Review of Bombora

[Eloise Farthing]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Bombora" by Paul Drewitt.]

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2 out of 5 stars

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Bombora by Paul Drewitt is a novel about the thrill of fear. A teenager from a small, coastal Australian town experiments with the natural forces of the ocean to prove himself to his older brother’s friend, Mick, and his acquaintances. His main concern is to fit into Mick’s social hierarchy and to conquer the fear that surrounds freediving; the treacherous activity that the main character and Mick engage in to compete for most bold person.

The main issue I found whilst reading Bombora was that Drewitt never expresses a clear opinion on any plot point. He writes from a standpoint that shuns those who do not fit in, yet creates a main character who ostracises himself from society with the mindset that he is superior. This is a flawed main character who Drewitt never clearly encourages the reader to critique, nor sympathise with. Additionally, the writing of Bombora indicates that Drewitt has little awareness of connotative meanings, leading to direct characterisations contradicting indirect characterisations. This left the viewpoint of the main character unclear, hindering the reader from sympathising or connecting to the main character.

Drewitt's writing style I found quite boring; it is very plain and not enticing to read. He details exactly what is happening as if the main character, who narrates the novel, is viewing the events from the third person. It comes across as a self help genre book packaged as a novel. Furthermore, Drewitt uses a lot of Australian slang which seems to be the only thing tying the novel to its Australian setting, however, the excessive and often inaccurate way it is used makes it both inaccessible to non-Australians and Australians alike. While there may be some discrepancies between South Australian slang, where Drewitt is from, and the rest of the country, it should still be understandable to anyone who picks up the book.

Despite these criticisms, I believe that Bombora has potential to be something great. The writing quality vastly improved towards the end of the book, and the premise of writing a book about chasing fear is not a particularly boring topic. With several more revisions and thorough editing, Bombora may turn out to be a book I would recommend to others. However, at this current stage, I would not recommend it.

This leads me to the rating of 2 out of 5 stars. This book was not terrible, however, has potential to be something that others may enjoy if edited and revised.

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Bombora
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