The Australian Long Story
Mandy Sayer (editor)
Hamish Hamilton
Mandy Sayer describes a long story as one between 10-50000 words and long enough to have subplots but not long enough to be a standalone book. In this collection, Sayer has assembled the heavy weights of the Australian literate for a compellation that is eclectic in both storyline and execution of its plots.
Sayer has chosen seven Australian authors who have written long stories set in Australia. The collection begins with David Malouf, one of the elders in Australian authors and concludes with one of the new rising stars, Nam Le. Her aim in choosing this collection is to present the reader a sample of Australian literature; introduce and sample a voice they had not read; and to celebrate the emergence and growth of storytelling that is uniquely our own.
Aside from Le, Winton and Goldsworthy, I had not read any of the other authors. Lyrical and Surreal, Peter Carey’s ‘The Chance’ set in a futuristic world was probably the most surprising. Daunted by Carey’s literary supremacy, I had till now shied away from his work. His confidence and great assurance in his writing, for me at least, set him apart and certified his ascendancy. As for my favourite, if pressed to choose I would pick two: the whimsical and funny ‘Ten Anecdotes About Lord Howe Island’ by Louise Nowra and Peter Goldsworthy’s haunting yet lovingly told story of parents faced with the terminal illness of their child in ‘Jesus wants me for a sunbeam’.
If looking for a tightly constructed collection of Australian literature, then it would be hard pressed to go past The Australian Long Story.
About Me
- Banafsheh Serov
- Australia
- I am passionate about the written language. I love writing, reading, reviewing, selling and promoting books. I am an independent bookseller with over 20 years of experience in the book trade. Together with my partners, I actively aim to improve our bookstore's range and services to better reflect the needs of our community and clientele. In 2008, my memoir 'Under A Starless Sky' was published by Hachette, Australia. Since then, I had a short story 'Jasmine Petals' published in 'Stories of Belonging' (Finch) and in 2013, released my first full-length novel, The Russian Tapestry, also by Hachette. I am currently writing my second novel. I strive daily to improve my skills and stretch the limits of my craft. My love of books has naturally lead to reviewing. You can follow me on Twitter @B_Serov, Facebook www.facebook.com/BanafshehSerov and Goodreads www.goodreads.com/author/show/1429016.Banafsheh_Serov
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Town - James Roy
Town
James Roy
UQP
Set in a fictional town, Town is a string of thirteen linked stories revolving around the lives of the young adults who live there. Each character is diverse in their background, personality, gender and age thus illustrating the characteristics of the town and the individual struggles, wants and desires of its residents.
Town is also an illustration of no matter what our background, we all share the common need for love, security, acceptance and a sense of belonging. Many of the stories revolved around family ties that bind or drive us apart. Amongst the thirteen stories, there is at least one character that the reader will recognize or identify with which proves that despite our outward appearances, deep down we are not all that different from one another.
James Roy
UQP
Set in a fictional town, Town is a string of thirteen linked stories revolving around the lives of the young adults who live there. Each character is diverse in their background, personality, gender and age thus illustrating the characteristics of the town and the individual struggles, wants and desires of its residents.
Town is also an illustration of no matter what our background, we all share the common need for love, security, acceptance and a sense of belonging. Many of the stories revolved around family ties that bind or drive us apart. Amongst the thirteen stories, there is at least one character that the reader will recognize or identify with which proves that despite our outward appearances, deep down we are not all that different from one another.
The Story Of Tom Brennan - JC Burke
The Story of Tom Brennan
JC Burke
Random
Tom Brennan and his family are forced to leave their home in the small town of Mumbilli, and move in with their grandmother in the nearby town of Coghill. Their move follows a tragedy involving Tom’s brother Daniel after a night of celebration. Feeling trapped and claustrophobic Tom is haunted daily by the memory of the tragedy. Throughout the story each member of the Brennan family struggles to come to terms with their new situation. At the same time Burke slowly reveals the dark side of Daniel’s character that had lead to the tragedy.
The Story of Tom Brennan is both a coming of age book and an illustration of how quickly the trajectory of our lives can change over a single incident. Tom and his family must come to terms with the new course their lives have taken and learn to tap into their inner strength to help them survive it.
This book is also a meditation on our innate need to belong, to love and find acceptance. It is an ode to the human spirit and its ability to rise under the most trying circumstances.
JC Burke
Random
Tom Brennan and his family are forced to leave their home in the small town of Mumbilli, and move in with their grandmother in the nearby town of Coghill. Their move follows a tragedy involving Tom’s brother Daniel after a night of celebration. Feeling trapped and claustrophobic Tom is haunted daily by the memory of the tragedy. Throughout the story each member of the Brennan family struggles to come to terms with their new situation. At the same time Burke slowly reveals the dark side of Daniel’s character that had lead to the tragedy.
The Story of Tom Brennan is both a coming of age book and an illustration of how quickly the trajectory of our lives can change over a single incident. Tom and his family must come to terms with the new course their lives have taken and learn to tap into their inner strength to help them survive it.
This book is also a meditation on our innate need to belong, to love and find acceptance. It is an ode to the human spirit and its ability to rise under the most trying circumstances.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Came Back To Show You I Could Fly - Robin Klein
Came Back To Show You I Could Fly
Robin Klein
Puffin
I first read this book as a teenager. It was the summer holidays and feeling bored and hot I picked this book up for lack of something better to do. Fifteen years later when it was chosen for our bookclub, I had only a vague memory of the plot. It has become a habit with our little group to choose youth fiction. Maybe its the ability of YA to probe into dark and serious topics with eloquent subtlety that often make them a favourite with our small group.
Shy, reserved 11-year-old Seymour is dumped by his over controlling mother to spend his summer holidays with a fussy guardian. Seymour finds himself bored, frustrated and confined to his guardian’s house. By chance he meets Angela whom he finds glamorous, beautiful and bubbly. He is flattered by her attentions and her willingness to take him with herself on outings. What Seymour does not realize however, under her happy exterior, Angela is hiding a dark secret. Klein shows great mastery in slowly unfolding Angela’s secret through her interactions with Seymour and with letters placed at the end of chapters like small clues for the reader to decipher.
Came Back to Show You I Could Fly delves into the destructive nature of drugs and how it crushes not only the lives of its users but also their families. Trust breaks down, relationships are destroyed and lives are ruined as the addiction takes hold over its victims’ lives.
Robin Klein
Puffin
I first read this book as a teenager. It was the summer holidays and feeling bored and hot I picked this book up for lack of something better to do. Fifteen years later when it was chosen for our bookclub, I had only a vague memory of the plot. It has become a habit with our little group to choose youth fiction. Maybe its the ability of YA to probe into dark and serious topics with eloquent subtlety that often make them a favourite with our small group.
Shy, reserved 11-year-old Seymour is dumped by his over controlling mother to spend his summer holidays with a fussy guardian. Seymour finds himself bored, frustrated and confined to his guardian’s house. By chance he meets Angela whom he finds glamorous, beautiful and bubbly. He is flattered by her attentions and her willingness to take him with herself on outings. What Seymour does not realize however, under her happy exterior, Angela is hiding a dark secret. Klein shows great mastery in slowly unfolding Angela’s secret through her interactions with Seymour and with letters placed at the end of chapters like small clues for the reader to decipher.
Came Back to Show You I Could Fly delves into the destructive nature of drugs and how it crushes not only the lives of its users but also their families. Trust breaks down, relationships are destroyed and lives are ruined as the addiction takes hold over its victims’ lives.
Black Like Me - J H Griffin
Black Like Me
John Howard Griffin
Granada
This is the diary of a journalist who for six weeks lived as a black man in New Orleans and Mississippi during the early 1960’s. As part of his experiment Griffin visited various establishments: chemists, cafes, retail outfits first as a white man and later as a black person. He recorded the difference in the attitude of the sales clerks who served him each time he visited these establishments. It confused and bewildered Griffin as to how the same clerks could display such contempt and hatred towards blacks while treating their white counterparts with pleasant and courteous consideration.
‘My revulsion turned to grief that my own people could give the hate stare, could shrivel men’s souls, could deprive humans of rights they unhesitatingly accord their livestock.’
