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The Others
On his eleventh birthday, Jacob's father gives him a diary. To write about things that happen. About what he and his father do on their farm. About the sheep, the crop, the fox and the dam. But Jacob knows some things should not be written down. Some things should not be remembered.
The only things he knows for sure are what his father has taught him. Sheltered, protected, isolated. But who is his father protecting him from? And how far will his father go to keep the world at bay?
All too soon, Jacob will learn that, sometimes, people do the most terrible things.
From the bestselling author of WIMMERA and THE RIP comes an unforgettable novel that explores the darkness in our world with the light only a child can find.
The only things he knows for sure are what his father has taught him. Sheltered, protected, isolated. But who is his father protecting him from? And how far will his father go to keep the world at bay?
All too soon, Jacob will learn that, sometimes, people do the most terrible things.
From the bestselling author of WIMMERA and THE RIP comes an unforgettable novel that explores the darkness in our world with the light only a child can find.
372 pages, Paperback
Published June 30, 2021
43 people are currently reading
817 people want to read
About the author
Mark Brandi
5 books304 followersMark Brandi's bestselling novel, Wimmera, won the coveted British Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger, and was named Best Debut at the 2018 Australian Indie Book Awards. It was also shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, and the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime.
Mark's second novel, The Rip, was published to critical acclaim in 2019, and his third novel, The Others, was shortlisted for the Best Fiction prize in the 2022 Ned Kelly Awards. His fourth novel, Southern Aurora, was Highly Commended in the 2024 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. His fifth novel, Eden, was published in July 2025.
Mark's shorter work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Big Issue, and is sometimes broadcast on ABC Radio National. Mark graduated with a criminal justice degree and worked in the justice system before changing direction and deciding to write. Originally from Italy, he grew up in rural Victoria. He now lives in Melbourne and is working on his next novel.
Mark's second novel, The Rip, was published to critical acclaim in 2019, and his third novel, The Others, was shortlisted for the Best Fiction prize in the 2022 Ned Kelly Awards. His fourth novel, Southern Aurora, was Highly Commended in the 2024 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. His fifth novel, Eden, was published in July 2025.
Mark's shorter work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Big Issue, and is sometimes broadcast on ABC Radio National. Mark graduated with a criminal justice degree and worked in the justice system before changing direction and deciding to write. Originally from Italy, he grew up in rural Victoria. He now lives in Melbourne and is working on his next novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
July 10, 2021
The Others by Mark Brandi was the first of this authors books that I have read, and it will not be my last. It is a slow burn of a story, one that builds up the tension and becomes quite intense. Who are the Others?
I read this along with a great group of Bookstagrammers thanks to Hachette Australia and Tandem Collective. It was great to see how others were interpreting the story as it went along. Once again, I am hopeless at buddy reads and finished it 4 days earlier than I was meant to! It is a book that you will find hard to put down, the anticipation of finding out about The Others is just too much.
The story is told in a diarylike format but 11 year old Jacob. It is just him, with his dad and the animals on their remote farm. We learn about Jacob's life with his father, a man who scares him, loves him and teaches him. His father is keeping him safe from The Others and the plague. Life outside the farm is not safe and he has everything that he needs to survive. With the help of his dictionary and encyclopedia Jacob writes down his thoughts and feelings on his life, along with some drawings of how he imagines things to look. Things change when he hears voices that are not his fathers. What else is out there?
While I really enjoyed this, the ending was a little rushed for me. I would have liked to have seen more from it - hard to say exactly what without spoilers. But that is my thoughts, I guess I read too much crime fiction and had theories going on in my head that didn't come to light. I am keen to read more of Mark's books now.
I read this along with a great group of Bookstagrammers thanks to Hachette Australia and Tandem Collective. It was great to see how others were interpreting the story as it went along. Once again, I am hopeless at buddy reads and finished it 4 days earlier than I was meant to! It is a book that you will find hard to put down, the anticipation of finding out about The Others is just too much.
The story is told in a diarylike format but 11 year old Jacob. It is just him, with his dad and the animals on their remote farm. We learn about Jacob's life with his father, a man who scares him, loves him and teaches him. His father is keeping him safe from The Others and the plague. Life outside the farm is not safe and he has everything that he needs to survive. With the help of his dictionary and encyclopedia Jacob writes down his thoughts and feelings on his life, along with some drawings of how he imagines things to look. Things change when he hears voices that are not his fathers. What else is out there?
While I really enjoyed this, the ending was a little rushed for me. I would have liked to have seen more from it - hard to say exactly what without spoilers. But that is my thoughts, I guess I read too much crime fiction and had theories going on in my head that didn't come to light. I am keen to read more of Mark's books now.
September 20, 2021
The third book by Aussie author Mark Brandi, The Others is another coming of age story. With typical whimsical style, Brandi starts with a man reflecting back on his life, before Jacob’s past is revealed. Given a diary for his eleventh birthday, Jacob recounts his isolated, rudimentary life on a farm and the overpowering presence of his father. Lacking conversation, social contact and restricted movement, Jacob’s only escape is the encyclopedia and dictionary, besides occasional lessons from his father. He is allowed to ask questions of his father at times, but certain topics like his parents’ time in town, in a commune and the plague, are clearly no-go areas. Jacob must also navigate his father’s moods, be his “soft eyes” quietness, angry wrath or despair of the drought. At times, Jacob has to decide which of the farm animals is to be killed in order to have meat to eat, if wild rabbits and goats cannot be hunted. As Jacob reveals more about his upbringing, the terrible reality of his father’s secrets become clear. A most enjoyable tale of life through a young boy’s eyes and surprising ending with a four-star read rating.
August 28, 2022
The Others is the third novel by Mark Brandi and, as with the earlier books, it’s a story that is strong in imagery and a strong sense of place. I might categorise it as a wonderful piece of literary fiction smattered with dollops of suspense.
Now, I may be on my Pat Malone here, but I drew quite a few comparisons between The Others and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. A father and son, alone and surviving in a world that has apparently suffered a devastating apocalypse with a desperate fear of contact with outsiders. In this case, the outsiders are referred to as ‘the others’. Admittedly, the co-dependence and trust found in The Road was not apparent in The Others, but certainly other aspects were evident.
Young Jacob lives alone with his father on a remote property in Tasmania. They are effectively cut off from the rest of civilization thanks to his father’s desire to drop out and live a self-contained lifestyle.
To keep Jacob close to home, he has been told that the rest of the world has been devastated by a plague that threatens to wipe anyone who comes in contact with other people. And it is this story that has taught him to fear outsiders, better known as ‘the others’.
The story is told by the 11-year-old Jacob through the diary he was given for his birthday and asked (ordered?) to regularly write in by his father. We gain keen insights into the young mind that is thirsting mightily for information as he tries to make sense of the tightly controlled world around him.
