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The Geography of Friendship: Women's Weekly Book of the Month
Women's Weekly Book Club Great Read
When three women set off on a hike through the wilderness they are anticipating the adventure of a lifetime. Over the next five days, as they face up to the challenging terrain, it soon becomes clear they are not alone.
Lisa, Samantha and Nicole have known each other since school. Lisa is a fighter, Samantha a peacekeeper and Nicole a rule follower. United they bring out the best in one another.
Only once it is too late for them to turn back do they appreciate the danger they are in. Their friendship is tested, and each of them must make a choice that will change their lives forever.
What Reviewers and Readers Say:
'The atmosphere is so charged, I often found myself clenching my jaw and getting goosebumps as I read. The descriptions of the Australian bush are so vibrant and evocative... The bush feels alive in this book - vast, daunting and full of lurking dangers... Heartbreakingly honest and fiercely emotional... a remarkable book that is bound to appeal to fans of Jane Harper and Liane Moriarty' Honey
'Piper gloriously demonstrates how to hook your readers and make them desperate to know the ending... Piper's novel is an exploration of how the past can come to define ourselves, and a testament to the bonds of complicated friendship and to the relentless, isolating and utterly terrifying nature of the Australian bush' Books + Publishing Review
'There's a little bit of Big Little Lies about this deft and powerful study of female friendships under pressure... this lyrical Queensland-based author has a style and tone all of her own which sucks you in and holds you in its seductive embrace, almost unable to breathe... a page-turner... a book dripping in the raw beauty of the Australian landscape' Women's Weekly Australia
'Piper has achieved that glorious, decisive moment in any great novel where the reader becomes desperate to know the ending. If you loved Jane Harper's Force of Nature, prepare yourself for another page-turning adventure' Readings Monthly
'An ambitious novel' Weekend Australian
When three women set off on a hike through the wilderness they are anticipating the adventure of a lifetime. Over the next five days, as they face up to the challenging terrain, it soon becomes clear they are not alone.
Lisa, Samantha and Nicole have known each other since school. Lisa is a fighter, Samantha a peacekeeper and Nicole a rule follower. United they bring out the best in one another.
Only once it is too late for them to turn back do they appreciate the danger they are in. Their friendship is tested, and each of them must make a choice that will change their lives forever.
What Reviewers and Readers Say:
'The atmosphere is so charged, I often found myself clenching my jaw and getting goosebumps as I read. The descriptions of the Australian bush are so vibrant and evocative... The bush feels alive in this book - vast, daunting and full of lurking dangers... Heartbreakingly honest and fiercely emotional... a remarkable book that is bound to appeal to fans of Jane Harper and Liane Moriarty' Honey
'Piper gloriously demonstrates how to hook your readers and make them desperate to know the ending... Piper's novel is an exploration of how the past can come to define ourselves, and a testament to the bonds of complicated friendship and to the relentless, isolating and utterly terrifying nature of the Australian bush' Books + Publishing Review
'There's a little bit of Big Little Lies about this deft and powerful study of female friendships under pressure... this lyrical Queensland-based author has a style and tone all of her own which sucks you in and holds you in its seductive embrace, almost unable to breathe... a page-turner... a book dripping in the raw beauty of the Australian landscape' Women's Weekly Australia
'Piper has achieved that glorious, decisive moment in any great novel where the reader becomes desperate to know the ending. If you loved Jane Harper's Force of Nature, prepare yourself for another page-turning adventure' Readings Monthly
'An ambitious novel' Weekend Australian
240 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2019
43 people are currently reading
635 people want to read
About the author
Sally Piper
3 books56 followersSally Piper is a former nurse who lives and writes in Meanjin/Brisbane.
Her debut novel GRACE'S TABLE (UQP 2014/Legend Press UK 2019) was shortlisted in the 2011 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and in 2013 she was awarded a Varuna Publishing Fellowship for her manuscript.
Her second novel THE GEOGRAPHY OF FRIENDSHIP (UQP 2018/Audible Audiobooks 2018/Legend Press UK 2019) was shortlisted in the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards.
Her third novel BONE MEMORIES (UQP 2022/Bolinda Audiobooks) was a finalist in the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards for a Work of State Significance and the Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award, was longlisted for the 2023 International Dublin Literary Award and longlisted for the 2023 Sisters in Crime Davitt Award.
She holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Queensland University of Technology. She has had short fiction and non-fiction published in various print and online publications to include an award-winning short story in the first One Book Many Brisbanes anthology, Griffith Review, The Saturday Paper, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Weekend Australian and other literary magazines and journals in Australia and the UK.
You can learn more about Sally by visiting her website http://www.sallypiper.com/ or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sallypiperw... or Twitter https://twitter.com/SallyPiper
Her debut novel GRACE'S TABLE (UQP 2014/Legend Press UK 2019) was shortlisted in the 2011 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and in 2013 she was awarded a Varuna Publishing Fellowship for her manuscript.
Her second novel THE GEOGRAPHY OF FRIENDSHIP (UQP 2018/Audible Audiobooks 2018/Legend Press UK 2019) was shortlisted in the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards.
Her third novel BONE MEMORIES (UQP 2022/Bolinda Audiobooks) was a finalist in the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards for a Work of State Significance and the Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award, was longlisted for the 2023 International Dublin Literary Award and longlisted for the 2023 Sisters in Crime Davitt Award.
She holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Queensland University of Technology. She has had short fiction and non-fiction published in various print and online publications to include an award-winning short story in the first One Book Many Brisbanes anthology, Griffith Review, The Saturday Paper, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Weekend Australian and other literary magazines and journals in Australia and the UK.
You can learn more about Sally by visiting her website http://www.sallypiper.com/ or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sallypiperw... or Twitter https://twitter.com/SallyPiper
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
January 18, 2019
When they were twenty years old, friends Lisa, Samantha, and Nicole went on a several-day-long hike through a secluded part of Australia. At the beginning of the trip, head-strong and quick-to-anger Lisa pissed off a man only a few years older than they were at the time because of her erratic driving. He continued to haunt them through the trip with lewd drawings in the sand and leaving excrement and stealing their swim wear while they were asleep. Basically, getting control over them by instilling fear.
Twenty years later, the estranged friends come together once more to take basically the same trip. Samantha, who was never a skinny girl, has put on additional weight over the years, not just literal pounds, but the weight of having a husband who no longer touches her, having men leer at her large breasts, raising three boys she hopes become good men. Lisa has a divorce behind her. Her husband was the bread winner and didn’t at all value her contributions as a mother because that is unpaid work.
This is a slightly depressing though well-done novel. Because it bounces back and forth between present and past, it wasn't always easy to figure out if I was reading about twenty-year-olds or forty-somethings. Despite that, I enjoyed the book. There is a low simmer of unease as the full story of what happened when they were young women and what it did to impact their friendship and their individual relationships with men.
Thanks so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book, which RELEASES FEBRUARY
1, 2019 in the United States.
For more reviews, please visit http://www.theresaalan.net/blog
Twenty years later, the estranged friends come together once more to take basically the same trip. Samantha, who was never a skinny girl, has put on additional weight over the years, not just literal pounds, but the weight of having a husband who no longer touches her, having men leer at her large breasts, raising three boys she hopes become good men. Lisa has a divorce behind her. Her husband was the bread winner and didn’t at all value her contributions as a mother because that is unpaid work.
This is a slightly depressing though well-done novel. Because it bounces back and forth between present and past, it wasn't always easy to figure out if I was reading about twenty-year-olds or forty-somethings. Despite that, I enjoyed the book. There is a low simmer of unease as the full story of what happened when they were young women and what it did to impact their friendship and their individual relationships with men.
Thanks so much to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book, which RELEASES FEBRUARY
1, 2019 in the United States.
For more reviews, please visit http://www.theresaalan.net/blog
October 3, 2018
This is a story about 3 young woman who are great friends. Before life gets in the way they have decided to go on a five day tramp, somewhere in Australia (I don;t think it said where). Something bad happened during that tramp that at the end of it they all go their seperate ways. Now the woman are in their forties and one of them has called them together to do the walk again. To maybe bring them back together and to get an understanding about how it has changed them.
Lisa, Nicole and samantha set out once more. Each chapter is told by one woman, so you get inside her head and what she is thinking and how her life is going so far, but a lot of that they don't share with the other two, so we the reader gets all the goss.
The story is like a tramp some places are exciting, some are boring and some may challenge your thinking. I didn't find it easy to read at times (but I have a lot going on in my own life). I struggled a bit with the flow of the story, but I still enjoyed it and it was something a bit different. And I could realt to some of their inner thinking.
A quote I liked:
" The dark sandy soil of the campsite is now so well trodden that it is packed down hard and the roots of the remaining tea-tree are exposed like the blood vessels on the back of the hand"
Lisa, Nicole and samantha set out once more. Each chapter is told by one woman, so you get inside her head and what she is thinking and how her life is going so far, but a lot of that they don't share with the other two, so we the reader gets all the goss.
The story is like a tramp some places are exciting, some are boring and some may challenge your thinking. I didn't find it easy to read at times (but I have a lot going on in my own life). I struggled a bit with the flow of the story, but I still enjoyed it and it was something a bit different. And I could realt to some of their inner thinking.
