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Hydra
Anja is a young, ambitious antiquarian, passionate for the clean and balanced lines of mid-century furniture. She is intent on classifying objects based on emotional response and when her career goes awry, Anja finds herself adrift. Like a close friend, she confesses her intimacies and rage to us with candour, tenderness, and humour.
Cast out from the world of antiques, she stumbles upon a beachside cottage that the neighbouring naval base is offering for a 100-year lease. The property is derelict, isolated, and surrounded by scrub. Despite of, or because of, its wildness and solitude, Anja uses the last of the inheritance from her mother to lease the property. Yet a presence – human, ghost, other – seemingly inhabits the grounds.
Hydra is a novel of dark suspense and mental disquiet, struck through with black humour., Adriane Howell beguilingly explores notions of moral culpability, revenge, memory, and narrative – all through the female lens of freedom and constraint. She holds us captive to the last page.
‘From the treacherous auction houses of Melbourne to the sun-struck islands of Greece, Hydra took me places I never expected to go. Adriane Howell writes with the dreamy precision of Marguerite Duras, the humour-laced disquiet of Patricia Highsmith. A fever dream of a debut – elegant, savage, and delightfully unhinged.’ – Laura Elizabeth Woollett, author of Beautiful Revolutionary and The Newcomer
‘A puzzle box of creeping dread, Hydra had me questioning my own grasp on reality. This is sophisticated, genre-defying literary fiction of the first order.’ – Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt
‘Hydra crosses planes; it is superb, distinct, and breathtaking. It surprises, disturbs and enthrals at every turn.’ – Angela Meyer, author of A Superior Spectre and Moon Sugar
Cast out from the world of antiques, she stumbles upon a beachside cottage that the neighbouring naval base is offering for a 100-year lease. The property is derelict, isolated, and surrounded by scrub. Despite of, or because of, its wildness and solitude, Anja uses the last of the inheritance from her mother to lease the property. Yet a presence – human, ghost, other – seemingly inhabits the grounds.
Hydra is a novel of dark suspense and mental disquiet, struck through with black humour., Adriane Howell beguilingly explores notions of moral culpability, revenge, memory, and narrative – all through the female lens of freedom and constraint. She holds us captive to the last page.
‘From the treacherous auction houses of Melbourne to the sun-struck islands of Greece, Hydra took me places I never expected to go. Adriane Howell writes with the dreamy precision of Marguerite Duras, the humour-laced disquiet of Patricia Highsmith. A fever dream of a debut – elegant, savage, and delightfully unhinged.’ – Laura Elizabeth Woollett, author of Beautiful Revolutionary and The Newcomer
‘A puzzle box of creeping dread, Hydra had me questioning my own grasp on reality. This is sophisticated, genre-defying literary fiction of the first order.’ – Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt
‘Hydra crosses planes; it is superb, distinct, and breathtaking. It surprises, disturbs and enthrals at every turn.’ – Angela Meyer, author of A Superior Spectre and Moon Sugar
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
June 29, 2023
Just when you think the first-person novel of disaster/breakdown/mental unravelling has had its day, something comes along that reinvents the whole idea. Hydra feels entirely fresh, though it’s difficult to pinpoint why exactly. Maybe it’s protagonist Anja’s job at an auction house. Maybe it’s the story’s main setting: a derelict cottage on the wild fringes of a naval base with a dark history. Maybe it’s the extracts that appear throughout: taken from an investigative report written thirty years earlier, they chronicle strange incidents – with a supernatural cause? – on the same naval base. But most of all, I think, it’s the distinct voice Howell creates for Anja. Her narration, liberally sprinkled with exclamation marks, is delightfully idiosyncratic; her wry tone rings out from the page.
There are whole swathes of the book where I could just quote everything Anja says. Her professional rival, Fran, is ‘a girl who’d forgotten she was a woman’; she bemoans her boss with his ‘orderly procession of pretty fuckboys’, and the ‘decaying boyish smile’ of a toadying colleague. Anja on Queen Anne furniture: ‘a design period so feminine one could imagine menstrual blood seeping from the furniture’s joints.’ Anja on the increasing coldness between her and erstwhile best friend Beth: ‘growing apart from me also meant growing apart from herself – best to let me be the whore.’