Author Mark Brandi does an outstanding job of leading us through Jacob’s experiences and his interpretation of the various setbacks he encounters. We witness real growth as he starts to understand more about his immediate surroundings as well as a dawning realisation of what might be possible beyond the sanctity of the farm. All the while he was also keenly aware of ensuring he didn’t say or do anything that might incur the wrath of his father.
Although The Others may be classified as a crime novel, it is not really typical of the genre. Certainly, crimes are inferred as the story unfolds. But more important is the relationship between Jacob and his father as well as Jacob’s developing understanding of a possible world beyond the farm. On the one hand, the father is a teacher, a protector and a provider. But on the other, he is the enemy, a gaoler and a tormentor.
The great unknown in this story is Jacob’s father. How he will react to some of the things Jacob does, what he is doing early each morning when he disappears from the house, what his motivations are for keeping the pair of them isolated.
We only understand the father through the words of Jacob’s diary. Because, ultimately, Jacob is an unreliable narrator through no fault of his own. He can only tell us what he believes and what he’s told and this can’t possibly be the truth.
It is this uncertainty that creates the tension that runs deeply through the storyline. And it is this uncertainty that keeps you, as a reader, interested and invested in the outcome.
The Others is superbly crafted and Brandi has done an outstanding job of drawing the reader into Jacob’s life. He constructs an insular world of dependence and trust based on the word of one man. The idea that danger lurks beyond the safety of home and family looms large, but it may also be hiding an awful, more sinister truth.
Now, I may be on my Pat Malone here, but I drew quite a few comparisons between The Others and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. A father and son, alone and surviving in a world that has apparently suffered a devastating apocalypse with a desperate fear of contact with outsiders. In this case, the outsiders are referred to as ‘the others’. Admittedly, the co-dependence and trust found in The Road was not apparent in The Others, but certainly other aspects were evident.
Young Jacob lives alone with his father on a remote property in Tasmania. They are effectively cut off from the rest of civilization thanks to his father’s desire to drop out and live a self-contained lifestyle.
To keep Jacob close to home, he has been told that the rest of the world has been devastated by a plague that threatens to wipe anyone who comes in contact with other people. And it is this story that has taught him to fear outsiders, better known as ‘the others’.
The story is told by the 11-year-old Jacob through the diary he was given for his birthday and asked (ordered?) to regularly write in by his father. We gain keen insights into the young mind that is thirsting mightily for information as he tries to make sense of the tightly controlled world around him.
Author Mark Brandi does an outstanding job of leading us through Jacob’s experiences and his interpretation of the various setbacks he encounters. We witness real growth as he starts to understand more about his immediate surroundings as well as a dawning realisation of what might be possible beyond the sanctity of the farm. All the while he was also keenly aware of ensuring he didn’t say or do anything that might incur the wrath of his father.
“The soft eyes are worse than when he gets angry. They hang around like the fog. Like the fog on the hill in winter. That’s what it’s like. But when he gets angry, even if the whites of his eyes scare me, it passes pretty quick. It’s more like a storm coming over the hill. A storm in spring. Raining hard, then passing. Different from the fog.”
Although The Others may be classified as a crime novel, it is not really typical of the genre. Certainly, crimes are inferred as the story unfolds. But more important is the relationship between Jacob and his father as well as Jacob’s developing understanding of a possible world beyond the farm. On the one hand, the father is a teacher, a protector and a provider. But on the other, he is the enemy, a gaoler and a tormentor.
The great unknown in this story is Jacob’s father. How he will react to some of the things Jacob does, what he is doing early each morning when he disappears from the house, what his motivations are for keeping the pair of them isolated.
We only understand the father through the words of Jacob’s diary. Because, ultimately, Jacob is an unreliable narrator through no fault of his own. He can only tell us what he believes and what he’s told and this can’t possibly be the truth.
It is this uncertainty that creates the tension that runs deeply through the storyline. And it is this uncertainty that keeps you, as a reader, interested and invested in the outcome.
The Others is superbly crafted and Brandi has done an outstanding job of drawing the reader into Jacob’s life. He constructs an insular world of dependence and trust based on the word of one man. The idea that danger lurks beyond the safety of home and family looms large, but it may also be hiding an awful, more sinister truth.
July 31, 2021
Maybe my expectations were too high after reading Brandi’s other two novels but this one didn’t do it for me. Great writing and character development, however I found the narration by a child to be tedious and the plot slow. The pictures were a nice touch. That said, I will still read anything Brandi writes, maybe this book is just not for me.
August 15, 2021
‘I don’t really think of you much anymore.’
When Jacob turns eleven, his father gives him a diary to write in. A way of practicing writing while recording what happens as Jacob and his father go about life on their isolated farm in Tasmania. Jacob writes about their sheep; about the goats they hunt for food and the drought. Jacob has questions about his dead mother (whom he cannot remember), about the plague that and ‘the Others’ he and his father are avoiding. And he wonders about the town and when he will be able to visit it. But Jacob knows that there are some questions his father will not answer, and he knows when to be careful.
We see this narrow, constrained world entirely through Jacob’s eyes. His father is the source of his knowledge, supplemented by a dictionary, a partial encyclopaedia, and an old magazine. There are hints, as Jacob tells us what he hears and sees, that his father is hiding information from him. And, naturally, Jacob becomes curious. His father has told him not to go beyond certain boundaries, and Jacob’s fear when he does so is palpable. He is not sure whether to be more afraid of his father, or of ‘the Others’.
And the ending? It is perfectly unsettling.
‘In case you’re coming. Just in case you’re coming for me.’
This is Mr Brandi’s third novel, and I have enjoyed each of them.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
When Jacob turns eleven, his father gives him a diary to write in. A way of practicing writing while recording what happens as Jacob and his father go about life on their isolated farm in Tasmania. Jacob writes about their sheep; about the goats they hunt for food and the drought. Jacob has questions about his dead mother (whom he cannot remember), about the plague that and ‘the Others’ he and his father are avoiding. And he wonders about the town and when he will be able to visit it. But Jacob knows that there are some questions his father will not answer, and he knows when to be careful.
We see this narrow, constrained world entirely through Jacob’s eyes. His father is the source of his knowledge, supplemented by a dictionary, a partial encyclopaedia, and an old magazine. There are hints, as Jacob tells us what he hears and sees, that his father is hiding information from him. And, naturally, Jacob becomes curious. His father has told him not to go beyond certain boundaries, and Jacob’s fear when he does so is palpable. He is not sure whether to be more afraid of his father, or of ‘the Others’.
And the ending? It is perfectly unsettling.
‘In case you’re coming. Just in case you’re coming for me.’
This is Mr Brandi’s third novel, and I have enjoyed each of them.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
July 4, 2021
If I understood the genesis of the term waxing lyrical (and wasn't too lazy to google it) I would say I would be doing just that about The Others by Mark Brandi. Because I adored this book.
