num_pages: 520
description: Hailed as a "literary sensation" by The New York Times Book Review, Carpentaria is the luminous award-winning novel by Australian Aboriginal writer and activist Alexis Wright.Alexis Wright employs mysticism, stark reality, and pointed imagination to re-create the land and the Aboriginal people of Carpentaria. In the sparsely populated northern Queensland town of Desperance, loyalties run deep and battle lines have been drawn between the powerful Phantom family, leaders of the Westend Pricklebush people, and Joseph Midnight's renegade Eastend mob, and their disputes with the white officials of neighboring towns. Steeped in myth and magical realism, Wright's hypnotic storytelling exposes the heartbreaking realities of Aboriginal life. By turns operatic and everyday, surreal and sensational, the novel teems with extraordinary, larger-than-life characters. From the outcast savior Elias Smith, religious zealot Mossie Fishman, and murderous mayor Bruiser to activist Will Phantom and Normal Phantom, ruler of the family, these unforgettable characters transcend their circumstances and challenge assumptions about the downtrodden "other." Trapped between politics and principle, past and present, the indigenous tribes fight to protect their natural resources, sacred sites, and above all, their people. Already an international bestseller, Carpentaria has garnered praise from around the world.
language: English
title: Carpentaria
titlecomplete: Carpentaria
genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Audiobook, Historical, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, 21st Century, Literature, Australia, Novels
ratings_count: 1579
places: Gulf Country, North West Queensland
awards: awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Miles Franklin Literary Award, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Victorian Premier's Literary Award
category: Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Queensland Premier's Literary Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA)
category: Literary Fiction, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: ALS Gold Medal
publisher: Giramondo