In a word: Wow. Just…wow. What a beautiful, heartbreaking book. For what is at first glance a small and unassuming tale, it certainly packs a punch. That being said, it’s done in a really gentle way, with the writing used to carve out the story rather than build it. The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida…
Read more
Journalist-cum-author Azadeh Moaveni commands a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Middle Eastern politics and ideology, and it shines in her latest offering, Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS. This narrative non-fiction is written as a pastiche of sorts, vividly painting a picture of the journeys many Muslim women followed…
Read more
CW: sexual abuse, child abuse The honesty of Patricia Eagle’s Being Mean: A Memoir of Sexual Abuse and Survival is at times a painful and difficult read. The book chronicles Patricia’s life in vignettes from the ages of four to sixty-five, with chapters presented chronologically. The early chapters relay her experiences of child sexual abuse,…
Read more
Dyschronia by Jennifer Mills is a wonderfully charming, yet melancholic novel that had me wanting to know what happened next. Different stories from different points of time intertwined to create a beautifully sad account of one girl’s life. While I will admit I had to attempt to read this novel twice before I was…
Read more
“I think all women carry something of a rebellion inside them that often goes unexpressed. Because we think we are not in the race – or game, or whatever the sporting analogy is – we have a sense of anarchy that I think is an advantage. In times like these it threatens to erupt. It…
Read more
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be introducing you to our stellar line-up of judges for the 2017 Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction. Today, meet writer Sarah Kanake. * What are you working on in 2017? I have just started my second novel, ‘Lazarus’. It’s set in 1978 (at the close of whaling) in a…
Read more
I have never been one to free fall into addiction. The hook always skimmed close to my head, but it never latched. So many times, when I was battered and weak. You would think it would be so easy for me to then reach over an uncrossed line for a bottle or pill. I have…
Read more
Walking into the playground, early on in primary school, two of my friends got into fight. There was hair pulling, slapping and screaming. A crowd gathered, cheering them on. “You fucking bitch,” yelled one, using the colourful language we were just starting to learn. “You’re a monkey,” said the other. Watching on, I had never…
Read more
From its inception as a (widely panned) movie, through to the iconic TV show and comic book series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BTVS) has proven to be an ‘undying’ piece of pop culture. Celebrated for its punning protagonist Buffy Summers and her ‘Faith’-ful Scooby Gang, BTVS is canonical in its portrayal of female strength. In…
Read more
In 1967, literary critic Roland Barthes wrote in his seminal essay The Death of the Author that writing is the destruction of every voice, of every point of origin. Writing is that neutral, composite, oblique space where our subject slips away, the negative where all identity is lost, starting with the very identity of…
Read more
Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s The Love of a Bad Man begins with tenderness: ‘Baby, wake up,’ he says, and he’s kissing my eyelids, my cheeks, trailing his fingers over the bib of my nightgown and it’s so soft it must be a dream. Woolett’s short-story collection focuses on the lives of twelve women (or in the…
Read more
A year or so ago, when the reality of my impending graduation from university and borderline-desperate financial situation hit me, I began applying for ‘professional jobs’ in a bid to pad out my resume. I traded in skater skirts, leather boots and brilliantly executed smoky eyes for pencil skirts, patent pumps and natural make-up. My…
Read more
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if schools taught mapping using paintings and stories instead of drab contour lines? In her latest memoir, aptly named Position Doubtful – mapping landscapes and memories, artist and award-winning author Kim Mahood masterfully paints rich Australian landscapes and people. She paints using pigments. She paints with narratives. The book’s title takes…
Read more
So Sad Today is a book of personal essays by Melissa Broder, detailing her struggles with addiction, anxiety, panic disorder, relationships and an overwhelming fear of death. The book originated from an anonymous Twitter account of the same name in 2012, tweeting about the human condition in catchy one-sentence bites that were in equal parts…
Read more
