“Courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice.”

No Church in the Wild by Murray Middleton is a captivating dive into the complexities of modern-day Australia. With its diverse characters and intertwined storylines, the book offers a raw and honest portrayal of life in Melbourne's inner west. Told from the perspectives of Ali, a young migrant grappling with pride and identity in the face of gentrification, to Tyler, whose simmering anger at his circumstances threatens to boil over, Anna, a teacher fighting against a failing system and Paul, somewhat in power, yet not so much, someone who is just trying to do the right thing.
The book is told in many segments and the pacing of the storytelling is skillfully executed, with tension building steadily as the narrative unfolds. Middleton deftly balances moments of introspection and character development with gripping plot twists and conflicts. It is a richly layered exploration of prejudice and its intersecting manifestations.
Each character grapples with their own sense of self and struggles to find their place in a society that often feels indifferent or hostile towards them and encourages readers to confront their own biases and examine the systems of power and privilege that perpetuate injustice.

Thankyou MacMillan Australia for the copy! 2 s Kate5 1 follower

I be will surprised if this book doesn't win some Australian book award this year. Very cleverly portrayed in the world in which it is set.1 Malvina1,595 9

This is a hard book to read, mainly because there doesn't seem to be much hope for some of the characters. Most of the action revolves around the police, and an inner city public school in Melbourne with many students coming from low income or refugee families.

Anna is one of the teachers at the school, and she manages to keep her optimism up as she teaches. She cares for her students, even when they give her serious grief - and some of them truly do. Still, Anna seems to pick herself up, dust herself off, and plough on. But that optimism is getting a bit dented with all the challenges over this year.

The students don't have the luxury of caring much, and don't seem to be much cared for either. Their backgrounds are unbelievably tough, especially the refugees who have huge past traumas. But so, also, are the students living in poverty, and/or with other problems drug-addled adults in their lives. For all of these young adults, the problem can boil down to simply surviving. Whether they actually want to learn or not becomes immaterial when survival is paramount.

The police have an uneasy relationship with the community. A case is ongoing which may or may not prove the police guilty of racism and potentially murder. It's pretty much destroyed any trust these kids might have with authority.

Into this mix comes a PR exercise for a select few to train to walk the Kokoda Trail, and thus re-establish some trust. Whether it will or won't becomes almost a moot point, however, as uneasiness prevails.

Hard to read, hard to enjoy, but I guess that's the whole point of the novel. The title comes from a Kanye West song which renounces organised religion. Again, part of the message, not so much from the religious side of things, but more renouncing the 'organised' side of things. Interesting to read but overall not a favourite with me.

Thankyou to Beauty & Lace and Pan Macmillan Australia for the review copy.2 s Gen Lawrence102

3 well earned stars!

Really interesting perspective, particularly given it’s so local. It’s not just Australian and Melbourne based but deeply entrenched in our current/past neighbourhoods. An opening scene depicts a laksa restaurant - and everyone in bookclub (I believe) pictured the correct restaurant! I did live 200m from there several years ago, so very much enjoyed the tour around many well known establishments.

It explores the lives of the characters well - at least I assume so, having not lived in that specific situation.

Reading it you may dis the characters, in fact I will be surprised if you gel with many of them. It’s a talent of the author to marry this unease with a connection that I felt to some of characters.

Heartbreaking and gloomy, but as the author shows - a lot of individuals have a season of this in their lives, regardless of their identity, be it gender, morals, heritage or employment.

I did feel the choppiness of the writing was a little too jarring at times, and I struggled to differentiate the characters and follow their complicated relationships.a-z-2024-read Ad_Hendrick156

I really d the premise and idea of this book, however, there were a few things I would have changed, I thought the story was building up to cover more time on the school trip where they came together to hike the Kokoda trail, I felt it took way too long to build up to that, where it would have made a much better part of the story. I did feel the portrayal of life in housing commission was quite accurate, as was the tensions between youth and police. I couldn’t imagine teaching in the environment that Anna did, it would be exceptionally difficult and you would have to love what they do to be able to manage those challenges. melbourne-bookclub Leah13

A gripping and important story from perspectives that we don't hear from enough. I was a little disappointed however that the kokoda trip was right at the end of the book and that we didn’t get to experience more from that, as the characters experienced it.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review Katie Mac87

Very readable with great characters and dialogue. The teens in particular were very interesting and i couldn’t help but love them wounds and all.
I was a little disappointed that there was not a greater focus on the walk as well. 2024-reading-challenge general-fiction Iain Clancy1 review

Immersive story telling. The story moves quickly and I couldn’t put it down. 1 Rebecca Lee53

I loved the storyline and how interpersonal relationships were shown - you see each character from multiple points of view which is unique and interesting. However, some of the characters weren't different enough and, at times, pov changed so quickly it was hard to keep track of who's perspective you were experiencing at any one time. Mia Ferreira120

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