sentences:  She suggests that the "presumption of entitlement that resonates throughout Steve's quest for and within the Australian nation [and] the preponderance of overtly racist passages that often overwhelm the narrative, will inevitably ring discordantly in the ears of modern readers".Falkiner, though, suggests that while her description of the foreign pickers "verges on racism", it is "partly salvaged by good humour".Australian writer, Hal Porter, writing in 1965, described the novel as "a superb and haunting work".