Brandi's given us an amazing narrator in 11 year old Jacob and I do have a penchant for books written from a child's point-of-view. It has to be done well though because their voice can very easily seem off. It can hard to capture innocence and naiveté of the young, when some - like Jacob - have good cause not to be.
I refuse to say this is a coming of age story, it's more one of an awakening. A coming of awareness if you like. It's exquisite and gentle though it's often not, offering insight into the relationship and dependency between children and their parents; and the line between unconditional love and trust.
Read my review here: https://www.debbish.com/books-literat...
Brandi's given us an amazing narrator in 11 year old Jacob and I do have a penchant for books written from a child's point-of-view. It has to be done well though because their voice can very easily seem off. It can hard to capture innocence and naiveté of the young, when some - like Jacob - have good cause not to be.
I refuse to say this is a coming of age story, it's more one of an awakening. A coming of awareness if you like. It's exquisite and gentle though it's often not, offering insight into the relationship and dependency between children and their parents; and the line between unconditional love and trust.
Read my review here: https://www.debbish.com/books-literat...
August 3, 2021
There’s slow burn, then there’s treacle. I have loved Mark Brandi’s previous books, so was excited to read this, but it was too repetitive and by about a third in, predictable. Interesting concept, but just too slow. 2.5 stars
June 16, 2021
The Others is told through the diary of Jacob, an 11-year-old boy living on a farm with his father, and because of this narrative choice is a quick and easy read. The language used may be simple, but the images evoked are wonderful. Through Jacob’s storytelling we can see the farm’s location, empathise with the drought and its impacts, and understand what he means when he describes the different eyes his father has depending on the situation. Jacob just wants to learn and understand the truth about what has happened to his mother, and to the others in the world outside of the farm, but only has his father and his own explorations to teach him. The relationship between Jacob and his father is an interesting one that reflects beautifully the trust that children have in their caregivers, and the power these caregivers have over these little lives. This is a wonderfully written coming of age story set in such a unique way that it made it a real page turner and a pleasure to read. Thanks to Better Reading and Hachette Australia for the ARC.
September 15, 2021
“I went left, and the trail soon disappeared. I could’ve turned around, headed back down the hill, but I went on. I should’ve gone back, gone back while I had the chance. Gone back before I saw, because some things are better not to see.”
This was such an impressive and impactful novel with an overwhelming sense of dread sustained throughout, the atmosphere just seeping right off the page. The story is entirely told from the perspective of Jacob, eleven years old, and through the medium of a journal that he has been given by his father to practice his writing. I am often hesitant about child narrators. I have read some excellent novels narrated with a child’s voice and others that have left me a little hesitant about the narrative choice. But here, in The Others, Jacob’s voice is convincingly both a child of eleven years as well as that of a child who has mastered the very fine art of managing his behaviour to best coexist with a parent who has a mental illness.
This story got under my skin, and I found it hard to put down. I was desperately worried for Jacob, there was so much that was just not right with his father and the way he behaved, the things he told Jacob about the outside world, and the restrictions he put into place that kept Jacob from exploring and seeing beyond the immediate perimeter of their farm. And the way they were living! No electricity, no plumbing, no clean water at all. I had been reading this novel in the late afternoon and then I put it down to make dinner. It was as I was rummaging around in the freezer to see what frozen vegetables I had that I stopped and looked, really looked, at the meal I was preparing for my two teenage sons and myself. We had seasoned lamb chops, a cheese potato bake and roasted brussels sprouts with lemon pepper already laid out and I was looking to see what else I could add for colour and variety. In that moment, all I could think was that Jacob had just eaten a small hunk of rancid stringy wild goat and likely not a vegetable for who knows how long and what sort of effect that was having on his health. This boy just became entirely real to me for the duration of the novel and there aren’t very many authors that can master that, pierce my consciousness and haunt me with their characters and their lives.
I think this novel really shows just how lost a person can become when they fall into the traps of their own mind. Jacob’s father committed some terrible crimes, against others as well as his own son. He was seriously unwell, dangerously so, and it still makes my heart beat more rapidly thinking about Jacob, so isolated and completely at the mercy of his father. And yet, there was love there too. He had taught Jacob to read, to count, to think and question. He had also begun to train Jacob for survival; it was as though on some level he knew he could not keep up the life they were living. The Others would come, eventually, they just weren’t The Others that he had led Jacob to believe them to be. The element of dread that was sustained throughout the novel gave way to real fear at times and in some ways this novel dipped in and out of being a thriller of sorts blended with a more edgy contemporary literary style that I find uniquely Australian.
What I really liked most about this novel is the way in which Brandi examined the effects of Jacob’s father’s mental illness upon Jacob himself, not only as a child, but right through into adulthood. When you have a parent who is mentally unwell, particularly one who is unable to or unwilling to be treated, there is a burden placed upon their children that honestly marks them for life. This burden is further extended when crimes are committed, atrocities that become the stuff of urban legends. Add into this the complication of memories merging with facts and creating a chaotic blend of love and hate, protectiveness and shame. Brandi captured this perfectly. He really is one of Australia’s foremost literary talents. The Others is a hauntingly brilliant novel, unlike anything I’ve read before or am likely to read again. Highly recommended.
“You’ve been with me, inside me, all this time.”
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
This was such an impressive and impactful novel with an overwhelming sense of dread sustained throughout, the atmosphere just seeping right off the page. The story is entirely told from the perspective of Jacob, eleven years old, and through the medium of a journal that he has been given by his father to practice his writing. I am often hesitant about child narrators. I have read some excellent novels narrated with a child’s voice and others that have left me a little hesitant about the narrative choice. But here, in The Others, Jacob’s voice is convincingly both a child of eleven years as well as that of a child who has mastered the very fine art of managing his behaviour to best coexist with a parent who has a mental illness.
This story got under my skin, and I found it hard to put down. I was desperately worried for Jacob, there was so much that was just not right with his father and the way he behaved, the things he told Jacob about the outside world, and the restrictions he put into place that kept Jacob from exploring and seeing beyond the immediate perimeter of their farm. And the way they were living! No electricity, no plumbing, no clean water at all. I had been reading this novel in the late afternoon and then I put it down to make dinner. It was as I was rummaging around in the freezer to see what frozen vegetables I had that I stopped and looked, really looked, at the meal I was preparing for my two teenage sons and myself. We had seasoned lamb chops, a cheese potato bake and roasted brussels sprouts with lemon pepper already laid out and I was looking to see what else I could add for colour and variety. In that moment, all I could think was that Jacob had just eaten a small hunk of rancid stringy wild goat and likely not a vegetable for who knows how long and what sort of effect that was having on his health. This boy just became entirely real to me for the duration of the novel and there aren’t very many authors that can master that, pierce my consciousness and haunt me with their characters and their lives.
