Ballarat Writers

Page 4 of 25

Book review — Shirley Hazzard: a Writing Life, by Brigitta Olubas

April 14, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Title: Shirley Hazzard: a Writing Life

Author: Brigitta Olubas

Publisher: Hachette/Virago Press, 2022; RRP $34.99

Shirley Hazzard was an important Australian author, born in 1931 and dying in 2016. Though born in Australia, she left in 1947, travelling through Europe with her family. She finished up in New York where she worked with the United Nations through the 1950s and where she spent the rest of her life. 

Her 2003 novel, The Great Fire, won the US National Book Award, the Miles Franklin award and the William Dean Howells medal, and was named Book of the Year by The Economist. Her 1970 novel, The Bay of Noon, was shortlisted for the 2010 Lost Man Booker Prize; her 1980 novel The Transit of Venus, an international bestseller, won the National Book Critics Circle Award; her novel A Long Story Short won the 1977 O Henry award. and she was shortlisted for numerous other awards. She also wrote non-fiction.

Whenever people speak of her writing. constant reference is made to the particular beauty of her writing, in words like ‘luminous’ and ‘brilliant’, but also wisdom and insight.  From The Transit of Venus we read,

            “When you realise someone is trying to hurt you, it hurts less.

            “Unless you love them.”

or my favourite,

            “Dora sat on a corner of the spread rug, longing to be assigned some task so she could resent it.”

This is an authorised biography written by Brigitta Olubras, a University of New South Wales  English professor whose areas of research includes Australian literature and transnational writing, literary and visual culture, gender studies and narrative ethics. The academic qualifications of the author are reflected in this densely researched work and its layout.

Read an obituary of Shirley Hazzard by James Campbell

@ the guardian

It is difficult to do justice to this very extensive biography of Shirley Hazzard without reference to its sheer volume. It is so comprehensive that it could be described as being at the intersection where biography meets reference work, almost a mini encyclopedia.

Because of this, the work is not just a little daunting, but a huge plus is that its layout is well set out, detailed, thorough, and easy to navigate. It is laid out such that particular areas of interest can be easily located without having to plough through the whole book.

Under Sources we are given a guide to using both Sources and Notes. Both provide guidance for future researchers or those just interested in looking deeper into her subject’s life find more material. Of particular value is a reference to the existence of as yet unorganised material, which is almost all Hazzard’s diaries and notebooks, suggesting the story of her life is not finished. Instead of a bibliography by title as is usual, there is a list of abbreviations for each source used in the copious Notes following. 

This takes the reader to the source, and this, if followed up, is a chance to check the context of quotes and also the location of the item quoted from. The Index is a richly detailed gateway to very specific areas. I found the bits referring to Hazzard’s relationship with her sister interesting. for example, but being scattered throughout made it difficult to get the full picture as they were mainly snippets of information, many pages apart. However, by working my way through the pages listed in the Index under her sisters name, I was able to get a clearer picture. In contrast, the Contents page is a simple chronological list, meaning interest in a particular time frame is very easy to find. My only criticism of this area would be that the text is smaller than the rest of the book and some may find this difficult.

Watch a talk by the author about A Writing Life

the center for fiction @ youtube

The author has used as her source a wide range of published and unpublished material, so unlike a reference tool it is rich with personal detail and pages of photographs, and crosses the boundary between her subject’s personal and family life, and her writing aims and output rather than just being a collection of facts.

Anyone interested in Australian literature generally and Shirley Hazzard particularly would find this very useful to absorb slowly in its entirety or dip in and out of. Those who enjoy biographies would enjoy it as the mix of Hazzard’s personal and professional life makes her come alive on the pages.

Reviewed by: Rhonda Cotsell

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy supplied by the publisher

Book review — If I Were You, by Peter Quarry

March 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Title: If I Were You: A psychologist puts himself on the couch

Author: Peter Quarry

Publisher: Hardie Grant Books, February 2022; RRP: $35.00

As a fundamentally nosy person, I enjoy a good memoir. I like hearing about a person’s life, I like being included in secrets previously unsaid and I like the reflection that recounting the past often prompts. Peter Quarry’s If I Were You: A psychologist puts himself on the couch well and truly delivers this voyeuristic pleasure, but it takes it further. Quarry isn’t just interested in what his life means to himself, he’s interested in what it means for you.

