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Careless
Attuned to her mother's volatile moods, eight-year-old Pearl watches over her small brother while carefully guarding her private passions. Sonia, recently widowed and with her two sons far away in Europe, is learning to live alone again. Then there's Adam, an artist who has yet to learn the true nature of love or grief. In ways unforeseen, all three will be connected by the tragedy that is about to shatter Pearl's life. Combining the intimacy of a family's heartache with the tension of a thriller, this wise, compassionate novel conveys the frightening vulnerability of children as it explores the ties of affection and responsibility that bind people together, but are too often neglected in our modern world.
293 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
7 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Robertson
4 books2 followersDeborah Robertson’s first book, Proudflesh, won the Steele Rudd Award. Her novel Careless received the 2007 Nita Kibble and Colin Roderick awards, and was short-listed for the Miles Franklin.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
March 27, 2013
Although from the start I appreciated the quality of the writing, it took me a while to warm to the subject matter. But once the three story lines come together it is a compelling read dealing with grief, loss and the aftermath of traumatic events. I also liked the references to real events like the disappearance of the Beaumont children in South Australia, Frank Lloyd Wright’s house, the film Taxi Driver etc. A great read from this West Australian author.
May 7, 2012
The best I can come up with, for describing this story, is an out of proportion sketch that needs to be refined and given balance before it can be coloured in. The characters are supremely unlikeable, and unrealistically presented emotionally (no real person is so black and white). The main character, an 8 year old child called Pearl, is given an intelligence that far outweighs her age. Fair enough that she is a very smart little girl, but please don't give her adult observations in order to show her her intelligence. Sloppy, lazy writing - boring boring! And so often this seems to be the what merits critical acclaim. Obviously I am missing something here.
This was a book club read, so I tried to stick with it but half way through I realised I had read several pages with absolutely no recollection of what it was about. (I told you it was boring) Couldn't make it to the end.
This was a book club read, so I tried to stick with it but half way through I realised I had read several pages with absolutely no recollection of what it was about. (I told you it was boring) Couldn't make it to the end.
July 7, 2007
I'm only half way through, but I don't like it. If I wasn't reading it for book club I would have stopped before the first 50 pages were done. I really don't like the writing. I find the writer's attempts to get inside the heads of her characters irritating and a bit silly. Her misuse of punctuation is driving me slowly insane.
Worse yet, I don't like a single character, not even the little girl. And why can a feel a sickly sweet end looming in the distance?
Worse yet, I don't like a single character, not even the little girl. And why can a feel a sickly sweet end looming in the distance?
February 10, 2010
Indulgent literary novel follows events after a murder suicide by a divorced man. Following the boring middle class lives of participants and semi-participants, who are in a professional 'grieving' process.
October 16, 2023
This was a sad but enjoyable read. I like when all stories come together and meet, and it was set in Australia which was a plus.
December 15, 2020
Torn with this one...beautifully written but too many questions about the characters. I want answers....
June 19, 2012
I missed the whole point of this. I'm not sure if it's because I have read it on and off over the course of a few weeks. There were a few different stories that were intertwined, but I didn't feel like their was any real plot, and when everything is supposed to come together at the end of a book, I just felt confused. I didn't relate to or bond with any of the characters. You don't get to know enough of them to do that. Overall a bit of a disappointment. Nothing about this book made me excited to read it.
September 26, 2012
I found this book rather disjointed and difficult to connect to the main characters. Not a great read for me
June 9, 2021
Took me awhile to work out the connections for all the different story lines. Really loved Pearl and you just ached for her vulnerability and her coping with all she had on her small plate. Flowed well and was easy to get catch into. Left at the end feeling like some of the characters were under developed but enjoyed this read.
November 15, 2018
This is a well written story raising lots of interesting questions. The title of the book underlines how humans treat each other - perhaps in a careless manner. Would more 'care' become obsession? How we all muddle through with resilience is amazing. Enjoyed reading this Australian author.
November 2, 2018
I found this book sad. For me it was about the brittleness of life. Sometimes appearances are deceptive, while at other times you can see right in and it's not a pretty sight.
March 16, 2019
I found it confusing and ultimately boring. I finished it because I had it on my list for my books this year, but I really didn't care.
February 13, 2021
Waste of time...no likeable characters storyline made no sense. Ending was the worst.
August 5, 2021
This was a book club read. It is written exceptionally well. I felt that it was a very sad book and I didn’t particularly like many of the characters.
July 18, 2016
Robertson has written an intelligent, understated novel that looks into aspects of loss, grief and coping. Written in simple unemotional language, it is nevertheless sad and full of pathos without ever being maudlin, depressing or sensationalist.
The story focuses on four sets of characters, whose lives become intertwined through a series of ordinary events.
Pearl is an enlightened but guarded 9 year old girl, who does her best to shield her younger brother Riley from their clueless, materialistic mother Lily, but they lose him in an horrific and senseless act of deranged violence.
Sonia is a widow, grieving for her beloved, recently passed husband, Pieter. They were Danish migrants to Australia and Pieter, who warmly embraced his new country became a renowned cabinet maker, producing quality furniture for well-heeled customers. Sonia feels lost and alone, as she also misses her two sons who are living and working overseas.