At first, our antiheroine seems to be on the up: she’s well on her way to securing the coveted position of ‘specialist’. (Anja on the prospect of Fran beating her to it: ‘If I didn’t make specialist before her, I’d die.’) But then, in quick succession, comes a series of disastrous events: the death of Anja’s mother, the breakdown of her marriage, and – most ruinously – a dramatic incident at an open house. Anja is rendered jobless and disgraced in one fell swoop. Desperate for an escape, she buys the aforementioned derelict cottage on impulse. Which is when things get weird – and we start to understand the connection between Anja’s narrative and the investigative report.
I know a lot of people are fed up of ‘unhinged woman’ novels, and I have been losing my patience with them too, but Hydra really is a cut above. The style definitely has shades of Ottessa Moshfegh, but it’s wittier – at times, Anja’s one-liners are reminiscent of Emma Jane Unsworth’s Animals – and Hydra also feels like a book twin to the film Tár. When the history of the cottage is revealed in full, and when Anja makes her triumphant, deranged and utterly career-crippling return to the auction house, the message is the same: wildness and violence are never as far away as you think.
There are whole swathes of the book where I could just quote everything Anja says. Her professional rival, Fran, is ‘a girl who’d forgotten she was a woman’; she bemoans her boss with his ‘orderly procession of pretty fuckboys’, and the ‘decaying boyish smile’ of a toadying colleague. Anja on Queen Anne furniture: ‘a design period so feminine one could imagine menstrual blood seeping from the furniture’s joints.’ Anja on the increasing coldness between her and erstwhile best friend Beth: ‘growing apart from me also meant growing apart from herself – best to let me be the whore.’
At first, our antiheroine seems to be on the up: she’s well on her way to securing the coveted position of ‘specialist’. (Anja on the prospect of Fran beating her to it: ‘If I didn’t make specialist before her, I’d die.’) But then, in quick succession, comes a series of disastrous events: the death of Anja’s mother, the breakdown of her marriage, and – most ruinously – a dramatic incident at an open house. Anja is rendered jobless and disgraced in one fell swoop. Desperate for an escape, she buys the aforementioned derelict cottage on impulse. Which is when things get weird – and we start to understand the connection between Anja’s narrative and the investigative report.
I know a lot of people are fed up of ‘unhinged woman’ novels, and I have been losing my patience with them too, but Hydra really is a cut above. The style definitely has shades of Ottessa Moshfegh, but it’s wittier – at times, Anja’s one-liners are reminiscent of Emma Jane Unsworth’s Animals – and Hydra also feels like a book twin to the film Tár. When the history of the cottage is revealed in full, and when Anja makes her triumphant, deranged and utterly career-crippling return to the auction house, the message is the same: wildness and violence are never as far away as you think.
December 9, 2022
Hydra by Melbourne based author Adriane Howell is set on the Victorian peninsula in an area I was once quite familiar with. Our main character Anja is an antiques dealer working in the Mid Century Modern Department for Geoffrey Browne Auction House.
I was intrigued by the goings on in the auction world of antiques and in particular Anja's desire to classify objects based on their emotional responses.
The author had me on page 3 with Anja's description of her work:
"It was a thrill finding an object hidden for generations and unearthing its narrative. Who had dusted it, lounged in it, held on to it with a false sense of duty? And for how many decades had it sat in the one room, absorbing years of cheer and anguish that left stains even the most skilled carpenter couldn't sand away?" Page 3
This period in Anja's life is short lived though as she unexpectedly blows up her career in a gesture that actually made me gasp out loud. This isn't a spoiler, and when I read about it in the blurb I assumed there was going to be a theft or fraud or something of that nature, but no. You'll NEVER guess how she actually ends up losing her job and it's probably my favourite moment of the book.
Moving on, Anja flees the city and uses the last of her mother's inheritance to enter into a 100 year lease on an isolated cottage located in a reserve belonging to the Department of Defence. If you're thinking this peninsula setting sounds a lot like HMAS Cerberus, you'd be right. I actually spent a month living on base during my training as an Officer in the Navy and I really enjoyed the setting as a result. The inclusion of Navy reports interspersed throughout the novel were interesting but did provide additional context.
The author's prose and descriptions of the nature reserve and the wildlife were evocative and occasionally gave me pause:
"The bush was like a rococo relief: scrolling and curvaceous, dramatic and untamed." Page 165
We learn the cottage has been vacant for some time and requires a clean out and makeover; one of my favourite story arcs. I was rooting for Anja to begin to get her life back on track in the new rural surrounding but things don't quite go to plan. Snatches of Anja's backstory are drip fed into the narrative, leaving the reader to decide for themselves if the protagonist is becoming unhinged or not.