I think this novel really shows just how lost a person can become when they fall into the traps of their own mind. Jacob’s father committed some terrible crimes, against others as well as his own son. He was seriously unwell, dangerously so, and it still makes my heart beat more rapidly thinking about Jacob, so isolated and completely at the mercy of his father. And yet, there was love there too. He had taught Jacob to read, to count, to think and question. He had also begun to train Jacob for survival; it was as though on some level he knew he could not keep up the life they were living. The Others would come, eventually, they just weren’t The Others that he had led Jacob to believe them to be. The element of dread that was sustained throughout the novel gave way to real fear at times and in some ways this novel dipped in and out of being a thriller of sorts blended with a more edgy contemporary literary style that I find uniquely Australian.
What I really liked most about this novel is the way in which Brandi examined the effects of Jacob’s father’s mental illness upon Jacob himself, not only as a child, but right through into adulthood. When you have a parent who is mentally unwell, particularly one who is unable to or unwilling to be treated, there is a burden placed upon their children that honestly marks them for life. This burden is further extended when crimes are committed, atrocities that become the stuff of urban legends. Add into this the complication of memories merging with facts and creating a chaotic blend of love and hate, protectiveness and shame. Brandi captured this perfectly. He really is one of Australia’s foremost literary talents. The Others is a hauntingly brilliant novel, unlike anything I’ve read before or am likely to read again. Highly recommended.
“You’ve been with me, inside me, all this time.”
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
December 9, 2021
3, 5 stars
It was my second book by the author, and I have to confess that I didn't love it as much as Into the River. What I mostly liked in Into the River- a very authentic narration by a teenager- became here too much of a good thing. Over 300 pages of a daily routine of an 11 year old boy that he diligently writes in his diary started to get on my nerves, despite all my sympathy for a poor boy. At some level it became very repetitive. I think that a POV-change or switching between first and third POV here could have brought more dynamic in the story and made it less tedious.
Though if my high expectations were not completely fulfilled, the Mark Brandi's writing wasn't my problem: in a slow pace he created a gripping and claustrophobic atmosphere of fear and desperate isolation, and demonstrated again his great talent in portraying of teen male characters.
I am looking already forward to reading his next book.
It was my second book by the author, and I have to confess that I didn't love it as much as Into the River. What I mostly liked in Into the River- a very authentic narration by a teenager- became here too much of a good thing. Over 300 pages of a daily routine of an 11 year old boy that he diligently writes in his diary started to get on my nerves, despite all my sympathy for a poor boy. At some level it became very repetitive. I think that a POV-change or switching between first and third POV here could have brought more dynamic in the story and made it less tedious.
Though if my high expectations were not completely fulfilled, the Mark Brandi's writing wasn't my problem: in a slow pace he created a gripping and claustrophobic atmosphere of fear and desperate isolation, and demonstrated again his great talent in portraying of teen male characters.
I am looking already forward to reading his next book.
June 19, 2021
Written from the point of view of 11-year-old Jacob in the form of a diary, The Others is a suspenseful and captivating read. A slow burn of suspense builds up to keep you engaged and wanting to turn the pages until the very end.
Keeping him "safe" on an isolated farm away from the plague and “the others” after the death of his mother, Jacob’s father teaches him to create a sustainable living environment. It is not safe away from the farm and they need to fend for themselves. Jacob needs to prepare for when his father is no longer there. Jacob isn’t sure he wants to stay at the farm forever but he cannot tell that to his father for fear of his fathers “soft eyes”. Jacob has learned how to read his father’s mood and knows it is sometimes best to just keep quiet.
Jacob learns reading, writing and maths through regular lessons from his father, but most of his learning comes from encyclopedias and his dictionary. The outside world is portrayed through his diary entries where many meanings of words are scribed into his diary with drawings as to how Jacob imagines things to look like or how he has found them in encyclopedias.
Scribed beautifully through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy this was a powerful read that showed how from our adult point of view, things are not right but portrayed how innocent and trusting things may appear from a child’s view. Eventually, as Jacob did, a child may begin to question things... and he soon realises he is not sure that he can trust the one person one he thought he could...
Thank you to the team @hachetteaus for the #gifted advanced review copy.
Keeping him "safe" on an isolated farm away from the plague and “the others” after the death of his mother, Jacob’s father teaches him to create a sustainable living environment. It is not safe away from the farm and they need to fend for themselves. Jacob needs to prepare for when his father is no longer there. Jacob isn’t sure he wants to stay at the farm forever but he cannot tell that to his father for fear of his fathers “soft eyes”. Jacob has learned how to read his father’s mood and knows it is sometimes best to just keep quiet.
Jacob learns reading, writing and maths through regular lessons from his father, but most of his learning comes from encyclopedias and his dictionary. The outside world is portrayed through his diary entries where many meanings of words are scribed into his diary with drawings as to how Jacob imagines things to look like or how he has found them in encyclopedias.
Scribed beautifully through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy this was a powerful read that showed how from our adult point of view, things are not right but portrayed how innocent and trusting things may appear from a child’s view. Eventually, as Jacob did, a child may begin to question things... and he soon realises he is not sure that he can trust the one person one he thought he could...
Thank you to the team @hachetteaus for the #gifted advanced review copy.
July 4, 2021
The Others is a haunting coming-of-age novel from Australian author Mark Brandi.
On his eleventh birthday Jacob’s father gifts him a diary, encouraging his son to write about their life on an isolated farm in rural Tasmania. The boy writes of the sheep they tend, the goats they hunt and eat, the drought that destroys their crops, the foxes that lurk in the hills. Of his dead mother, whom he misses but can’t remember, of the whites of his father’s eyes, of the questions he has about ‘the town’, the plague, and the Others.
Jacob’s voice is captivating, Brandi pitches it perfectly to project the curiosity and innocence of a young boy whose understanding and experience of the world is limited to what his father tells him, supplemented by a dictionary, an incomplete encyclopaedia, and a faded Women’s Weekly magazine.
Jacob is reluctant to ask his father too many questions, wary of his father’s temper or alternatively afraid that the ‘soft eyes’ will return, which means his dad may not talk or move for days. There are subtle clues for the reader that what Jacob’s father tells him about life outside the farm may not be true, small details that the boy doesn’t recognise as incongruous. Tension builds as Jacob’s curiosity grows, and he secretively begins defying his father’s edict to remain within the confines of the farm. Brandi conjures dread and anxiety as a confrontation, either between Jacob and his father or Jacob and the ‘others’, seems inevitable.
The writing is spare, yet evocative, I was clearly able to visualise the farm and it’s immediate surrounds. Some of the graphic scenes in the novel have more impact because the description is so stark. Unexpectedly, the story is also enhanced by small sketches, drawn by Jacob in his diary.
