Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Lazaros Zigomanis, Busybird Publishing, $29.99
Some of our lifestyle themes are explored as part of this young adult fiction. As Lazaros says: it’s important to explore all forms of literature because even through fiction we can educate readers to the real issues that surround us.
It’s fair to say, at times, fiction can embed everyday truths. There are times we become self-absorbed or get lost in our own first-world problems. Awakenings come through reading.
There’s certainly something of an awakening, not only for the narrator Luke Miggs, but for everyone involved. Pride is from an 18-year-old’s point of view. A reticent kid who hopes his career playing football in the local country league might be a springboard for bigger and better things. The only problem is that his town’s team, the Ulah Ravens, has only ever been battlers. They need to be realistic and to take their footy seriously. Just like the reigning champions, the Little Reach Scorpions, who have dominated competition for the past decade.
Things begin to change, however, when Adam Pride – a 20-something Indigenous man – emerges from the night and says he wants to join the Ravens. That’s the gist of what drives the story.
Then it becomes about chasing your dreams, finding peace in yourself, racism, community and how the choices of the past can come back to shape our present.
Pride explores how casual racism can become embedded in everyday society to the extent that people accept it unthinkingly as just a way of life. Then when they become aware of it, how do they respond?
It’s an absorbing story of bonds, a coming-of-age and how the choices of our past can come back to carve our future.
