Review of The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, by Richard Flanagan

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams is about a dying mother, Francie, and the efforts of her adult children to keep her alive, even though she wants to die. The children have lost the ability to communicate with each other, and are out to show they have the power, at least in the case of Anna and Terzo, to keep their mother alive. While Tommy, a failed artist who was looking after Francie, just acquiesces to the will of his other two siblings. 

The novel is also about our dying planet, particularly from climate change, as animals go extinct We say we care, but do little to prevent the unfolding disaster. The novel is set in Tasmania while bushfires rage throughout that state and the rest of Australia. 

Anna is the main protaganist, a successful architect, who rather than face her mother's pain, her crap relationship with her son, or the raging climate around her, retreats into social media. Frequently forwarding articles she has not read to her friends, showing how she avoids taking responsibility for what is going on by keeping herself uninformed and deferring action to others. 

The novel has magic realism elements, which work. Other reviewers have likened it to The Corrections, by Jonathon Franzen, a novel I really enjoyed. 

There is a lot going on in the The Living Sea of Waking Dreams. I was particularly interested in it as I have an elderly mother the same age as Francie, who's mental capacity and stamania has been declining in the past few months after a fall, and I wonder how I would respond if she, like Francie lying in a hospital bed in pain, requested the last rites. Would I have the courage of my convinctions to let her pass. It's a bit how the father with dementia drew me into The Corrections as my Father was battling dementia when I read it. 

But then the climate change and the destruction to the planet, and my feeble attempts to do something about it come to the fore. I hope this novel will get me doing more. 

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams is a novel that will get you thinking as it brings to the surface your guilt and fears. 

It is an utterly compelling read.