilderness to reconnect with their estranged father, this time with his twin sons Jonah and Samson in tow. Like all literature that incorporates elements of Indigenous mysticism and spirituality, there is a firmly rooted concept of the cyclical nature of time and the inescapable repetition of the past-no matter how much we try to outrun it.
Sarah Kanake brings together elements of family drama, Aboriginal spirituality, and the rare joy of granting the positive POV representation of a character with Down Syndrome to weave together a multigenerational tale. It's an incredibly loose novel that occasionally stumbles due to what feels like Kanake's unwillingness to sink into full prose while not conforming to a coherent flow. Regardless there are parts that are absolutely beautiful, and the importance of the book in regards to representation of multiple characters with disabilities cannot be understated.
April 12, 2016
A gripping page turner that filled me with a sense of dread about the bad things that might happen. And they do. The character of Samson, a teenage boy with Down Syndrome, is really well developed. The other characters are hard to connect with - also why they all have trouble connecting with each other. A novel about loss, searching, and silences which blurs the boundaries between reality and hallucination, between people and their environment, between past and present. There is a lot going on in the plot but I wanted a little bit more from some of the relationships. This is a 3.5 star book for me.
June 27, 2016
Sarah Kanake is new to me and I think this could be her first novel. She has attempted something quite difficult with a number of storylines running alongside each other, a dysfunctional family, grandfather who has never recovered from the grief of losing his daughter, twin brothers - one of whom has Down Syndrome, and Tasmanian tigers! Quite a mish-mash. On the whole she pulls it off with some lovely evocative writing, and great portrayal of the bush. I hope that she keeps writing...
July 19, 2016
I'm conflicted about this book. I struggled to accept the Down Syndrome character - I think he was attributed a self-awareness far beyond the ability of someone with Down Syndrome and I wanted to scream every time his 'heavy chromosome' was mentioned. But this character, Samson, was much more likeable than his twin Jonah who was a serial killer in the making. It is a book about loss, with so little that was positive that I began to feel weighed down with heaviness myself.
April 10, 2016
Compelling read but oh so much of everything Record breaking book club 'on topic' discussion what was real what was a dream what was memory what was the tiger and fox relationship. Tasmanian mountain gothic. Read and talk about!
May 30, 2016
2.5/5
February 21, 2017
Tedious.
May 26, 2016
Compelling, atmospheric and steeped in loss, this Tasmanian gothic tale establishes debut author Sarah Kanake as a writer to watch. Four-and-a-half stars.
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