A quote I liked:
" The dark sandy soil of the campsite is now so well trodden that it is packed down hard and the roots of the remaining tea-tree are exposed like the blood vessels on the back of the hand"
April 22, 2019
A well-written novel about a friendship of three teenage girls, their hike in the Australian wilderness and a traumatic event that destroyed their relationship and influenced their future lives. The setting of the Geography of friendship is just beautiful, with nature descriptions being one of the best features of the book. If you like well-developed characters (it is difficult to create these without a fair amount of introspection) and the story of the evolution of their relationship, and don't mind a somewhat slow pace, this is a book for you. The plot alternates between the two hikes, the present one and the original trip. The three characters (Lisa, Nicole and Samantha) think and re-think the events and the direction their lives took. We do get to know what happened twenty years ago, but it comes after a long and masterful build of suspense and tension, which is characteristic of the best examples of the thriller genre. Yet, for me, the portrayal of psychology of these all too realistic women (and not the mystery of the first hike) is what the book is about.
Thank you to NetGalley and Legend Press for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Thank you to NetGalley and Legend Press for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
July 9, 2018
A gripping mystery, a thoughtful portrait of friendship, and a love song to the natural world.
Sally Piper describes her new novel The Geography of Friendship (UQP 2018) as a story about female friendships, bushwalking and predatory men, and that is indeed what she gives us: a tight and tense narrative of a chilling bush hike, set above the exploration of deeper themes of identity, feminism, fear, cruelty, self-preservation, guilt and revenge.
Samantha, Lisa and Nicole, now in their forties, were once best friends. As thirteen-year-olds, they had each other’s backs; they were united, loyal and devoted. But when, in their twenties, they embark on a bushwalk in an isolated location, and experience a frightening encounter with a stranger, their actions – and their reactions – lead to a rupture in their relationship that is never healed. Now, twenty years later, they decide to return to the scene of their previous trauma, and to again hike the same terrain. But nothing is the same, and everything has changed. As each woman replays the past, reviewing and questioning her own decisions and choices, it becomes ever more evident how that past has come to haunt each of them, and to irrevocably change the course of their lives.
The strengths of this book are threefold: the intimacy and specificity of the language around nature; the page-turning sense of suspense; and the ruminative and thought-provoking inner dialogues of each of the women.
Sally Piper is a keen bushwalker and nature-lover, and this is evident in her writing of this book.
‘Soil, root, branch – each provides her with a welcome disconnect from the human world; they feel kinder, more generous, and the demands they make upon her are of her own design, unlike the demands other people make. In this way gardening soothes her, allows her to let her guard down, to be someone else.’
It is clear that she has walked in these women’s footsteps, that she has experienced herself the bone-weariness of trudging up mountains and across wet sand, the aches and pains of a body crying out for rest, the sting of blisters, the unexpected hurts from unfamiliar packs and straps and weights. She has walked these trails and traversed these paths. With a keen eye for observation and a writer’s ability to notice small details, she has collected a wealth of knowledge about flora and fauna, from the shade of a flower’s bloom to the hunched quarters of a kangaroo, from the sound of a possum thumping to the touch of a fly supping from perspiration droplets, from the ever-changing colour of the sky and the ever-changing shapes of the clouds to the sensory overload of sounds and smells of the bush.
‘… the melaleucas shed their paperbark like onion skins to reveal a soft sunrise of colours beneath. The way the red throats of Mistletoe birds shone like cherries in the trees.’
She takes us right there, to that place. We are walking with these women, placing our feet in their footsteps, passing the brush broken by their progress, sensing the night and its secrets settling about us. Nature – and specifically, the setting of this place – is a character in this book. ‘These trees huddle together like kin.’ Nature is timeless, always moving and growing. Nature throws up obstacles for mere humans, and closes over us after we have passed. Nature is both welcoming and hostile, both relaxing and confronting, both haven and threat.
‘Craggy headlands push into the sea from north to south and granite-strewn mountains fold away to the west. And the ocean, that enormous piece of rumpled silk, rolls in from the east.’
The narrative pull of this story is such that despite the immersion into the inner thoughts of these three women, we are compelled to turn the pages more and more quickly as the tension ratchets up. The novel tells two stories simultaneously – the initial hike, with its tragic consequences, and the second, later hike, with all that it represents. The two are separated by the expected changes that twenty years bring to a once isolated bush reserve, with the advent of more tourists and improved facilities and signage, and the difference between the equipment the girls take on their first hike and the items they have on their second trip. And the women are changed too; no longer naïve and vulnerable girls, they are now jaded and damaged adults. But it is the creeping menace of this story that is most compelling – the urgent sense of dread, the thrill of the unknown, the sinister presence of the strange man, and the building sense of impending doom.
‘So here she is, back in a place she never wanted to see again, surrounded by a bushland she only remembers as hostile.’
We are never sure, until the final pages, who will be the most damaged, and how; never certain who – if anyone – might escape unscathed.
And finally, it is the women themselves who engage us – we are given first person perspectives from all three women as they recall their memories of the first expedition and live their second attempt. As they hike, they think back over their lives and their choices, their work and families, their good and bad behaviour. They contemplate how their lives might have been different.
In Sally’s words, this is a novel about the spaces that women are taught not to trespass into, and about what happens when they break those rules. It is about women limiting themselves because of society’s expectations around risk and threat, and about what this does to a woman’s psyche, always being aware of these boundaries. This is a book that thinks deeply about the space women occupy in the world, and the space occupied by men, and the overlapping circles of trust and authority. It is about unbridled, impotent anger and rage; about the disappointment of being forced to choose safety. It is a call to arms for women to wrest back control of our bodies and our fates, to live large and demand more from those around us. And it is indeed a book about female friendships, from schoolyard mates to adult bonds – an intimate examination of how and why those friendships form, develop, lag or flourish; about how women think of each other and care for each other, how jealousies and insecurities tear at the fabric of friendship, and how loyalty, courage and dependability bind together.
But despite the relationship between woman and land, and the relationships between the friends themselves, perhaps the biggest message in this book is about self-identity and self-care and the protection of self against the threats of the world. Each woman in this story must face her own demons and chase down her own regrets; each must reconcile her past with her future.
‘Because soon enough they reached the point on the circuit where it was as far for them to go back as it was to continue on.’
Sally Piper describes her new novel The Geography of Friendship (UQP 2018) as a story about female friendships, bushwalking and predatory men, and that is indeed what she gives us: a tight and tense narrative of a chilling bush hike, set above the exploration of deeper themes of identity, feminism, fear, cruelty, self-preservation, guilt and revenge.
Samantha, Lisa and Nicole, now in their forties, were once best friends. As thirteen-year-olds, they had each other’s backs; they were united, loyal and devoted. But when, in their twenties, they embark on a bushwalk in an isolated location, and experience a frightening encounter with a stranger, their actions – and their reactions – lead to a rupture in their relationship that is never healed. Now, twenty years later, they decide to return to the scene of their previous trauma, and to again hike the same terrain. But nothing is the same, and everything has changed. As each woman replays the past, reviewing and questioning her own decisions and choices, it becomes ever more evident how that past has come to haunt each of them, and to irrevocably change the course of their lives.
The strengths of this book are threefold: the intimacy and specificity of the language around nature; the page-turning sense of suspense; and the ruminative and thought-provoking inner dialogues of each of the women.
Sally Piper is a keen bushwalker and nature-lover, and this is evident in her writing of this book.
‘Soil, root, branch – each provides her with a welcome disconnect from the human world; they feel kinder, more generous, and the demands they make upon her are of her own design, unlike the demands other people make. In this way gardening soothes her, allows her to let her guard down, to be someone else.’
It is clear that she has walked in these women’s footsteps, that she has experienced herself the bone-weariness of trudging up mountains and across wet sand, the aches and pains of a body crying out for rest, the sting of blisters, the unexpected hurts from unfamiliar packs and straps and weights. She has walked these trails and traversed these paths. With a keen eye for observation and a writer’s ability to notice small details, she has collected a wealth of knowledge about flora and fauna, from the shade of a flower’s bloom to the hunched quarters of a kangaroo, from the sound of a possum thumping to the touch of a fly supping from perspiration droplets, from the ever-changing colour of the sky and the ever-changing shapes of the clouds to the sensory overload of sounds and smells of the bush.
‘… the melaleucas shed their paperbark like onion skins to reveal a soft sunrise of colours beneath. The way the red throats of Mistletoe birds shone like cherries in the trees.’
She takes us right there, to that place. We are walking with these women, placing our feet in their footsteps, passing the brush broken by their progress, sensing the night and its secrets settling about us. Nature – and specifically, the setting of this place – is a character in this book. ‘These trees huddle together like kin.’ Nature is timeless, always moving and growing. Nature throws up obstacles for mere humans, and closes over us after we have passed. Nature is both welcoming and hostile, both relaxing and confronting, both haven and threat.
‘Craggy headlands push into the sea from north to south and granite-strewn mountains fold away to the west. And the ocean, that enormous piece of rumpled silk, rolls in from the east.’