If I Were You has an unusual format: throughout the book, Quarry writes letters about his life as “Pete” to his psychologist persona, “PQ”, and then responds to them. Going in, I wasn’t sure how well this would work as a mechanism. Would it feel contrived? Would PQ’s letters feel like they were tailored to prompt exactly the responses that Quarry wanted to write about as Pete? Would the psychoanalysis PQ offered on those responses really achieve anything other than to say “I agree”?

It turns out that Quarry is a complex person, full of contradictions. He is wild and hedonistic, while also being industrious and showing a deep need for security. Once I finished reading the book, I could no longer be surprised by how well the format worked.

Because it does work well. It works superbly. Pete is almost always willing to follow the path that PQ guides him on, but not always. I found myself taking notes—“Laura, this is how you tell a therapist that you’d rather explore something else”—because it was genuinely easy to get lost in the narrative that said these were two distinct characters. When Pete says that something PQ said resonates with him, I don’t hear a person patting himself on the back for crafting an insightful sentence, I hear a man genuinely struck by a perspective he hadn’t considered. By putting himself on the couch, Quarry gains a distance from his life that allows new ideas to surface.

Quarry isn’t just here for the catharsis, though. His main motivation with this book is to inspire reflection in others. Through the mechanism of PQ, he is able to outline exactly how anyone could go about examining their own life as he has done, and I have to say it was very effective for me. Though on the surface Quarry and I have very little in common, I noted several times how much I related to what he was saying and daydreamed about what my session with a PQ would uncover.

Quarry writes very early on that he’s not interested in the recounting of a life that doesn’t delve deeper. He doesn’t want “mere description”, he wants “examination”. This is both addressed to himself, as a way to cement a purpose that would remain in sight for the entire book, and also to anyone who would like to follow his example. It’s like he’s saying, “Here. Take these questions and do it yourself. But think when you do!”

When reviewing a book, I think the most important question is not “was this good?” (and it was), but “did this do what it set out to do?”. Quarry makes this easy to figure out by stating his objectives clearly in his introduction. He wants to explore his life, inspire similar explorations in his readers and trigger empathy, admiration and shock at his exploits.

I greatly enjoyed reading If I Were You. It felt honest and I did indeed empathise with and admire Pete (and PQ for that matter). More than that, I closed the book raring to put my own life under the microscope.

Ballarat Writers Incorporated is delighted to announce that Peter Quarry, author of If I Were You: A psychologist puts himself on the couch, will be coming to Ballarat in April 2023 to deliver a workshop, based on his book, on how to write a memoir that goes deeper than a recounting of events.

Reviewed by: Laura Wilson

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – Whatever Next?, by Anne Glenconner

February 3, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Title: Whatever Next? Lessons from an Unexpected Life

Author: Anne Glenconner

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Hachette UK), November 2022; RRP: $32.99

Whatever Next? Lessons from an unexpected Life is an entertaining read written by a woman born into aristocracy and title in England. Anne Glenconner wrote another memoir called Lady in Waiting, which was extraordinarily successful, especially among Royal enthusiasts in the UK. She has also written two works of fiction. Born Lady Anne Coke, the daughter of the fifth Earl of Leicester, she later married Lord Glenconner, and it is mostly her erratic married life with him that is featured in this memoir.

The author recalls in 1953 her role as a maid of honour to the Late Queen Elizabeth II at the Coronation as ‘one of the most exciting days’ of her life. She went on to be a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret for over twenty years, a role and friendship that provided Glenconner the support she needed during her difficult marriage. During her years of service to Princess Margaret, she lived the life of elegance and diplomacy Anne had been raised to be part of. 

Her husband, Lord Glenconner, bought and developed the island of Mustique. The author reveals terrible abuse and violence from her husband. He was flamboyant and self-centred, often leaving Anne to mop up and manage after his crazy behaviour. Despite this, Anne remained oddly infatuated by ‘Colin’ Lord Glenconnor who she stated could be charming and wonderful company.

Leaving her marriage, it seemed, was not an option. Her life was made bearable by finding ways to remain his wife but to have distance between them often. They were wealthy and, in addition to Mustique, owned many properties. It became easy for Lady Glenconner to stay at times in another of their houses in England, which functioned as a calming influence in their lives.

The author hid the violence for many years and is proud of her ability to have found ways to stay calm and divert the disgraceful behaviour of her husband. In doing so she allowed Lord Glenconner to take little responsibility for his actions.     

Despite the glamour of being a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret and the luxurious lifestyle, the family was to endure the loss of two adult sons and a third severely injured in a car accident. These periods in her life were turbulent and devastating.

The author is now ninety, her husband is dead, and she enjoys her life as a writer. It’s hard not to admire the author, as she is a woman of substance who has experienced life’s difficulties in many ways over many years. She remains, in the latter stages of her life, gracious and engaging.  

In Whatever Next? Lessons from an Unexpected Life, Anne Glennconner provides a snapshot into a life that will appeal and interest some people and frustrate others.

Reviewed by: Heather Whitford Roche

Ballarat Writers Inc. Review Group, Jan 2023

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – Forever Home, by Graham Norton

January 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Title: Forever Home

Author: Graham Norton

Publisher: Coronet/Hachette, 2022; RRP: $32.90

The Author

Graham Norton is a UK comedian and television presenter, popularly known for his BBC self-titled chat show which is aired in Australia on the 10 Network.  Forever Home is Graham’s third novel.

The Book

I would suggest comedians are perceptive observers of human behaviour. Success as a comedian comes from the unique perspectives they afford their audiences when recounting their observations. Forever Home is no exception, but dark.

Lurking within this story is a murder mystery thriller.  However, there is no eagle-eyed detective disguised as a priest, nor sharp witted elderly lady, and not a Belgian moustache in sight. The villain, or the mostly likely villain, is in a nursing home dementia ward. 

The main character, Carol Crottie, could best be described as unfortunate.  She is the daughter of a self-made mid-century kitsch couple, founders of Crottie’s Cafes.  Is that a deliberate tempting for a slip of the tongue?

Carol’s first marriage ended dismally in divorce. Emotionally alone, she continued with the hum drum of life, raising her only son and working as a teacher.  Carol gets another chance at love when she meets Declan and for several years love blinds her to the oddities surrounding her.

The story opens as Carol’s life is again taking a turn for the worse. Declan has Alzheimer’s, and his now adult children have put him in a nursing home and are selling the family home, evicting Carol in the process.

Graham Norton. Image: Hachette

Graham begins this story with a description of an ordinary terrace of houses in an ordinary Irish village.  I liked this opening; it had an identifiable sense of realism. Often when writers write about real life, their stories are filled with prostitutes, drug addicts and/or the desperately down and out.  Not so with Forever Home.  The characters appear suburban and ordinary in a 21st century way, until Graham peels back the hidden layers of smouldering drama and angst that often exist under the guise of ordinariness.

The story line, with its underlying mystery, and the interplay between the various characters make it good holiday reading. Graham has paced the story well and his comedian’s sense of timing comes to the fore. Most readers should find this an entertaining read, never mind the deeper issues on display.

Some social issues/constructs to get a run in this story include same-sex marriage, which I initially felt was a little cliched, surrogacy, exploitation of the elderly by their children, the complexity of second relationships and the accompanying mixed families, and the tension between stepparents and children.  These issues are aired more than explored.

Watch an interview with Graham Norton about Forever Home

@ an post

One of Carol’s sisters has moved to Scotland and is clearly in a same-sex relationship, but the relationship is not acknowledged openly by Carol’s parents.  However, I suspect this was added more to deepen the reader’s view of the relationship between Carol and her mother than to comment on inter-generational acceptance of same-sex relationships.

Graham subtly uses social standing and public image – how we feel we are perceived by the community around us – as a potential threat to Carol and her parents. It also plays a part in her relationship with Declan, an often-underrated source for dramatic tension.

I enjoyed this story, its twists and turns, its use of modern language , social values and constructs.  At one stage the plot seemed obvious but like many obvious plots the only thing obvious is that the ending will be different to what you expect.

Reviewed by: Frank Thompson

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – The Queens of Sarmiento Park, by Camila Sosa Villada

January 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Queens of Sarmiento Park

Author: Camila Sosa Villada, translated by Kit Maude

Publisher: Hachette UK/Virago Press; RRP $29.99

There are three distinct themes and voices in The Queens of Sarmiento Park, all set within a narrative construct interweaving pure fiction with biographical details of the author’s life, and the realities of being transgender in a world that has always denied them validity.

 Sarmiento Park is as an actual park in Argentina. In this work the author often refers to her characters by the Latin American term travesti, referring to the word ‘transgender’ as a construct of Northern academia. Travesti, she states in the author notes at the beginning, is an ancient word that speaks more honestly of how transgender people are viewed by society generally and one, though an insult, Latin American travesti claim as their own.

