The Hanging Garden

by Patrick White

In wartime Australia, two children form an extraordinary bond as they negotiate the dangers of life as strangers abandoned on the far side of the world.

• ISBN10: 1250028523
• ISBN13: 9781250028525
• Publish Date: 28 May 2013 (first published 5 April 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Imprint: Picador USA
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Patrick White is a two time Miles Franklin award winner and has also won the Nobel prize for literature. His unfinished novel The Hanging Garden was recently published; it feels like an old novel in the sense that, while it’s nicely written; nothing ever happens in the book. This is very much a character driven book, focusing on the two and a wild garden. I think I’d be alright with reading a book like this if I didn’t have the feeling that the author hated every single one of his characters; he was mean and cruel to them all, not just the key characters. As a general rule I love dark and flawed characters but this just felt mean and even the attempts of trying to being erotic felt awkward. I spent the whole book waiting for something to happen and I was left disappointed. Also as this is an unfinished novel, I don’t know what the overall goal was with this book and I get the feeling that maybe Patrick White doesn’t either.

My review and thoughts on an unfinished novel can be found on my blog;
http://literary-exploration.com/2012/05/28/the-hanging-garden-and-unfinished-novels/