The narrative pull of this story is such that despite the immersion into the inner thoughts of these three women, we are compelled to turn the pages more and more quickly as the tension ratchets up. The novel tells two stories simultaneously – the initial hike, with its tragic consequences, and the second, later hike, with all that it represents. The two are separated by the expected changes that twenty years bring to a once isolated bush reserve, with the advent of more tourists and improved facilities and signage, and the difference between the equipment the girls take on their first hike and the items they have on their second trip. And the women are changed too; no longer naïve and vulnerable girls, they are now jaded and damaged adults. But it is the creeping menace of this story that is most compelling – the urgent sense of dread, the thrill of the unknown, the sinister presence of the strange man, and the building sense of impending doom.
‘So here she is, back in a place she never wanted to see again, surrounded by a bushland she only remembers as hostile.’
We are never sure, until the final pages, who will be the most damaged, and how; never certain who – if anyone – might escape unscathed.
And finally, it is the women themselves who engage us – we are given first person perspectives from all three women as they recall their memories of the first expedition and live their second attempt. As they hike, they think back over their lives and their choices, their work and families, their good and bad behaviour. They contemplate how their lives might have been different.
In Sally’s words, this is a novel about the spaces that women are taught not to trespass into, and about what happens when they break those rules. It is about women limiting themselves because of society’s expectations around risk and threat, and about what this does to a woman’s psyche, always being aware of these boundaries. This is a book that thinks deeply about the space women occupy in the world, and the space occupied by men, and the overlapping circles of trust and authority. It is about unbridled, impotent anger and rage; about the disappointment of being forced to choose safety. It is a call to arms for women to wrest back control of our bodies and our fates, to live large and demand more from those around us. And it is indeed a book about female friendships, from schoolyard mates to adult bonds – an intimate examination of how and why those friendships form, develop, lag or flourish; about how women think of each other and care for each other, how jealousies and insecurities tear at the fabric of friendship, and how loyalty, courage and dependability bind together.
But despite the relationship between woman and land, and the relationships between the friends themselves, perhaps the biggest message in this book is about self-identity and self-care and the protection of self against the threats of the world. Each woman in this story must face her own demons and chase down her own regrets; each must reconcile her past with her future.
‘Because soon enough they reached the point on the circuit where it was as far for them to go back as it was to continue on.’
January 28, 2019
This story was not at all what I was expecting, though I hadn't read the blurb and jumped straight in assuming it would be...well, different...so that is my own fault and not a criticism of the book.
Having said that, I continued reading as it was an intriguing story...albeit often unsettling.
The story is told by three different voices/personalities, three women who go on a sort of pilgrimage to retrace the steps they made twenty years previously and where their lives and friendship status would be forever changed by the things which happened there that last time.
It is a very intriguing and often compelling story which I found hard to put down because it keeps alluding to the unsettling events of that remote hiking/camping trip which the three girl friends undertook all those years ago, and which haunt them still.
I wanted to know what happened all those years ago and often found it frustrating that it was taking so long to get to it as we relive each part of the trecking experience from the perspective of each girl/woman.
I also felt enraged for a lot of the time as I imagined my own reactions to their situations.
All in all it was a compelling mystery with some chilling moments that get you thinking...what if?
I gave it 4*s.
Having said that, I continued reading as it was an intriguing story...albeit often unsettling.
The story is told by three different voices/personalities, three women who go on a sort of pilgrimage to retrace the steps they made twenty years previously and where their lives and friendship status would be forever changed by the things which happened there that last time.
It is a very intriguing and often compelling story which I found hard to put down because it keeps alluding to the unsettling events of that remote hiking/camping trip which the three girl friends undertook all those years ago, and which haunt them still.
I wanted to know what happened all those years ago and often found it frustrating that it was taking so long to get to it as we relive each part of the trecking experience from the perspective of each girl/woman.
I also felt enraged for a lot of the time as I imagined my own reactions to their situations.
All in all it was a compelling mystery with some chilling moments that get you thinking...what if?
I gave it 4*s.
March 18, 2019
This was a really good book which, sadly, I really did not enjoy much at all.
While I can see the skillful crafting that has gone into it, appreciate the good writing and really wish I could rate it higher I just can't. I did not enjoy reading it, I found myself avoiding picking it up and all I am left with as an after taste is active dislike and distaste.
I started out enjoying it. It is the story of three women in their forties who used to be friends in school and then as teenagers went on a wilderness hike together. Something bad and unnamed happens, their friendship dissolved and now one of them convinces them to redo the hike.
To start with, as I said, I liked it; I enjoyed the slow development of the characters of Samantha, Lisa and Nicole and these characters were good, believable and memorable throughout. I think the author did a great job of describing them as teenagers; the combination of indestructibility and fragility, the self confidence and self doubt that make teenagers so different to any other age group. That teetering on the brink of life and self awareness - it was really well done.
I did have a few niggling doubts about them as forty year olds though. There was so much about these women that did not really come together for me. Yes, bad stuff happening in your youth leaves a mark. This much of a mark though? The constant inner examination of feelings and double guessing one's behaviour was exhausting and it NEVER STOPPED! I got pretty sick of having to rehash Lisa's inner life every page or two and by about two thirds through the book I was downright annoyed by it. Also I have to ask; for all of us out there over forty! Is there a single one of us that feels like they have not changed since they were 16-19? Because when Lisa's daughter asks if she was different when she was a teenager and she says no.... *shakes head*
Now on to the environment; the author does a beautiful, spectacular even, job of describing the national park, it's walks and environment. Her boulders, trees, walks and wildlife all are delightfully done. The comparison between the national parks as they were in the 1980's (presumably) compared to the usage, upkeep and signing of the modern day was also well done and very necessary to the story.
This is where all those negative stars creep in though: The majority of the book is the bushwalk of the three women and it skips between then and now with a frenetic speed and total disregard for the reader. Two pages of then, six pages of now, skip back to then.. oh wait when are we at the moment... and who the hell cares anyway.
Book writing, as well as titles run in fashions. At the moment the fashion is to skip between past and present to build a plot. In my opinion the tactic, however fashionable, is entirely wrong for this book. There was no 'two plots coming together at the end' to justify it. I get that the author was trying to show the women retracing the steps of their earlier selves. I get that the here-now-then-there jumping around was to describe both journeys over the same bit of the walk. For me it didn't work at all though, all I got was confused and annoyed. Also, I read fast and flicking back and forth five times a minute was not fun.
Now, on to the something bad that the three were trying to retrace in order to reclaim themselves or their friendship, whatever. No spoilers, I don't even think you CAN spoiler this book, so little happens and it is all telegraphed so much there are no real surprises.
Still something bad is going to happen: We know that from the start and so the story has the potential to actually be a thriller-ish, creepy slow development to the main event.... It COULD be a thriller, it OUGHT to be exciting....
But, just as an actual event is creeping up, you are flicked back to the future where Samantha is contemplating boulders. Working up to the great culmination of the terrible thing... Flick off to the future of one of the allegedly forty year olds contemplating mushrooms the colour of toast, which she had not noticed the previous time because of the terrible something that was going on... And do you mind? I was reading about that something a second ago - why are you forcing me to read about the colour of mushrooms right now?
These pretty but poorly placed descriptions of the scenery are elongated by the inner agonisings and emotive thoughts which slow things down more than I can say. They are all alone in the tent in the dark - is something out there.... FLICK of to the future where they are making dinner...... I could scream, I really could. And not in a good way.
A beautiful piece of writing, a potentially great story, a realistically terrifying experience in the remote, fascinating Australian bush ruined by a ridiculous literary fashion. Also, I hate having to give a well written book, by an author who has probably poured her heart and soul into the writing of it, a bad review. It makes me miserable (which is how I felt through the last third of this book, and after finishing it) and, much like Lisa's character when I am miserable I get angry, so this book made me miserable and angry.
However!
I hope the take home message for anyone who reads this review is that this book, while undeniably not for me, may well be for you. The writing was lovely, the characterisation was good and the scenery was gorgeous. If you do not like thrillers because of the buildup of suspense, you will probably enjoy this pacing. If you love the future/past tactics you should love this book. Anyhow, please read it for yourself and make your own mind up.
While I can see the skillful crafting that has gone into it, appreciate the good writing and really wish I could rate it higher I just can't. I did not enjoy reading it, I found myself avoiding picking it up and all I am left with as an after taste is active dislike and distaste.
I started out enjoying it. It is the story of three women in their forties who used to be friends in school and then as teenagers went on a wilderness hike together. Something bad and unnamed happens, their friendship dissolved and now one of them convinces them to redo the hike.
To start with, as I said, I liked it; I enjoyed the slow development of the characters of Samantha, Lisa and Nicole and these characters were good, believable and memorable throughout. I think the author did a great job of describing them as teenagers; the combination of indestructibility and fragility, the self confidence and self doubt that make teenagers so different to any other age group. That teetering on the brink of life and self awareness - it was really well done.