Adam is an emotionally barren artist who has recently achieved some positive notoriety for his controversial sculpture of a young girl who died from a drug overdose. Adam's central focus is on his art, and he tends to use people for comfort and sex, seemingly unable to truly care or make a genuine commitment to the needs of others.
Adam has a sexual relationship with Lily, Pearl's mother, and rents a garage owned by Sonia for his art studio.
Anna is a middle aged woman, married to Leo, still struggling to come to terms with the death of her daughter, murdered as a young woman in an extreme example of domestic violence. In an effort to work through her abiding grief, she becomes a counselor, and develops a friendship with Lily and Pearl after their loss of Riley.
The connections between the characters are nuanced and sublime, the story is subtle and left for the reader to interpret as they will. Part of the novel's appeal is what is left unsaid or merely hinted at.
Despite its measured tone, it has a power in its apparent simplicity that will make a moving impact on the reader that is a mix of sadness, empathy and hope.
The story focuses on four sets of characters, whose lives become intertwined through a series of ordinary events.
Pearl is an enlightened but guarded 9 year old girl, who does her best to shield her younger brother Riley from their clueless, materialistic mother Lily, but they lose him in an horrific and senseless act of deranged violence.
Sonia is a widow, grieving for her beloved, recently passed husband, Pieter. They were Danish migrants to Australia and Pieter, who warmly embraced his new country became a renowned cabinet maker, producing quality furniture for well-heeled customers. Sonia feels lost and alone, as she also misses her two sons who are living and working overseas.
Adam is an emotionally barren artist who has recently achieved some positive notoriety for his controversial sculpture of a young girl who died from a drug overdose. Adam's central focus is on his art, and he tends to use people for comfort and sex, seemingly unable to truly care or make a genuine commitment to the needs of others.
Adam has a sexual relationship with Lily, Pearl's mother, and rents a garage owned by Sonia for his art studio.
Anna is a middle aged woman, married to Leo, still struggling to come to terms with the death of her daughter, murdered as a young woman in an extreme example of domestic violence. In an effort to work through her abiding grief, she becomes a counselor, and develops a friendship with Lily and Pearl after their loss of Riley.
The connections between the characters are nuanced and sublime, the story is subtle and left for the reader to interpret as they will. Part of the novel's appeal is what is left unsaid or merely hinted at.
Despite its measured tone, it has a power in its apparent simplicity that will make a moving impact on the reader that is a mix of sadness, empathy and hope.
August 9, 2016
This was a wonderful book. Thoughtful, wise, sensitive and deeply melancholy without being maudlin. It is written by someone who has thought herself into the pain and suffering of others, and learned lessons we all should share.
I wrote 10 A4 pages about this book in my reading journal, and that's way too much to reproduce here, especially since there are heaps of spoilers in what I wrote. It's a complex novel with a number of plot lines that all come together in a stunning climax, but I'll content myself by sharing a little about Pearl, the central character.
She's a small, unloved little girl with a small brother called Riley, and a weak, selfish mother called Lily who neglects her children out of her own pathetic indifference to life. They're poor and they live in a dirty flat somewhere, and when the story opens Pearl and Riley ae at child-care, in a park, although Lily has no job.
Pearl is a very responsible child. It's her job to organise things, to take care of Riley and to sense her mother's moods. She likes to draw but it's an obsessive kind of drawing. She believes that life's events hang on her choice of colours or whether she goes over the line. This is a child who worries about boundaries she might inadvertently cross. She can read, so I think she must be about nine, but she's not going to school.
Pearl is the perfect name for this character. Soft and lustrous on the outside, with a steely kernel. Life dishes it out to this child, but I like to think of her as a survivor.
If you think that a book with a central character like this is going to be a misery memoir turned into a novel, you are wrong. It's a superb book, one that richly deserved its place on the Miles Franklin shortlist and might well have won it if it had not been up against the ground-breaking Carpentaria by Alexis Wright.
I wrote 10 A4 pages about this book in my reading journal, and that's way too much to reproduce here, especially since there are heaps of spoilers in what I wrote. It's a complex novel with a number of plot lines that all come together in a stunning climax, but I'll content myself by sharing a little about Pearl, the central character.
She's a small, unloved little girl with a small brother called Riley, and a weak, selfish mother called Lily who neglects her children out of her own pathetic indifference to life. They're poor and they live in a dirty flat somewhere, and when the story opens Pearl and Riley ae at child-care, in a park, although Lily has no job.
Pearl is a very responsible child. It's her job to organise things, to take care of Riley and to sense her mother's moods. She likes to draw but it's an obsessive kind of drawing. She believes that life's events hang on her choice of colours or whether she goes over the line. This is a child who worries about boundaries she might inadvertently cross. She can read, so I think she must be about nine, but she's not going to school.
Pearl is the perfect name for this character. Soft and lustrous on the outside, with a steely kernel. Life dishes it out to this child, but I like to think of her as a survivor.