Strange things start to happen around the cottage, and on the whole, I didn't like many of Anja's choices and actions. This reminded me of The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins when the protagonist acted against my advice despite my shouting at the page. Don't you hate it when characters refuse to listen?
This debut novel is full of suspense and slowly reels you in. The sheer isolation and slow unravelling of Anja's career and personal life made for a tense and suspenseful read.
Fortunately these moments were broken up by a few lighter moments like this:
"If Beth were a Wegner chair she would be a PP250 Valet - practical to a fault. That's why I didn't tell her about the porch poo." Page 83
If you're rushing off to Google the Wegner chair to see what it looks like, you're in good company. I did the same.
Hydra definitely straddles a few genres, and I'm not sure if I would call this literary horror, as there isn't much blood/gore. However, it certainly has a dark undertone and sense of spiralling dread about what's going to happen, putting me in mind of some literary horror novels I've read in the last 12-18 months. The ending wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was in keeping with the genre and true to the character, so there is that.
Nevertheless, Hydra is a solid debut by Melbourne based author Adriane Howell, and I can't wait to see what she writes next. I suspect this is just the beginning of a promising career.
* Copy courtesy of Transit Lounge *
I was intrigued by the goings on in the auction world of antiques and in particular Anja's desire to classify objects based on their emotional responses.
The author had me on page 3 with Anja's description of her work:
"It was a thrill finding an object hidden for generations and unearthing its narrative. Who had dusted it, lounged in it, held on to it with a false sense of duty? And for how many decades had it sat in the one room, absorbing years of cheer and anguish that left stains even the most skilled carpenter couldn't sand away?" Page 3
This period in Anja's life is short lived though as she unexpectedly blows up her career in a gesture that actually made me gasp out loud. This isn't a spoiler, and when I read about it in the blurb I assumed there was going to be a theft or fraud or something of that nature, but no. You'll NEVER guess how she actually ends up losing her job and it's probably my favourite moment of the book.
Moving on, Anja flees the city and uses the last of her mother's inheritance to enter into a 100 year lease on an isolated cottage located in a reserve belonging to the Department of Defence. If you're thinking this peninsula setting sounds a lot like HMAS Cerberus, you'd be right. I actually spent a month living on base during my training as an Officer in the Navy and I really enjoyed the setting as a result. The inclusion of Navy reports interspersed throughout the novel were interesting but did provide additional context.
The author's prose and descriptions of the nature reserve and the wildlife were evocative and occasionally gave me pause:
"The bush was like a rococo relief: scrolling and curvaceous, dramatic and untamed." Page 165
We learn the cottage has been vacant for some time and requires a clean out and makeover; one of my favourite story arcs. I was rooting for Anja to begin to get her life back on track in the new rural surrounding but things don't quite go to plan. Snatches of Anja's backstory are drip fed into the narrative, leaving the reader to decide for themselves if the protagonist is becoming unhinged or not.
Strange things start to happen around the cottage, and on the whole, I didn't like many of Anja's choices and actions. This reminded me of The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins when the protagonist acted against my advice despite my shouting at the page. Don't you hate it when characters refuse to listen?
This debut novel is full of suspense and slowly reels you in. The sheer isolation and slow unravelling of Anja's career and personal life made for a tense and suspenseful read.
Fortunately these moments were broken up by a few lighter moments like this:
"If Beth were a Wegner chair she would be a PP250 Valet - practical to a fault. That's why I didn't tell her about the porch poo." Page 83
If you're rushing off to Google the Wegner chair to see what it looks like, you're in good company. I did the same.
Hydra definitely straddles a few genres, and I'm not sure if I would call this literary horror, as there isn't much blood/gore. However, it certainly has a dark undertone and sense of spiralling dread about what's going to happen, putting me in mind of some literary horror novels I've read in the last 12-18 months. The ending wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was in keeping with the genre and true to the character, so there is that.
Nevertheless, Hydra is a solid debut by Melbourne based author Adriane Howell, and I can't wait to see what she writes next. I suspect this is just the beginning of a promising career.