I did have a few niggling doubts about them as forty year olds though. There was so much about these women that did not really come together for me. Yes, bad stuff happening in your youth leaves a mark. This much of a mark though? The constant inner examination of feelings and double guessing one's behaviour was exhausting and it NEVER STOPPED! I got pretty sick of having to rehash Lisa's inner life every page or two and by about two thirds through the book I was downright annoyed by it. Also I have to ask; for all of us out there over forty! Is there a single one of us that feels like they have not changed since they were 16-19? Because when Lisa's daughter asks if she was different when she was a teenager and she says no.... *shakes head*
Now on to the environment; the author does a beautiful, spectacular even, job of describing the national park, it's walks and environment. Her boulders, trees, walks and wildlife all are delightfully done. The comparison between the national parks as they were in the 1980's (presumably) compared to the usage, upkeep and signing of the modern day was also well done and very necessary to the story.
This is where all those negative stars creep in though: The majority of the book is the bushwalk of the three women and it skips between then and now with a frenetic speed and total disregard for the reader. Two pages of then, six pages of now, skip back to then.. oh wait when are we at the moment... and who the hell cares anyway.
Book writing, as well as titles run in fashions. At the moment the fashion is to skip between past and present to build a plot. In my opinion the tactic, however fashionable, is entirely wrong for this book. There was no 'two plots coming together at the end' to justify it. I get that the author was trying to show the women retracing the steps of their earlier selves. I get that the here-now-then-there jumping around was to describe both journeys over the same bit of the walk. For me it didn't work at all though, all I got was confused and annoyed. Also, I read fast and flicking back and forth five times a minute was not fun.
Now, on to the something bad that the three were trying to retrace in order to reclaim themselves or their friendship, whatever. No spoilers, I don't even think you CAN spoiler this book, so little happens and it is all telegraphed so much there are no real surprises.
Still something bad is going to happen: We know that from the start and so the story has the potential to actually be a thriller-ish, creepy slow development to the main event.... It COULD be a thriller, it OUGHT to be exciting....
But, just as an actual event is creeping up, you are flicked back to the future where Samantha is contemplating boulders. Working up to the great culmination of the terrible thing... Flick off to the future of one of the allegedly forty year olds contemplating mushrooms the colour of toast, which she had not noticed the previous time because of the terrible something that was going on... And do you mind? I was reading about that something a second ago - why are you forcing me to read about the colour of mushrooms right now?
These pretty but poorly placed descriptions of the scenery are elongated by the inner agonisings and emotive thoughts which slow things down more than I can say. They are all alone in the tent in the dark - is something out there.... FLICK of to the future where they are making dinner...... I could scream, I really could. And not in a good way.
A beautiful piece of writing, a potentially great story, a realistically terrifying experience in the remote, fascinating Australian bush ruined by a ridiculous literary fashion. Also, I hate having to give a well written book, by an author who has probably poured her heart and soul into the writing of it, a bad review. It makes me miserable (which is how I felt through the last third of this book, and after finishing it) and, much like Lisa's character when I am miserable I get angry, so this book made me miserable and angry.
However!
I hope the take home message for anyone who reads this review is that this book, while undeniably not for me, may well be for you. The writing was lovely, the characterisation was good and the scenery was gorgeous. If you do not like thrillers because of the buildup of suspense, you will probably enjoy this pacing. If you love the future/past tactics you should love this book. Anyhow, please read it for yourself and make your own mind up.
Read
August 21, 2018Highly recommend! A well written, beautifully structured, gripping read examining the terrain of female friendship placed under extremes. Sally Piper is a master of the drip feed, revealing enough to keep you turning those pages, wanting more, but also terrified to know what is going to happen. When she does reveal all, she handles it exquisitely, leaving space for the imagination to run wild. And it all takes place in one of my favourite settings - an isolated, coastal national park on the edge of Australia. Check it out!
January 25, 2019
Wow! The Geography of Friendship was unexpectedly marvelous. I do want to caution anyone who reads the blurb and thinks that this is a thriller--it is not. It is an extremely introspective book, and while there is a great deal of suspense, it is the slowest of burns, and readers expecting a lot of action might end up bored. I was not bored, however. This book is so beautiful. It's about female friendship and what it looks like after it shatters. It's about about women's fear and women's rage, and about nature and healing.
We start with Lisa, Samantha, and Nicole on a backpacking trip in the Australian wilderness. We know that they are retracing the steps of a trip they took more than 20 years ago, and that something terrible happened on that trip, something involving a man. They have not spoken to each other in the decades since. The POV rotates between each of the three women, as they each walk and think. They think about the early days of their friendship. They think about their lives since that friendship fractured. And they recall their fateful previous trip.
The story slowly builds to just what happened back then, and the author does so well crafting tension and suspense for the reader. Just what happened to them? And what did they do? But along the way, we also get gorgeous descriptions of the wilderness around them and pensive meditations on who they are and what their lives have become. This is not going to interest every reader, because it really is such a slow and thoughtful story. But I love backpacking, and I know so well that feeling of being lost in your own thoughts as you walk through the wilderness, and the combined feelings of pain and accomplishment that come with a backpacking trip. So, women hiking and thinking is kind of my jam. Complicated female friendship + nature + a slow, tense buildup to a shocking climax added up to a really lovely and affecting book for me.
*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
We start with Lisa, Samantha, and Nicole on a backpacking trip in the Australian wilderness. We know that they are retracing the steps of a trip they took more than 20 years ago, and that something terrible happened on that trip, something involving a man. They have not spoken to each other in the decades since. The POV rotates between each of the three women, as they each walk and think. They think about the early days of their friendship. They think about their lives since that friendship fractured. And they recall their fateful previous trip.
The story slowly builds to just what happened back then, and the author does so well crafting tension and suspense for the reader. Just what happened to them? And what did they do? But along the way, we also get gorgeous descriptions of the wilderness around them and pensive meditations on who they are and what their lives have become. This is not going to interest every reader, because it really is such a slow and thoughtful story. But I love backpacking, and I know so well that feeling of being lost in your own thoughts as you walk through the wilderness, and the combined feelings of pain and accomplishment that come with a backpacking trip. So, women hiking and thinking is kind of my jam. Complicated female friendship + nature + a slow, tense buildup to a shocking climax added up to a really lovely and affecting book for me.
*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 18, 2019
Sluggish and introspective take on female friendship and predatory males with little resolution.
The Geography of Friendship reunites a trio of estranged friends as they retrace the five day bushwalking trip that they took over twenty years ago in a bid to finally address what happened when the trip turned to tragedy and went on to have a lasting impact on all of their lives. But what exactly happened all those years ago remains a mystery to the reader until the closing pages, although there are plenty of ominous revelations that become increasing dark as the novel goes on. How each of the three women were changed by the experience and whether they can reconnect is the focus of the story as they decide to finally confront their shared past.
When Lisa contacts old school friends, Samantha and Nicole, all now in their forties it comes as a blast from the past after an estrangement spanning twenty years. All now leading very different lives and with issues from that original trip they agree to tackle the events that led to their losing contact when their planned adventure of a lifetime took a decidedly nasty turn. The narrative takes the form of an introspective rotation between the three lead protagonists focusing on a character per chapter and the novel is low on dialogue and heavy on self-analysis. I was hoping for more interaction between the characters and more passion in their encounter and found that the sluggish narrative ultimately tackled little head-on. Each sequential chapter reveals more about the original events alongside those of the current trip but without these flashbacks scenes specifically marked it can lead to some confusion between timelines.
The novel attempts to tap into the current #MeToo trend with its focus on predatory males yet I found it hard to sympathise when one of the trio, Lisa, instigated the male in question and did a fair share of the harassment herself. The characters are well explored with very believable reasons for many of the hang-ups they suffer and the choices they have made in life and I was able to empathise with both Samantha and Nicole although Lisa proved rather more divisive.
Despite the outback setting I felt little sense of place or any of the oppressive threat of other novels set in the Australian bush and although there is plenty of commentary on the flora and fauna, the specific location remains vague and undefined.
At sub 250 print pages and with an abrupt denouement that resolved little convincingly I found this a disappointing read that dragged. Recommended for those that appreciate a slower pace and characters soul-searching.
The Geography of Friendship reunites a trio of estranged friends as they retrace the five day bushwalking trip that they took over twenty years ago in a bid to finally address what happened when the trip turned to tragedy and went on to have a lasting impact on all of their lives. But what exactly happened all those years ago remains a mystery to the reader until the closing pages, although there are plenty of ominous revelations that become increasing dark as the novel goes on. How each of the three women were changed by the experience and whether they can reconnect is the focus of the story as they decide to finally confront their shared past.
When Lisa contacts old school friends, Samantha and Nicole, all now in their forties it comes as a blast from the past after an estrangement spanning twenty years. All now leading very different lives and with issues from that original trip they agree to tackle the events that led to their losing contact when their planned adventure of a lifetime took a decidedly nasty turn. The narrative takes the form of an introspective rotation between the three lead protagonists focusing on a character per chapter and the novel is low on dialogue and heavy on self-analysis. I was hoping for more interaction between the characters and more passion in their encounter and found that the sluggish narrative ultimately tackled little head-on. Each sequential chapter reveals more about the original events alongside those of the current trip but without these flashbacks scenes specifically marked it can lead to some confusion between timelines.
