Too Much Lip

"Yes, this is another book that isn’t talked about as a crime novel—it’s hailed as a literary novel. But the crime element is at the heart of the novel; without it, the novel couldn’t exist. So I’m totally owning it! I love this book. One of the things that really grabbed me about Too Much Lip was the voice. It’s absolutely unique. It’s very cheeky. It’s very irreverent. It can be quite dark as well. Melissa Lukashenko is Aboriginal Australian and she uses a lot of language words, and a lot of slang. Yes. There are hundreds of Aboriginal languages in Australia. Some were eradicated by brutal government policies, but many remain or are being reclaimed. Melissa Lucashenko is an Aboriginal writer from northern New South Wales and uses words from the local Bundjalung language. We mainly see the novel through the eyes of Kerry Salter. She arrives in town on a stolen Harley and you immediately know she’s a bit of a bad girl. She stops, is looking at a couple of crows fighting over a dead snake, and she starts talking to the crows—she understands them. It keeps you on your toes, this book. There’s an element of magical realism, although that’s slightly the wrong term for it. There’s an otherworldly aspect to it; it’s a fine but important thread through the novel. Kerry is back in town because her grandfather is dying. She doesn’t want to be in town; she’s had a falling out with her family. We soon learn that Kerry’s sister Donna disappeared when she was 15 and was never seen again. Kerry has a history of wild living; she’s done jail time, as has her brother. We begin to discover the local history of the town, and of how her grandfather made good. And, as we slowly get to know the characters, we understand a little bit more about why Kerry left, and why the family is still incredibly strong despite being fractured. “Crime fiction speaks to a lot of deeper questions. It’s about morality. It’s about justice” There’s fantastic dialogue in this book. I love it, I can hear the characters talking, they come alive. I’m not going to spoil the plot—so I won’t say why Donna disappeared—but, needless to say, while there’s a lot of humour in this book, it does get into some very dark territory. In the back of the book, Melissa Lucashenko says: to anyone doubting the veracity of these sorts of stories, every single incident in the novel has happened to her extended family, or is based on real life events she’s verified through newspaper and court reports. So, while we are very entertained by the book, we learn a lot through it as well, without it being preachy at all. I think there are many reasons, and they are probably different for different people. I suspect it also changes depending on circumstances and mood. But the most obvious one is simply entertainment: there needs to be something driving you to turn the page. I often think about it like this: the murder, or the crime, is the vehicle that’s taking you somewhere. Who did it? Why? Who’s next? I love this character, I hope they don’t die. So we’ve got that propelling you forwards. But the best crime novels are all about the characters. If you don’t care about the character, you don’t care if they survive. You don’t necessarily have to like them, but you have to be interested in them and care about them in some way. All of these novels I’ve just been talking about have characters that you become invested in. Maybe you identify with them. Maybe you’re just intrigued by them. But you get inside their head in some way. Also, crime fiction speaks to a lot of deeper questions. It’s about morality. It’s about justice. They don’t always end with things neatly tied up, but you can definitely gain some understanding of the world along the way. Why do people do the terrible things they do? Why do they do the wonderful things they do? Crime novels are naturally suited to exploring these sorts of questions. A good crime book will get you on a number of levels."