* Copy courtesy of Transit Lounge *
January 16, 2023
An Australian gothic with a twist - instead of the outback featuring as a faceless enemy, as has been the trend for quite some time now, this darkly amusing debut novel follows Anja, who loses her job after an Incident (tbph, her life wasn’t going well to begin with), and subsequently retreats to an isolated coastal shack, offered by the Navy on a long lease. As you’d expect, there’s a dark history there, and the reader is taken on the journey on increasing doubt about Anja’s sanity, and a further exploration into the history of the property, tinged with friendship, revenge, possibly a bit of wishful thinking, and the strong Aussie affinity with the urban legend.
And remember: If you see a cougar, it is only because she wants to be seen.
And remember: If you see a cougar, it is only because she wants to be seen.
August 3, 2022
Outside of crime fiction we don’t see much use of creeping dread, and few truly unravelling protagonists in contemporary auslit though it’s something American writers like Moshfegh, Phillips, Kleeman and Yoder do so well. I was completely enthralled reading about Anja’s increasingly unhinged behaviour in this first person account of her losing her mother, husband, home, job and mind in quick succession. Here is a woman coming apart and the reader is right there with her. Everything about this book was surprising and I loved it for how unexpected it was. That said it brought to mind Fiona McFarlane’s The Night Guest – or at least how that book made me feel. I love being this excited about an Australian debut novel. Howell’s prose is stunning. This will without doubt be on my fave books of the year list. Huge thanks to @andrewj_robertson for knowing this was a book for me and @lauraelizabethwoollett for giving me a push.
April 25, 2023
Adriane Howell’s novel Hydra is all kinds of strange and wonderful, an artful blend of Australian Gothic and black comedy, with a dash of sad girl tale and folklore thrown in for good measure.
The quirky story is narrated by Anja, a young Melbourne-based antiquarian specialising in mid-century furniture. She works in an auction house that runs estate auctions, “ransacking dead people’s houses” to profiteer from their good furniture and valuable belongings.
When we first meet her we learn she is grieving the death of her mother. Her short-lived marriage has also broken down following a holiday to the Greek island of Hydra. And she’s constantly bickering with her rival at work, Fran, who provokes her by sitting in her seat and making snide comments about her attire.
Anja, it seems, holds grudges, is cynical and bad-tempered. But she does dream big and wants to advance her career by introducing a new taxonomic system for buyers and sellers in which furniture is classified on the emotional response it evokes — suggesting Anja is either naive or narcissistic.
Then, when she behaves badly at work, tussling with a client over a rare (and supposedly famous) chair that she refuses to sell, she loses her job.
Taking the small inheritance she has from her mother, she flees the city and moves into a secluded cottage on the fringes of a naval base. She dreams of growing her own vegetables and living a quiet life, but the appearance of strange “gifts” — foul-smelling human excrement, a mangled rabbit with its guts spilling out — on her doorstep makes her fearful of living alone.
Her isolation now begins to feel claustrophobic and her behaviour becomes increasingly unpredictable and unhinged. The demons within and the demons outwith seem to be conspiring against her.
Anja’s narrative, which features elements of backstory, is interspersed with classified naval documents, hinting at a mysterious investigation dating back to 1986. When the two narrative threads come together, the “a-ha!” moment it delivers is a delicious revelation.
Hydra is a truly original and entertaining read. In its depiction of a woman losing her grip on reality, it reminded me a little of Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss and Ella Baxter’s New Animal. But it’s a refreshing take on an urban myth and deserves wide plaudits.
For a more detailed review, please visit my blog.
The quirky story is narrated by Anja, a young Melbourne-based antiquarian specialising in mid-century furniture. She works in an auction house that runs estate auctions, “ransacking dead people’s houses” to profiteer from their good furniture and valuable belongings.
When we first meet her we learn she is grieving the death of her mother. Her short-lived marriage has also broken down following a holiday to the Greek island of Hydra. And she’s constantly bickering with her rival at work, Fran, who provokes her by sitting in her seat and making snide comments about her attire.
Anja, it seems, holds grudges, is cynical and bad-tempered. But she does dream big and wants to advance her career by introducing a new taxonomic system for buyers and sellers in which furniture is classified on the emotional response it evokes — suggesting Anja is either naive or narcissistic.
Then, when she behaves badly at work, tussling with a client over a rare (and supposedly famous) chair that she refuses to sell, she loses her job.
