Shining Like the Sun (Stephen Orr, Wakefield)

Stephen Orr’s Shining Like the Sun is like an Australian version of A Man Called Ove, with the same qualities of grit and humanity that made the Swedish novel so successful. Like Ove, on paper, Shining Like the Sun shouldn’t necessarily work. A disillusioned older man, Wilf, is living a joyless life in an unremarkable small Australian town, Selwyn, and just waiting to die. Modern life constantly disappoints Wilf: ‘I’m an old man with a leaky prostate, half a job, a sick niece and a troubled nephew.’ At 80, he’s had enough, wanting ‘to retire from everything’ but struggling to extract himself from life. Wilf is a good man with a strong moral compass. He is Selwyn’s go-to man, delivering vegetables, mail and medicines to the community, while driving the local school bus and caring for his niece and nephew. While Shining Like the Sun is arguably too long and loose, the strong sense of place and well-drawn characters hook the reader. I found myself caring for Wilf, and the bus route scenes are laugh-out-loud funny. But mostly, I felt for the ‘sorrows and stupidities of the human condition’ (as Thomas Merton calls it in the epigraph). Shining Like the Sun will appeal to fans of character-driven (and profound) stories, and as well as to readers who enjoy a long, slow burn of a tale.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Michelle Atkins is a Communications professional and published educational author. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews