In “No Church in the Wild” Murray Middleton has written an extraordinarily depressing novel. However, it’s also a novel that will challenge you to re-examine your own attitudes, preconceptions, and prejudices.
It’s well worth reading.
This is not a book to read for enjoyment, exactly, it’s challenging and thought-provoking, the kind of novel that demands something of you. You’ll be thinking about it for a while after finishing it, and you’ll be pleased that you’ve read it.
This is a contemporary read, set in inner Melbourne. It follows four different characters, all of whom interact, largely around the public high school which serves the area.
Anna is a teacher – a good one. She’s dedicated, she cares about her students, and she’s disturbed by the way the school and the education system more broadly are failing them. But both the weight of bureaucracy and her students’ indifference work against her efforts at change.
Ali and Tyler are two of her students. Ali dreams of being a famous (and rich) rapper but is caught up in the struggle to survive in a depressed area with a substantial refugee population – like Ali himself.
His classmate Tyler has perhaps a more realistic goal – to join the army – but is being pulled down by the drug abuse of the adults around him. He can see his dreams slowly disintegrating, and anger is taking the place of both despair and hope.
And then there’s Paul, a cop relatively new to the area. He’s supposed to be leading a group of students and teachers on a trek of the Kokoda Trail, in part to rebuild relationships between the police and the community. Paul’s not a great choice, though. He’s full of his own prejudices, blind to other’s perspectives, and utterly unable to hear what others are saying to him.
Not all of these characters are particularly likeable, but they’re all pretty realistic. We’ve all met or seen people like them. Middleton draws these people strongly and through them their community. Neither Paul nor Anna are particularly well off, and both have their problems. Still, we see that they are relatively privileged compared to the students.
It is in the depiction of the students that the novel really shines. Initially, they present as absolute horrors. They’re disruptive in class, they’re rude, their honesty is flexible, and they carry their own prejudices. As Middleton draws more of their world, and those around them, we develop an understanding of the influences that have made them this way. It’s vivid, believable – and incredibly depressing. It engages our sympathies for these young people.
The plot is slight, with Middleton essentially just wandering through the days with these people as they train for the Kokoda Trail. There’s a power in that, though, letting us see the good and bad in their lives in a very gradual way.
As I have said a couple of times, I found this novel very sad. It doesn’t feel as if it offers much hope for any of the characters. However, it does offer a lot of understanding and may provoke readers to consider their own attitudes to, and understanding of, refugee teenagers. In that perhaps there’s some long-term hope for all of us.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club Members are reading No Church in the Wild by Murray Middleton. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember, and I love sharing that joy.
I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember, across all genres. There’s not much I won’t at least try. I’ve been an enthusiastic book reviewer for years. I particularly enjoy discovering writers new to me, and sharing good writing with others.
My career has included time spent writing and editing technical documents, but it’s fiction that really moves me. I’ve reviewed for a number of different outlets over the years, and have been a judge in literary competitions.
I’m now raising little bookworms of my own, which brings a whole new kind of joy to sharing books.
More of my reviews can be found on my review blog www.otherdreamsotherlives.home.blog .
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 like 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.
YA novel No Church in the Wild by author Murray Middleton for me was difficult to follow with the various characters but was still an unforgettable read for me. So many characters diverse “stories” were interspersed with young and idealistic teacher Anna’s story. The characters live in high rises, their high school classrooms are what I can only describe as a melting pot and the trail of Kokoda’s jungle. New to the police force Paul sees the need for relations with the youth and realises it won’t be a quick fix solution that can be offered to these youngsters. Youngster (and classmate) Tyler comes from a broken home, I felt his anger that was directed at his life and the world that seems hell bent on denying his dreams of fame as a world-famous rapper. Life in Melbourne’s inner west area where many are of low income and/or of a former refugee status. It’s a so very raw and very honest portrayal. A recurrent theme throughout this read is the still very real prejudices faced by various cultures/ethnicities in Australia today.
Thank you to Beauty & Lace and Pan Macmillan Australia for the review copy.
No Church in the Wild by Murray Middleton is a raw portrayal of modern Australia, delving into its prejudices and racial tensions.
With a compelling narrative and diverse perspectives. this gripping book is written in the viewpoint of multiple characters and as such, was a very hard novel to put down.
Whilst confronting, Murray has cleverly written a masterpiece!
Thank you very much Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read and review this well written book.
Certainly not an uplifting read and I feel that this book should come with a a Trigger Warning for those people that may react to mentions of sexual child abuse.
I found that I felt quite helpless for the characters in the book. The teens had either given up or were battling to make something of themselves but as hard as they tried they were never going to make it. I kept waiting for something positive to happen. Just a small glimmer of hope but it never appeared.
All that said this is a very well written book and it has obviously been a labour of love.
Certainly makes you think about how the other half lives.
Thanks to Beauty And Lace and Pan Macmillan for my copy to read and review.
I struggled with following this book with all the different characters and swapping to them throughout but by the end I got the hang of them.
It was a very thought provoking read, with many different topics covered such as racism, poverty and sexual abuse.
It showed poor people and just what they go through and how they are treated by society but also the strength the same people have to come out as good people despite the circumstances.
The flip of the coin is the ones who end up in jail because of their decisions.
Very interesting and different book for me that will stay with me.
I struggled to begin with as the writing style and language style was bit hard to understand for me. I almost gave up but I am glad I didn’t.
I ended up enjoying following the journey of Ali, Tyler, Funda and others. If I gave up I would not get to see these youngsters grow up, have them see and learn life lessons but as I said it took me a while to get into he swing of the writing style.
There was a lot to think about in reflection and makes me realise how good most people in our country have it.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read No Church In The Wild by Murray Middleton.
I found this book hard to follow with so many different characters.
It wasn’t very interesting.
The young characters were migrants who fight with the cops and the cops fight with the young guys.
There’s a teacher that is trying her best in a neighbourhood that’s full of poverty, drugs and parents that don’t care.
It’s a depressing story.
⭐️⭐️
No Church In The Wild is told from the perspectives of several characters, Anna the teacher at an inner city school, Paul the police officer who takes kids to Kokoda, and several students and their interactions within their community and with the adults.
The story, as told by Murray Middleton, captures the feel of the community after a violent incident and provides insight into the viewpoints of the various elements within the community. While the content is difficult to digest at times and challenges the thinking of the reader, it is told with heart and a deep understanding of how each character thinks and believes the way they do.
While I was able to follow along for the most part of the character changes, I was left a little annoyed by the ending. This was due to the slow build up and then all seemed to be finished within a few pages with some questions left hanging about different characters. The author seemed to hint at things without disclosing the full story.
Thankyou to Beauty & Lace and Pan Macmillan Australia for my copy of this book. I’ll certainly reread it at a future point and perhaps get different things out of it in a future read.
No Church in the Wild by Murray Middleton was a good read. It looks at faith, identity, and the search for meaning in today’s chaotic world. The story follows a diverse group of characters who face personal struggles and question their beliefs and connections.
Whilst the book was a great read, it did feel like it ended abruptly and I still had unanswered questions. Regardless, it is well written and a book I would recommend to read