Griffin took care to demonstrate not all whites treated blacks with animosity. However due to the suffocating atmosphere in the South, none except a few brave whites were willing to speak out in empathy with the blacks. Blacks in turn treated the whites with distrust and suppressed contempt, turning their features blank whenever a white person spoke to them.
In my opinion Griffin showed great courage to see his experiment to the end and then showed even greater courage to publish his experiences. There were times as a black man that he felt trapped and unsafe amongst the whites. He s a black, Griffin endured unprovoked 'hate stares' from otherwise ordinarily good, upstanding whites and experienced the raw base human behavior that was almost primal in its treatment of another race.
Black Like Me is a facinating sudy of the internal prejudices we carry and remains as timely today as when it was penned almost 50 years ago.
John Howard Griffin
Granada
This is the diary of a journalist who for six weeks lived as a black man in New Orleans and Mississippi during the early 1960’s. As part of his experiment Griffin visited various establishments: chemists, cafes, retail outfits first as a white man and later as a black person. He recorded the difference in the attitude of the sales clerks who served him each time he visited these establishments. It confused and bewildered Griffin as to how the same clerks could display such contempt and hatred towards blacks while treating their white counterparts with pleasant and courteous consideration.
‘My revulsion turned to grief that my own people could give the hate stare, could shrivel men’s souls, could deprive humans of rights they unhesitatingly accord their livestock.’
Griffin took care to demonstrate not all whites treated blacks with animosity. However due to the suffocating atmosphere in the South, none except a few brave whites were willing to speak out in empathy with the blacks. Blacks in turn treated the whites with distrust and suppressed contempt, turning their features blank whenever a white person spoke to them.
In my opinion Griffin showed great courage to see his experiment to the end and then showed even greater courage to publish his experiences. There were times as a black man that he felt trapped and unsafe amongst the whites. He s a black, Griffin endured unprovoked 'hate stares' from otherwise ordinarily good, upstanding whites and experienced the raw base human behavior that was almost primal in its treatment of another race.
Black Like Me is a facinating sudy of the internal prejudices we carry and remains as timely today as when it was penned almost 50 years ago.
The Ghost at The Wedding - Shirley Walker
The Ghost at the Wedding
Shirley Walker
Viking
A lyrical memoir written with great tenderness, The Ghost at the Wedding is an imaginative retelling of Jessie Walker’s family truth. In parts where facts fall short or time has eroded, Walker’s imagination has stepped in to fill in the gaps and breathe soul into the characters. Through family photos, letters, anecdotes and Jessie’s paintings in her later life, The Ghost at the Wedding Spans two generations, of the Walker family through two world wars as they survive hardship, disappointments, death, betrayal and sorrow.
Unlike most war books that concentrate on the battles and the soldier’s experiences, The Ghost at the Wedding reflects on the generation of women who saw their brothers and loved ones go off to war in search of adventure whilst the women stayed behind and mourned their absence. Upon the soldier’s return, the women picked up the pieces of their broken bodies and grieved for the ones who never made it back. As their lives continued along its path one generation of men lost to the Great War was soon replaced with another who grew and fought in the next war.
The Ghost at the Wedding is a poignant snapshot of Australian history retold through this beautifully reconstructed memoir that should rightfully be treasured by all Australians.
Shirley Walker
Viking
A lyrical memoir written with great tenderness, The Ghost at the Wedding is an imaginative retelling of Jessie Walker’s family truth. In parts where facts fall short or time has eroded, Walker’s imagination has stepped in to fill in the gaps and breathe soul into the characters. Through family photos, letters, anecdotes and Jessie’s paintings in her later life, The Ghost at the Wedding Spans two generations, of the Walker family through two world wars as they survive hardship, disappointments, death, betrayal and sorrow.
Unlike most war books that concentrate on the battles and the soldier’s experiences, The Ghost at the Wedding reflects on the generation of women who saw their brothers and loved ones go off to war in search of adventure whilst the women stayed behind and mourned their absence. Upon the soldier’s return, the women picked up the pieces of their broken bodies and grieved for the ones who never made it back. As their lives continued along its path one generation of men lost to the Great War was soon replaced with another who grew and fought in the next war.
The Ghost at the Wedding is a poignant snapshot of Australian history retold through this beautifully reconstructed memoir that should rightfully be treasured by all Australians.
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