If you think that a book with a central character like this is going to be a misery memoir turned into a novel, you are wrong. It's a superb book, one that richly deserved its place on the Miles Franklin shortlist and might well have won it if it had not been up against the ground-breaking Carpentaria by Alexis Wright.
June 24, 2016
As a fairly young person myself, I found that Pearl was the character that I could relate to most. The one paragraph that best expresses who I perceived Pearl to be was:
'She leans close to the page. She moves the pencil parallel to the black line, right up to the edge, touching but never going over, until just when her hand is starting to hurt she finds that she is back at the beginning and she has created a solid border of brilliant green,. She has secured the half-moon and now nothing can go wrong. Now all she has to do is fill the white space, pour in the green. She can breath again'.
This sort of insecurity really struck a note with me, as I too can't help but feel this way at times.
Overall, a great read that progresses at a reasonable pace and manages to keep the reader interested in the plot throughout its entirety (which I find a lot of other novels fail to do).
'She leans close to the page. She moves the pencil parallel to the black line, right up to the edge, touching but never going over, until just when her hand is starting to hurt she finds that she is back at the beginning and she has created a solid border of brilliant green,. She has secured the half-moon and now nothing can go wrong. Now all she has to do is fill the white space, pour in the green. She can breath again'.
This sort of insecurity really struck a note with me, as I too can't help but feel this way at times.
Overall, a great read that progresses at a reasonable pace and manages to keep the reader interested in the plot throughout its entirety (which I find a lot of other novels fail to do).
June 9, 2012
There are beautifully woven characters and themes in this novel composed of interlinked stories. Robertson's sense of timing and restraint is masterful, her language clear and rich. I'm still struggling to understand whether the gaps in the interlinked story structure rob the book of a novel's depth and range, or create a gentle leap between each ambience or character. I say this not because this is a structure I find wanting, but because I found the book's resolution a little hasty and thin-edged. The moods she crafted - I don't think she did her own efforts justice in the last section of the book. I'd be curious to know how Robertson feels about this book, now that she has produced more work.
Still, a brilliant and enjoyable piece of writing that I would thoroughly recommend.
Still, a brilliant and enjoyable piece of writing that I would thoroughly recommend.
May 9, 2011
I found this book very interesting and very well written by an Australian author. We did this one for my Book Club where it had mixed reviews. I connected well with all the characters and found that I couldnt put the book down as I wanted to know more about all the characters. I will definitely look out for further books from this author! There is just one thing I would like to know and that is why it is titled 'Careless' - anyone have any thoughts?
March 31, 2009
8 year old Pearl sees her brother and 7 others killed. She is the only survivor of an intentional hit and run/suicide. Pearl is a strong character, as she must be because her Mother is and has been neglectful of Pearl and her brother. Pearl is wise beyond her years and makes this book a must read.
January 13, 2015
I enjoy contemporary Australian writing and Deborah Robertson certainly captures the feel of the various characters in this often heart breaking novel. It is very difficult to " love" the Lily mother character; perhaps the portrayl of her poor parenting is too raw & real to " enjoy".
There were aspects of the plot that I found rather implausible and contrived yet I did persist until the end.
There were aspects of the plot that I found rather implausible and contrived yet I did persist until the end.
November 27, 2008
I've put off and put off reviewing this book and as a result I barely remember it. There was an exploration of grief, and an carpenter and a sculpter, and some very dislikable characters. OK, but not memorable for me.
August 27, 2009
Along with Joseph Boyden's Through Black Spruce and Daniel Mason's The Piano tuner, this book is on my top three list for the year. Each book is nothing short of a masterpiece. I couldn't put it down. And like Jesus, I wept.
November 30, 2009
An interesting book, the interconnected stories of a group of people all dealing with grief in different ways. Having lost a parent in a sudden violent way, I thought I would feel more connected to these stories than I did. But I suppose grief is not easily described.
November 15, 2010
I actually really enjoyed this book, I found I connected well with most of the characters, it was a very emotional tale about grief, I found it sad and i really did care about the characters. Very good.
April 4, 2012
This was a great book. Very astute pictures of people and the careless way they treat people they love (or don't) and the repercussions coming from that. None of the characters were particularly likeable, but very real. The ending was a bit abrupt which took away the 5th star.
June 2, 2012
Australian novel shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It tells the intertwining story of two neglected children, an artist, the wife of a deceased artist, her children, and a therapist. Fallingwater and Frank Lloyd Wright also figure prominently. A quiet, lyrical read.
June 18, 2012
A young girl, somewhat neglected, is left to deal with the death of her younger brother, leading the reader into other people's grieving through the tragedy. This is such good read and the writing just flows effortlessly.
September 6, 2012
IT drifted a bit but I really, really liked it. I wanted to read more about the children's realtionship with the mother. Dysfunctional families always make for good reading (because they remind us of our own?!), but this one started strongly and then seemed to fade away.
April 27, 2013
Recommended by a work friend, I felt compelled to read this book. It was interesting. I liked how the characters wove together. I found them neither likeable or unlikeable. I thought the ending was great.
My friend thought that this would make a good bookclub book.
My friend thought that this would make a good bookclub book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews