I love Trent Dalton’s writing and Lola in the Mirror is no exception.

It’s about a young woman who lives with her mum in a car near the Brisbane River in Queensland. She has no name having been forced to take on various identities with her mum on the run from the authorities.

The first half of the novel was a bit slow for me and I found it difficult to get into. There were a lot of characters to grapple with interspersed with commentary about the housing crisis and drugs and the underworld. The description of the characters and their back stories sounded a lot like they came from his last book Love Stories. Indeed at times I wondered if they really belonged in this novel.

The second half of the novel was a completely different pace with action jumping off the pages which I was turning quickly. It was more like an action movie complete with car chase through the city. I’m not sure that quite worked for me either.

What did work was the art work weaved throughout the book. We follow the girls search for her identity and how she fits within the world. Ultimately through all the doom and gloom of life, Denton gives life to her and leaves the reader with hope.

I did enjoy this book but I didn’t love it.