Taking the small inheritance she has from her mother, she flees the city and moves into a secluded cottage on the fringes of a naval base. She dreams of growing her own vegetables and living a quiet life, but the appearance of strange “gifts” — foul-smelling human excrement, a mangled rabbit with its guts spilling out — on her doorstep makes her fearful of living alone.
Her isolation now begins to feel claustrophobic and her behaviour becomes increasingly unpredictable and unhinged. The demons within and the demons outwith seem to be conspiring against her.
Anja’s narrative, which features elements of backstory, is interspersed with classified naval documents, hinting at a mysterious investigation dating back to 1986. When the two narrative threads come together, the “a-ha!” moment it delivers is a delicious revelation.
Hydra is a truly original and entertaining read. In its depiction of a woman losing her grip on reality, it reminded me a little of Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss and Ella Baxter’s New Animal. But it’s a refreshing take on an urban myth and deserves wide plaudits.
For a more detailed review, please visit my blog.
August 10, 2022
I liked the slightly unhinged narrator, discovered interview transcripts and the creepy Australian bush with accompanying folklore but I felt a bit lost at the end. The sum of the parts didn’t quite achieve a total purpose. This came across as something recounted as a weird dream that didn’t really have an ending but I need one - perhaps I missed something.
July 3, 2023
Oh, that unreliable first person narrative that never fails to deliver! A stylish, well-paced debut that frequently veers off track into wilder terrains.. The ending is a little weak after such a strongly controlled journey but ‘Hydra’ should appeal to Aus lit lovers of noir and the uncanny.
May 1, 2023
2023 Stella Longlist
After a bit of an April reading slump I've finished this Stella shortlisted novel. Probably my favourite of the longlist so far. The winner was announced, and unfortunately this one wasn't it.
It's an intriguing contemporary story but steeped in the antique world with a darkly humorous take, at certain moments. Have to admit on laughing out loud at a defining unexpected moment.
Has other dark turns, one with a fairly unexpected outcome. I loved the way that the main story was interlaced with Navy interviews from past events on the next-door Navy base. A really satisfying novel. I'll be looking for more from this author in the future.
Back to the library with it, it's a touch overdue.
June 25, 2022
Occasionally you come across a novel that is part dream, part nightmare; part chilling sense of creeping dread, part poetic and aesthetic beauty. Such is Hydra (Transit Lounge 2022) by Adriane Howell, a highly literary story that celebrates the joy of language and the lengths to which an author can go in search of a mystery, while also managing to experiment with form and play with character.
Hydra reminded me a little of Labyrinth by Amanda Lowry and a little of Wintering by Krissy Kneen, so if you enjoyed either of those novels, this will no doubt appeal. It is strange, unearthly, ghostly and otherworldly, yet very much anchored in a pragmatic and tangible storyline.
Anja’s obsession has long been antiques but she has crossed the line once too often in her unorthodox practices. Finding herself untethered (and unemployed), she purchases an isolated beach cottage surrounded on all sides by a naval base. The dilapidated building is eerie and forlorn and sits atop the edge of a steep cliff that leads to the sea. In the garden sits an abandoned World War Two dinghy with a faded painting on the side – a three-headed serpent. The setting is mysterious and gothic.
Anja is intent on classifying objects according to the emotional response they inspire; she has based her antique career on this method and also adopts it in her personal circumstances. She takes a job in a rundown country secondhand market, she attempts to grow vegetables despite the corrosive salt air, she becomes increasingly unsettled by the disturbing presence (Man? Beast? Other?) that inhabits her property.
With themes of feminism, violence, fear, history, lore, superstition and revenge, Hydra is told in the first person by Anja, interspersed with typed and redacted Naval Intelligence Reports and official personal Audio Recordings and historical statements from Defence personnel, creating an interesting and unusual structure. It is as if Anja speaks directly to the reader, giving us a glimpse inside her mind – her desires, her fears and trepidations, her anxieties, the unique way she reads the world and assesses both the objects that surround her and the happenings that disturb her.
Hydra reminded me a little of Labyrinth by Amanda Lowry and a little of Wintering by Krissy Kneen, so if you enjoyed either of those novels, this will no doubt appeal. It is strange, unearthly, ghostly and otherworldly, yet very much anchored in a pragmatic and tangible storyline.
