CategoryReviews of Australian Literature

This went on my list of books to read some months ago, but it moved it when I noted how much Kim of Reading Matters enjoyed it recently. First published in 1963 this is the story of a boy whose mother died shortly after he was born, brought up by his aunts in Sydney during the Depression. He is known as P.S., so anointed by his mother when she knew she would not survive. in her view he would be...

Recently this 2011 book came to my notice by way of ANZ LitLovers LitBlog and having read Lisa's review as well as Sue's review at Whispering Gums, decided I would read it. July 2-9 is NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week and ANZ LitLovers is celebrating with Indigenous Literature Week. What good fortune this was for me:  this is a terrific read...

I was interested in this book for a couple of reasons:  it won the Stella Prize (Australian prize celebrating women’s writing) in 2016 and it was one of Reading Matters’ top books last year. I read one of her other books (The Submerged Cathedral) and was impressed. I hesitated, though, because it’s dystopian, thus outside my usual interest, and I concluded it was too clearly...

I recently read James Woods' 2014 piece in The New Yorker about Elizabeth Harrower and made a note to read her work. I began with the one he called her masterpiece, written in 1966. She wrote only six novels and shortly before publication of the last one in 1971, stopped the presses. Her work is now in print, including that last one, thanks to Text publishing.  She...

I can't say when I last read a book of essays, but based on this Australian author's novel The Spare Room that I read in 2009 and Reading Matters' review, I decided to give it a try. It's so good that all I can do is fill this post with quotes. One essay is called Eight Views of Tim Winton, thus combining a reference to Japanese woodblock prints, e.g., Thirty-Six Views of Mt...

The Floating Garden is set in two time periods: around the turn of the 20th century when a young girl goes to Sydney to escape her drunken father and 20 years later as her neighborhood is being destroyed by the building of the harbor bridge. Ellis' father began beating every creature in sight after the death of her mother and had turned to her. Though she grew up in the isolated countryside...

It's was Tony's enthusiasm and having appreciated Bail's Eucalyptus that prompted me to read this book. I wasn't surprised by its strangeness; after all, Tony described it as ambiguous, elusive, and enigmatic.  The tale begins in a conventional way: two 40-something women leave Sydney for an adventure in western New South Wales on a sheep farm. Erica teaches philosophy...

Having read a fair amount of Australian literature, I assume I know the language and understand many esoteric references. This 1991 book reminded me that I have much to learn. Though I missed much, still, it was well worth the effort. The author died this year, though she was only 51. She wrote three novels and four collections of short stories, and was well respected. I recall reading about her...

It's hard to imagine that a polio convalescent home for children in Western Australia was really named The Golden Age, but in fact it did exist from 1949 to 1959. Otherwise, the author says, this is a work of fiction. The grim factor of this book is high at the outset. A Hungarian family with one son escaped the Holocaust while their relatives perished; they hoped to emigrate to a location...