Text Publishing 9781921758133, March 2011 (Aus) (also UK) Reviewed by Imogen Baratta Helen Hodgman’s Blue Skies tells the story of an unnamed young wife and mother living in the 'heart shaped island' of Tasmania. The agonising banality of her day-to-day life plays out within the confines of stark, suffocating suburbia, amid the manicured lawns and … Continue reading Guest review: Imogen Baratta on Blue Skies by Helen Hodgman
Reviews + Analyses
Books, poetry, journals and the occassional film…
Guest review: Alice Grundy on Mr Peanut by Adam Ross
Vintage, 9780099535379 (Aus, UK, US) Reviewed by Alice Grundy The cover of Adam Ross’ first novel, Mr Peanut, is swathed in praise from no lesser lights than Stephen King and Michiko Kakutani. The title page features a reproduction of Escher’s ‘Mobius’ flagging the role of the double in the plot. All the signs point towards … Continue reading Guest review: Alice Grundy on Mr Peanut by Adam Ross
Guest review: Lisa Down on Kill Your Darlings: Issue Four
Kill Your Darlings: Issue Four (Aus) Ed: Rebecca Starford January 2011 reviewed by Lisa Down Call me a philistine, but I wasn’t previously familiar with the Australian quarterly Kill Your Darlings. It means I don’t have a standard by which I can judge this edition but I walked away satisfied that it had provided the … Continue reading Guest review: Lisa Down on Kill Your Darlings: Issue Four
Ashes in the Air by Ali Alizadeh
This review first appeared in the March 2011 issue of Bookseller+Publisher magazine. UQP, March 2011 (Aus) 9780702238727 What do we want from a book of poetry? We want each poem to paint a picture, to shake us up a little, and to ultimately reach down inside us and peel something back. Ali Alizadeh’s poems do all … Continue reading Ashes in the Air by Ali Alizadeh
Australian Book Review Online Edition launches today
Australian Book Review, as you may well know, is a monthly magazine featuring lengthy, considered book reviews plus poetry and essays (and soon fiction). It is 50 years old this year. Today they’re launching their Online Edition, which is an enhanced version of the magazine accessible to subscribers. ABR OE can be read on any device with … Continue reading Australian Book Review Online Edition launches today
Guest review: Rachel Edwards on Armistice by Nick Stafford
9781849160230 Quercus, 2011 (Aus) (also US, UK) reviewed by Rachel Edwards Armistice recreates the disorientated, discombobulated world of London post World War One and looks at the effect that war had on the lives of those who survived. It is a semi-mystery, semi-romance novel and it tells the story of Philomena Bligh, seamstress of Manchester. … Continue reading Guest review: Rachel Edwards on Armistice by Nick Stafford
Guest review: Lyndon Riggall on The Girl With No Hands by Angela Slatter
Ticonderoga Publications, 2011 9780980628883 (Aus, US, UK) reviewed by Lyndon Riggall In my first year at University I studied fairytales, and more specifically Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, a book which is arguably the poster-child of fairytale re-imaginings. Carter writes well, and in many cases her stories spin beautifully away from tradition while remaining neatly tied … Continue reading Guest review: Lyndon Riggall on The Girl With No Hands by Angela Slatter
Guest review: Matthew Giles on Parting With My Sex by Lucy Chesser
Sydney University Press 9781920898311 reviewed by Matthew Giles In his CAL/Meanjin essay of last year, Paul Daley argued that young Australians aren’t coerced by the state to think about their history in militaristic terms. He said that they do it on their own, because a militarised history is naturally more interesting. He was rebutting Marilyn … Continue reading Guest review: Matthew Giles on Parting With My Sex by Lucy Chesser
This Too Shall Pass by SJ Finn
This review first appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald: Spectrum on the weekend of February 26-27. Sleepers Publishing 9781742700380 March 2011 (Aus) Jen Montgomery, known as ‘Monty’, had always considered herself a ‘forever’ person, until years into her marriage when something shifted. Monty began a relationship with another woman. This Too Shall Pass not only reflects on … Continue reading This Too Shall Pass by SJ Finn
Bookslut review of Wild Unrest
I've just done my first review for popular American online literary magazine Bookslut. The review is of Wild Unrest: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Making of 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (Aus, US, UK). I say: 'Wild Unrest is refreshingly non-reductive, in that its author allows Gilman to be complex, to have a nature that … Continue reading Bookslut review of Wild Unrest
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