Anja’s obsession has long been antiques but she has crossed the line once too often in her unorthodox practices. Finding herself untethered (and unemployed), she purchases an isolated beach cottage surrounded on all sides by a naval base. The dilapidated building is eerie and forlorn and sits atop the edge of a steep cliff that leads to the sea. In the garden sits an abandoned World War Two dinghy with a faded painting on the side – a three-headed serpent. The setting is mysterious and gothic.
Anja is intent on classifying objects according to the emotional response they inspire; she has based her antique career on this method and also adopts it in her personal circumstances. She takes a job in a rundown country secondhand market, she attempts to grow vegetables despite the corrosive salt air, she becomes increasingly unsettled by the disturbing presence (Man? Beast? Other?) that inhabits her property.
With themes of feminism, violence, fear, history, lore, superstition and revenge, Hydra is told in the first person by Anja, interspersed with typed and redacted Naval Intelligence Reports and official personal Audio Recordings and historical statements from Defence personnel, creating an interesting and unusual structure. It is as if Anja speaks directly to the reader, giving us a glimpse inside her mind – her desires, her fears and trepidations, her anxieties, the unique way she reads the world and assesses both the objects that surround her and the happenings that disturb her.
August 5, 2023
a woman moves to the ninch, a wild cat may or may not be stalking her, and there is some smashed china. I wanted to like this but the suiciding squid was my final straw
July 18, 2022
If you're in the mood to channel your inner brat, you will enjoy Hydra, the debut novel of Adriane Howell. Here's how it begins:
As you can see, the author has a great way with words. And you can also see that the protagonist-narrator does a nice line in cynicism and black humour, and that she lacks, shall we say, a certain practicality? As an executor, I've packed up a couple of deceased estates and even though I'd known both of the deceased for decades, even I had trouble 'unearthing the narrative' of some objects.
Anja, however, is in the grip of a fantasy. She's an ambitious antiquarian, working in the Mid-Century Modern Department of Geoffrey Browne's Auction House. Back at work from the holiday on Hydra which ended her marriage, she has dreams of reorientating the classification system which has always served sellers and buyers so well, so that objects will be classified according to the emotional response they evoke — by which she means, of course, her emotional response.
Anja's nemesis is Fran, with ambitions of her own, asserting them by sitting in Anja's chair in admin. These two tussle over clothing as emblems of good taste. Anja wears a 'winking panther' designer brooch to exude confidence in the way that some women wear red lipstick. (Anja confides little gems like this to her bemused readers throughout the text).
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/07/19/h...
This is not the beginning in narration's traditional sense — things had come before — but if you'll humour me a little, I'll start by speaking of my work at Geoffrey Browne, where we were vultures scavenging remains. After a funeral, in we'd waltz with our Post-it notes: yellow for indexing, green for research, pink for Primas. We'd strip houses to the bones of their walls and clean them of mouldings too, drilling deep, tearing out cartilage to gain the sale items, thicken the catalogue — profiteers of death.
My dear friend Beth said I was too hard on myself, that an auction house was hardly the Serengeti, that I was prone to pessimism and exaggeration — 'miserabilism', she called it. But that wasn't true, I liked the word 'miserabilism'; it felt good rolling around the tongue, proving an appetite for life.
Metaphor aside, the reality is I had no qualms ransacking dead people's houses. It was a thrill finding an object hidden for generations and unearthing its narrative. Who had dusted it, lounged in it, held on to it with a false sense of duty? And for how many decades had it sat in the one room, absorbing years of cheer and anguish that left stains even the most skilled carpenter couldn't sand away. (p.3)
As you can see, the author has a great way with words. And you can also see that the protagonist-narrator does a nice line in cynicism and black humour, and that she lacks, shall we say, a certain practicality? As an executor, I've packed up a couple of deceased estates and even though I'd known both of the deceased for decades, even I had trouble 'unearthing the narrative' of some objects.
Anja, however, is in the grip of a fantasy. She's an ambitious antiquarian, working in the Mid-Century Modern Department of Geoffrey Browne's Auction House. Back at work from the holiday on Hydra which ended her marriage, she has dreams of reorientating the classification system which has always served sellers and buyers so well, so that objects will be classified according to the emotional response they evoke — by which she means, of course, her emotional response.