In real life, Camila Sosa Villada started to dress as a girl at the age of fifteen. At eighteen she left home to study but, without income and unable to find employment to pay for food and a roof over her head because her ID identified her as male, turned to prostitution. She also continued to write while attending the National University studying theatre. Las Malas (‘Bad Girls‘, published by Virago as The Queens of Sarmiento Park), her first novel, was published in Spanish in 2019 and was a major success. It has been translated into a number of languages and won international awards. These include the Premio Sor Juana de la Cruz (Mexico), the Grand Prix de l’Héroïne-Madame Figaro (France) and the Premio València de Narrativa en Castellano (Spain). It also won the Guadalajara International Book Fair Award for Spanish literature written for women.

Initially struggling to find where it fits in literary nomenclature, I found a number of references to it as a work of auto-fiction. Auto-fiction is defined as a work of fiction where the narrator  or main character is understood to be the author, and which explores the author’s real-life story using technical and fictional devices. It especially serves as providing a space about sensitive personal experiences which might otherwise expose them to abuse, making it a literary device of particular value to those who are marginalised.

Read a sample of The Queens of Sarmiento Park

@ hachette

Events, circumstances, characters and experiences described in two of the three distinct and separate themes are held together by the third: the biographical contentment which acts like string, binding all three separate components into an internally consistent whole.   

The biographical component includes early years as a confused and guilty boy concealing his growing awareness of his true self, violently disapproving parents and their own highly dysfunctional relationship.  It continues to when he finally leaves his home to continue his studying, which involves leading a double life with the group of girls he studies with up till where prostitution became necessary for survival.  

The second theme is the world of the travesti when his older travesti self has accepted this is who he is and what it is to live the full travesti life, and including the realities of what that life is, from how to hide the inevitable four o’clock shadow to sex transplants, the loneliness of being disowned by family and the daily dangers encountered simply walking down the street. It also includes the growing realisation that the only real source of income for all travesti is by prostitution. This is shown mixing both fictional and non-fictional elements.

The third theme is the subject of prostitution itself. This includes what it is to live fully as both prostitute and specifically as transgender.  Woven into these sections are details about the double standards transgender prostitutes encounter in their work through the type of clients they meet, and the violence they regularly encounter from the public and the police.

The plot, which ties fictional and non-fictional elements with a dash of the fantastical, is centred around a newborn baby boy found dumped in a Sarmiento Park ditch and taken home by Encarna, a 178-year-old travesti, to a fabulous pink house she rents which provides shelter to a cast of fictional characters through which the reality of being transgender in a world that rejects them is enacted.

This reality is conveyed in the grim humour in the following line:

 ‘Oh, to truly know fear you need to be a travesti carrying a blood-soaked baby newborn in a purse.’ (p6)

This follows on immediately from a reference to the ‘cloak of invisibility’ the travesti must don every time they walk out their front door. The difference in the likely responses by others to this is immediately apparent.

Read an interview with Camila Sosa Villada

@ we all grow

I found the mix of fiction aimed to entertain and inform on transexuality and prostitution particularly, and the non-fictional elements of the author’s inner life and outer experiences as lived totally absorbing. Nothing is glorified but nor is it tailored to suit an audience that might otherwise judge. Though heavily based in a fictional framework, it also manages to do what any good autobiography does, which is to enable the reader, as much as is possible with written text, to get a sense of getting under the skin of another who is very different to themselves.

The language is blunt, sometimes quite crude, but there are also elements of magic realism, like Maria the Mute (a ‘flea-ridden waif’ rescued by Encarna) who slowly mutates into a bird, and Natalia, who as the seventh male daughter of her family, turned into a she-wolf when the moon was full. And then there is the unbreakable bond that develops between the dumped baby – Twinkle In Her Eye – and the 178-year-old Encarna,  culminating in a devastating conclusion to their relationship years later which is both deeply moving and, in this world, inevitable.

Reviewed by: Rhonda Cotsell

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – A Woman Made of Snow, by Elisabeth Giffor

November 25, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: A Woman Made of Snow

Author: Elisabeth Gifford

Publisher: Corvus, 2021; RRP: $29.99

After growing up in a vicarage in the English midlands, Elisabeth Gifford achieved academic qualifications in French literature, world religions and creative writing. She has written a series of historical fiction books on subjects as varied as a doctor in a World War II ghetto, and missionaries in China. A Woman Made of Snow is her fifth book.