The novel attempts to tap into the current #MeToo trend with its focus on predatory males yet I found it hard to sympathise when one of the trio, Lisa, instigated the male in question and did a fair share of the harassment herself. The characters are well explored with very believable reasons for many of the hang-ups they suffer and the choices they have made in life and I was able to empathise with both Samantha and Nicole although Lisa proved rather more divisive.
Despite the outback setting I felt little sense of place or any of the oppressive threat of other novels set in the Australian bush and although there is plenty of commentary on the flora and fauna, the specific location remains vague and undefined.
At sub 250 print pages and with an abrupt denouement that resolved little convincingly I found this a disappointing read that dragged. Recommended for those that appreciate a slower pace and characters soul-searching.
July 21, 2018
As soon as I read the description for this book, I knew I had to read it. It’s not a long blurb but just even from that brief paragraph you can tell that there’s going to be a lot going on in this book.
As young teens at high school, Lisa, Samantha and Nicole were close friends, always having each other’s backs. They may have fallen in with each other out of a sort of necessity but they became close, their personalities complimenting each other. Sam is a people pleaser, Lisa arrogantly aggressive and Nicole went from being home-schooled by her parents with high expectations to high school and Lisa and Sam helped ease the way. Sometime after they finish school the three girls decide to go on a five day hike through wilderness, following a specific trail. They are highly excited about their adventure, something that is meant to start the next phase of their lives.
In the present day, Lisa, Samantha and Nicole are in their forties. They haven’t spoken in about twenty years but Samantha still knows the voice on the other end of the phone before she identifies herself. Lisa arranges a meeting between the three of them, telling them that she wants to go back. Do that hike again, face the fear and confront the demons of what happened that first time around. They all find themselves agreeing, perhaps all needing something out of revisiting that territory.
The two stories run side by side so the tension of the first trip builds as the second trip hits the same stops and marks that define the first. It’s the sort of thing where from the beginning of the girl’s first trip, you can see the danger that is coming. What starts off as a confrontation leads to an aggressive sort of stalking, taunting and deliberately trying to inflict fear into the three young women. It’s a depiction of the sort of toxic masculinity that has been so talked about lately – men who cannot handle women who say no, stand up for themselves, won’t be bullied, won’t be cowed. One of the women in particular is very defined by her anger and she’s not afraid to clap back, despite the two others wishing that she wouldn’t and that she’d stand down. Perhaps they see the danger of it and the societal pressure of backing down, apologising, smoothing things over in an attempt to ward off any repercussions. But the third woman either doesn’t or doesn’t care, determinedly wanting to show that they are not afraid and will not be intimidated.
There’s obviously a lot about friendship in this book, it’s in the title after all. When the three women meet up again in their forties, they haven’t been friends in over twenty years. They seem to have very few close friends. Their lives have gone in different directions: Lisa is divorced from a volatile marriage and wondering what the effect it has had on her daughter is, Samantha is still married and the mother of three boys but she’s questioning whether or not her marriage is still alive. And Nicole has never married and has no children. The events of that first hike has shadowed their lives, haunted them each separately and this second hike is a chance to free themselves from its chains and also reconnect with each other. In the first hike, their friendship is tested when the pressure of being watched, being followed, being targeted begins to take its toll. They struggle with the fear and the threat of that probable confrontation hanging over their heads and so they turn their aggression and stress on each other. Their different personalities become the thing that butts up against each other as they cannot agree with how they should go about getting out of this.
I found this a really engrossing read although sometimes I did struggle to pick which timeline we were in as they do mirror each other quite closely and a few times it took me a little bit to figure out whether we were still in the present or had switched back to the past. I really enjoy the way the author built tension in both timelines – not just the tension of the person following them and intimidating them but also the tensions in their friendships and the tensions of the past coming to the present. The atmosphere is brilliant and I’m not a hiker at all and have no experience in this sort of environment but it felt like I was there, trudging through this forest (I’m very unfit, so I’d probably be Samantha, lagging along at the back while others were ahead), the blisters, the heat, the isolation, everything.
I really enjoyed this – will definitely be adding Sally Piper’s other book Grace’s Table to my wishlist and keeping an eye out for her future releases.
***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***
As young teens at high school, Lisa, Samantha and Nicole were close friends, always having each other’s backs. They may have fallen in with each other out of a sort of necessity but they became close, their personalities complimenting each other. Sam is a people pleaser, Lisa arrogantly aggressive and Nicole went from being home-schooled by her parents with high expectations to high school and Lisa and Sam helped ease the way. Sometime after they finish school the three girls decide to go on a five day hike through wilderness, following a specific trail. They are highly excited about their adventure, something that is meant to start the next phase of their lives.
In the present day, Lisa, Samantha and Nicole are in their forties. They haven’t spoken in about twenty years but Samantha still knows the voice on the other end of the phone before she identifies herself. Lisa arranges a meeting between the three of them, telling them that she wants to go back. Do that hike again, face the fear and confront the demons of what happened that first time around. They all find themselves agreeing, perhaps all needing something out of revisiting that territory.
The two stories run side by side so the tension of the first trip builds as the second trip hits the same stops and marks that define the first. It’s the sort of thing where from the beginning of the girl’s first trip, you can see the danger that is coming. What starts off as a confrontation leads to an aggressive sort of stalking, taunting and deliberately trying to inflict fear into the three young women. It’s a depiction of the sort of toxic masculinity that has been so talked about lately – men who cannot handle women who say no, stand up for themselves, won’t be bullied, won’t be cowed. One of the women in particular is very defined by her anger and she’s not afraid to clap back, despite the two others wishing that she wouldn’t and that she’d stand down. Perhaps they see the danger of it and the societal pressure of backing down, apologising, smoothing things over in an attempt to ward off any repercussions. But the third woman either doesn’t or doesn’t care, determinedly wanting to show that they are not afraid and will not be intimidated.
There’s obviously a lot about friendship in this book, it’s in the title after all. When the three women meet up again in their forties, they haven’t been friends in over twenty years. They seem to have very few close friends. Their lives have gone in different directions: Lisa is divorced from a volatile marriage and wondering what the effect it has had on her daughter is, Samantha is still married and the mother of three boys but she’s questioning whether or not her marriage is still alive. And Nicole has never married and has no children. The events of that first hike has shadowed their lives, haunted them each separately and this second hike is a chance to free themselves from its chains and also reconnect with each other. In the first hike, their friendship is tested when the pressure of being watched, being followed, being targeted begins to take its toll. They struggle with the fear and the threat of that probable confrontation hanging over their heads and so they turn their aggression and stress on each other. Their different personalities become the thing that butts up against each other as they cannot agree with how they should go about getting out of this.
I found this a really engrossing read although sometimes I did struggle to pick which timeline we were in as they do mirror each other quite closely and a few times it took me a little bit to figure out whether we were still in the present or had switched back to the past. I really enjoy the way the author built tension in both timelines – not just the tension of the person following them and intimidating them but also the tensions in their friendships and the tensions of the past coming to the present. The atmosphere is brilliant and I’m not a hiker at all and have no experience in this sort of environment but it felt like I was there, trudging through this forest (I’m very unfit, so I’d probably be Samantha, lagging along at the back while others were ahead), the blisters, the heat, the isolation, everything.
I really enjoyed this – will definitely be adding Sally Piper’s other book Grace’s Table to my wishlist and keeping an eye out for her future releases.
***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***
March 1, 2019
This is my first book that I've read by Sally Piper. Samantha had received a phone call with no caller displayed on her phone, it was an old friend Lisa who she hadn't heard from for over twenty years, Samantha didn't know how Lisa had managed to find her number. There was an authority in Lisa voice she wanted all old friends to meet up, one old friend had already agreed to meet Lisa. But what does Lisa want? Why does she want all of the girls to meet up? The beginning of this book sounded rather creepy to me. I believe if just found a new author to watch out for.
January 27, 2019
I think that The Geography of Friendship suits readers that are interested in reading a book that deals with female relationships, past experiences, reflections over what went wrong in life. If you like me are more interested in thrillers, nerve-racking and heart racing ones that leave you almost breathless, well then this is not the book to pick.
Lisa, Samantha, and Nicole experiences something that would define their lives for the next two decades. Through flashbacks do we get to know what happened and why they stopped being friends. The book is wordy, lots of reminiscing about the past, growing up not to mention their lives after they split. There is a brief event towards the end when we learn what happened and that's the only real action-filled moment. What makes it worth the while for me is that the writing is good. I was just engrossed in the story and I'm not sure if I would have finished the book if it had been longer.
So, if you are interested in reflecting books, about friendship, growing up and looking back. Then, why not go for this book.
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!
Lisa, Samantha, and Nicole experiences something that would define their lives for the next two decades. Through flashbacks do we get to know what happened and why they stopped being friends. The book is wordy, lots of reminiscing about the past, growing up not to mention their lives after they split. There is a brief event towards the end when we learn what happened and that's the only real action-filled moment. What makes it worth the while for me is that the writing is good. I was just engrossed in the story and I'm not sure if I would have finished the book if it had been longer.