Powerful and unsettling, The Others is a gripping novel with an ending that left my heart pounding.
On his eleventh birthday Jacob’s father gifts him a diary, encouraging his son to write about their life on an isolated farm in rural Tasmania. The boy writes of the sheep they tend, the goats they hunt and eat, the drought that destroys their crops, the foxes that lurk in the hills. Of his dead mother, whom he misses but can’t remember, of the whites of his father’s eyes, of the questions he has about ‘the town’, the plague, and the Others.
Jacob’s voice is captivating, Brandi pitches it perfectly to project the curiosity and innocence of a young boy whose understanding and experience of the world is limited to what his father tells him, supplemented by a dictionary, an incomplete encyclopaedia, and a faded Women’s Weekly magazine.
Jacob is reluctant to ask his father too many questions, wary of his father’s temper or alternatively afraid that the ‘soft eyes’ will return, which means his dad may not talk or move for days. There are subtle clues for the reader that what Jacob’s father tells him about life outside the farm may not be true, small details that the boy doesn’t recognise as incongruous. Tension builds as Jacob’s curiosity grows, and he secretively begins defying his father’s edict to remain within the confines of the farm. Brandi conjures dread and anxiety as a confrontation, either between Jacob and his father or Jacob and the ‘others’, seems inevitable.
The writing is spare, yet evocative, I was clearly able to visualise the farm and it’s immediate surrounds. Some of the graphic scenes in the novel have more impact because the description is so stark. Unexpectedly, the story is also enhanced by small sketches, drawn by Jacob in his diary.
Powerful and unsettling, The Others is a gripping novel with an ending that left my heart pounding.
July 25, 2021
That was not what I was expecting. I don’t even know how to review it because half way through I was like wait, what, maybe? I’ve never seen the Australian countryside like this before. It’s definitely a powerful, edge of your seat read. And that Jacob, you just want to feed him all the baked beans he wants x
August 7, 2021
pg. 80
Narrator's voice is claustrophobically tedious; bad things are happening, more bad things are going to happen. The end.
Too much like Sydney lockdown/delta variant life at present to be a diversion!
Loved Brandi's other books and will read him again.
Narrator's voice is claustrophobically tedious; bad things are happening, more bad things are going to happen. The end.
Too much like Sydney lockdown/delta variant life at present to be a diversion!
Loved Brandi's other books and will read him again.
July 14, 2021
http://jessjustreads.com
Firmly establishing himself as a master of crime and thriller, Mark Brandi’s latest novel The Others is another haunting tale.
Set on remote farmland and largely written in diary form, The Others follows an 11-year-old boy as he documents his day-to-day interactions with his overly protective but secretive father. Just who are the others he keeps talking about? And is Jacob actually in any real danger?
“So I have to stay home, and I have to stay in my room. It’s just in case the others come. I don’t mind staying home so much, because it gives me time to do my own things. Sometimes, I hear gunshots from somewhere in the bush. It must be a long way away, because it takes a long time for sound to travel.”
The Others reminds me a little of Room by Emma Donoghue. We only get snippets of the truth because we’re experiencing everything through the mind of an innocent child. Jacob looks to his father as protector, however his father is anything but.
As the reader, you know that Jacob is being fed lies and you witness him start to realise that his beloved parental figure might not be entirely truthful. It’s about following the story as the tension builds, pacing increases and you wonder how the tale is going to unfold.
Strengths lie in Jacob’s voice – he’s young and innocent, and quite naïve. But he’s not annoying or frustrating as a narrator. He is both insightful and present within his surroundings. His childlike voice offered a new perspective to Brandi’s novels, which haven’t yet delved into this kind of protagonist yet. It felt like something unique to his repertoire, and fans of his work will appreciate the pivot.
“He cooked it good this time. He always cooks the meat and I do the porridge. That’s the deal. He served it up and it was nicer, with the crispy bits, and the meat cooked right through.”
I did find that the book ended with a lot of unanswered questions, particularly around the women out hiking. The woman seemed to know Jacob’s father, so I’m not sure why he felt so threatened by her. And it perhaps felt a little unrealistic that the woman managed to find Jacob’s cabin so easily, when later in the novel we are told just how incredibly remote and difficult to discover it actually is?
And was Jacob’s mother actually sick? Jacob’s memory seemed to imply she was bedridden for a long time, but the revelation at the end seems to contradict that. Perhaps there was a bit of scope to reveal some of that information, particularly during those short sections where we’re with Jacob when he’s an adult.
Also, when is this novel set? It’s not necessary to know this, but talks of sickness and plague and illness made me think this was all fictional, but another reviewer interpreted this novel to be set post-COVID.
“The soft eyes are worse than when he gets angry. They hang around like the fog. Like the fog on the hill in winter. That’s what it’s like. But when he gets angry, even if the whites of his eyes scare me, it passes pretty quick.”
Overall a really entertaining novel and very quick to read – more pages than paragraphs, it felt. I ripped through this in one afternoon and really enjoyed it. The Others is engaging and atmospheric, and recommended for readers of crime, thriller and mystery. Readership skews 25+
Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Firmly establishing himself as a master of crime and thriller, Mark Brandi’s latest novel The Others is another haunting tale.
Set on remote farmland and largely written in diary form, The Others follows an 11-year-old boy as he documents his day-to-day interactions with his overly protective but secretive father. Just who are the others he keeps talking about? And is Jacob actually in any real danger?
“So I have to stay home, and I have to stay in my room. It’s just in case the others come. I don’t mind staying home so much, because it gives me time to do my own things. Sometimes, I hear gunshots from somewhere in the bush. It must be a long way away, because it takes a long time for sound to travel.”
The Others reminds me a little of Room by Emma Donoghue. We only get snippets of the truth because we’re experiencing everything through the mind of an innocent child. Jacob looks to his father as protector, however his father is anything but.
As the reader, you know that Jacob is being fed lies and you witness him start to realise that his beloved parental figure might not be entirely truthful. It’s about following the story as the tension builds, pacing increases and you wonder how the tale is going to unfold.
Strengths lie in Jacob’s voice – he’s young and innocent, and quite naïve. But he’s not annoying or frustrating as a narrator. He is both insightful and present within his surroundings. His childlike voice offered a new perspective to Brandi’s novels, which haven’t yet delved into this kind of protagonist yet. It felt like something unique to his repertoire, and fans of his work will appreciate the pivot.
“He cooked it good this time. He always cooks the meat and I do the porridge. That’s the deal. He served it up and it was nicer, with the crispy bits, and the meat cooked right through.”
I did find that the book ended with a lot of unanswered questions, particularly around the women out hiking. The woman seemed to know Jacob’s father, so I’m not sure why he felt so threatened by her. And it perhaps felt a little unrealistic that the woman managed to find Jacob’s cabin so easily, when later in the novel we are told just how incredibly remote and difficult to discover it actually is?
