The Yield by Tara June Winch | Goodreads

The Yield by Tara June Winch | Goodreads






Want to Read

Rate this book
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Preview

The Yield

by
Tara June Winch (Goodreads Author)
4.28 · Rating details · 1,330 ratings · 215 reviews
Winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2020 - for Fiction, People's Choice and Book of the Year.
Shortlisted The Stella Prize 2020
Shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Fiction 2020
Longlisted Miles Franklin Literary Award 2020


Knowing that he will soon die, Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi takes pen to paper. His life has been spent on the banks of the Murrumby River at Prosperous House, on Massacre Plains. Albert is determined to pass on the language of his people and everything that was ever remembered. He finds the words on the wind.

August Gondiwindi has been living on the other side of the world for ten years when she learns of her grandfather’s death. She returns home for his burial, wracked with grief and burdened with all she tried to leave behind. Her homecoming is bittersweet as she confronts the love of her kin and news that Prosperous is to be repossessed by a mining company. Determined to make amends she endeavours to save their land – a quest that leads her to the voice of her grandfather and into the past, the stories of her people, the secrets of the river.

Profoundly moving and exquisitely written, Tara June Winch’s The Yield is the story of a people and a culture dispossessed. But it is as much a celebration of what was and what endures, and a powerful reclaiming of Indigenous language, storytelling and identity. (less)

GET A COPY
Kobo
Online Stores ▾
Book Links ▾

Hardcover, 352 pages
Published June 2nd 2020 by HarperVia (first published July 2nd 2019)
Original Title
The Yield
ISBN
0063003465 (ISBN13: 9780063003460)
Edition Language
English
Literary Awards
The Stella Prize Nominee for Shortlist (2020)

Other Editions (9)






All Editions | Add a New Edition | Combine...Less DetailEdit Details





FRIEND REVIEWS
Recommend This Book None of your friends have reviewed this book yet.



READER Q&A
Ask the Goodreads community a question about The Yield



Be the first to ask a question about The Yield



LISTS WITH THIS BOOK
This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »



COMMUNITY REVIEWS
Showing 1-30
Average rating4.28 ·
Rating details
· 1,330 ratings · 215 reviews





More filters
|
Sort order

Sejin, start your review of The Yield
Write a review

Aug 11, 2019Marchpane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: australian, 2019-releases
Winner of the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award

The Yield is that rare thing: a 5-star stunner from the very first lines. It combines history, heritage and the Wiradjuri language with a moving narrative and unfussy, yet often lyrical, prose.

We follow August Gondiwindi, a young woman returning to her home town of Massacre Plains after the death of her grandfather. She learns that he had been compiling a dictionary of the Wiradjuri language, but it's nowhere to be found. Meanwhile her widowed grandmother is being forced to pack up their home to make way for a huge mine.

The novel then alternates between August's story, Poppy Gondiwindi's deeply personal dictionary entries, and a mysterious letter from 1915, written by the German reverend who first established an Aboriginal mission in Massacre Plains.

The Yield is the latest in a recent spate of excellent books bringing new understanding of Aboriginal culture and identity to a wider audience. Too Much Lip delved into contemporary family dynamics with fully drawn, true-to-life characters (and a great deal of humour); Dark Emu is the non-fiction book that opened up much of the anthropology, archeology and history that Winch draws upon here; The Yield adds another facet by exploring, through a fictional narrative, the importance of language to culture.

Language is a unique lens: the things and concepts deemed important enough to bestow with names can be so revealing. Through Poppy Gondiwindi's dictionary, we learn his own personal story, as well as the traditions, customs and beliefs of his ancestors, the Gondiwindi mob. We see how the personal cannot be extricated from the historical, the cultural. That each of us contains within us everything that has gone before.

Winch has done a superb job of maintaining a fictional narrative through these dictionary entries; reading them always feels as if Poppy is yarning with you in his warm, kindly voice, never like an academic exercise. As she points out in her Author's Note, Australia's indigenous languages are among the world's most endangered - her novel not only records Wiradjuri words, it rouses and fortifies them, through Poppy they come to life.

A remarkable novel that I hope to see on next year's Stella and Miles Franklin lists. (less)
flag116 likes · Like · 15 comments · see review



Oct 08, 2019PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: fiction-adult, australian-author, chcc-library, award-win-listed, indigenous, politics-culture-social
5★ - UPDATE! Just won the Miles Franklin Award!!

“younger sister - minhi
. . .
‘The family trees of people like us are just bushes now, aren’t they?’ he said. ‘Someone has been trimming them good.’ I wouldn’t ever forget these words because they sounded like sad poems. And I guess that’s a true thing, because all the years I’ve lived I’ve lost so many parts of the people that make me up. My mummy, my daddy, my cousins, and my younger sister, my minhi. When I was little and in the Boys’ Home I never forgot our people on the river.”