So, if you are interested in reflecting books, about friendship, growing up and looking back. Then, why not go for this book.
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!
February 11, 2019
Heart-warming ~ Women-strong ~ consistent
tl; dr: Three middle-aged women go on a hike they once enjoyed as younger women.
I am woefully under-informed about Australia. I've been picking up novels about the nation just to learn more. This is sort of a buddy story, really about how friends sometimes keep something of you even if they age and grow apart. The best part of the book is the settings. The characters weren't super appealing to me; they weren't unappealing either. I would say many women of a certain age would enjoy this, seeing themselves in the characters. For me, it was all about the places I might only visit in a book.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a truthful review.
tl; dr: Three middle-aged women go on a hike they once enjoyed as younger women.
I am woefully under-informed about Australia. I've been picking up novels about the nation just to learn more. This is sort of a buddy story, really about how friends sometimes keep something of you even if they age and grow apart. The best part of the book is the settings. The characters weren't super appealing to me; they weren't unappealing either. I would say many women of a certain age would enjoy this, seeing themselves in the characters. For me, it was all about the places I might only visit in a book.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a truthful review.
February 3, 2019
Travel to the locations in the novel
Travelling The Geography of Friendship in Australia with Sally Piper is quite the adventure. In the novel, three women set off on a hiking through the wilderness. They are anticipating the adventure of a lifetime.
Would you go back to the scene of a tragedy? That’s what a group of friends decide to do in this book and they have to face up to a lot more than they first realised.
They go trekking in the Australian wilderness and have a wonderful time until they realise they are not alone. What happens next is disturbing and awful so coming back twenty years later is hopefully going to give them some closure.
That’s when things take a twisty turn again. The author builds up the tension well. The focus is on the friendships and what regrets they have in life, how things might have been different. Difficult to imagine going back to a place which caused so much pain, but this allows them to see it through new eyes, to see the hostile environment, their innocence of youth and reaffirm their lives now.
It’s very thought-provoking. The first person narratives works very well indeed. I felt a whole range of emotions when reading this. Reconciling your past, present and future, the role of woman, the safety of women in society, how we have to act and protect ourselves…some very meaty subjects wrapped up in a short but powerful novel.
July 6, 2021
What an unexpected delight this book was! Beautifully written, Piper brings you along the terrain for an adventure you won’t forget. The three characters are really relatable and given an equal amount of storyline.
The book is written from the perspective of each woman and what happened to them the first time they went on this hike vs twenty years later.
Really enjoyable ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The book is written from the perspective of each woman and what happened to them the first time they went on this hike vs twenty years later.
Really enjoyable ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
January 23, 2024
Beautiful descriptions but just took the entire book to get to the point… the majority of the book was just internal monologues.
August 28, 2018
What a story! WOW WOW WOW!
What an important book on female friendships, the bruises and scars females often bare and how we do this messy, raw life together.
The author, Sally Piper, explores with such honesty the inner geography of the female heart, of the things that both hold us together in solidarity and yet so often also tear us apart. It takes courage to look closely at wounds, where they come from, how they came to be and how females often deal with their scars. I had ALL the feels reading this book.
I was keenly aware of how much weight we carry sometimes as women all by ourselves and perhaps how much we could share, but are afraid to share for fear others will see us as 'not enough'. And oh, the fear of not being enough! OR of being too much! How often do we as women hold back from saying something or acting upon something because of these two fears? I think it's this fear that often holds us women apart- or it has been for me anyway.
I saw myself in all of the women in this book. My younger self and my forty-one year old self. How they ached to be together, for what was lost between them and for what was taken from them. But also how they also internalised the events of that hike so many years before and let those events fester in all the sore places inside them. Oh, how often I have done the same! I take a little truth and then coat it in a whole lie, which I then swallow whole heartedly. A bitter and sharp pill.
I love that the author pokes into these dark places, that she uses her story to finger those wounds and pull apart the scars that have not healed well. In doing so, she shines a light. The characters in her story begin to see themselves, their shades of dark and light, and to accept themselves more fully. We are messy creatures us humans! And to accept all that mess and see still have eyes to see the beauty is nothing short of bravery. This was a brave and absolutely stunning book.
Just like the characters at the end of this story I am beginning to see the woman I am a little more gently. With a little bit more softness.
A simply gorgeous and honest book.
A must read for men and women alike. I have already recommend it to my big-hearted husband.
Go read, people! You can thank me later :)
What an important book on female friendships, the bruises and scars females often bare and how we do this messy, raw life together.
The author, Sally Piper, explores with such honesty the inner geography of the female heart, of the things that both hold us together in solidarity and yet so often also tear us apart. It takes courage to look closely at wounds, where they come from, how they came to be and how females often deal with their scars. I had ALL the feels reading this book.
I was keenly aware of how much weight we carry sometimes as women all by ourselves and perhaps how much we could share, but are afraid to share for fear others will see us as 'not enough'. And oh, the fear of not being enough! OR of being too much! How often do we as women hold back from saying something or acting upon something because of these two fears? I think it's this fear that often holds us women apart- or it has been for me anyway.
I saw myself in all of the women in this book. My younger self and my forty-one year old self. How they ached to be together, for what was lost between them and for what was taken from them. But also how they also internalised the events of that hike so many years before and let those events fester in all the sore places inside them. Oh, how often I have done the same! I take a little truth and then coat it in a whole lie, which I then swallow whole heartedly. A bitter and sharp pill.
I love that the author pokes into these dark places, that she uses her story to finger those wounds and pull apart the scars that have not healed well. In doing so, she shines a light. The characters in her story begin to see themselves, their shades of dark and light, and to accept themselves more fully. We are messy creatures us humans! And to accept all that mess and see still have eyes to see the beauty is nothing short of bravery. This was a brave and absolutely stunning book.
Just like the characters at the end of this story I am beginning to see the woman I am a little more gently. With a little bit more softness.
A simply gorgeous and honest book.
A must read for men and women alike. I have already recommend it to my big-hearted husband.
Go read, people! You can thank me later :)
February 23, 2019
This novel is the poster child for "slow burn." If you like slow burn, then this will be a great read. However, if you're looking for a thriller/suspense novel that reads like a usual thriller with a lot of developments and discoveries on each page, then this isn't necessarily the book for you. Other reviewers have commented on how the novel is marketed as a psychological thriller but isn't exactly executed as one. It's much more contemporary lit with thriller-esque qualities. And that's fine if that's how it's presented, but it just isn't presented that way.
The reader actually doesn't find out what really happens until like, 88% of the way through the book, which is hugely frustrating. I was hoping for something a little earlier on, but it took absolutely forever to get the meat of the plot with just some very brief teasers beforehand. That being said, I think Sally Piper has written a nice examination of recovering from trauma. Her writing style is lovely and makes up for the drag in the plot, and she really gives a good look into Nicole's mindset toward the end of the novel. But the key word is the END. Up until that point, it's difficult to get to know Nicole, and it seems to be a disservice to the reader rather than to the characters since the characters are already aware of what Nicole has gone through.
Overall, it's an interesting book that's very gorgeously written. A thriller? No. Contemporary lit with some thriller elements? Yes. I'd recommend this for the slow burn lovers, but I don't think I'd reread it, only because I like a bit more movement in my thrillers!
The reader actually doesn't find out what really happens until like, 88% of the way through the book, which is hugely frustrating. I was hoping for something a little earlier on, but it took absolutely forever to get the meat of the plot with just some very brief teasers beforehand. That being said, I think Sally Piper has written a nice examination of recovering from trauma. Her writing style is lovely and makes up for the drag in the plot, and she really gives a good look into Nicole's mindset toward the end of the novel. But the key word is the END. Up until that point, it's difficult to get to know Nicole, and it seems to be a disservice to the reader rather than to the characters since the characters are already aware of what Nicole has gone through.
Overall, it's an interesting book that's very gorgeously written. A thriller? No. Contemporary lit with some thriller elements? Yes. I'd recommend this for the slow burn lovers, but I don't think I'd reread it, only because I like a bit more movement in my thrillers!
February 7, 2019
First of all I want to say that the cover and title were a perfect fit for the content. The photo reflects the entourage of the story and friendship is in fact a kind of geography. It has highs and lows, streams of tears either due to sadness or to happiness and softly babbling brooks.
This book tells us how the girls met and became friends, how they had something awful happening to them and how it affected them. Now we are 20 years later and it’s time to give the past a place.
The story starts in the present and afterwards the author throws us into the past and pulls us back into the present. Sometimes though it was a bit confusing to know in which year I found myself.
For me it was a rather heavy book because of the emotions, but it was also intriguing because of the suspense. 4 stars.
Thank you, Sally Piper and Legend Press
Book received courtesey publisher/author
https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com
This book tells us how the girls met and became friends, how they had something awful happening to them and how it affected them. Now we are 20 years later and it’s time to give the past a place.
The story starts in the present and afterwards the author throws us into the past and pulls us back into the present. Sometimes though it was a bit confusing to know in which year I found myself.
For me it was a rather heavy book because of the emotions, but it was also intriguing because of the suspense. 4 stars.
