Tag Archives: Australian

Love, Death and Other Scenes by Nova Weetman

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Every time we experience grief, it is different. It’s why I keep reading grief memoirs – they always provide a new perspective. Love, Death and Other Scenes by Nova Weetman offers extraordinary insight into many aspects of grief.

Weetman’s memoir opens with the memorial of her husband, playwright and director Aidan Fennessy.*

It is like being at a party where the guest has forgotten to arrive. Everyone is waiting for you. And you are nowhere and everywhere. In all the conversations. In all the memories. But gone too. Continue reading →

Infidelity and Other Affairs by Kate Legge

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

I feel like the integrity of memoir as a genre has cropped up a bit lately. I mentioned it in my review of Unquiet (Ullmann classes her book as a blend of fiction and memoir) but before that, I was discussing it with a friend who saw Leslie Jamison speak about her memoir, Splinters, which focuses on the break-up of her marriage. I haven’t read Splinters yet, but my friend said that Jamison emphasised the importance of not casting her ex wholly as the bad guy, that in memoir you had to show the ‘good bits’ as well, or risk losing the trust of your readers.

I had that in mind as I began journalist Kate Legge’s memoir, Infidelity and Other Affairs. It’s also about her marriage, which eventually ended after her husband had an affair. In terms of my curiosity about portraying the ‘bad guys’ in memoir, I was rewarded early in the book: Continue reading →

Ravenous Girls by Rebecca Burton

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

I recently reviewed a memoir by Hadley Freeman, who had been diagnosed with anorexia as a teenager, so it was interesting to read a fictional account of the illness, this time from the perspective of a family member.

Ravenous Girls by Rebecca Burton tells the story of 14-year-old Frankie, who is trying to understand her older sister Justine’s admission to hospital with anorexia. Justine, a talented pianist, was about to begin studying music at university when anorexia takes over her life. Continue reading →

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

In The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop, author J.B. Blackwood, takes her husband, Patrick, a famous film director, on a cruise to celebrate their anniversary. J.B. is nursing a secret – she has won a yet-to-be-announced major literary prize. A storm hits, and Patrick falls from the ship. That might sound overly dramatic, but actually, this book is a moral thriller, and the story unfolds from that point onward (and there’s a lot more to it).

In a story… the feeling of not knowing what happens next is often a thing of pleasure: the cornerstone of our delight… But the same feeling of not-knowing, as it happens in one’s real life, is rarely so pleasurable… Continue reading →

I Had a Father in Karratha by Annette Trevitt

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with , , , , , ,

Two things I never expected when I started I Had a Father in Karratha by Annette Trevitt –

1. That the very last line of a book would make me burst into tears (especially having not cried prior to that)
2. That a memoir about being the executor of a will would be one of the best books I’ve read this year (and will most certainly be in my favourites for 2024). Continue reading →

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Rom-coms/ meet-cutes aren’t my usual thing but I made an exception for Mikki Brammer’s The Collected Regrets of Clover because the main character, Clover, is a death doula – and grief-lit is my thing.

It’s a simple story – Clover, an introverted and socially-anxious woman, lives a life structured around her work, her pets, and visiting death cafes in New York City. Flashbacks provide context for her chosen profession – Clover’s parents died when she was a child, and she moved to the city to live with her grandfather. Continue reading →

Reading the Stella Prize shortlist – Body Friend by Katherine Brabon

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

I’m loathe to focus on a particular aspect of Katherine Brabon’s novel, Body Friend, for fear of giving away an important aspect of the story (which is best revealed to readers in their own time). The particular aspect of the story that I won’t comment on is the central character’s two new friends, Frida and Sylvia, both of whom she meets while recovering from major surgery (Frida at the hydrotherapy pool and Sylvia in the park). Continue reading →