Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key

British poet, Amy Key, uses Joni Mitchell’s seminal album Blue, to guide the themes of her memoir – love, companionship, friendship, jealously, and desire.

Initially, I was absorbed by Key’s honesty, her yearning, and her resistance to ‘giving up’ on the prospect of romantic love.

I know that if you ask yourself hard questions, you must be prepared not to find an answer. You must be prepared to admit sometimes your questions rise from self-pity, helplessness, envy…

However, the reliance on Joni Mitchell’s album forced Key into a thematic corner in a couple of parts. For the most part, I could overlook the bits that felt laboured, given Key’s insight and self-reflection on some difficult topics –

What is the secret of people who have mastered the fear of loss enough to take parenting on? How do they sleep? I can’t help but feel it’s the security, the faith of romantic love, that gives people the reliance and optimism to try.

There are plenty of books about being single, and about choosing not to have a child – Arrangements in Blue is a poetic (!) addition to that group.

3/5

Love Unedited by Caro Llewellyn

A love story, spanning decades, using the literary and publishing scene as a backdrop? Yes please! I pounced on this one but unfortunately it fell short.

There were elements of this novel that I enjoyed, notably the glimpses of cities (New York and Melbourne) and the subtle reveal of multiple plot lines. However, the different voices lacked distinction (which was problematic for one character, Edna, whose story is told in two parts – her lived experience and then what she writes in her memoir). As a result the novel is uneven and never really finds pace.

There were also some odd and completely unnecessary bits of info-dumping – about American politics, sustainable cooking, and fly-fishing – I wish Llewellyn’s editor had been firmer!

2.5/5

The First Stone by Helen Garner

I was at Melbourne Uni when the events that are the subject of this book took place. And I read it as soon as it was released – you would’ve had to have been living under a stone not to know about it at the time.

On my first reading, I can’t recall what I felt about Garner’s take on the situation, nor my opinion on where she was on the ‘spectrum’ of feminism but what I do remember is that this book sparked conversations with friends akin to today’s #MeToo discussions. And regardless of the decade, these discussions are very important for people to have. Garner’s observations about power are just as relevant now as they were in the nineties (perhaps a sad indictment that things haven’t really changed…).

The audio version of this book is read by Garner – I always like listening to authors reading their own work. But best of all, there’s a bunch of essays included at the end that detail the legal and publishing fiasco that surrounded The First Stone – very interesting stuff.

4/5