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| 9 Oct. 2000 |
Myth, Magic, Pumpkins and Gold: 'Lucia's Measure'
Penelope Davie
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Angela Malone. Lucia's Measure. Random House. RRP: A$19.75. |
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Angela Malone has written a story where myth and magic exist
side by side with pumpkins and gold in the bush town of Reedy Creek. The reader
floats adrift in the type of olden days that we all imagine as children, despite
concrete reminders of what time we are in.
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The landscape is likewise mixed in its presence, suffused
heavily with the magic of Irish immigrants, and layered over and over with their
words and songs. Malone uses many voices to tell her story, but these are all
threaded through the mouth of Kitty Charlotte O'Reilly, the first giantess we
meet. These multiple voices don't confuse the reader, and neither do they seem
self-conscious. On the contrary, they shape the story from event to event and
feeling to feeling, pushing and pulling the characters in different directions
that cannot easily be resolved. Throughout all of them, though, Kitty's voice
can be felt, choosing and directing the narrative that she needs to hear, to
comfort herself in her own disconcerting period of growth.
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