After being completely blown away by Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe (my hubby and I are currently watching the Netflix series adaptations and loving that too) I bought his latest novel in audiobook form (I like Australian narrators!).
Like Boy Swallows Universe, Lola in the Mirror is set in Brisbane’s underbelly with characters caught up in homelessness (or as the protagonist would prefer us to say – houselessness), crime, and addiction and yet it is not a bleak book. One reviewer I read criticised the book for romanticising homelessness, and indeed in many ways the main character, sometimes referred to as ‘the artist’ (her lack of an actual name is a major theme of the book) does seem to have a somewhat idyllic existence in a loving and supportive community of rough sleepers. On the other hand, real terrible things happen and while the narrator’s tone is often light or optimistic, the story is dark and perilous.
Again, I really loved the book – it has an nice thread of magical realism, which I always enjoy in a book, more than enough mystery, intrigue and danger to keep the plot moving along and great empathetic characters. Nice sweet romance too.
As an audiobook, I missed out on the great illustrations (which I only discovered in the acknowledgements at the end of the book) but I looked them up online!
I instantly bought the other novel by Trent Dalton, which I am going to listen to next. 🙂
Sarah Wray Writer 