And was Jacob’s mother actually sick? Jacob’s memory seemed to imply she was bedridden for a long time, but the revelation at the end seems to contradict that. Perhaps there was a bit of scope to reveal some of that information, particularly during those short sections where we’re with Jacob when he’s an adult.
Also, when is this novel set? It’s not necessary to know this, but talks of sickness and plague and illness made me think this was all fictional, but another reviewer interpreted this novel to be set post-COVID.
“The soft eyes are worse than when he gets angry. They hang around like the fog. Like the fog on the hill in winter. That’s what it’s like. But when he gets angry, even if the whites of his eyes scare me, it passes pretty quick.”
Overall a really entertaining novel and very quick to read – more pages than paragraphs, it felt. I ripped through this in one afternoon and really enjoyed it. The Others is engaging and atmospheric, and recommended for readers of crime, thriller and mystery. Readership skews 25+
Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 30, 2021
On his 11th birthday, Jacob’s father gives him a diary. He proceeds to dutifully record the daily events of his existence on their farm; from the birds and the sheep to the pit sewer and the killing of rodents with a star picket. This diary makes up the vast bulk of Mark Brandi's The Others. We learn from it that Jacob’s mother is dead and that, before they moved to the farm, his mother and father lived in what his father refers to as 'the town' and 'the commune'. Jacob’s father has told him that a plague has infested the rest of the world and that he needs to stay on the farm to be protected from 'the others' who come at night, riddled with disease. Jacob’s only other knowledge of the outside world comes from an encyclopaedia and a dictionary.
https://publishing.artshub.com.au/new...
https://publishing.artshub.com.au/new...
October 25, 2021
The telling of this story through the diary/eyes of an 11 year old boy was slow and a little tedious at times. I also found myself saying really on a number of occasions as I questioned the fact that this was an 11 year old who has never been a part of society and was intermittently home schooled. An quick ok read.
July 9, 2021
The story is narrated by a kid, Jacob, so the language is simple, and there are times I'm smiling with his innocence view about things.
Jacob lives with his father in an isolated farm, with no connection to the outside world. While his dad home-school him, Jacob also learns a lot through dictionary and encyclopaedia. A lonely boy who is not allowed to go even to the closest town, as his dad wants to protect him from "the others". The father is a very secretive about the town and the past, and it's a real page turner as I'm really curious of what his father has to hide from him.
I had a goosebumps from the ending. It's an open ending, and I wish that it doesn't end just yet, but the author wrapped it beautifully. This is first book I read from this author and now he'll become one of my auto-buy author.
Jacob lives with his father in an isolated farm, with no connection to the outside world. While his dad home-school him, Jacob also learns a lot through dictionary and encyclopaedia. A lonely boy who is not allowed to go even to the closest town, as his dad wants to protect him from "the others". The father is a very secretive about the town and the past, and it's a real page turner as I'm really curious of what his father has to hide from him.
I had a goosebumps from the ending. It's an open ending, and I wish that it doesn't end just yet, but the author wrapped it beautifully. This is first book I read from this author and now he'll become one of my auto-buy author.
August 31, 2021
A boy gets a diary for his 11th birthday to help with his writing practice. What begins as an innocent account of a child’s daily life quickly becomes for the reader something much darker. We see the world through the eyes of a child, written with masterful naivety by Mark Brandi that few authors manage to capture. He tells us about his daily routine, his schoolwork, the farm work he and his father do, and the names of his favourite sheep.
We learn about his father’s ‘gold tooth’ – the way the boy knows his father’s smile is genuine, and how he misses seeing it more because the rain hasn’t come. He tells us how he’s learnt ‘being taught something’ is different to ‘being taught a lesson’. Through our story-teller, we begin to cotton on that life on the farm is anything but normal. Our main character has only ever known this world; we know better.
As plots go, there isn’t the traditional rollercoaster ride of some thrillers. Instead, there is a slow rolling on of dread that grows with each secret our protagonist keeps from his father – a note, voices heard in the dead of night, a strange noise in the trees – that finally comes to a traumatic head in the final chapters. The resolution is swift, underwhelming; it leaves more questions than it answers. We puzzle together the last terrible clues and are left with a sense that life could never be the same again.
Who are the Others? The cast is small – the father and son are central, we have some animal characters, and four mostly alluded too – his mother (the only character named in full) and three Others. The beauty of The Others is that we don’t need anyone else; the sense of Tasmanian isolation and the terror that comes with it really makes the story. It was a surprise for me that a story could flow so well without ever really giving itself away – we never quite find out all the details and in the end, that’s the scariest part of all.
Read my full critique https://thoughtsbecomewords.com/2021/...
We learn about his father’s ‘gold tooth’ – the way the boy knows his father’s smile is genuine, and how he misses seeing it more because the rain hasn’t come. He tells us how he’s learnt ‘being taught something’ is different to ‘being taught a lesson’. Through our story-teller, we begin to cotton on that life on the farm is anything but normal. Our main character has only ever known this world; we know better.
As plots go, there isn’t the traditional rollercoaster ride of some thrillers. Instead, there is a slow rolling on of dread that grows with each secret our protagonist keeps from his father – a note, voices heard in the dead of night, a strange noise in the trees – that finally comes to a traumatic head in the final chapters. The resolution is swift, underwhelming; it leaves more questions than it answers. We puzzle together the last terrible clues and are left with a sense that life could never be the same again.
Who are the Others? The cast is small – the father and son are central, we have some animal characters, and four mostly alluded too – his mother (the only character named in full) and three Others. The beauty of The Others is that we don’t need anyone else; the sense of Tasmanian isolation and the terror that comes with it really makes the story. It was a surprise for me that a story could flow so well without ever really giving itself away – we never quite find out all the details and in the end, that’s the scariest part of all.
Read my full critique https://thoughtsbecomewords.com/2021/...
July 11, 2021
The Others is a uniquely created novel that will make you sit and analyse your own upbringing.
Jacob, the protagonist child, in this novel has been living on the farm his whole childhood, after much deliberation he second guesses his father after seeing and hearing things he shouldn't have. Surely his father is protecting him, a true father's love is deep.
There are so many different aspects and hidden gems in this story that I could honestly go on and on about them. But I won't because it might ruin or spoil the book for those who haven't read the story.
But I will talk about the main aspect of this book and that is assumption. We assume things so we don't have to ask or when we are afraid. Much like Jacob when he asks his dad something and the father goes all soft eyes on him- we all know what that means.
Jacob doubts his father's words and actions towards the others. Who are these others his father speaks of? Why are they coming for them? Is his father really protecting him, by using isolation and sheltering him from the others?
