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No More Boats
It is 2001. 438 refugees sit in a boat called Tampa off the shoreline of Australia, while the TV and radio scream out that the country is being flooded, inundated, overrun by migrants. Antonio Martone, once a migrant himself, has been forced to retire, his wife has moved in with the woman next door, his daughter runs off with strange men, his deadbeat son is hiding in the garden smoking marijuana. Amid his growing paranoia, the ghost of his dead friend shows up and commands him to paint ‘No More Boats’ in giant letters across his front yard. The Prime Minister of Australia keeps telling Antonio that ‘we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’. Antonio’s not sure he wants to think about all the things that led him to get on a boat and come to Australia in the first place. A man and a nation unravel together.
234 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2017
14 people are currently reading
455 people want to read
About the author
Felicity Castagna
11 books15 followersFelicity Castagna won the 2014 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction for her novel, The Incredible Here and Now, which was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia and NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and adapted for the stage by the National Theatre of Parramatta. Her collection of short stories, Small Indiscretions, was named an Australian Book Review Book of the Year. Her most recent novel, No More Boats, was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin Literary Award, the 2018 Voss Literary Prize and the 2018 NSW Premier’s Literary Multicultural Award.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
August 19, 2018
‘It is the day after Harold Holt disappeared and Antonio Martone is standing in his new home.’
This novel, which opens with the disappearance of Harold Hold and ends with the collapse of the Twin Towers, is focussed on Antonio Martone and his existential crisis in 2001. Australia was dealing with its own existential crisis at the same time: the Australian Government had refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa to enter Australian waters. The MV Tampa was carrying 438 people rescued from international waters: 5 crew members and 433 people (predominantly Hazaras from Afghanistan) seeking refuge.
Antonio Martone was once a migrant to Australia: he and his best friend Nico both arrived by boat as part of the wave of post-war migration from southern Europe. Antonio went through the Villawood Migrant Camp (now the Villawood Detention Centre) and married an Australian volunteer (Rose) whom he’d met there. A proud patriarch, Antonio has built his home in Parramatta. Antonio and Rose have a son Francis and a daughter Clare. Antonio has been forced to retire early after an horrific accident on a building site which injured him and killed his best friend Nico. And, suddenly, Antonio has lost his place. His wife has become more independent, his son smokes weed, and his daughter seems to be involved with strange men. What is the world coming to?
Meanwhile, television and radio scream out that Australia is being inundated by boat people. The Prime Minister’s message is that ‘we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’. Antonio’s world is collapsing around him, and then the ghost of his dead friend tells him to paint ‘No More Boats’ in giant letters across his front yard. Antonio is confused and he’s looking for answers.
This is a novel about confusion, about identity, about ordinariness, about both possession and dispossession. Antonio identifies with those who believe there should be no more boats. He takes a stand against boat people, embarrassing his family, attracting violent supporters.
Ms Castagna tells this story in short chapters with multiple points of view, mostly from Antonio, Rose, Francis and Clare. Their perspectives are different, they are mostly embarrassed by Antonio. They each have their own lives with different issues to deal with.
‘Do you know what his father did?’
Anti-boat arrival sentiment is strong in parts of Australia, so strong that it drives the policies of both major political parties. It’s sadly ironic that most of us arrived by boat. It’s also sadly ironic that we seem less concerned about those who arrive by plane (and then either overstay or seek asylum). What is it about boat arrivals?
I first read this novel last year and then reread it when it was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin Award. It’s not a novel to enjoy: it’s a novel that makes me think and some of that thinking makes me uncomfortable. How do we decide who belongs and why? Why is difference so frightening? Are we so fragile in our own sense of self that we fear any difference? I wish I could say that things have improved since August 2001, but I can’t.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This novel, which opens with the disappearance of Harold Hold and ends with the collapse of the Twin Towers, is focussed on Antonio Martone and his existential crisis in 2001. Australia was dealing with its own existential crisis at the same time: the Australian Government had refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa to enter Australian waters. The MV Tampa was carrying 438 people rescued from international waters: 5 crew members and 433 people (predominantly Hazaras from Afghanistan) seeking refuge.
Antonio Martone was once a migrant to Australia: he and his best friend Nico both arrived by boat as part of the wave of post-war migration from southern Europe. Antonio went through the Villawood Migrant Camp (now the Villawood Detention Centre) and married an Australian volunteer (Rose) whom he’d met there. A proud patriarch, Antonio has built his home in Parramatta. Antonio and Rose have a son Francis and a daughter Clare. Antonio has been forced to retire early after an horrific accident on a building site which injured him and killed his best friend Nico. And, suddenly, Antonio has lost his place. His wife has become more independent, his son smokes weed, and his daughter seems to be involved with strange men. What is the world coming to?
Meanwhile, television and radio scream out that Australia is being inundated by boat people. The Prime Minister’s message is that ‘we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come’. Antonio’s world is collapsing around him, and then the ghost of his dead friend tells him to paint ‘No More Boats’ in giant letters across his front yard. Antonio is confused and he’s looking for answers.
This is a novel about confusion, about identity, about ordinariness, about both possession and dispossession. Antonio identifies with those who believe there should be no more boats. He takes a stand against boat people, embarrassing his family, attracting violent supporters.
Ms Castagna tells this story in short chapters with multiple points of view, mostly from Antonio, Rose, Francis and Clare. Their perspectives are different, they are mostly embarrassed by Antonio. They each have their own lives with different issues to deal with.
‘Do you know what his father did?’
Anti-boat arrival sentiment is strong in parts of Australia, so strong that it drives the policies of both major political parties. It’s sadly ironic that most of us arrived by boat. It’s also sadly ironic that we seem less concerned about those who arrive by plane (and then either overstay or seek asylum). What is it about boat arrivals?
I first read this novel last year and then reread it when it was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin Award. It’s not a novel to enjoy: it’s a novel that makes me think and some of that thinking makes me uncomfortable. How do we decide who belongs and why? Why is difference so frightening? Are we so fragile in our own sense of self that we fear any difference? I wish I could say that things have improved since August 2001, but I can’t.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
July 12, 2018
In August 2001, the Howard Government of Australia refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, carrying 433 rescued refugees (predominantly Hazaras of Afghanistan from a distressed fishing vessel in international waters) and 5 crew to enter Australian waters. The boat was boarded by Australian SAS and the refugees sent to Nauru. In October 2001, another boat carrying refugees was intercepted and the Government of the day stated the people of that boat had threatened to throw their children overboard if they were not granted asylum. This was later proven to be incorrect. In the middle of both events was 9/11 and subsequent on-going tightening of asylum seeking and security laws.
