God Forgets About the Poor (Peter Polites, Ultimo)
God Forgets About the Poor is an endearing chronicle of a migrant mother’s life from 1945 to the present. Vivid descriptions bring the locations to life, from being born amid bombs in war-torn Greece to adulthood in Athens with no family to the streets of modern-day Sydney. Brutal realities of the poor hit home for the reader, through stories such as that of newborn twins left to die next to the body of their mother—who has died during childbirth—because it isn’t possible to provide for them. At times the writing style in Peter Polites’ third novel, after Down the Hume (2017) and the award-winning The Pillars (2019), feels too expository, which initially made it difficult for me to get into the book. However, more often, it has an expressive voice that makes you feel as though you’ve been invited into the mother’s home, like a friend, to sit and share stories over a coffee rather than just reading pages. Some stories are funny, some are heartbreaking, and some are shocking. Early in the novel, the mother says truthfully, ‘People will love my suffering’, and in a nutshell, this summarises the book. Migrant stories are a core facet of Australia’s multicultural identity. God may have forgotten about the poor, but Peter Polites remembered them. God Forgets About the Poor is a reminder that everyone has a story worth telling and hearing, but not everyone gets the chance to share it. This is one told well.
Books+Publishing reviewer: Bohdi Byles is a freelance reviewer with a background in bookselling, publishing and writing. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
Category: Reviews