Marriage towards the end of WWII, quickly followed by the birth of a baby, prevents Caro from following her plans to begin a career in academia like her husband, Alasdair. Having moved from London to Alasdair’s family home in Fife, Scotland, Caro feels stifled by her mother-in-law, Martha. A combination of the discovery of a body on the grounds of Kelly Castle, the family home, and a need to restore and maintain the castle, provides the background to this story. Alasdair’s family history involves a missing relative – there are no records, no photographs and no mention made of Alasdair’s great-grandmother. Could hers be the body that is revealed during a flood? Caro is given the task of reviewing family documents to help support a claim for funds from the National Trust and simultaneously search for information about the missing woman.

The author deftly weaves a narrative between the early years after WWII and the1880s. Research into contact between Scottish whaling ships and the customs and living conditions of the Inuit people they encountered provides an extremely interesting thread and some significant plot twists. These are supported by an exploration of the developments in relationships between different generations in families, both the more recent as well those from the 19th century.

It is interesting to see the character development throughout this novel. Relationships change, some for the better and others not so much, as the story unfolds. Other characters are not what they seem.

This is a really enjoyable book for both its depiction of relationships and its exploration of otherwise little-known information about the contact between Scottish whalers and the Arctic First Nations people.

Reviewed by: Elisabeth Bridson, October 2022

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – The Bone Spindle, by Leslie Vedder

November 11, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Bone Spindle

Author: Leslie Vedder

Publisher: Hachette 2022; RRP $17.99

As an American author of YA novels, Leslie Vedder is known for creating female heroes in her fantasy books. Her stories also include settings where LGBTIQ characters appear as a matter of course, without prejudice.

The Bone Spindle is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, with a twist – the character cast into a deep sleep by a wicked witch is Prince Briar Rose, and his rescuer is a girl, Filore Nenroa, known as Fi.

At the beginning of the book Fi seeks a partner to assist in gathering information and relics of the past relating to magic. This role is filled by Shane, another girl. However, Shane’s main quest differs from Fi’s – she’s more interested in retrieving ancient treasures to sell for profit. The pairing is not always harmonious, but after several early adventures – including some exciting near misses – they unite to complete the quest to rescue Briar. This quest is made necessary by Fi being pricked by the same spindle that cast the spell over the prince a hundred years earlier.

Both the main protagonists, and some of the other characters, have interesting back stories – Fi is already dealing with a curse she’s had cast on her, and Shane has her own family issues to deal with because of being the elder of twins. The author neatly weaves in their histories in a series of flashbacks, providing the reader with relevant information throughout the main story.

Fairy tale retellings in 15 categories

@ once upon a bookcase

There are clever twists and turns throughout the book, with not everything being as it originally seems. The author has created an interesting mix of witches – both good and evil – villains and helpers, curses, spells, and nightmarish landscapes, which the two girls are compelled to navigate in their various quests. Relationships, both platonic and romantic, between the major characters and others are explored and developed in interesting, sometimes unexpected, ways.

While the worldbuilding in this book is done with a deft touch, it is sometimes difficult to suspend disbelief when reading about all the skills and experiences Fi and Shane have gained at their ages, 17 and 18 respectively. The book could also have done with a little more judicious editing – I’m not sure ‘chambered’ means what the author thinks it does, and it’s disconcerting to read that a poster torn from the wall and screwed into a ball in someone’s hand is somehow in shreds on the floor just a couple of lines later.

However, these are minor quibbles in a book that is a rollicking tale, with a good mix of humour and adventure, as well as the already mentioned relationship developments. As the first of a trilogy, it will be interesting to see what happens next, for, as one character says three pages from the end, ‘This is not the end … It is only the very beginning’.

Reviewed by: Elisabeth Bridson

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – The Sorcerer of Pyongyang, by Marcel Theroux

October 28, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Sorcerer of Pyongyang

Author: Marcel Theroux

Publisher: Corsair/Hachette 2022; RRP $32.99

The main themes of The Sorcerer of Pyongyang are North Korean political, cultural, economic and social life as it is today, and Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), self-styled on its official site as the ‘’world’s greatest roleplaying game’.

Jun-su, the main character, and those around him are fictional characters depicting North Korean people today, but details of their lives are not. North Korea is real, as is D&D.

