REVIEW: Infinite Splendours by Sofie Laguna

Sofie Laguna has returned with Infinite Splendours, a new novel set against a backdrop of 1950s rural Australia, where a young boy named Lawrence Loman lives an isolated but idyllic life. Mother ‘keeps the wolf from the door’ one way or another, his little brother adores him, and his teachers encourage his intelligence, curiosity and artistic talent.

Sofie Laguna

All that is missing is a father figure; his heroic, mythologised father died in WWII.

When Mother’s beloved brother comes to stay, it seems that Lawrence’s life is complete. Uncle is worldly and educated, the companion and mentor Laurie has been craving. But when Lawrence suffers a great betrayal, his life is turned upside down and nothing will ever be the same.

Infinite Splendours is true to form for Miles Franklin winner Sofie Laguna. She writes so sensitively and poignantly from the point of view of a child in the midst of great trauma in both Eye of the Sheep and The Choke. What is different in Infinite Splendours is how Laguna studies the impact of childhood trauma on the adult. How it shapes lives, shatters confidence, ruins families, and has the potential to be perpetuated through intergenerational abuse.

Infinite Splendours has its moments of sheer delight; the freedom of a child and a bicycle, the triumph of two brothers climbing a mountain, the joy of translating colour and light into painting for the first time. But the book is also deeply uncomfortable and disturbing, particularly in the way it explores our protagonist’s journey from innocent and rustic child to an adult tempted by darker paths.

I really loved this book and I suspect many Australian readers will too.

–Review by Jo Lewin, Head of Trade Product at Booktopia.

Infinite Splendours by Sofie Laguna (Allen & Unwin) is out now.

This book is part of Booktoberfest, the festival of new books!

Infinite Splendours

by Sofie Laguna

Lawrence Loman is a bright, caring, curious boy with a gift for painting. He lives at home with his mother and younger brother, and the future is laid out before him, full of promise. But when he is ten, an experience of betrayal takes it all away, and Lawrence is left to deal with the devastating aftermath.

As he grows into a man, how will he make sense of what he has suffered? He cannot rewrite history, but must he be condemned to repeat it?...

Order NowRead More

No comments Share:

About the Contributor

Booktopia