Review: Lola In The Mirror


This book needs more than five stars. It is a universe of stars, magnificent and absolute. For me, it possesses all the qualities outstanding narrative works possess rendering them utterly impossible to articulate just how magnificent they are. See what I mean. Hopeless.How does one describe a thing that fills them, tears them, speaks to them so intimately, so personally, so honestly? Therein lies the true beauty and unfathomable skill Dalton has: he sees things. He notices us. He gets it all and then, quite astoundingly, has the ability to write to YOU the individual with undiluted clarity and unashamed compulsion.

Dalton's novels feel as though they are tailored specifically for the individual, every single one of us. His characters slam feet first, boots and all, against your emotional armour with such force, it makes you gasp. This is not a bad thing. It's a magnificent and absolute and real sensation.

So, yes, I loved Lola. Everything. The anguish. The agony. The sorrow. The way sorrow was finally possessed not possessing. The love story. The irony. The tragedy of reality and the ethereal magic of uncertain hope. The commentary on life. Walking by everyday. Enduring every moment. Dancing every note.

Being a resident of SE QLD, I felt at once at home in the novel's setting. Able to relate to the flotsam and jetsam the Brisbane River is keeper to. Witnessed first hand the raging appetite of misery and catastrophe it and the city can unleash. Savoured (some of) its unique scents and secrets. But as Dalton points out, Brisbane and its brown serpentine river is much more than the locale of the story. The river serves to anchor and transport, destroy and nourish the lives that it snakes around and through. It is Lola; her sorrow, her solitude, her sanity. Her story - of salvation.

Prickling with realisms and hard truths. Tempered with simple joys, too tiny and silent for the everyday crowds to notice. Imbued with fear and pain and love that is palpable on every page, Lola In The Mirror is triumphant tale that speaks. (And begs for a movie option in its own right!)

And if this appraisal is not an intimate enough description of the storyline, that's because I don't want to spoil the revelation of wonder. Just read it for yourself.

Recommended without reserve. Suitable for older teen readers. 

Title: Lola In The Mirror
Author: Trent Dalton
Publisher: HarperCollins 4th Estate imprint, $32.99
Publication Date: October 2023
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781460759837
For ages: 15+
Type: Adult Fiction

Buy the Book: HarperCollins, Boomerang Books

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