"No More Boats" covers this period through the eyes of the Martone family living in Western Sydney. Antonio is forced to retire as a builder after a building site accident which injured him and killed his best friend. He is confused by the various messages on security and immigration, wonders what his now adult children are doing with their lives, despairs over the building practices over modern Australia and tries to seek answers from a National Front organisation.
I thought this was an impressive book - it reminds us that, except for the oldest original inhabitants of the world, we are a land of immigrants. It paints the confusion of the public with the dystopian refugee off-shore camps and of the spin doctors who try to gain public support. I thought the scene in the movie theatre where Paul, the son of Vietnam refugees, walks away from Antonio's daughter because she was unaware and was in the dark was quite telling.
The book is not perfect but the brilliance to me is in its ability to paint Australia's confusion, anxiety, powerlessness and misunderstanding.
"No More Boats" covers this period through the eyes of the Martone family living in Western Sydney. Antonio is forced to retire as a builder after a building site accident which injured him and killed his best friend. He is confused by the various messages on security and immigration, wonders what his now adult children are doing with their lives, despairs over the building practices over modern Australia and tries to seek answers from a National Front organisation.
I thought this was an impressive book - it reminds us that, except for the oldest original inhabitants of the world, we are a land of immigrants. It paints the confusion of the public with the dystopian refugee off-shore camps and of the spin doctors who try to gain public support. I thought the scene in the movie theatre where Paul, the son of Vietnam refugees, walks away from Antonio's daughter because she was unaware and was in the dark was quite telling.
The book is not perfect but the brilliance to me is in its ability to paint Australia's confusion, anxiety, powerlessness and misunderstanding.
April 22, 2019
No More Boats takes place in a working-class suburb of Sydney, Australia. But it could just as easily take place in a working-class area in London, Paris, Munich – or here in Texas or any number of other states. In fact, the crisis at the center of it – allowing a boat load of refugees into Australia – was so familiar that many times, I forgot the novel was not set in the U.S.
Antonio Martone, an Italian immigrant to Sydney, is at the center of the book. He and his friend Nico were hired to construct McMansions, but lately, the already inferior quality has taken a big hit. When an accident ensues, leaving Antonio with no choice but to retire, he begins to get increasingly obsessed with the nationalists in his neighborhood. His wife Rose and his two aimless children Clare and Francis are powerless to prevent Antonio’s downward spiral.
Here is Clare’s summary of her father: “I just think, he’s old and he’s angry that he’s not in control anymore. He’s always had a thing about migrants these days not working as hard not trying to fit in as much as he did…That’s it, maybe, he can’t handle change.” The problem goes beyond that, of course Antonio realizes that “life doesn’t really bring you into the future, it just throws you further and further into the past.” His own feeling of powerlessness and superfluity is the spark of his anger that eventually propels Antonio to the headlines.
The themes of belonging, national identity and transition, exploited by the media and the politicians, mines the cognitive dissonance and clear insanity of immigrants turning against more recent immigrants. At times, the message becomes too overt (as it is in the quote I used above). At a time when we have become inured to terrified asylum seekers being jailed, children being placed in cages, and exaggerated tales of “caravans” panicking our own countrymen, the current debate has shifted from “who is a citizen” to “who is human.” Yet the raw impulses triggered by fear and tribalism always lurk beneath the surface.
Antonio Martone, an Italian immigrant to Sydney, is at the center of the book. He and his friend Nico were hired to construct McMansions, but lately, the already inferior quality has taken a big hit. When an accident ensues, leaving Antonio with no choice but to retire, he begins to get increasingly obsessed with the nationalists in his neighborhood. His wife Rose and his two aimless children Clare and Francis are powerless to prevent Antonio’s downward spiral.
Here is Clare’s summary of her father: “I just think, he’s old and he’s angry that he’s not in control anymore. He’s always had a thing about migrants these days not working as hard not trying to fit in as much as he did…That’s it, maybe, he can’t handle change.” The problem goes beyond that, of course Antonio realizes that “life doesn’t really bring you into the future, it just throws you further and further into the past.” His own feeling of powerlessness and superfluity is the spark of his anger that eventually propels Antonio to the headlines.
The themes of belonging, national identity and transition, exploited by the media and the politicians, mines the cognitive dissonance and clear insanity of immigrants turning against more recent immigrants. At times, the message becomes too overt (as it is in the quote I used above). At a time when we have become inured to terrified asylum seekers being jailed, children being placed in cages, and exaggerated tales of “caravans” panicking our own countrymen, the current debate has shifted from “who is a citizen” to “who is human.” Yet the raw impulses triggered by fear and tribalism always lurk beneath the surface.
April 14, 2022
Great book. It's a slow burner, but it doesn't feel like nothing is happening, or that there's much filler. It simply is following a family over the course of about a week as they each do their thing.
Castagna had a very engaging style of writing, and the way she developed the characters throughout the novel was chef's kiss.
Castagna had a very engaging style of writing, and the way she developed the characters throughout the novel was chef's kiss.
April 21, 2019
Even though I appreciated the exploration of that part of Australian history surrounding the Tampa crisis in 2001 and admired Felicity Castagna’s skill in examining the parallel turmoil in an Australian family of that time I was not ‘sold’ on the novel and I have rated it accordingly.
2.5 stars
2.5 stars
September 22, 2019
I picked this book up from the library's New Fiction shelf, I could not resist a Europa Edition.
This novel takes place in Australia--and Castagna is Australian--but it could just as easily be set in the US. Antonio Martone, who immigrated to Australia in 1961 as a young man, after the deaths of his parents. He knew his older brother, who did not want to farm, would inherit the olive and bergamot orchard. His father had told him this. So he left for Australia. And now his best friend has died in a construction site accident, and he himself was permanently injured and forced to retire. With nothing to do all day, and unable to ten his own large garden, he watches TV and gets angry. He blames the immigrants for everything--the accident (he also carries a lot of guilt), the ugly apartment building going up next door to the house he built, crowds, noise, everything. And he gets wrapped up with a local skinhead/anti-immigrant group (run by the son of a Syrian immigrant). He thinks of his parents and brother he has never communicated with, and the orchard he loved but left behind.
Meanwhile, his wife Rose, who had a difficult and sad upbringing by a single mom, does not know why he is so angry or why he is anti-immigrant, being one himself. 30-ish daughter Clare switched jobs over a year earlier but never told her family for fear of disappointing them. 23-year-old Francis works with dad on the constructions site until his dad's injury. He is lost and doesn't know what to do with his life.
I liked this book and had to look up a bunch of Australian words, looked at maps, and so on. It is very interesting and the parallels to what is going on in the US are disturbing. But I also wanted more--what happens to these characters? Do they try to talking to each other? Why does no one try talking about Antonio's issues with his doctor?
This novel takes place in Australia--and Castagna is Australian--but it could just as easily be set in the US. Antonio Martone, who immigrated to Australia in 1961 as a young man, after the deaths of his parents. He knew his older brother, who did not want to farm, would inherit the olive and bergamot orchard. His father had told him this. So he left for Australia. And now his best friend has died in a construction site accident, and he himself was permanently injured and forced to retire. With nothing to do all day, and unable to ten his own large garden, he watches TV and gets angry. He blames the immigrants for everything--the accident (he also carries a lot of guilt), the ugly apartment building going up next door to the house he built, crowds, noise, everything. And he gets wrapped up with a local skinhead/anti-immigrant group (run by the son of a Syrian immigrant). He thinks of his parents and brother he has never communicated with, and the orchard he loved but left behind.
Meanwhile, his wife Rose, who had a difficult and sad upbringing by a single mom, does not know why he is so angry or why he is anti-immigrant, being one himself. 30-ish daughter Clare switched jobs over a year earlier but never told her family for fear of disappointing them. 23-year-old Francis works with dad on the constructions site until his dad's injury. He is lost and doesn't know what to do with his life.
I liked this book and had to look up a bunch of Australian words, looked at maps, and so on. It is very interesting and the parallels to what is going on in the US are disturbing. But I also wanted more--what happens to these characters? Do they try to talking to each other? Why does no one try talking about Antonio's issues with his doctor?
December 17, 2020
Felicity Castagna
As aspect of Australian policy that has long irritated me is that apparently it’s anti-refugee sentiment in the ethnically diverse western suburbs of Sydney that drives our unconscionable refugee policy. These electorates are crucial to electoral success and so both political parties kowtow to their hostility to refugees who come to Australia by boat. The irony is that these loud, unfeeling and disproportionately influential voices come from people who themselves came to Australia by boat. (Who, perversely, take no notice at all of refugees who arrive by air and then seek asylum, and apparently have no objection to the hordes of people who overstay their visas either).
Felicity Castagna, winner of the 2014 Prime Minister’s Award in the Young Adult Fiction category for The Incredible Here and Now, explores this phenomenon in her new novel No More Boats. It’s uncomfortable reading, but it’s an important book and it shows how fiction can shine a light on contemporary issues in society.
Antonio Martone is a product of the Populate or Perish immigration programs of the 1950s. With his good mate Nico, he has been a hardworking success story in the construction industry, building good solid houses with craftsmanship and care. He owns his own home and has others too, as investments. But things are unravelling: he has been badly injured in the workplace accident that killed Nico; he is alienated from his wife and children, and he feels that his security is compromised because of the hysterical media response to the Tampa crisis.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/06/14/n...
As aspect of Australian policy that has long irritated me is that apparently it’s anti-refugee sentiment in the ethnically diverse western suburbs of Sydney that drives our unconscionable refugee policy. These electorates are crucial to electoral success and so both political parties kowtow to their hostility to refugees who come to Australia by boat. The irony is that these loud, unfeeling and disproportionately influential voices come from people who themselves came to Australia by boat. (Who, perversely, take no notice at all of refugees who arrive by air and then seek asylum, and apparently have no objection to the hordes of people who overstay their visas either).
Felicity Castagna, winner of the 2014 Prime Minister’s Award in the Young Adult Fiction category for The Incredible Here and Now, explores this phenomenon in her new novel No More Boats. It’s uncomfortable reading, but it’s an important book and it shows how fiction can shine a light on contemporary issues in society.
Antonio Martone is a product of the Populate or Perish immigration programs of the 1950s. With his good mate Nico, he has been a hardworking success story in the construction industry, building good solid houses with craftsmanship and care. He owns his own home and has others too, as investments. But things are unravelling: he has been badly injured in the workplace accident that killed Nico; he is alienated from his wife and children, and he feels that his security is compromised because of the hysterical media response to the Tampa crisis.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/06/14/n...
August 16, 2019
Until I started reading Storyland (Catherine McKinnon), I thought No More Boats should have won the 2018 Miles Franklin Award.
Fabulous cast of characters and a thoroughly engaging story, an unflinching look at the Australia I know and love.
I hate reviews that basically summarise the story... but... this is less about the Tampa (a disgraceful episode in Australia's migrant history) and more about the ripple effect that immigration has on our culture and understanding.
Well worth a read.
Fabulous cast of characters and a thoroughly engaging story, an unflinching look at the Australia I know and love.
I hate reviews that basically summarise the story... but... this is less about the Tampa (a disgraceful episode in Australia's migrant history) and more about the ripple effect that immigration has on our culture and understanding.
Well worth a read.
July 24, 2018
A very thought provoking novel.
Castagna has the enviable knack of unmasking characters and their feelings unsentimentally so that the impact is concise and powerful. Her books resonate with understated emotion and she tackles difficult and complex subjects but does not hold back.
In her previous young adult novel, “The incredible here and now” she analysed the aftermath of a death in a family. Through short vignettes which progress with the passage of time we are shown how the death affected each family member and the friends of the one who died.
In “No more boats” the complicated and conflicting issue of Australian migration is the central focus. Australia’s history as a modern nation is based on migrants who have come by boat but each “wave” of new migrants arriving in successive decades has been received with some hostility. Castagna’s superb novel encapsulates the changes in community viewpoints about migration over the last few decades and the politicisation of these issues.
Antonio Martone is a fairly typical migrant who arrived in Australia in the 1950’s and 60’s from Europe. Most of these immigrants were lured by the advertising that offered cheap passage to a country that would give them every opportunity for a better life on the other side of the world, far from the devastations of World War 11. Australia was developing and needed people to work in the new industries and expanding infrastructures. The new Australians were housed in migrant hostels, where they usually made good friends and employment was soon secured. They were living the Australian dream – find work, work hard, marry, buy a house in the suburbs and raise a family. Antonio meets Rose, an Australian from Surrey Hills. They are individuals with no family ties, so when they marry they become part of the migrant community who settle in the new suburbs of western Sydney.
During the 1960’s and 70’s many refugees sought asylum in Australia during and after the end of the Vietnam War, the economic situation in Australia was changing dramatically but the people kept arriving by boat and despite some anti-Asian sentiments it was ‘humane’ to allow them to enter the country. Asylum seekers continued to arrive in the 1980s and 90’s after escaping from their war-torn countries and making their way to Indonesia where they paid people smugglers to bring them in old fishing boats into Australian waters. Asylum seekers were now detained in detention centres with razor wire.
The Tampa Affair of 2001 was a significant event in the refugee/migration matter when the Australian government refused to accept the (mainly Afghani) refugees who had been rescued from a sinking fishing boat and taken on board a Norwegian shop the Tampa.
“No more boats” is mainly set in 2001 and it superbly illustrates the conflicting interests of a changed multicultural society with its transformed workforce, crazy racism, powerful media plus diverse political agendas of the time.
What could have been a migrant family success story is slowly exposed as a dysfunctional family shattering when Antonio’s life falls apart. Following the death of his best friend and his forced early retirement, Antonio instigates a dramatic public reaction and is subsequently caught up in a fascist anti-refugee movement lead by another Australian migrant. Antonio’s estrangement from his children and his wife is harrowing as they are shown to have lost the ability to communicate with each other, if indeed they ever had it? Maybe they were all trying too hard to live up to the unrealistic expectations of the Australian dream?
The book is full of poignant commentary especially about migration and displacement. Especially when Antonio is recalling his past, “Back then he never considered that he’d still be trying to prove himself…When you come from nothing you either accept that you are noting or you spend the rest of your life trying to be something, until one day you turn around and you realise you might not make it.’ P165
Antonio’s two children demonstrate the difficulties that first generation migrant children can experience in trying to bridge the gap between cultures, generations and expectations. Francis, the son appears to be totally disengaged and does not connect with his father or anyone totally. He does attend the retirement party for Antonio but is stoned and is often in the shadow his friend Jesus (a Chilean refugee). - “Jesus shook his father’s hand and smiled like the good ethnic son Francis knew his father had always wanted.” (page 55).
Clare, the daughter, was a high achiever at school, and is unable to tell her parents when she quits her job as a teacher. She is able to maintain her lie as she lives a separate life in a central city group house and her family is too caught up in their own problems to really notice her. An ex-student Paul comes into her life and serves to show how distant she was from her students. It was obvious to him – a migrant child – that she was not coping, and still isn’t
The underlying racism of Australian society is well documented by Castagna showing not just how pervasive it is but also how intangible. She presents the frequent idea that one can say that they are “not racist” because they enjoy and have contact with so many people from different ethnic backgrounds and enjoy the multicultural advantages of our society but “we can’t let everyone in” (page 159). In 2001 the more recent refugees and asylum seekers trying to land in Australia by boat were from Arabic speaking countries and most likely Muslim, which initiated another form of discrimination based on religious bigotry.
Castagna has the enviable knack of unmasking characters and their feelings unsentimentally so that the impact is concise and powerful. Her books resonate with understated emotion and she tackles difficult and complex subjects but does not hold back.
In her previous young adult novel, “The incredible here and now” she analysed the aftermath of a death in a family. Through short vignettes which progress with the passage of time we are shown how the death affected each family member and the friends of the one who died.
In “No more boats” the complicated and conflicting issue of Australian migration is the central focus. Australia’s history as a modern nation is based on migrants who have come by boat but each “wave” of new migrants arriving in successive decades has been received with some hostility. Castagna’s superb novel encapsulates the changes in community viewpoints about migration over the last few decades and the politicisation of these issues.
Antonio Martone is a fairly typical migrant who arrived in Australia in the 1950’s and 60’s from Europe. Most of these immigrants were lured by the advertising that offered cheap passage to a country that would give them every opportunity for a better life on the other side of the world, far from the devastations of World War 11. Australia was developing and needed people to work in the new industries and expanding infrastructures. The new Australians were housed in migrant hostels, where they usually made good friends and employment was soon secured. They were living the Australian dream – find work, work hard, marry, buy a house in the suburbs and raise a family. Antonio meets Rose, an Australian from Surrey Hills. They are individuals with no family ties, so when they marry they become part of the migrant community who settle in the new suburbs of western Sydney.
During the 1960’s and 70’s many refugees sought asylum in Australia during and after the end of the Vietnam War, the economic situation in Australia was changing dramatically but the people kept arriving by boat and despite some anti-Asian sentiments it was ‘humane’ to allow them to enter the country. Asylum seekers continued to arrive in the 1980s and 90’s after escaping from their war-torn countries and making their way to Indonesia where they paid people smugglers to bring them in old fishing boats into Australian waters. Asylum seekers were now detained in detention centres with razor wire.
The Tampa Affair of 2001 was a significant event in the refugee/migration matter when the Australian government refused to accept the (mainly Afghani) refugees who had been rescued from a sinking fishing boat and taken on board a Norwegian shop the Tampa.
“No more boats” is mainly set in 2001 and it superbly illustrates the conflicting interests of a changed multicultural society with its transformed workforce, crazy racism, powerful media plus diverse political agendas of the time.
What could have been a migrant family success story is slowly exposed as a dysfunctional family shattering when Antonio’s life falls apart. Following the death of his best friend and his forced early retirement, Antonio instigates a dramatic public reaction and is subsequently caught up in a fascist anti-refugee movement lead by another Australian migrant. Antonio’s estrangement from his children and his wife is harrowing as they are shown to have lost the ability to communicate with each other, if indeed they ever had it? Maybe they were all trying too hard to live up to the unrealistic expectations of the Australian dream?
