 | |
| Author | Sofie Laguna |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary novel |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin |
Publication date | 23 August 2017 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 369 pp. |
| Awards | 2018 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction, winner |
| ISBN | 9781760297244 |
The Choke is a 2017 novel by the Australian author Sofie Laguna.[1]
It was the winner of the 2018 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction.[2]
Synopsis
In the 1970s, in the fictional town of Nullabri on the Victorian side of the Murray River, 10-year-old Justine Lee struggles with her alcoholic grandfather guardian, her undiagnosed dyslexia and rural poverty. She has no friends other than Michael who has cerebral palsy. With his help she attempts to navigate the world of male power and violence where she finds herself.
Critical reception
James Ley, writing in Australian Book Review found the "style and the general tenor of [the author's] fiction are at times reminiscent of Tim Winton or Gillian Mears, and, more distantly, Sonya Hartnett." However, he also noted that this work is "content to perpetuate the rather tired notion that rural Australia is a site of poverty, backwardness, alcoholic indolence, and dysfunction."[3]
In the Sydney Review of Books Sophia Barnes commented: "Children are at the centre of Laguna's novels, their perspectives emphatically privileged. Her protagonists are abused, neglected or simply overlooked by adults who have themselves been failed, and who re-enact the violence of which they too have been victims."[4]
Notes
- Dedication: For Marc, with love and gratitude. In memory of Aileen
- Epigraph: "Sapere aude" Horace, First Book of Letters
Awards
- 2018 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year – Fiction, winner[2]
- 2018 Stella Prize, longlisted[5]
- 2018 ALS Gold Medal, shortlisted[6]
- 2018 Victorian Premier's Prize for Fiction, shortlisted[7]
See also
References
- ^ "The Choke by Sophie Laguna". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ a b ""Indie Book Awards - Winners 2018"". Australian Independent Booksellers. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ ""The Choke by Sofie Laguna"". Australian Book Review, September 2017. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ ""In the Breech: Sofie Laguna's The Choke"". Sydney Review of Books, 25 October 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ "2018 Stella Prize Longlist". Stella Prize. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ "ALS Gold Medal 2018 shortlist announced | Books+Publishing". Retrieved 4 September 2025.
- ^ "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2018 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 4 December 2017. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2025.