Author Marcel Theroux has won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Joseph Campbell Award. His Far North made him a finalist for US National Book Award and the Arthur C Clarke Award, and won him the Prix de I’Inapercu. Theroux has published six novels, and is also a screen writer and broadcaster – including presenting The End of the World as We Know It documentary.

The line between fiction and fact is delicately balanced in this work. The non-fictional aspect revolves around everyday life as a citizen of North Korean today, and how and why it came to be the way it is. The fictional element involves the game of D&D with its rules and the fantastic worlds in which players play roles in imaginary situations chosen by a throw of the dice. The two themes would seem galaxies apart.  The author managed this incongruous combination though initially it did require an openness to the concept of a willing suspension of disbelief in order to make the game’s presence in North Korea believable. Less suspension, however, than required for us to believe in aliens or happy ever after.  

A carefully orchestrated series of errors and hesitation results in a copy of the D&D core rule book being left behind by a family who are  part of a closely monitored  delegation of visiting academics and trade unionists. The book, with a sword-wielding troll and a semi-naked on the front cover, passes through a number of hands to a hotel staff member who takes it home and throws it in a closet.  

This occurs despite its presence in a country with rigidly enforced moral standards and a wholesale acceptance of a totalitarian regime that condemned what it perceived as Western degeneracy.     

The manual is found by Jun-su, on an enforced stay from school while suffering rheumatic fever. He is treated by his teacher, who he calls Teacher Kang, and who is also an expert in the practice of acupuncture. Jun-su shows Teacher Kang the manual and begs him to help him decipher its strange contents. They manage to translate what it contains and learn how to play the game, becoming addicted in the process. Jun-su is fascinated particularly by how it allows choice, something non-existent in their lives. Aware of this, Teacher Kang renames it ‘The House of Possibilities’.   

Jun-su continues to play D&D regularly with Teacher Kang and then later his friends, from late childhood though to his early 30s within the background of his everyday life. School, work, food, living arrangements, social gatherings, personal worries and self-doubts, his first love, a growing love of writing and success as a poet, health issues – all usual parts of growing up except set within a social, political and economic regime totally alien to the average Western reader. But also one which he and all those around him accept as perfectly normal, and more, one in which they feel blessed and protected.

This belief, expertly conveyed, is steadfast, unwavering in the face of such experiences as students being required to watch the public execution of one of their teachers under the orders of the Supreme Commander of Korea, their ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-un. A regime where citizens can be imprisoned simply for accidentally dropping a portrait of the Dear Leader, where kin punishment is the law meaning punishment for a crime is extended to the entire family, including children born in prison. Where friends and family and colleagues are encouraged to spy on one another, and government control invades all facets of life down to a limited list of prescribed hairstyles. One where years of famine resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands is referred to as the Arduous March North because to admit to suffering is an implied insult to the government.

An impressive achievement of this work is the way the story unfolds over the years without question or doubt that this is the best possible world. At no stage do North Korean characters lose faith. Kim is their noble and beloved leader, whose mere appearance evokes a hysterical and tearful joy. It is a wonderful balancing act, Jun-su’s loyalty and unwavering devotion in the background while simultaneously continuing to play the forbidden game. This prevents the narrative from sinking under the weight of its non-fictional elements and introduces something approaching normalcy in the depiction of their lives.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in North Korea. It is an entertaining, albeit chilling, introduction and encourages further interrogation of North Korea today. Those interested in the role a game can play in real life, as all art can, might also find it an interesting take.

In conclusion, I would like to quote the following sentence where a teenage Jun-su says goodnight to a friend after a night out. It contains, it seemed to me, the kernel of the book as a whole.

Against the black of the lightless city, the bus looked like a tank of fish, lit from within, as it receded into the night.

the sorcerer of pyongyang, p.83

Suggesting souls kept in darkness in a city that, in real life, remains unlit at night.

Reviewed by: Rhonda Cotsell

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy provided by the publisher

Book review – Wildflowers, by Peggy Frew

October 14, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: Wildflowers

Author: Peggy Frew

Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2022; RRP: $32.99

Wildflowers is Peggy Frew’s fourth novel. Her first novel was House of Sticks. Her second, Hope Farm, was shortlisted for the Stella Prize and the Miles Franklin Award and won the Barbara Jeffries Award.  Islands, her third book, was also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Peggy has published shorter works in various writing magazines. Peggy is also a musician and is a member of Melbourne-based band Art of Fighting.