Us the readers are also left to assume certain things at the end of the book. Don't you just love that? I sure do, it gets me thinking and wondering if I missed anything in the story. Eventually after absorbing the ending, I read the prologue again. It makes me wonder who is really coming for who?
Jacob, the protagonist child, in this novel has been living on the farm his whole childhood, after much deliberation he second guesses his father after seeing and hearing things he shouldn't have. Surely his father is protecting him, a true father's love is deep.
There are so many different aspects and hidden gems in this story that I could honestly go on and on about them. But I won't because it might ruin or spoil the book for those who haven't read the story.
But I will talk about the main aspect of this book and that is assumption. We assume things so we don't have to ask or when we are afraid. Much like Jacob when he asks his dad something and the father goes all soft eyes on him- we all know what that means.
Jacob doubts his father's words and actions towards the others. Who are these others his father speaks of? Why are they coming for them? Is his father really protecting him, by using isolation and sheltering him from the others?
Us the readers are also left to assume certain things at the end of the book. Don't you just love that? I sure do, it gets me thinking and wondering if I missed anything in the story. Eventually after absorbing the ending, I read the prologue again. It makes me wonder who is really coming for who?
July 24, 2021
You know that fleeting, goosebumpy feeling when, as they say, 'someone just walked over my grave' this is how I felt at the end of this novel. Totally menacing, a slow burn of a story that takes you to places you now you don't want to go but Brandi is so skilled in keeping the reader totally engaged, intrigued and immersed you know you have to see it to the end. It's undeniably clever in its narrative and totally unique in its approach. Mark's third novel is quite incredible, as is The Rip and Wimmera.
September 1, 2022
A few years back, I met Mark Brandi at the Hachette Publisher's Roadshow (a book industry event where publishers announce their Christmas releases). He's a lovely man, and I wanted to love his writing. Sadly, I felt disappointed. The book is haunting and captures the feeling of outback Australia well, but I never felt the terror foreshadowed at the start. I'm open to reading other books by Brandi.
July 17, 2021
I didn't find this quite as enjoyable as his other books due to the slow pacing however I am a very impatient reader and the build up of menace is done brilliantly. He nails the narration of the 11 year old and I love Brandi's little details in each of his books such as smile-gold tooth. A really great Author.
May 28, 2021
Mark Brandi is getting stronger with each book he writes. The Others is a slow burn which builds up the suspense extremely well and keeps you hooked until the last page.
July 29, 2021
I love when books are written from a child's view point cos you kinda gotta read between the lines. I liked his other books too so a very decent author!
September 28, 2021
Mark Brandi’s eagerly anticipated third novel The Others (Hachette 2021) is another genre-bending mix of crime, literary fiction and suspense. The story is told in the form of a diary written by 11-year-old Jacob, who lives with his father on the farm with the sheep, the goats, the failing crops and the drought-stricken dam. His father has given him the diary to record important things that happen and what they mean. But Jacob only really knows what his father teaches him, or what he reads in the encyclopedia or the dictionary. The two are isolated from The Others, apparently because of some sort of dystopian near future that has left them to fend for themselves. In survivalist mode, hunting and killing their food, supplemented by the father’s occasional foray into the dangerous place where The Others live, and where Jacob is forbidden to go, the two are often hungry and lonely, and Jacob’s father is often angry or sad. His father has sworn to protect Jacob from the terrible things that lie beyond the hill … but Jacob learns that sometimes people close to home do terrible things too.
The strength of this novel is the spare, sparse, simple and distinct voice of young Jacob, who narrates in a similar style to Sofie Laguna’s child protagonists. He has little information about the world at large and even less insight into what he experiences. He trusts his father implicitly. But then, he knows no other life. The narrative gradually builds with a deliciously sinister sense of creeping dread, with the focus on the two main characters and an intensively intimate and interior viewpoint. The prose is very simple, as written in Jacob’s voice, and as such leaves much space for the reader to interpret what Jacob is seeing or hearing, but with our own adult experience. At times I found the dialogue and Jacob’s writings almost too simple and would perhaps have liked more – perhaps from the father’s perspective? But I can understand why Brandi has written in this style (in a similar way to his previous books) and it definitely carries the reader along once we are immersed in Jacob’s world. As the tension increases and the stakes become higher, the possibilities surrounding the actual situation (versus the situation we are at first presented with) become more obvious; the ending or resolution is a little predictable, in that it makes perfect sense, but it also manages to be a surprising and unusual twist. Brandi has subverted the norm and what we thought we were reading gradually morphs into something completely different. This makes us rethink everything that has gone before.
There was some commotion about the foxes in the book, given that it is set in Tasmania, where apparently there are no foxes. But after a bit of googling, it seems it is unclear whether they were perhaps introduced as an exotic species at some point, and I suppose – in the end – this is a work of fiction, so if Brandi wants foxes in Tasmania then he can certainly write them into the story. That is what fiction is, after all.
The story is accompanied by Jacob’s hand-drawn figures; I’m not sure whether or not this added anything to the words.
The last section of the book, entitled ‘later’, bookends neatly with the prologue, and while I didn’t mind receiving this extra scene, I would have been quite happy for the story to have ended at the last chapter, leaving the rest to my imagination.
The evocative sense of particular place is very strong and well-written, and we can easily imagine Jacob and his father and the place they call home. Brandi writes in a very sensory manner, with the smells, sounds, tastes, sights and physical touches presented as sharp, bright, pungent, poignant and authentic.
Each of Brandi’s books have been not quite crime, certainly not procedural or traditional crime, but still in that genre, while also being literary. Crime readers will enjoy this slightly off-kilter representation while other readers who don’t normally read crime may also enjoy this narrative that weaves in sinister elements with Brandi’s signature themes of family, belonging, trust, betrayal, mental illness and the complex relationship dynamics between characters.
The strength of this novel is the spare, sparse, simple and distinct voice of young Jacob, who narrates in a similar style to Sofie Laguna’s child protagonists. He has little information about the world at large and even less insight into what he experiences. He trusts his father implicitly. But then, he knows no other life. The narrative gradually builds with a deliciously sinister sense of creeping dread, with the focus on the two main characters and an intensively intimate and interior viewpoint. The prose is very simple, as written in Jacob’s voice, and as such leaves much space for the reader to interpret what Jacob is seeing or hearing, but with our own adult experience. At times I found the dialogue and Jacob’s writings almost too simple and would perhaps have liked more – perhaps from the father’s perspective? But I can understand why Brandi has written in this style (in a similar way to his previous books) and it definitely carries the reader along once we are immersed in Jacob’s world. As the tension increases and the stakes become higher, the possibilities surrounding the actual situation (versus the situation we are at first presented with) become more obvious; the ending or resolution is a little predictable, in that it makes perfect sense, but it also manages to be a surprising and unusual twist. Brandi has subverted the norm and what we thought we were reading gradually morphs into something completely different. This makes us rethink everything that has gone before.