Thank you, Sally Piper and Legend Press
Book received courtesey publisher/author
https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com
February 16, 2019
Three women (Samantha, Lisa, and Nicole) in their forties re-enact a 5-day hike on an isolated coastal trail. When they began this hike 24 years earlier, they had a confrontation with an aggressive man in the parking lot at the trailhead. Thereafter he watched them and deliberately instilled fear by making silent but threatening gestures. It is obvious that something happened before the end of the trip; whatever transpired changed the three and destroyed their friendship because they have not spoken to each other in over 20 years.
Lisa convinces the other two women to take the hike again. She suggests they can reshape the memories of the original experience, thereby healing the wounds that were inflicted. Perhaps too their fractured friendship can be mended; she hopes “to have the qualities of their friendship returned to her and all the goodness that might come with it if it can be.” There is certainly no doubt that the experience had a major impact on their lives. Lisa thinks of how the landscape and what happened “Damaged them. How much of what happened here has been carried with them into the everyday, washed up in their lives like those fragments of stone.” Samantha thinks of how “their friendship had unraveled and Samantha doesn’t think she’s felt good about herself since.” Nicole thinks about how “She didn’t believe or trust in herself to succeed [because everything] . . . that was strong and good about her was taken away . . . [and] She lost her faith in humanity that day.”
It is not until the end that the reader learns exactly what happened on that fateful hike, so there is a great deal of suspense in the book. As the women walk the trail in the present, there are flashbacks to what occurred along the same sections of trail. There was a pervasive air of menace and even the rugged landscape seemed threatening. Though the timeframe has changed, the locale is the same so the women are anxious, and because of their 20-year estrangement, there’s tension among them. All of these emotions are passed on to the reader.
Each of the women emerges as a distinct individual with clearly identifiable traits. For instance, one is motivated by anger, another is the peacekeeper, and the third distrusts people. This differentiation is achieved by the novel’s structure. Each woman is the focus of an equal number of chapters. We hear her inner dialogue as she remembers the past, thinks about the choices she made then, and considers how subsequent decisions in her life were influenced by the past: “Who or what might she have been if these things hadn’t happened to her?”
Each of the women is dynamic. Mostly each learns about herself. Lisa, for instance, acknowledges that when they drifted apart, “they weren’t running from each other. They were running from themselves.” At the beginning, it is easy for them to blame each other for what happened: “Trying to make her say Yep, all my fault, so she can have a clear conscience.” Eventually, however, each must acknowledge her role in what happened during the hike and the dissolution of their friendship: “Memory might try and serve it differently, that one person instigated . . . more than another, but in truth they were all complicit . . . ”.
The book examines the dynamics of friendships. Samantha describes their friendship: “They were tight. Inseparable. Individual slights led to collective umbrage. Heart scars were shared.” Nicole agrees: “They only had to be themselves. That’s what made their friendship strong.” On the first hike, the friendship was tested; as they faced increasing fear, their stress caused them to turn on each other. And after the first hike, “It only took two weeks to undo eight years [of friendship].” Each mourns the loss of the friendships. One of them acknowledges “She still feels the loss of what they had. She registers it as an irretrievable absence inside her” and another thinks her friends would have helped her, that maybe “they’d have looked out for her and steered her away from a man they would have recognized as good at manipulation.” Can the women repair their relationships if they realize that a friendship has “to be nurtured and cared for, like a garden” and that if one lightens the burden of another, “She doesn’t notice the extra weight after a while. It soon becomes a part of her own”?
As soon as I started reading this book, I was totally absorbed. It is so emotionally immersive and thought-provoking that I will not soon forget it. I keep asking myself how I would have reacted in similar circumstances.
Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
Lisa convinces the other two women to take the hike again. She suggests they can reshape the memories of the original experience, thereby healing the wounds that were inflicted. Perhaps too their fractured friendship can be mended; she hopes “to have the qualities of their friendship returned to her and all the goodness that might come with it if it can be.” There is certainly no doubt that the experience had a major impact on their lives. Lisa thinks of how the landscape and what happened “Damaged them. How much of what happened here has been carried with them into the everyday, washed up in their lives like those fragments of stone.” Samantha thinks of how “their friendship had unraveled and Samantha doesn’t think she’s felt good about herself since.” Nicole thinks about how “She didn’t believe or trust in herself to succeed [because everything] . . . that was strong and good about her was taken away . . . [and] She lost her faith in humanity that day.”
It is not until the end that the reader learns exactly what happened on that fateful hike, so there is a great deal of suspense in the book. As the women walk the trail in the present, there are flashbacks to what occurred along the same sections of trail. There was a pervasive air of menace and even the rugged landscape seemed threatening. Though the timeframe has changed, the locale is the same so the women are anxious, and because of their 20-year estrangement, there’s tension among them. All of these emotions are passed on to the reader.
Each of the women emerges as a distinct individual with clearly identifiable traits. For instance, one is motivated by anger, another is the peacekeeper, and the third distrusts people. This differentiation is achieved by the novel’s structure. Each woman is the focus of an equal number of chapters. We hear her inner dialogue as she remembers the past, thinks about the choices she made then, and considers how subsequent decisions in her life were influenced by the past: “Who or what might she have been if these things hadn’t happened to her?”
Each of the women is dynamic. Mostly each learns about herself. Lisa, for instance, acknowledges that when they drifted apart, “they weren’t running from each other. They were running from themselves.” At the beginning, it is easy for them to blame each other for what happened: “Trying to make her say Yep, all my fault, so she can have a clear conscience.” Eventually, however, each must acknowledge her role in what happened during the hike and the dissolution of their friendship: “Memory might try and serve it differently, that one person instigated . . . more than another, but in truth they were all complicit . . . ”.
The book examines the dynamics of friendships. Samantha describes their friendship: “They were tight. Inseparable. Individual slights led to collective umbrage. Heart scars were shared.” Nicole agrees: “They only had to be themselves. That’s what made their friendship strong.” On the first hike, the friendship was tested; as they faced increasing fear, their stress caused them to turn on each other. And after the first hike, “It only took two weeks to undo eight years [of friendship].” Each mourns the loss of the friendships. One of them acknowledges “She still feels the loss of what they had. She registers it as an irretrievable absence inside her” and another thinks her friends would have helped her, that maybe “they’d have looked out for her and steered her away from a man they would have recognized as good at manipulation.” Can the women repair their relationships if they realize that a friendship has “to be nurtured and cared for, like a garden” and that if one lightens the burden of another, “She doesn’t notice the extra weight after a while. It soon becomes a part of her own”?
As soon as I started reading this book, I was totally absorbed. It is so emotionally immersive and thought-provoking that I will not soon forget it. I keep asking myself how I would have reacted in similar circumstances.
Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
November 13, 2018
When friends get you into trouble, how far do you stick with them? If they get you out of trouble again, do you forgive them for the after effects? These are some of the questions explored in this slightly creepy bushwalking story.
December 28, 2018
Friends Samantha, Nicole and Lisa set out on a hike into the wilderness of Australia, looking forward to an adventure. A chance encounter in the car park at the start of the trail with an aggressive man leads to their adventure becoming more dangerous than they could ever have imagined and their previously firm friendship is tested to the limit. Twenty years later Lisa persuades the other two to recreate the hike. They both agree, in spite of their ambivalence, as they realise this could be an opportunity to heal the rift that the earlier hike caused. The dual-time narrative follows both hikes as the women find out more about exactly what happened in the past and how it has affected not only their friendship but also the people they have become, and how that ill-fated trek has informed the choices they have made since. It’s a compelling psychological thriller, with the tension and air of menace maintained throughout. The novel intelligently and with great insight explores female friendship and also examines on how much we are all influenced by events out of our control. I found it an absorbing and engaging read, and enjoyed it very much.
July 24, 2018
I devoured this book in just a few short days while I was on holidays. Not only is it beautifully written and thought-provoking, but it's also a real page turner. The slow reveal of the history between the three friends (and the horrible man they encountered) meant that I couldn't put it down towards the end as I was desperate to know what had transpired between them twenty years ago. I felt like I was on that track with the women in both of the story's timelines and I haven't been able to stop thinking about them since I finished the book.
I loved this and can't wait to see what Sally does next.
I loved this and can't wait to see what Sally does next.
July 22, 2018
What a lovely addition to the Australian literary canon. This moving and insightful novel explores the nature of friendship and also the ways in which women find their way through the contemporary world. Coupled with this is a deep love of the Australian natural world and keen observation of its delicate complexity.
September 27, 2018
One word....tedious.
February 11, 2019
I am so honored to be part of the blog tour for Sally Piper's "The Geography of Friendship"! Thank you, Legend Press, for including me. Please visit the other blogs on the list for more reviews! Purchase the book from Amazon or your local bookseller.
As most people know, my primary reading consists of intense thrillers and murder mysteries. Sally Piper has managed to create something very unique with this title. It's got the framework of a thriller, and a mystery, but she has built the suspense in such a way that it's incredibly slow-burning and satisfying.