Albert “Poppy” Gondiwindi is remembering what an old stockman told him when he was a very young man working on a property. Albert is the focus of the book, an Aboriginal grandfather who has been collecting language for a dictionary before it is all lost.

The book opens with his granddaughter August flying home from London for his funeral, feeling guilty for having been away. She dreams of him on the flight.

“He [Poppy] was talking about a different land though, not the one August had known for over a decade – in the grasslands forever wet, foreign forests of elm, ash, sycamore, hazel, and in the white willows that dipped into quiet canals. Where smaller birds in secondary colours flocked together and fires never licked. . . .

She knew that she had once known the beloved land where the sun slapped the barren earth with an open palm and knew too that she would return for the funeral. Go back full with shame for having left...”

Winch uses August for the current timeline, sharing some of her memories. She uses Albert to introduce words and to reminisce about his childhood, relate the cultural history he's learned, and talk about his time-travel. He says he sees spirit people and moves through time and space. He has been writing his dictionary, and each word he introduces is followed by a story and a memory, like the one at the beginning here.

The third point of view is the Reverend Ferdinand Greenleaf (originally Grunblatt) who arrived from Prussia as a boy in 1841. In 1880, he opened “Prosperous Lutheran Mission for the Native inhabitants” and befriended the local Aboriginal people as best he knew how.

A fair bit of time is covered for these 500 acres known as Massacre. What a name, eh? It’s obvious why it was called that, and Reverend Greenleaf’s letters and diaries detail some of the horrors that the locals survived (or not) when the white people “settled” the land known as Ngurambang. The opening sentence of the book, by Albert, is:

“I was born on ‘Ngurambang’ – can you hear it? – ‘Ngu-ram-bang’. If you say it right it hits the back of your mouth and you should taste blood in your words. Every person around should learn the word for ‘country’ in the old language, the first language – because that is the way to all time, to time travel! You can go all the way back.”

[Winch refers to the back of the mouth or back of the throat several times, which I imagine is to stress the forcefulness of what someone is saying or wishing they could say. Like a roar from the depths of your soul - but that might be fanciful on my part.]

August’s grandmother, Elsie, and her Aunties and other relatives come and go, preparing for the funeral, and we gradually learn about what prompted August to travel and end up overseas. She is horrified when she discovers what they are up against with the company that’s moving in to mine tin and moving them out. She sees the DANGER signs on their pipes

“August wondered what it was that was a danger, she imagined gas compressed under the pipes, flammable dinosaur bones and coal stones, all the element codes of a periodic table rising. She imagined falling into the tin pit, ‘all this gone’, free-falling a kilometre below.”

I’ve heard a couple of interviews with the author, and while this isn’t said to be autobiographical, she also left school and home young, travelled extensively, and is now married, living in France. She worked with Dr Uncle Stan Grant, Sr. AM, a respected Wiradjuri elder who has been working on and saving language all his life. He is also the father of Stan Grant, whom we know as an author (Talking To My Country) and public figure. A little diversion under the spoiler tag.

(view spoiler)

August thinks a lot about her older sister, Jedda, who used to lead them in to all kinds of mischief and adventures. The both loved to dance to music. We know nothing about Jedda, but there is a wonderful scene where the gathered people see a Brolga (big native crane) land and dance, and she is riveted. It's quite long, so I'll tuck that under a spoiler tag, too.

(view spoiler)

It’s a remarkable blend of history, family, politics, and fierce loyalty and devotion. There is a map in the front and a dictionary in the back, although I can’t find some of the words in it that Poppy uses throughout the book. I’m sure I heard the author say something about that, but I don't remember where! There is, however, a good author’s note with more information.

She also said she knew she wanted to write a story about agriculture. Yield is a measure of what a crop produces. An acre may yield a few tons of grain. Yield might mean the dividend on an investment. Yield also means to give way, to give in, to give up. This book covers all of those things. Massacre is a wheat farm, and after the indigenous people were overcome and enslaved and gave up their own digging and planting, they became farm workers, and it is still a working farm.

I haven’t read the author’s acclaimed first book Swallow the Air, but it’s high time I did. I’m glad she’s helping to promote the cause of saving language. Both adults and children were beaten for using their own words, so many must have been lost. Here’s a map I may have shared before of Aboriginal language groups.

Map of Aboriginal Australia with approximate identification of groups

Here’s a link to a high-resolution image that you can enlarge to read, if you’re interested. The spellings of various mobs and languages vary a bit here and there from map to map, but that’s more an issue of English spelling than of the spoken word.

