I lost [my enthusiasm] for a while, recently. Another part of me took over, a part that couldn’t make those connections, couldn’t really envision those pathways. Every now and then, a lamp flickered and I caught sight of a few stones. For the most part though, I lost my capacity. It was an effort to … Continue reading What I’m Reading, for the Meanjin blog
Depression
Kirsten Krauth’s just_a_girl
This post is adapted from my speech for the Castlemaine launch of Kirsten Krauth's just_a_girl. There are three main characters in Kirsten Krauth’s excellent, powerful and confronting debut novel just_a_girl: teenage Layla, her mother Margot and a lonely Japanese man, Tadashi. As someone who had the internet at Layla’s age—14—I would also say her experience … Continue reading Kirsten Krauth’s just_a_girl
Grey areas of madness: an interview with Jon Ronson, on The Psychopath Test
Picador, Australia, 9780330451369 (paperback) In The Psychopath Test Jon Ronson takes us on journey through the mad 'industry' of madness. And it's not all acid-tripping psychopaths. Ronson follows leads to high-security prisons, a mansion filled with predators... and to L Ron Hubbard’s coca cola stain. What results is an inevitably open-ended, sometimes frightening and often hilarious look … Continue reading Grey areas of madness: an interview with Jon Ronson, on The Psychopath Test
Guest review: Imogen Baratta on Blue Skies by Helen Hodgman
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
This cumulative kind of effect when you stop: an interview with Emily Maguire on Smoke in the Room, part one
In Smoke in the Room (Aus), three characters end up in a share house in Sydney. Katie works on instinct and is weighted by an overwhelming empathy. Adam, an American, is grieving and needs to save money to get home. Graeme, an aid worker, has rid himself of possessions and simplified his existence. In this … Continue reading This cumulative kind of effect when you stop: an interview with Emily Maguire on Smoke in the Room, part one
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
Scribe, 2007, 9781921372148 (Aus, US) James is eighteen, works at his mother's gallery in New York, and is trying to worm his way out of going to Brown in the fall. Why? He prefers the idea of buying a nice old house out in a ‘quiet' state, and not being around other people his own … Continue reading Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
Express or Die? The Sensidictory Artist – an extract
Here is an extract from my piece in The Death Mook, being launched tomorrow night at Dante's in Fitzroy, Vic. Buy it here. In the full piece I discuss Sylvia Plath, Susanna Kaysen, and Elizabeth Wurtzel (in that order). As I'll be reading the Sylvia Plath section tomorrow night, I'm reproducing the introduction and the middle section … Continue reading Express or Die? The Sensidictory Artist – an extract
Paint It Black by Janet Fitch
Virago, 2007 (Aus, US) If your lover ended their life, would you feel you had ever really known them? Josie Tyrell is an artist’s model and student-film actress in punk '80s LA. She escaped her white trash upbringing for a life of parties, drugs, music and intriguing people. She met Michael, who gave up a … Continue reading Paint It Black by Janet Fitch
Tabitha Suzuma – Interview
I recently reviewed Tabitha Suzuma's young adult novel A Note of Madness for the journal Viewpoint. I thought I would ask Tabitha a few questions about the themes of depression in the novel and her own journey as a writer. Enjoy. What inspired you to make the characters music students in A Note of … Continue reading Tabitha Suzuma – Interview
A Note of Madness – Tabitha Suzuma
2006, Random House, 978009948731 (US, Aus) First published in Viewpoint, vol. 15, no. 2, Winter 2007 Flynn attends the Royal College of Music in London. He has a close relationship with his friends Harry and Jennah. His Professors believe strongly in his potential. So why is he beginning to doubt it? Flynn starts ‘going underground’, … Continue reading A Note of Madness – Tabitha Suzuma
LiteraryMinded 