Wildflowers is a rapidly moving novel about a family of three sisters: Meg, Nina, and Amber. The story is told from the perspective of Nina. Nina’s parents, Gwen and Robert, play shadowy roles, to the extent that the reader may judge them as ineffectual parents to their three very different daughters.

Amber, the youngest sibling, outshines them all and at an incredibly early age looks set to become a successful actor. A mysterious incident ends her hopes and dreams, and she spirals into life as an addict. Nina quietly displays her own insecurities and leads a promiscuous life that results in a psychological struggle of her own. Meg, a health professional and the eldest of the sisters, is the strong and dependable one, who having had her own heartbreaks is determined to manage her families’ frailties and, as is her nature, acts as rescuer and advisor for her family.

Meg decides that Amber needs dedicated support and intervention, and she engages Nina who reluctantly agrees to be part of the strategy. The solution involves a stay in a remote homestead in North Queensland and an action plan that doesn’t necessarily go according to plan. It is during this time that the writer’s diligence regarding the personal and distinctive character styles and personalities becomes apparent as what they are attempting falls into torrid and at times frightening disarray.

Read an interview with Peggy Frew

@ the age

The characters drill their existence into the reader’s memory as the three sisters and their parents move between care, love, despair, dysfunction and frustration. There is an elevated level of emotional energy throughout the story and the issues of love, responsibility and control become challenging. Does a person have the right to take control of a situation for another, claiming it’s for their own good? This is the central theme, one that is dealt with in a daring and at times alarming manner. It raises questions regarding the ethics of taking over another person’s life, albeit temporarily, against their will, and the extreme actions that desperate family members can resort to.  

Wildflowers is intriguing and at times breathtaking, but in brilliant Peggy Frew style, she carries the reader along in total engagement with both story and the characters. The book is a hard one to forget.

Reviewed by: Heather Whitford Roche

Ballarat Writers Book Review Group, Sept 2022

Review copy provided by the publisher  

Book review – Isaac and the Egg, by Bobby Palmer

September 30, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Title: Isaac and the Egg
Author: Bobby Palmer
Publisher: Hachette, 2022; RRP: $32.99


The Author
Bobby Palmer is a freelance journalist writing for publications such as Time Out, GQ, Men’s Health and Cosmopolitan. Isaac and the Egg is his first novel.


The Book
Billed as an uplifting story, Isaac and the Egg opens with the main character, Isaac Addy, perched on the edge of a bridge, willing himself to end it all by jumping into the freezing water below. When you are that low the only way is up.

In quintessential English eccentricity, Palmer sets about showing the reader the disturbed state of Isaac’s mind and his journey to ‘redemption’.

Isaac’s maudlin deliberations are interrupted by a scream emanating from the nearby woods. He investigates and finds a two-foot-high egg. For Isaac this is the beginning of his redemption.

The characters of Isaac and Egg drive the story in this novel, hence the title. Other characters include Isaac’s wife, his sister and mother-in-law. Despite the small parts these later two characters play, they come across as well developed, suggesting a depth to Palmer’s writing skills.

This is an interesting debut novel. It does require a suspension of reality, especially when it comes to Egg. Palmer has used the absurdity of Egg to give the reader a sense of Isaac’s traumatised mind. For those who need a more rational explanation, Isaac is probably suffering from trauma-induced hallucinations, and the Egg is a metaphor or substitute for…SPOILERS. Perhaps the term found in Victorian-era novels, “brain fever”, would be an apt description of the state of Isaac’s mind.

It is difficult to describe this story and not give away the plot. Suffice to say, Isaac has recently experienced the unexpected loss of his wife, the love of his life and inspiration. His adequacy to deal with life is on the line.

Egg is vulnerable and Isaac is its only hope for survival. Is this a last opportunity for Isaac to cope with responsibility – to grow up? This is essentially the underlying theme to Isaac’s story.

Palmer slowly peels away the layers to Isaac’s life, building the tension, gradually bringing the reader and Isaac back to reality with an emotionally charged ending.

This is an engrossing story. I found myself rushing through it, wanting to get to the resolution for Isaac.

There are a couple of useful lessons in this story. The grief we feel after loss can be dealt with, but we are changed. Our connections to others are important to helping us find our way, to make good decisions about how we change.

Regardless of how you like your eggs, this one is worth the effort, even if, at times, it feels a bit scrambled.

Reviewed by: Frank Thompson

Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Review copy provided by the publisher

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 Ballarat Writers

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