Becoming Kirrali Lewis is Australian playwright, Jane Harrison’s, first novel. In 2014, this book won the State Library of Queensland black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship. It was also highly commended in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards in 2016. Becoming Kirrali Lewis explores the life of a native Australian teen who leaves her home in 1985 to achieve a degree in law. Kirrali attempt to search for her biological family begins a political revolution in her life. Readers are presented with flashbacks to the 1960’s where we learn about Kirrali’s mother, who we actually find out is white, and her rebellion towards conservatism and unequal love. Kirrali’s mother’s story gives Kiralli’s life a whole new meaning.
Jane Harrison’s novel starts with Kiralli beginning her first semester of law at university. Being from a small town in the countryside, life in the university in all new to Kirrali. She is not used to the unequal treatment due to her skin color. This racism caused Kirrali to want to discover who she really was instead of “the black girl in the all-white family”
This book serves several themes throughout it. Those themes being race relations, identity, independence, courage, and adoption. Reader will learn about the race relations between Indigenous and white Australians during the time periods that take place in this book, 1960s to the 1980s. Not only Kirrali find out about herself she also finds her independence when dealing with her friendships. What Kiralli does to find her biological parents take a lot of courage. Readers will also learn of the strong relationship between Kirrali and her adoptive family.
Becoming Kirrali Lewis is really about Kiralli discovering who she is. She learns about her Indigenous people’s culture and Kirrali begins to form her own political opinions and moral compass. This novel also dives into the darkness of violence, assault, and police brutality. When American readers open the window to this book, they see almost a reflection of their own country and how modern Australia compares to modern America.
I really enjoyed read this novel. In fact, I loved Kirrali in this. She starts out to be this naive teenager but then develops more and more as she experiences more. If you were a student to wanted to learn more of the Indigenous people of Australia and how they are treated as a minority then I would definitely recommend this book to you.
Works Cited:
Harrison, Jane. Becoming Kirrali Lewis. Broome: Magabala Books Aboriginal Corporation, 2015. Print.
Cover art taken from https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Kirrali-Lewis-Jane-Harrison/dp/1922142808