Several F-words spring to mind to describe the writers anthologised in Destroying the Joint. Fabulous. Fiery. Funny. Feisty. Fierce. And, perhaps most importantly: Feminist. The pieces contained in this book originated as impassioned responses to Alan Jones’ awful and offensive remark in August 2012 that ‘women are destroying the joint’. Notable Australian women were asked…
Read more
While this edition of ‘books you should have read by now’ will focus on one book (as usual), it’s still fruitful to speak about the novella in general. A once dying art form, the novella has experienced a resurgence. So there’s no time like the present (or as the concept of ‘books you should have…
Read more
I spent the night before my first day of teaching in an excited loop of hushed masturbation on my side of the mattress, never falling asleep. Quite an opening, right? This is how Alissa Nutting’s Tampa begins, plunging the reader straight into the highly sexualised interior monologue of Celeste, a twenty-six year old school teacher….
Read more
Reading Lottie Moggach’s debut novel Kiss Me First is like experiencing an extended claustrophobic fever-dream. From the perspective of an intense and unreliable narrator, this slow-burning novel explores obsession, connection, loneliness and identity, all through the mode of online communication. Leila is an intelligent, antisocial and reclusive young woman who lacks empathy or self-awareness. Following…
Read more
Ali Cobby Eckermann was too afraid to cry, and I was too afraid to put down her memoir till I had come to the end and knew that she was going to be okay. This is the extraordinary true story of Eckermann’s upbringing as a child of the stolen generation—taken from her Indigenous family at…
Read more
I think it’s fair to say ‘thank God Facebook wasn’t around when I was in high school’ is a popular statement among 20-something year olds. Sure, we had MSN and MySpace, but we were spared Facebook’s procrastination-friendly bevy of games, fan pages, chats and snooping opportunities. We were also spared some of the more latent…
Read more
My confession is that I hate King Lear. Possibly you disagree with me. But that is not to say that I hate all of Shakespeare (God forbid we have the arrogance to criticise the great Master!). Luckily, there is hope for me because others have retold and rewritten the play. Jane Smiley has done just…
Read more
In the lead up to The Great Gatsby‘s release, I found myself fascinated by Zelda Fitzgerald, the woman who inspired Daisy Buchanan’s flighty characterisation. Therese Anne Fowler’s Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald is a fictional interpretation of Zelda’s life, chronicling everything from her spirited adolescence in Alabama to her various institutionalisations and literary failures….
Read more
Chances are that, by now, you’ve definitely heard of roller derby. Even if you’ve never had chance or opportunity to see your local league bouting live, you’ve probably seen Juliette Lewis, Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page tearing up the track in Whip It! Maybe you’ve got fanatical friends or family members who’ve raved to you…
Read more
Have you ever considered homebirth? Well, neither have I, but that’s because I deliberately avoid all contemplation of having a baby because it’s terrifying. After reading Peace, Love and Khaki Socks, however, I find myself cheering for the home team. Kim Lock’s novel is about a young woman grappling with a surprise pregnancy. Freelance graphic…
Read more
This month we revisit the work of Gwen Harwood (1920–1995), a great Australian poet who wrote many astounding pieces, a number of them feminist, which continue to resonate today. Harwood’s poetry criticized idealised concepts of motherhood and exposed the frustration and isolation faced by women, especially young women with children. She wrote under a variety…
Read more
I’ve never read a book quite like Melissa Lucashenko’s Mullumbimby. With most books I read, there are aspects which will remind me of something else I’ve read, or make me think of another author I’ve read. And it could just be that because I’m still working my way through the millions of published books which…
Read more
If a stranger were to follow you around for a day, how would they describe your life? Do you imagine a twenty-first century styled gossip columnist approach or could you, like author Carrie Tiffany, produce an account of people’s habits, whether good, bad, disturbing or tragic, with the same detached interest of a bird-watcher? Tiffany’s…
Read more
Floundering is the debut novel of Melbourne writer Romy Ash, and is a powerful story of a tragic family reunion in an Australian outback setting. It is a tale of a loss of innocence as a wayward mother with no plan, direction or destination, seeks to reclaim her two children. Narrated by the younger brother,…
Read more
