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'Black Rock White City is a novel about the damages of war, the limits of choice, and the hope of love. During a hot Melbourne summer Jovan's cleaning work at a bayside hospital is disrupted by acts of graffiti and violence becoming increasingly malevolent. For Jovan the mysterious words that must be cleaned away dislodge the poetry of the past. He and his wife Suzana were forced to flee Sarajevo and the death of their children.
'Intensely human, yet majestic in its moral vision, Black Rock White City is an essential story of Australia's suburbs now, of displacement and immediate threat, and the unexpected responses of two refugees as they try to reclaim their dreams. It is a breathtaking roar of energy that explores the immigrant experience with ferocity, beauty and humour.' (Publication summary)
Notes
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Dedication: For Emily my love
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Large print.
- Dyslexic edition.
Works about this Work
- y Black Rock White City by A. S. Patric : Notes Melbourne : CAE Book Group , 2018 13925280 2018 single work criticism
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The World of Crumbs and Inaudible Beauty/Black Rock White City
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 31 no. 2 2017; (p. 445-447)'Alec Patrić's Black Rock White City (2015), a tale of two cities and two war refugees, won the 2016 Miles Franklin Award against the backdrop of an ongoing worldwide refugee crisis. Besides its topicality, this poignant rendition of migrant experience makes readers privy to the lives of suburban Melbournians, invites them to undertake detective work in solving a crime, and takes them on a journey across genres and modes of writing. The immediacy of the first-person narration is interrupted with scattered fragments of poetry, dislodged from Jovan's mind by the graffiti; passages from a novel-in-progress, which mark the beginning of Suzana's regeneration; and flashbacks from the characters' past, pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that readers are completing alongside the search for clues in a murder mystery. [...]it is up to them to decide if they are convinced by the unraveling and the final image in Suzana's admiring eyes of Jovan, "as expressionless as god remaking the world" (248), as he seizes the second chance to protect his family.' (Publication abstract)
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First Novels Tackle Sexism and Prejudice, Past and Present
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 22 November 2017;
— Review of Black Rock White City 2015 single work novel -
Crime Thriller Meets Immigrant Tale
2017
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 11 November 2017;
— Review of Black Rock White City 2015 single work novel'Australian author AS Patrić’s debut novel tells the story of two migrants from the former Yugoslavia trying to rebuild their lives in late 1990s Australia. Black Rock is a suburb of Melbourne with a large immigrant population, and “white city” – the literal English translation of “Belgrade” – connotes renewal and regeneration, the blank slate of a fresh start. His protagonists, Jovan and Suzana, lost everything in the Balkan conflict: their two young children, their livelihoods and much of their will to live. Suzana was raped and Jovan tortured. In Australia they take jobs that are beneath their level of education: she works as a carer; he, formerly a university lecturer, is now a hospital janitor. Jovan used to be a prolific poet and Suzana wrote fiction, but neither has done much writing since they migrated.' (Introduction)
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Story of Exile Snares Miles Franklin Award
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 27-28 August 2016; (p. 17)
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Review : Black Rock White City
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Books + Publishing , vol. 94 no. 3 2015; (p. 20)
— Review of Black Rock White City 2015 single work novel -
An Intimate Study of Life, Love, Humanity and Grief
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 4-5 April 2015; (p. 16-17)
— Review of Black Rock White City 2015 single work novel -
Black Rock White City : Review
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 18 April 2015; (p. 1920)
— Review of Black Rock White City 2015 single work novel 'Jovan has escaped war-torn Yugoslavia with his wife Suzana after the loss of their two beloved children but bayside Melbourne isn't exactly the haven they were hoping to find...' -
Across the Borders from the Suburban to the Surreal
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 May 2015; (p. 25) The Saturday Age , 9-10 May 2015; (p. 25)
— Review of Black Rock White City 2015 single work novel -
Review : Black Rock White City
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11 April 2015;
— Review of Black Rock White City 2015 single work novel -
Melbourne, City of Literature
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: World Literature Today , March vol. 90 no. 2 2016; (p. 5) -
Miles Franklin Shortlist Named
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Mercury , 30 May 2016; (p. 5) 'The shortlist for this year’s Miles Franklin Literary Award was announced in Sydney yesterday. ...' -
Miles Franklin Shortlist: Four Melbourne Novelists Join Charlotte Wood
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 29 May 2016; 'Four authors who have never previously featured in the latter stages of the Miles Franklin Literary Award have made their way onto the shortlist for Australia's premier literary prize. ...' -
Interview – A S Patric, Author of Black Rock White City
2016
single work
interview
— Appears in: Booklover Book Reviews 2016; -
It’s a Long Road to the Miles but Patric Has Arrived
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 27-28 August 2016; (p. 5)
Awards
- 2016 winner Miles Franklin Literary Award
- 2016 highly commended Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
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Sarajevo,
cBosnia & Herzegovina,ccEx Yugoslavia,cEastern Europe, Europe,
- Melbourne, Victoria,