Speak to Me by Sarah Hopkins
Reviewed by Lorraine Cormack
“Speak to Me is a fairly bleak story of an Australian family who are estranged from each other. I don’t think it was meant to be entirely bleak; the last pages of the novel appear to be trying to offer some hope for the future. For me, however, the overall bleakness of the novel overwhelmed this final offering.
It’s not a depressing novel but I didn’t find it very hopeful either.
Michael, a psychiatrist, has gone blind as a complication of life-saving surgery on a brain tumor. This has been traumatic not only for him, but for his entire family, something they haven’t fully acknowledged and certainly haven’t addressed. His wife Elizabeth is both thrilled to have a life beyond her children and stressed by her new responsibility as breadwinner – particularly as her family responsibilities have only increased with Michael’s illness.
Meanwhile, their children, Charlotte and Daniel, are teenagers trying to find their own way. The children are well aware of the tension between their parents and are unsure of what it means for them.
The novel follows one week in their lives. It seems initially fairly meandering, and certainly there isn’t the clear structure of, say, a crime novel. Rather like life, you can’t really see where it’s going until after you’ve arrived. The novel is written in a somewhat remote tone that made it a little hard for me to feel real warmth for any character. Michael, Charlotte and Daniel all experience significant events which have the potential to change their lives forever. Elizabeth’s direct experiences aren’t as dramatic, but her foundations are deeply shaken by the experiences and actions of the rest of her family.