The book is full of poignant commentary especially about migration and displacement. Especially when Antonio is recalling his past, “Back then he never considered that he’d still be trying to prove himself…When you come from nothing you either accept that you are noting or you spend the rest of your life trying to be something, until one day you turn around and you realise you might not make it.’ P165
Antonio’s two children demonstrate the difficulties that first generation migrant children can experience in trying to bridge the gap between cultures, generations and expectations. Francis, the son appears to be totally disengaged and does not connect with his father or anyone totally. He does attend the retirement party for Antonio but is stoned and is often in the shadow his friend Jesus (a Chilean refugee). - “Jesus shook his father’s hand and smiled like the good ethnic son Francis knew his father had always wanted.” (page 55).
Clare, the daughter, was a high achiever at school, and is unable to tell her parents when she quits her job as a teacher. She is able to maintain her lie as she lives a separate life in a central city group house and her family is too caught up in their own problems to really notice her. An ex-student Paul comes into her life and serves to show how distant she was from her students. It was obvious to him – a migrant child – that she was not coping, and still isn’t
The underlying racism of Australian society is well documented by Castagna showing not just how pervasive it is but also how intangible. She presents the frequent idea that one can say that they are “not racist” because they enjoy and have contact with so many people from different ethnic backgrounds and enjoy the multicultural advantages of our society but “we can’t let everyone in” (page 159). In 2001 the more recent refugees and asylum seekers trying to land in Australia by boat were from Arabic speaking countries and most likely Muslim, which initiated another form of discrimination based on religious bigotry.
November 21, 2018
I got to 80%. Couldn’t finish. Boring. I thought it was going to be some inspirational book about why we should let people bloody come here on boats but it wasn’t that at all.
October 19, 2020
REALLY loved the searing critique of shoddy over-development that still reigns unchecked in Australia. The section on Old Parliament House was a cracker. Liked its exploration of Parramatta, migrant experience, intergenerational misunderstandings, work, the perversity of the White Australia policy. I liked its ambition in the linking of Tampa with Antonio's experience. Here are a few things that, from a craft perspective, distracted me: I did not love the errors in tense. They cropped up so often in the middle third of the book that it made me think this had originally been written in present tense, then gone through and changed to past tense but by someone who missed a few sentences here and there. Another thing that distracted me was the repetition of the phrase "on account of"; I could have handled and liked its repetition if it had stayed either with the narrator or as a turn of phrase used by one character, but it is used by multiple characters in their moments of focalisation and in the narration, and is not a phrase I ever remember being particularly common in Australian vernacular (in fact, it seems like a very American turn of phrase to me), so it just seemed like a sort of odd quirk of the author.
November 29, 2018
After the death of a close friend at work forces immigrant father of two Antonio to retire, his life begins to crumble. When the television, and his dead friend, start telling him that Australia shouldn't have any more immigrants, he sprays "no more boats" onto the concrete at the front of his house and becomes a short-lived media sensation.
The story is told from four perspectives, Antonio (with his delusions), his wife Rose and their children Francis and Clare. The story is quite full on but is a well told story of Italian immigrants and their Australian second-generation children.
The story is told from four perspectives, Antonio (with his delusions), his wife Rose and their children Francis and Clare. The story is quite full on but is a well told story of Italian immigrants and their Australian second-generation children.
August 9, 2018
In the context of our fractured and ugly political climate, No More Boats is about as pointed a novel as you could hope to read. It's kind of scary to think that, despite being set in 2001 - right at the beginning of the refugee panic - its lessons not only remain relevant but are probably even more so today. A gripping, if grim, insight into Australian life at a time we are destined to look back at with shame.
March 9, 2019
A slow burn of a book, set in Parramatta in western Sydney just after Tampa but just before S11. Full of ideas and big themes, the author mostly avoided the clunky effects of the social issues novel by focussing on family dynamics, building a vivid sense of place and time and evidently having some creative fun with writing fiction out of recent history.
January 31, 2024
The strength of this book is it’s amazing sense of place. As a Parra local, I knew every single place she talked about and I love that in a book! But I do feel there was so much more potential here to dive deeper into asylum seeker experiences. It’s more a character analysis rather than Tampa analysis, and I was hoping for the latter. 3 stars.
October 16, 2018
Whoa! This is such a smart and unsettling book. Felicity Castagna opens the front door of an "ordinary" suburban home, mother, father and two adult children, and we watch their lives disintegrate. Very cleverly linked to the White Australia Policy, the Tampa incident, the Twin Towers and our general political and social atmosphere. Love that she makes the reader stop and think with her quiet but powerful writing - so preferable to the "smack between the eyes and ram it down the throat" method used by Kim Scott.
One more to read of the Franklin shortlist for 2018, can't understand the judges' choice at all.....
One more to read of the Franklin shortlist for 2018, can't understand the judges' choice at all.....
March 7, 2018
Unbelievable writing.
September 19, 2018
An amazing start and an abrupt ending. Another 200 pages wouldn’t have gone astray. I thought this would be more of a political novel about accepting refugees. It was more of a novel about an immigrant who developed a manic mental health issue. I didn’t understand there writers view point on major political issues for the last third of the book it oscillated over both sides of the fence.
July 19, 2024
A very engaging character based novel about Antonio Martone, his wife Rosa, and his adult children Clare and Francis. Antonio emigrated to Australia from Italy in the 1950s after his parents died. He settled in Parramatta. With his good mate Nico, Antonio worked in the construction industry, building solid houses. He owns his own home and others too, as investments. He is in his 50s when he is badly injured on a building site. His friend Nico is killed in the same accident.Antonio is badly injured and can no longer work. He struggles with his predicament, further exacerbated by being alienated from his wife and children.
The political crisis of many illegal boat people landing in Australia upsets Antonio Martone.Antonio takes up the cause against the boat people, notwithstanding that he once was a boat person, that is, he came to Australia on a boat from Italy, seeking a better life.
We learn about Rosa and her friendship with her next door neighbour. Clare is 30 years old and had been a teacher but had quit a year ago and is now working at a bookshop. She has not told her parents. Clare house shares. Francis is 23 and works as a bricklayer. He lives at home with Antonio and Rosa. Francis spends his spare time with his friends Jesus and Charbel.
A thought provoking novel with good plot momentum and interesting characters that I found a very satisfying reading experience.
This book was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin award.
The political crisis of many illegal boat people landing in Australia upsets Antonio Martone.Antonio takes up the cause against the boat people, notwithstanding that he once was a boat person, that is, he came to Australia on a boat from Italy, seeking a better life.
