Questions for

1. Do you feel Chloe Hooper ‘leads’ the witness (i.e. the reader) or do you feel she attempts to be scrupulously objective?

2. In the way that Helen Garner does (especially in JOE CINQUE’S CONSOLATION), Hooper writes very personal reportage, whereby she puts herself and her responses into the picture, too. Do you feel she does this less obtrusively than Garner? Did you find the authorial interventions appropriate?

3. Hooper mentions that Chris Hurley wouldn’t speak to her but she doesn’t really dwell on this: would you have liked more detail about how many times she tried to interview him, or the grounds on which he refused? Did you feel that you got a good sense of that man?

4. While Hooper spends much time with Cameron’s family, it’s mainly (for obvious cultural reasons) with his female relatives. Did you get much impression of Cameron’s life and male Aboriginal culture from this book?

5. Were you shocked by aspects of The Tall Man? Did it give you a new awareness about the endemic problems of Aboriginal Australia? Do you think Hooper sees any possibility for real change anytime soon?

Here’s a review from the SMH

And from the Courier Mail