Link to high resolution map of Aboriginal Australia

There are some videos of Brolgas dancing. Forgive the initial ad:
Link to video of Brolgas

I LOVE this one - kids today, loud and proud in a Brolga dance!
Link to young people doing a Brolga performance

And whatever you do, read The Guardian article here about her stoush with Andrew Bolt in his what I call "They Aren't-Black-Enough" campaign against some Aboriginal artists.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201... (less)
flag78 likes · Like · 12 comments · see review



Mar 26, 2020Nat K rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: audio-book, 2020-books, historical, shorlists-and-longlists, contemporary, makes-you-think, aussie

*** Winner of the Miles Franklin 2020 ****

*** Shortlisted for the 2020 Stella Prize ***

"Please don't be a victim Auggie..."

Reading this, I felt like my diaphragm was gripped in a vice. Like I was unable to breath properly. This is such an incredibly complex book. It is a rich story, that speaks of culture, displacement and love.

Love of another. Love of of family. Love of country. Love of words.

A sense of disconnect jumped at me from these pages. That whether you are born somewhere or emigrate to a new land for whatever reason, it does not always mean that you will feel welcome, or that you belong.

The storytelling by Tara June Winch is artful. The way she meshes together stories across generations and non-related people is skillfully done. We hear the story for three different people, across various timelines.

Albert "Poppy" Gondiwindi has passed. He discovered a love of words as a young man. His dream to create a dictionary containing indigenous phrases of the Wiradjuri language has come to fruition. His hope being that the language will not be lost, and will live on after him. Through the dictionary's creation, we learn of his life along the (fictitious) Murrumby River, at the (aptly named) township of Massacre Plains. Each of the words entered into the dictionary evokes a memory, and the story behind that memory.

His prodigal granddaughter August "Auggie" returns home from London to attend his funeral, filled with remorse and grief. Auggie left Massacre Plains many years before. Her mornings in London begin with a coffee and two aspirin. Family tragedy and grief have made her question who she is, and what makes a person feel like they are at home. Perhaps returning to the place of her childhood, will help her find the answers she desperately seeks.

The Reverend Ferdinand Greenleaf, originally of German origin (Grünblatt), arrives on Australia's shores in the early 1900s, to set up a mission. It's still a brave new world, very harsh, often cruel. Through his letters, we see the world through his eyes. The mistreatment of the native people, too often inhumane and inexcusable. It's so difficult for me to comprehend this type of behaviour. The discrimination and double standards. The fear and cruelty that still echoes today.

History, settlement, MABO, the stolen children, mining, jobs, the destruction of the environment, and the death of small country towns are all tackled here. This is a story about people. About retaining your culture and language, and being proud of it. About the acceptance of each other, and about the importance of identity.

Standouts for me were the gorgeous descriptions of nature and the countryside. How we're all really just a tiny wheel in a giant cog, and need to work together to keep it moving. To be respectful, to each other and the environment.

The indigenous phrases and the putting together of Poppy's dictionary was a joy to read about. And I was particularly fortunate to have listened to the audio version of this book, so I actually got to hear these phrases pronounced correctly, rather than mumbling my way through them.

The narration by Tony Briggs brought the story to life, and the timbre of his voice was an absolute joy to listen to. Particularly hearing him pronounce the abovementioned phrases and words, was a stroke of luck for me.

This is only my second audio book, and another Aussie winner. Big shout out to Randwick City Library for having such a wonderful selection of titles to choose from.

Past, present and future are all here. To be considered and pondered over. Haunting.

“There are few worse things than memory, yet few things better.” (less)
flag51 likes · Like · 18 comments · see review



Jul 16, 2019Michael Livingston rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This is another ripper - angry, sad, wise and somehow optimistic. It reminded me of Too Much Lip in a lot of ways, although with less humour. The richness in the ways that Winch tackles language particularly is revelatory - there's so much cultural knowledge here, but also a brilliant narrative and complicated, fascinating characters.
flag35 likes · Like · 1 comment · see review



Apr 04, 2020Ace rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: australian-writers
I loved everything about this book. The timelines, the narrators, the structure and the dictionary. Even the horrific history, no matter how many times you read it, in different shapes and voices, you think you've heard it before but Winch has portrayed it so creatively here. It was deeply moving and bloody brilliant. Surely is the front-runner to win the Stella Prize in a few days. I haven't read any others on the shortlist and probably won't have time now, but my money is on this one!
flag29 likes · Like · see review



Aug 11, 2019Jennifer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This book was absolutely stunning. However, I don’t feel at all qualified to discuss this for book club, and I’m starting to get a little bit stressed about the whole thing.
The language was stunning, and I absolutely cannot recommend this book highly enough, especially considering the author will be at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival this year.
Seriously, read this book.
flag17 likes · Like · 2 comments · see review