We learn about Rosa and her friendship with her next door neighbour. Clare is 30 years old and had been a teacher but had quit a year ago and is now working at a bookshop. She has not told her parents. Clare house shares. Francis is 23 and works as a bricklayer. He lives at home with Antonio and Rosa. Francis spends his spare time with his friends Jesus and Charbel.
A thought provoking novel with good plot momentum and interesting characters that I found a very satisfying reading experience.
This book was shortlisted for the 2018 Miles Franklin award.
September 23, 2018
On the surface, there is a lot going on in this novel: themes of transition, migration, belonging, corruption, ageing, urban evolution/gentrification and national identity. Unfortunately, little of this really landed for me, instead providing a whirling kaleidoscopic backdrop to that most Australian of phemonena, a literary suburban study lit with claustrophobic decay.
If this is your thing, the book is going to be worth it. Castegna is an assured writer, and her switching narrative between the characters forms a kind of spiral, touching on many elements but centering always back on the family that is at the heart of all their dysfunction. She keeps her characters interesting without softening them, and she captures the drift of post-adolescence particularly well. I found the kaleidoscope topics more intriguing than the family drama, leaving me pretty 'meh' about the book as a whole.
Antonio's decaying mental state is evoked more than described: as readers we have about as much idea of the motives he has as he does for much of the book. Castegna draws his need for some clarity and simplicity into the crude, plain message from Howard and Rudd at the time, but it all so mixed with dissociation and trauma, I found it hard to connect to broader significance. It's a book more interested in emotional interior than analysis, which is no doubt for most readers a good thing.
I don't relate well to novels which use big political events as a backdrop to a deeply personal story, as opposed to books which use the personal as a gateway to the big political. And this felt like the former to me. Probably exacerbated by the fact that race - and racism - is not a prominent part of the narrative. This feels accurate in looking at the mental landscape of Castagna's protogonists, but missing in the broader context of the dramatic events occurring around them.
My favourite part of the book was the relationship between Antonio's daughter and a young Vietnamese man, which explored our tendencies to center narratives on ourselves, to not listen, and the ways in which the Boats story does not belong to those of us who know so little. For this alone, the read was worth it.
A caveat to this review: Being close to the subject matter can work for you or against you as a reader. During the months over which the novel is set, I was living in Parramatta and working in Darlinghust/Newtown - the two areas in which the novel is set. I was also involved with the refugee community. In this case, it worked against my reading experience. The detail of Castagna's research meant sections were extremely evocative, but I was constantly distracted by small details that didn't fit, and the exaggerations natural to novelisation became a tension between memory and story that never allowed me to relax. The suburban world of the protagonists never really felt like Parra to me, but more like Granville or Auburn, where waves of migration had created pockets of distict social and cultural networks. My Parra experience was of dense flats and the tolerant multiculturalism of five nationalities in one building. Perhaps I was just too close to it all.
If this is your thing, the book is going to be worth it. Castegna is an assured writer, and her switching narrative between the characters forms a kind of spiral, touching on many elements but centering always back on the family that is at the heart of all their dysfunction. She keeps her characters interesting without softening them, and she captures the drift of post-adolescence particularly well. I found the kaleidoscope topics more intriguing than the family drama, leaving me pretty 'meh' about the book as a whole.
Antonio's decaying mental state is evoked more than described: as readers we have about as much idea of the motives he has as he does for much of the book. Castegna draws his need for some clarity and simplicity into the crude, plain message from Howard and Rudd at the time, but it all so mixed with dissociation and trauma, I found it hard to connect to broader significance. It's a book more interested in emotional interior than analysis, which is no doubt for most readers a good thing.
I don't relate well to novels which use big political events as a backdrop to a deeply personal story, as opposed to books which use the personal as a gateway to the big political. And this felt like the former to me. Probably exacerbated by the fact that race - and racism - is not a prominent part of the narrative. This feels accurate in looking at the mental landscape of Castagna's protogonists, but missing in the broader context of the dramatic events occurring around them.
My favourite part of the book was the relationship between Antonio's daughter and a young Vietnamese man, which explored our tendencies to center narratives on ourselves, to not listen, and the ways in which the Boats story does not belong to those of us who know so little. For this alone, the read was worth it.
A caveat to this review: Being close to the subject matter can work for you or against you as a reader. During the months over which the novel is set, I was living in Parramatta and working in Darlinghust/Newtown - the two areas in which the novel is set. I was also involved with the refugee community. In this case, it worked against my reading experience. The detail of Castagna's research meant sections were extremely evocative, but I was constantly distracted by small details that didn't fit, and the exaggerations natural to novelisation became a tension between memory and story that never allowed me to relax. The suburban world of the protagonists never really felt like Parra to me, but more like Granville or Auburn, where waves of migration had created pockets of distict social and cultural networks. My Parra experience was of dense flats and the tolerant multiculturalism of five nationalities in one building. Perhaps I was just too close to it all.
June 11, 2018
One of the paradoxes in Australia is that this nation of migrants has developed such strong anti-immigration sentiment. This is exploited by politicians - especially, but not exclusively, by those from the far-right Liberal Party - who will simply mention immigration and expect their followers to bay for blood.
No More Boats shows us a hard working Italian-Australian, Antonio, who has retired from the building game after an accident claimed his mobility an the life of his Greek friend Nico. Both had come to Australia on boats, part of the post-war wave of migration from southern Europe. Both had been through what was the Villawood Migrant Camp, that has since morphed into a detention centre for asylum seekers. Antonio married an Aussie volunteer at the centre, had children and paid his way. Modern Australia was built by Antonio and his generation.
And as Antonio spends more and more time navel-gazing in his enforced retirement, he turns first to family (who are not exactly the industrious, virtuous souls he had imagined) and then to the television where John Howard, the anti-immigration Prime Minister is stirring up race hate towards a boatload of would-be migrants in the sea by which our home is girt. As Antonio makes a stand against the boat people, he divides his community, drawing out a sub-strata of the dispossessed who share the view that we need No More Boats.
