Note: This review/interview is uncensored and contains swearing. The Slap (Aus, US) is a novel that grabs you by your tender spots, squeezes, and doesn't let go. Set in contemporary Melbourne and its suburbs, a man slaps another person's child at a barbeque. From there, the narrative expands out to the lives of several characters of … Continue reading ‘Discomfort is sometimes what is most precious to me about great art’ – Christos Tsiolkas on The Slap
Australian books
'I Wanted to Talk About Being Completely Screwed Over by the Corporate Machine With a Smile on My Face' – William Kostakis on Loathing Lola
Loathing Lola, William Kostakis, Pan Macmillan, 2008, Australia, 9780330424165 You rewrote the whole book to be in first person (no mean feat!), in Courtney's point of view. How did you come to this decision? Okay, so originally, Loathing Lola was in the third person, with three leads, Courtney, Tim and Katie. Well, four leads, if you included … Continue reading 'I Wanted to Talk About Being Completely Screwed Over by the Corporate Machine With a Smile on My Face' – William Kostakis on Loathing Lola
Loathing Lola – William Kostakis
Pan Macmillan, 2008, Australia, 9780330424165 Courtney Marlow becomes the star of new reality TV Show Real Teens despite the fact that she doesn't watch much reality TV. Her boyfriend, Liam, had encouraged her to audition. Is she following through just for him? And how will she cope with cameras in her face just months after … Continue reading Loathing Lola – William Kostakis
Blood & Tinsel: A Memoir by Jim Sharman
9780522853773, Miegunyah Press, August, HB (Aus, US) A version of this review was first published in the June 2008 issue of BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2008 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC). Jim Sharman relays the story of his life rhythmically, like a play or film. Childhood memories of boxing sideshows are cut between … Continue reading Blood & Tinsel: A Memoir by Jim Sharman
Stick This in Your Memory Hole by Tristan Clark
Aduki, November 07, 9780980335125 (Aus, US) There are many ways of endearing people to your worldview. A carefully reasoned argument set out in engaging prose, or an impassioned cry for justice related to your own experiences, perhaps. Another way would be slamming them violently and repeatedly with your no-holds-barred attack on all things current, to … Continue reading Stick This in Your Memory Hole by Tristan Clark
Eating Lolly by Corrie Hosking
First published in the Summer 2007/2008 issue of BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2008 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC) http://www.bookseller+publisher.com.au/ Fourth Estate, 9780732285999, February 2008 (Aus, US/Kindle) Mumma is sent away to an island to have her illegitimate daughter. She emotionally smothers her new baby and curbs her own anxieties with the comfort … Continue reading Eating Lolly by Corrie Hosking
The Asking Game – Rose Michael
9780975022863, Transit Lounge, 2007 (Amazon) It is near-future Australia. Eve is hired on a new job, taking the code name ‘Alice’. Alice suffers from dreams that feel more like memories, yet are disconnected from her own experience. The job itself is deeply connected with Alice’s questions of self. All that she has pushed to the … Continue reading The Asking Game – Rose Michael
The Company of the Dead – David Kowalski
First published in the July 2007 issue of BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2007 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC) http://www.bookseller+publisher.com.au/ In 2012 the world is occupied by German and Japanese forces. America is divided. Agent Kennedy of the Confederate has always felt that something in his world is amiss. His thoughts are confirmed … Continue reading The Company of the Dead – David Kowalski
In Good Company – Interview with David Kowalski
First published in the July 2007 issue of BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2007 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC) http://www.bookseller+publisher.com.au/ What inspired the idea that changing the fate of the Titanic could change the course of the Twentieth Century? Rightly or wrongly, the fate of the Titanic has been linked with the … Continue reading In Good Company – Interview with David Kowalski
WIN! The Journals of Sylvia Plath
‘… such a minute fraction of this life do we live: so much is sleep, tooth-brushing, waiting for mail, for metamorphosis, for those sudden moments of incandescence: unexpected, but once one knows them, one can live life in the light of their past and the hope of their future’ (Sylvia Plath, The Journals of Sylvia … Continue reading WIN! The Journals of Sylvia Plath