Schoolyard friends Lisa, Nicole, and Samantha reunite after decades apart to revisit a hiking trail that contains ominous memories for all of them. Although life has changed for all of them, they share an intense bonding experience. For most of the book, we don't know exactly what that experience is, as the story is told in alternating timelines (then and now, in the same mountain setting). As intriguing as that aspect of the book is, the most enjoyable part for me was how Piper has depicted the incomparable bonds of friendship that women form. Our lives are often so overburdened with expectations and responsibilities that we often lose our grip on the friendships we formed when we were young and free, but the tensile strength of these friendships can be restored almost instantly once we reconnect. Throughout the book, Piper's haunting, descriptive prose proves that no matter where life takes us, shared tragedy and love are strong enough to bring us back together again when the time is right.
If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller, this one might not be for you. For me, the slow building of suspense is what made it compulsively readable. Not knowing what really happened that fateful day when they were younger is unfurled so slowly and satisfyingly, while lined up against the present day events, that it left me with my heart in my throat waiting to see how the timelines and events would eventually coalesce. The attention to detail and the thoughtful descriptions of nature were also very endearing to me, and managed to paint a complete picture so that I felt like I had stepped into the woods with these women. What will we find? I suppose you'll have to read it yourself to find out.
As most people know, my primary reading consists of intense thrillers and murder mysteries. Sally Piper has managed to create something very unique with this title. It's got the framework of a thriller, and a mystery, but she has built the suspense in such a way that it's incredibly slow-burning and satisfying.
Schoolyard friends Lisa, Nicole, and Samantha reunite after decades apart to revisit a hiking trail that contains ominous memories for all of them. Although life has changed for all of them, they share an intense bonding experience. For most of the book, we don't know exactly what that experience is, as the story is told in alternating timelines (then and now, in the same mountain setting). As intriguing as that aspect of the book is, the most enjoyable part for me was how Piper has depicted the incomparable bonds of friendship that women form. Our lives are often so overburdened with expectations and responsibilities that we often lose our grip on the friendships we formed when we were young and free, but the tensile strength of these friendships can be restored almost instantly once we reconnect. Throughout the book, Piper's haunting, descriptive prose proves that no matter where life takes us, shared tragedy and love are strong enough to bring us back together again when the time is right.
If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller, this one might not be for you. For me, the slow building of suspense is what made it compulsively readable. Not knowing what really happened that fateful day when they were younger is unfurled so slowly and satisfyingly, while lined up against the present day events, that it left me with my heart in my throat waiting to see how the timelines and events would eventually coalesce. The attention to detail and the thoughtful descriptions of nature were also very endearing to me, and managed to paint a complete picture so that I felt like I had stepped into the woods with these women. What will we find? I suppose you'll have to read it yourself to find out.
January 16, 2019
Old school friends Lisa, Samantha and Nicole retrace a hike they first completed years before.
Wow. The Geography of Friendship is a poignant, accomplished and tense exploration of relationships and how our past shapes us in our present. I found it a stunning read.
There’s something primeval and threatening from the outset of this story so that I felt tense and affected from the very first page. Sally Piper writes with such intelligent, poetic style that I was on the hike with Lisa, Samantha and Nicole. The physical descriptions are so beautifully crafted, evocative and accurate that I felt as if I were looking at a kaleidoscope of vivid jewels of language that kept shifting and uncovering a new perspective. There is constantly an undercurrent of imagery that made me keep thinking of nature being ‘red in tooth and claw’ so that it’s no exaggeration to say I had goosebumps at times as I read. The landscape in The Geography of Friendship is, rightly, no pastoral idyll.
It’s absolutely perfect that this is a story that involves the traditional collective power of three and what happens when that power balance fractures or is impacted by external forces. Lisa, Samantha and Nicole all have their equal place in the narrative and I found the structure of the story, with each woman being the focus in turn, with a balance of past and present events in each chapter, utterly mesmerising. I felt that not only did I understand each of the three personalities and why they were the women they had become, but that Sally Piper was holding up a magnifying glass to humanity, illustrating the potential for all of us to behave in particular ways. I don’t want to expand that point more for fear of spoiling the book for others!
The plot is shaped so cleverly. Tension builds as the past is gradually uncovered and I loved the concept of individual and collective memory that makes these three women who they are. A couple of the events are breathtakingly shocking yet utterly plausible, making me appreciate the quality of the writing still further.
The Geography of Friendship is an exploration of the literal and metaphorical geography of friendship, guilt and forgiveness. I found it menacing, atmospheric and literary. I thought it was completely wonderful.
https://lindasbookbag.com/2019/01/16/...
Wow. The Geography of Friendship is a poignant, accomplished and tense exploration of relationships and how our past shapes us in our present. I found it a stunning read.
There’s something primeval and threatening from the outset of this story so that I felt tense and affected from the very first page. Sally Piper writes with such intelligent, poetic style that I was on the hike with Lisa, Samantha and Nicole. The physical descriptions are so beautifully crafted, evocative and accurate that I felt as if I were looking at a kaleidoscope of vivid jewels of language that kept shifting and uncovering a new perspective. There is constantly an undercurrent of imagery that made me keep thinking of nature being ‘red in tooth and claw’ so that it’s no exaggeration to say I had goosebumps at times as I read. The landscape in The Geography of Friendship is, rightly, no pastoral idyll.
It’s absolutely perfect that this is a story that involves the traditional collective power of three and what happens when that power balance fractures or is impacted by external forces. Lisa, Samantha and Nicole all have their equal place in the narrative and I found the structure of the story, with each woman being the focus in turn, with a balance of past and present events in each chapter, utterly mesmerising. I felt that not only did I understand each of the three personalities and why they were the women they had become, but that Sally Piper was holding up a magnifying glass to humanity, illustrating the potential for all of us to behave in particular ways. I don’t want to expand that point more for fear of spoiling the book for others!
The plot is shaped so cleverly. Tension builds as the past is gradually uncovered and I loved the concept of individual and collective memory that makes these three women who they are. A couple of the events are breathtakingly shocking yet utterly plausible, making me appreciate the quality of the writing still further.
The Geography of Friendship is an exploration of the literal and metaphorical geography of friendship, guilt and forgiveness. I found it menacing, atmospheric and literary. I thought it was completely wonderful.
https://lindasbookbag.com/2019/01/16/...
February 11, 2019
Powerful Book on Female Friendships
Three women set out on a trek to relive the same journey they completed when they were young girls. Something traumatic happened to them back then that changed their friendship forever. Their friendship is tested.
The feelings they have for each other, what they go through in their life, their fears, and their challenges have been beautifully narrated. The book is engaging and has intriguing suspense.
Each woman has an equal role in the narrative with a balance of past and present events in each chapter, will leave you mesmerized. You have to read carefully between the lines to avoid confusion.
The book is well written and realistic. It provides great insights on female friendships, courage, loss, and fragility and quite easy to recognize the situations. You will turn the pages in curiosity to know what happens next.
Loved these lines from the book: ‘Walls have a purpose. They hold up a roof. Stop the rain getting in.’
History recounts. Geography connects. Marvelous Book.
Three women set out on a trek to relive the same journey they completed when they were young girls. Something traumatic happened to them back then that changed their friendship forever. Their friendship is tested.
The feelings they have for each other, what they go through in their life, their fears, and their challenges have been beautifully narrated. The book is engaging and has intriguing suspense.
Each woman has an equal role in the narrative with a balance of past and present events in each chapter, will leave you mesmerized. You have to read carefully between the lines to avoid confusion.
The book is well written and realistic. It provides great insights on female friendships, courage, loss, and fragility and quite easy to recognize the situations. You will turn the pages in curiosity to know what happens next.
Loved these lines from the book: ‘Walls have a purpose. They hold up a roof. Stop the rain getting in.’
History recounts. Geography connects. Marvelous Book.
January 10, 2019
Three women, former close friends, set out on a trek to relive the same journey they completed when they were young girls. However, this is no ordinary trip down memory lane, as it becomes clear that something traumatic happened to them back then that changed their friendship forever.
Sally Piper does a fine job of evoking atmosphere with her writing, describing the flora and fauna of the Australian bush so beautifully, but introducing an eerie sense of menace too. The story of the ladies friendship and original trek is interspersed with details of their current lives which I really liked, and Piper managed to do so seamlessly. I really felt like I knew the characters and learnt along the way how the event shaped their lives.
An absorbing read from start to finish!
*I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Sally Piper does a fine job of evoking atmosphere with her writing, describing the flora and fauna of the Australian bush so beautifully, but introducing an eerie sense of menace too. The story of the ladies friendship and original trek is interspersed with details of their current lives which I really liked, and Piper managed to do so seamlessly. I really felt like I knew the characters and learnt along the way how the event shaped their lives.
An absorbing read from start to finish!
*I received a copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 19, 2020
3 1/2 stars. When your whole novel hinges on one climatic conclusion it is tricky to negotiate pace and to keep the reader interested in incidental events along the way. Sally Piper has managed to sustain the tempo and explore the three main characters personalities in a convincing way. My only hesitation is that I’m not sure if these characters changed or developed sufficiently to justify the wait. Maybe their transformation is actually learning to accept themselves for who they are but I’m not sure this is the intention. Lots of great Australian bush scenery that is able to be simultaneously sinister and innocent indicating that a lot is in the eye of the beholder.
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