The novel is told in short chapters with multiple points of view - mostly from Antonio, his wife Rose, and his adult children Francis and Clare. They offer contrasting perspectives and are, for the most part, embarrassed by Antonio. Rose dedicated her life to helping migrants. Francis hangs around with a group of migrant pot-heads and Clare develops a friendship with her Vietnamese co-worker (a boat person who arrived on a plane from Thailand). Even Antonio seems somewhat horrified by the pond-life he starts to attract - violent wasters who are far from the socialist-nationalist hard-working ideal to which Antonio aspires.
This is a great little seamy 1990s narrative of the western suburbs of Sydney. If it has a failing, it is that once the positions have been established they just sort of fizzle out. But maybe that's the point. There is not enough logic in the anti-immigration position to sustain itself. In one vignette, a politician points to lines on a graph. The red line keeps increasing, the blue line is flat. In the middle is a green line. The politician stresses the importance of following the green line. And in another one, someone asserts with a straight face that Harold Holt disappeared when swimming in the sea because he relaxed the White Australia policy. So yes, not quite enough logic to swell an uprising, but still it seems to keep a motley collection of fascist losers limping on from dog-whistle to dog-whistle, even twenty years later.
No More Boats shows us a hard working Italian-Australian, Antonio, who has retired from the building game after an accident claimed his mobility an the life of his Greek friend Nico. Both had come to Australia on boats, part of the post-war wave of migration from southern Europe. Both had been through what was the Villawood Migrant Camp, that has since morphed into a detention centre for asylum seekers. Antonio married an Aussie volunteer at the centre, had children and paid his way. Modern Australia was built by Antonio and his generation.
And as Antonio spends more and more time navel-gazing in his enforced retirement, he turns first to family (who are not exactly the industrious, virtuous souls he had imagined) and then to the television where John Howard, the anti-immigration Prime Minister is stirring up race hate towards a boatload of would-be migrants in the sea by which our home is girt. As Antonio makes a stand against the boat people, he divides his community, drawing out a sub-strata of the dispossessed who share the view that we need No More Boats.
The novel is told in short chapters with multiple points of view - mostly from Antonio, his wife Rose, and his adult children Francis and Clare. They offer contrasting perspectives and are, for the most part, embarrassed by Antonio. Rose dedicated her life to helping migrants. Francis hangs around with a group of migrant pot-heads and Clare develops a friendship with her Vietnamese co-worker (a boat person who arrived on a plane from Thailand). Even Antonio seems somewhat horrified by the pond-life he starts to attract - violent wasters who are far from the socialist-nationalist hard-working ideal to which Antonio aspires.
This is a great little seamy 1990s narrative of the western suburbs of Sydney. If it has a failing, it is that once the positions have been established they just sort of fizzle out. But maybe that's the point. There is not enough logic in the anti-immigration position to sustain itself. In one vignette, a politician points to lines on a graph. The red line keeps increasing, the blue line is flat. In the middle is a green line. The politician stresses the importance of following the green line. And in another one, someone asserts with a straight face that Harold Holt disappeared when swimming in the sea because he relaxed the White Australia policy. So yes, not quite enough logic to swell an uprising, but still it seems to keep a motley collection of fascist losers limping on from dog-whistle to dog-whistle, even twenty years later.
December 17, 2020
After the death of a colleague at work, Antonio - an Italian immigrant - becomes unemployed and his mental health declines. His wife Rose and two grownup children Clare and Nico are drifting away from him. With right wing Australian media filling the background noise, Antonio commits a controversial act that places him at the centre of the immigration debate. Castagna deftly interweaves the issue of national identity with masculinity and mental health, asking ultimately what home is.
What I liked was how this gave me an insight into how an immigrant could be drawn in to side more with right wing politics than leftist: everyone's life is complex and has different pressures on it. This is an insight I would never have had otherwise, as well as getting a flavour of Australian politics.
What I liked was how this gave me an insight into how an immigrant could be drawn in to side more with right wing politics than leftist: everyone's life is complex and has different pressures on it. This is an insight I would never have had otherwise, as well as getting a flavour of Australian politics.
July 9, 2018
The idea sounds interesting and the writing was good but really it was lacking any real substance and message. The characters are not overly interesting or created in a way you really ever felt anything for them which leaves the whole plot hanging.
June 8, 2023
I love buying and reading these types of books.
Boats, yachts, historical events and books about the sea are generally excellent. If there are sequels in your series, I would love to read them.
The beauties of owning the books of important authors cannot be discussed. I'm looking forward to your new books.
For friends who want to read this book, I leave the importance of reading a book here. I wish good luck to the sellers and customers...
Top 10 benefits of reading for all ages:
1. Reading Exercises the Brain
As we read, we need to remember the different characters and settings of a particular story. Even if you enjoy reading a book in one sitting, you need to remember the details during the time you devote to reading the book. Therefore, reading is an exercise for your brain that improves memory function.
2. Reading Is a (free) Form of Entertainment
Did you know that most of the popular TV series and movies are based on books? So why not indulge in the original form of entertainment by immersing yourself in reading? Most importantly, it's free with your Markham Public Library card.
3. Reading Improves Concentration and Focus
We all agree that there can be no reading without focus, and we need to concentrate on every page we read to fully understand the story. In a world where gadgets only speed up and shorten our attention span, we must constantly practice concentration and focus. Reading is one of the few activities that requires your undivided attention, so it improves your ability to concentrate.
4. Reading Improves Literacy
Have you ever read a book where you come across a word you don't know? Books have the power to improve your vocabulary by introducing you to new words. The more you read, the more your vocabulary will improve as well as your ability to communicate effectively. Also, reading improves writing skills by helping the reader understand and learn different writing styles.
5. Reading Improves Sleep
By creating a bedtime routine that includes reading, you can signal to your body that it's time to sleep. Now more than ever, we rely on increased screen time to get through the day. That's why you put your phone away and pick up a book and tell your brain it's time to calm down. Also, since reading helps you relieve stress, reading right before bed helps calm your mind and anxiety and improve your sleep quality.
6. Reading Increases General Knowledge
Books are always full of fun and interesting facts. Whether we read fiction or non-fiction, books have the ability to provide us with information we might not otherwise know. Reading various topics can make you a more knowledgeable person and therefore improve your speaking skills.
7. Reading Is Motivating
By reading books about heroes overcoming adversity, we are often encouraged to do the same. Whether it's a romance novel or a self-help book, the right book can motivate you to never give up and stay positive.
https://numberoneboats.com/
https://theboatyacht.com/
https://theboatyacht.com/holby-clearw...
https://numberoneboats.com/holby-clea...
https://theboatyacht.com/boothbay-exp...
https://numberoneboats.com/boothbay-e...