There was some commotion about the foxes in the book, given that it is set in Tasmania, where apparently there are no foxes. But after a bit of googling, it seems it is unclear whether they were perhaps introduced as an exotic species at some point, and I suppose – in the end – this is a work of fiction, so if Brandi wants foxes in Tasmania then he can certainly write them into the story. That is what fiction is, after all.
The story is accompanied by Jacob’s hand-drawn figures; I’m not sure whether or not this added anything to the words.
The last section of the book, entitled ‘later’, bookends neatly with the prologue, and while I didn’t mind receiving this extra scene, I would have been quite happy for the story to have ended at the last chapter, leaving the rest to my imagination.
The evocative sense of particular place is very strong and well-written, and we can easily imagine Jacob and his father and the place they call home. Brandi writes in a very sensory manner, with the smells, sounds, tastes, sights and physical touches presented as sharp, bright, pungent, poignant and authentic.
Each of Brandi’s books have been not quite crime, certainly not procedural or traditional crime, but still in that genre, while also being literary. Crime readers will enjoy this slightly off-kilter representation while other readers who don’t normally read crime may also enjoy this narrative that weaves in sinister elements with Brandi’s signature themes of family, belonging, trust, betrayal, mental illness and the complex relationship dynamics between characters.
October 5, 2021
“That’s what I tell myself”...
The Others is the third book written by Australian author Mark Brandi and invites the reader into the space of a boy’s relationship with his dad. That childlike innocence, and belief that our parents can do no wrong is captured in the private diary entry thoughts of a young boy named Jacob.
Right from the outset, it is clear that something is very wrong and in a slow burn kind of way Brandi paints a picture of just how very wrong things are. Isolated, paranoid, angry alongside trusting, innocent, hopeful. Somehow Jacob knows things aren’t right, that everything dad says is not as it should be or is in reality. He keeps writing in his diary, “that’s what I tell myself”... if he tells himself enough perhaps it will be okay.
But things aren’t okay, no matter how many times we convince ourselves they are.
This is a complex story, beneath the layers that Brandi weaves together. Family, wellness, violence, love, mental health, trauma and the erosion of trust are the themes that permeate this book.
I’ve read a couple of similar kinds of books this year so in a way felt like I was rereading those books but in a slightly different context.
A sobering and reflective 4 star read.
The Others is the third book written by Australian author Mark Brandi and invites the reader into the space of a boy’s relationship with his dad. That childlike innocence, and belief that our parents can do no wrong is captured in the private diary entry thoughts of a young boy named Jacob.
Right from the outset, it is clear that something is very wrong and in a slow burn kind of way Brandi paints a picture of just how very wrong things are. Isolated, paranoid, angry alongside trusting, innocent, hopeful. Somehow Jacob knows things aren’t right, that everything dad says is not as it should be or is in reality. He keeps writing in his diary, “that’s what I tell myself”... if he tells himself enough perhaps it will be okay.
But things aren’t okay, no matter how many times we convince ourselves they are.
This is a complex story, beneath the layers that Brandi weaves together. Family, wellness, violence, love, mental health, trauma and the erosion of trust are the themes that permeate this book.
I’ve read a couple of similar kinds of books this year so in a way felt like I was rereading those books but in a slightly different context.
A sobering and reflective 4 star read.
July 10, 2021
I’m a huge fan of Mark Brandi and thoroughly enjoyed The Rip and Wimmera and Brandi does not disappoint with The Others.
Jacob is a young boy who lives and works on an isolated smallholding with his father. He doesn’t have friends, his father is all he needs, and the strange, distant pair live off the land. Sometimes it’s some tough goat, but most of the time, it’s porridge. His days are spent working the land, until one day Jacob’s father gives him a diary to write down his thoughts, but he doesn’t write everything down, just in case his father sees the pages.
Brandi has a unique talent for creating young male characters who tug at your heartstrings. His small stories are told through the lens of deeply complex characters with many layers of flaws, trauma, conflict, love and loneliness.
The Others puts us square into the sparse, ramshackle farmstead and will have you either nervously waiting for Jacob’s father to return home or wishing he didn’t. Each page takes you deeper into the harsh landscape and into the lives of Jacob and his father, with a finale that will leave you with a book hangover for days.
Mark Brandi’s work really REALLY needs to picked up by Netflix!
Jacob is a young boy who lives and works on an isolated smallholding with his father. He doesn’t have friends, his father is all he needs, and the strange, distant pair live off the land. Sometimes it’s some tough goat, but most of the time, it’s porridge. His days are spent working the land, until one day Jacob’s father gives him a diary to write down his thoughts, but he doesn’t write everything down, just in case his father sees the pages.
Brandi has a unique talent for creating young male characters who tug at your heartstrings. His small stories are told through the lens of deeply complex characters with many layers of flaws, trauma, conflict, love and loneliness.
The Others puts us square into the sparse, ramshackle farmstead and will have you either nervously waiting for Jacob’s father to return home or wishing he didn’t. Each page takes you deeper into the harsh landscape and into the lives of Jacob and his father, with a finale that will leave you with a book hangover for days.
Mark Brandi’s work really REALLY needs to picked up by Netflix!
September 18, 2021
Wow, wow and wow. What a thrilling book this was.
Written from the POV of eleven year old Jacob, this is a mesmerising story of Jacobs life on a remote farm with his father. A father who tells him that most people have died from a plague, that everything outside the farm is evil, and to be wary of 'the others'.
I was hooked on the creepy atmosphere that pervades this book, and the questions always there.
Who were 'the others'?
Was there a plague?
Where is the town?
I didn't know if I was reading The Day of the Triffids again, or some other dystopian story.
Highly recommended and I can see this book becoming a text in high schools due to the subject matter. Would make a great movie or mini series.
Written from the POV of eleven year old Jacob, this is a mesmerising story of Jacobs life on a remote farm with his father. A father who tells him that most people have died from a plague, that everything outside the farm is evil, and to be wary of 'the others'.
I was hooked on the creepy atmosphere that pervades this book, and the questions always there.
Who were 'the others'?
Was there a plague?
Where is the town?
I didn't know if I was reading The Day of the Triffids again, or some other dystopian story.
Highly recommended and I can see this book becoming a text in high schools due to the subject matter. Would make a great movie or mini series.
January 22, 2023
I found this book gripping. The pervading atmosphere was claustrophobic and suspenseful. Written entirely from perspective of a young boy. The only voices were of him and his father. I liked the format of the recounting of his life told entirely through his diary. Being raised completely in isolation from other people and civilisation and totally under control of his isolationist father, his view of life and events were really well developed by the author. As his father unravels the feeling of disaster tightens. As I said, gripping stuff.
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