Extinction

by Hannie Rayson

One wild winter night, Harry Jewell is driving along the Great Ocean Road, when he hits an animal. He stops and discovers that the creature is still alive. He picks it up and drives through the storm to a wildlife shelter, where an American zoologist, Dr Piper Ross, is on duty as a volunteer. Harry Jewell recognizes that the animal is a tiger quoll, once common in these parts, but now on the verge of extinction. The quoll dies, but the two of them are bonded by their attempt to save its life.

A week after the quoll incident, Harry Jewell shows up at the CAPE Institute, where he meets with the director, Heather Dixon-Brown. He slaps two million dollars on the table and says that he wants to fund a research project to save the tiger quoll. But there is a complication. Harry is the Managing Director of Powerhouse Mining. He has a license to explore the Otways for brown coal.

Genres: Audiobook, Plays, Fiction, Environment

ebook

First published February 1, 2021

Reviews

[Susy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25
Enjoyed it but now, 2 weeks later, it's proving to not stay with me, despite the important topic.

Characters 6
Atmosphere 7
Writing Style 7
Premise 7
Execution/Plot 6
Execution/Pace 7
Execution/Setup 6
Enjoyment/Engrossment 6
Narration 8

[Karen Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I can confirm I don't enjoy Hannie Rayson's work.
The plays I have read all revolve around unlikeable characters behaving in immoral or inequitable ways in the midst of some kind of contemporary social issue. She likes to include references to current political or media figures, characters interrupting and speaking over one another and a blurring of professional and private lives.

This play is a little bit more even-handed than ones like Two Brothers, in which a clear authorial condemnation seems clear. However, the hands are still heavy and there is little subtlety or nuance in the piece.

[Jane Milton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a potential VCE text. It’s super readable, I got through it in an hour or two. And was able to concentrate on it while holed up in a noisy kids trampoline centre on a rainy day. I’m sure it’d be fantastic on stage. LOVED the technique of the quoll’s heart beating at key emotional points in the play.
Themes: extinction and which species we choose to try to bring back from the edge; greenie idealism vs. mining realism; truth around terminal illness; and commitment vs ‘just having a bit of fun’.
Questions: is it a bit glib? (Possibly) Does it have enough in it for students to write in-depth essays on? (Possibly) And is the incestuous love triangle coincidence just too much to believe? (Yes)

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Characters are unbearable.

[Toni FGMAMTC · Rating 2 out of 5]

This didn't quite win me over. It was sort of interesting but I'm not quite sure what the point was supposed to be. It covers environmental stuff, relationships, an incurable disease, business stuff, endangered species, people hooking up....It was kind of all over the place. It's a play so maybe it's meant to watch being acted out instead of just read.

[Rubie Harkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why was this lowkey good

[Kristel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a play written by Australian, Hannie Rayson, and produced by LATW and is part of the AudioSync File summer 2021 program. I frankly don't like LATW stuff but did listen to this one today. The negatives is the use of profanity/swearing/sexual content for a book offered to youth. What I enjoyed; the subject matter of animal endangered for extinction and the battles of environmentalist and the money that big business can offer (sleeping with the enemy), also the exploration of the illness of pets and whether to save or euthanize. I read this because it fit my bingo square for less than 20 LT members.

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm confused. This book felt like it was all about two guys when it was supposed to be about the extinction of an animal.

Personally, there were no likeable characters. The boyfriend was a jerk. The sister was blunt and rude and a gold digger. The rich coal guy was just in it for sex and pity. The "main" character was unfaithful when she loved her boyfriend... not a winner for me. The best character in this play was the dog who was dying. I just completely missed the point on everything else.

( but a fantastic job to the voice actors I listened to. This opinion is not a reflection on you at all.)

Don't recommend if you're under 20 like me. This play just doesn't make sense

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play was performed by the L.A. Theatre Works as part of their Relativity Series of science-themed plays. Piper is an American studying koalas in Australia. One rainy night while visiting her veterinarian boyfriend Andy, a businessman (Harry) bursts in with a dying quoll he has hit with his car. Harry decides to use his wealth to save the quoll and ends up entangled in the lives of Piper, Andy, and Andy's sister Dix.

[Yellow Ocean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this for English class, and I would have rather watched my grass grow. All of the characters were unlikeable. The only one that I somewhat liked was andy. It felt like a high school gossip ring full of immature people, and that the author wanted to write a romance office sex scandal but included the tiger quolls to justify writing it to themself. Giving major performative activism vibes, but anyway.

[Megan Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

"'You call IT, and they tell you to turn your computer off and then turn it on again. They go to university for 3 years these people so they can tell you that.' 'I just lie. I tell them that I've already tried that.' 'Nahhh, but they know. They can tell from their end."

“If you can’t face death, you can’t face life right?”

"'Mate! You're a traveler. You're passing through.' 'We are all just passing through.'"

[Myra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened via SYNC Audiobooks for Teens.

This is the second LATW production I've listened to through this program and they just don't translate well to audiobooks. Maybe as a play to actually be watched it would be fine (although I really doubt it). There were some good parts, but it focused more on the characters' personal lives than on the topic of extinction.

[James G. Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should preface my 5 star review with the fact that I listened to the full cast play by LA theatre works. I enjoyed the production thoroughly, though if I were to read it instead I'm not sure I would have the same reaction. If you get a chance give it a listen it was roughly 2 hours long and the sound quality and actors were both phenomenal. 5/5

[Pinky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the LA Theater Works production - part of the Relativity series of science themed plays. Set in Australia. A man hits an endangered tiger quoll while driving in a storm and forges a relationship with the emergency vet. Examines conservancy and industry.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick to get through because it’s a play… it provides some context to consider the balance between environmentalism and economy while also trying to have fun with romantic ties. It wasn’t terrible on either count, but I certainly was not blown away by any part of it.

[Linda Yeatts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a treat. I try to read one play a month and Extinction was Lucky July's pick. Such an entertaining look at extinction and conservation (in Australia no less) of both wildlife and endangered species, but of human relationships, too. Loved it! I listened to the LA Theatre Works full cast presentation. Just great.

[Debra · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was supposed to be a YA book. NOT. The fact of the gratuitous sex and vindictive wives didn't put it in that category at all. Other than that, the play was all over the place & didn't keep with the subject.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough interplay between 4 people and what happens when one of them hits an endangered/maybe extinct tiger quoll. Of course there’s sex. Some good themes to debate and discuss.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little play that makes you think while you are being entertained.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio. Not really that great. Just okay for me.

[Elisha Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

*School Book Read - quick and easy, interesting for a school book/play

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoy the experience of the LA Theatre Works productions, but this particular play just wasn't my cup of tea.

[ellie]

I had to read this for english, and it was so so so so so so so so meh. I don't care about the critical perspectives we can apply to this play. I do not care!!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the audiobook of this because it's always nice when you get all different voices.  However, it's not my favourite story that I've read.  It has an interesting message, and I liked how messy the drama of it was.

[The Reading Raccoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird little play reading about a love triangle set against the backdrop of endangered animals in Australia.