Boats, yachts, historical events and books about the sea are generally excellent. If there are sequels in your series, I would love to read them.
The beauties of owning the books of important authors cannot be discussed. I'm looking forward to your new books.
For friends who want to read this book, I leave the importance of reading a book here. I wish good luck to the sellers and customers...
Top 10 benefits of reading for all ages:
1. Reading Exercises the Brain
As we read, we need to remember the different characters and settings of a particular story. Even if you enjoy reading a book in one sitting, you need to remember the details during the time you devote to reading the book. Therefore, reading is an exercise for your brain that improves memory function.
2. Reading Is a (free) Form of Entertainment
Did you know that most of the popular TV series and movies are based on books? So why not indulge in the original form of entertainment by immersing yourself in reading? Most importantly, it's free with your Markham Public Library card.
3. Reading Improves Concentration and Focus
We all agree that there can be no reading without focus, and we need to concentrate on every page we read to fully understand the story. In a world where gadgets only speed up and shorten our attention span, we must constantly practice concentration and focus. Reading is one of the few activities that requires your undivided attention, so it improves your ability to concentrate.
4. Reading Improves Literacy
Have you ever read a book where you come across a word you don't know? Books have the power to improve your vocabulary by introducing you to new words. The more you read, the more your vocabulary will improve as well as your ability to communicate effectively. Also, reading improves writing skills by helping the reader understand and learn different writing styles.
5. Reading Improves Sleep
By creating a bedtime routine that includes reading, you can signal to your body that it's time to sleep. Now more than ever, we rely on increased screen time to get through the day. That's why you put your phone away and pick up a book and tell your brain it's time to calm down. Also, since reading helps you relieve stress, reading right before bed helps calm your mind and anxiety and improve your sleep quality.
6. Reading Increases General Knowledge
Books are always full of fun and interesting facts. Whether we read fiction or non-fiction, books have the ability to provide us with information we might not otherwise know. Reading various topics can make you a more knowledgeable person and therefore improve your speaking skills.
7. Reading Is Motivating
By reading books about heroes overcoming adversity, we are often encouraged to do the same. Whether it's a romance novel or a self-help book, the right book can motivate you to never give up and stay positive.
https://numberoneboats.com/
https://theboatyacht.com/
https://theboatyacht.com/holby-clearw...
https://numberoneboats.com/holby-clea...
https://theboatyacht.com/boothbay-exp...
https://numberoneboats.com/boothbay-e...
September 6, 2018
This is an interesting exploration of Australianess based around the Martone family. The father is an Italian immigrant, a builder who has recently had an accident & has lost his sense of purpose & perhaps he is losing his mind, seeing his dead friend Nico everywhere. The novel is set during the Tampa crisis, & I think the author should've provided an overview of that event, not everyone is old enough to remember & history is quickly forgotten. But Antonio watches TV & John Howard's voice starts burrowing into his brain. He writes No More Boats out the front of his house & then things really go mad. His daughter Clare is pretending to be an english teacher still, I think she was the most interesting character & in some ways the most flawed. She lacks compassion, perhaps she is a stand in for the australian public in general. His wife has had enough. Read this book, it's ideas & themes will get your mind working. I wonder if it was old Johnny who awarded the P.M's prize.
June 4, 2018
‘No More Boats’ by Felicity Castagna is an arresting piece of suburban Australian realism redolent of the works of fiction by such established authors as Christos Tsiolkas or A.S Patrić. With great skill, Castagna adeptly draws a parallel between the unconventional breakdown suffered by the main protagonist, Antonio Martone, a post-war Italian immigrant, and the plight of newly arrived migrants as they are confronted with social and economic pressures to transcend an already established cultural mould. More than anything, this novel is about Australia’s fraught relationship with its multicultural origins. A true piece of literary genius and recommended reading in this day and age.
August 15, 2018
Set during 2001, when the Tampa lay off Australia's shores and the government refused to let the refugees come to Australia, No More Boats is the story of a man, once a migrant himself, whose life is turned upside down, and he loses his way. The ghost of a friend tells him to paint 'No More Boats' in his front yard, and he and his family must come to terms with what is happening to him, to themselves and to Australia. It is a quiet and thoughtful novel, with little action or resolution, but which highlights the complex issues at the heart of families, Australian society, and the cold, hard policies about our borders.
July 23, 2020
I have to confess... I'm not the biggest reader of Aussie books and I find that Aussie stories set in a specific time can be slightly cringy. This however is a brilliant read that sets the place and time perfectly. The micro story of the Martone family that is contained in the wider narrative of Australian racism is so well done. Castagna nails her character descriptions and manages to tell a big story with small words. As someone who grew up alongside the Italian migrant community I can see people I know and the lives they lived so clearly- I can now also see what I never saw, the complicated stories many of those smiling neighbours from my childhood carried with them.
April 13, 2021
3.5*
This was an interesting story about an event I witnessed across the news leading up to a federal election, that whipped a lot of anger, disinformation and xenophobia. It was also the first time I'd read a fictional book set in an area I had visited hundreds of times and knew of the locations very well. The narrative leaps quickly between four characters, two parents and their two children, showing a disconnect between all four, as the father begins to unravel due to recent events. I would have preferred longer chapters so I could spend more time with each of them, which would have fleshed them out more, but it still evoked a good sense of events.
This was an interesting story about an event I witnessed across the news leading up to a federal election, that whipped a lot of anger, disinformation and xenophobia. It was also the first time I'd read a fictional book set in an area I had visited hundreds of times and knew of the locations very well. The narrative leaps quickly between four characters, two parents and their two children, showing a disconnect between all four, as the father begins to unravel due to recent events. I would have preferred longer chapters so I could spend more time with each of them, which would have fleshed them out more, but it still evoked a good sense of events.
July 29, 2018
This is a pretty conventional novel with nothing too startling about it as it shifts between the viewpoints of four members of the same family in Western Sydney. It's set at the time of the Tampa incident, when Australia lurched onto a path of despicable treatment of asylum seekers that it still hasn't recovered from. Castagna aims to show how the idea that it's acceptable to treat people that way can take hold even in the minds of people who were migrants to Australia themselves. She mostly succeeds with that.
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