Anja's nemesis is Fran, with ambitions of her own, asserting them by sitting in Anja's chair in admin. These two tussle over clothing as emblems of good taste. Anja wears a 'winking panther' designer brooch to exude confidence in the way that some women wear red lipstick. (Anja confides little gems like this to her bemused readers throughout the text).
Fran twice tapped the plastic cat with her fingernail. 'You always make such bold choices,' she said, sitting on my desk to face me.
It was my fault we'd lost any sense of personal space: I'd been too festive at the last Christmas party and pulled at the stitched bonbons on her holiday-themed skirt. She'd spent the next several months poking and prodding at my clothing to reclaim ground I'd conquered. (p.7)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/07/19/h...
October 19, 2023
I think my main criticism about this book was that I just didn’t understand where it was going or what the author was hoping to achieve.
The novel jumps quickly from antique auction houses in Melbourne, to her newly bought shack on the peninsula, to Greece, and to old reports about strange occurrences on the naval base. Rather than being intriguing, it was confusing, and each time I picked up the book I found it was a great effort for me to remember what was happening and how it fit with the main story line.
I couldn’t understand, nor relate, to the erratic nature of the protagonist. The reason for her unravelling was never clear. I found myself not caring what happened to her and just wanting to get to the end.
At times I felt too dumb for what this book was trying to do - I think it alienated me as the reader with its pretentiousness.
I think it might have been helpful if the cover and blurb gave you a better idea of what you were getting yourself into. “Dark suspense”, “black humour”, and “holds us captive until the last page” do not accurately reflect my experience of reading Hydra.
The novel jumps quickly from antique auction houses in Melbourne, to her newly bought shack on the peninsula, to Greece, and to old reports about strange occurrences on the naval base. Rather than being intriguing, it was confusing, and each time I picked up the book I found it was a great effort for me to remember what was happening and how it fit with the main story line.
I couldn’t understand, nor relate, to the erratic nature of the protagonist. The reason for her unravelling was never clear. I found myself not caring what happened to her and just wanting to get to the end.
At times I felt too dumb for what this book was trying to do - I think it alienated me as the reader with its pretentiousness.
I think it might have been helpful if the cover and blurb gave you a better idea of what you were getting yourself into. “Dark suspense”, “black humour”, and “holds us captive until the last page” do not accurately reflect my experience of reading Hydra.
April 28, 2023
Hydra promises to be a novel of suspense, mystery and of a women who is perhaps unravelling after being abandoned by her husband.
.
And while I had a much longer review planned for why this did not work for me, I have decided to abandon the effort that would require me to put in and instead provide some points for you take them as you will.
.
I really am unsure what the author was trying to say, or achieve, with Hydra. The unravelling woman was not allowed to unravel too far until we skipped to her drastic actions in the ending.
Which really is a problem that I had with Hydra, the one where it felt like we stuck a toe in the waters of ‘unravelling’, ‘mystery’, ‘suspense’, ‘supernatural’ even, but rather than wading in to give body to, instead the author chose to pull the toe out and be done with it.
This made for a very unsatisfying read.
.
And while I had a much longer review planned for why this did not work for me, I have decided to abandon the effort that would require me to put in and instead provide some points for you take them as you will.
.
I really am unsure what the author was trying to say, or achieve, with Hydra. The unravelling woman was not allowed to unravel too far until we skipped to her drastic actions in the ending.
Which really is a problem that I had with Hydra, the one where it felt like we stuck a toe in the waters of ‘unravelling’, ‘mystery’, ‘suspense’, ‘supernatural’ even, but rather than wading in to give body to, instead the author chose to pull the toe out and be done with it.
This made for a very unsatisfying read.
September 22, 2022
This is quite a difficult novel to review.
It’s essentially a story told in two parts – firstly, the story of Anja, an antiquarian who works in Melbourne. Anja is passionate about a classification system for antiques that she devised for her thesis, something that she longs to implement in her professional life and believes she might be able to do so, once she reaches the level of ‘Specialist’. She has a rivalry of sorts with Fran, someone who works in the same office, as to who might reach this first. When Anja makes a decision that torpedoes her career, she finds herself using the last of her inheritance from her mother to purchase a 100 year lease on a remote cottage on the vast grounds of a naval base. The cottage is isolated and has not been used for some time and although it has a spectacular view of the sea, usage of the beach is not included as it belongs to the defence force. Not long after she moves in, Anja notices several disturbing incidents which makes her wonder why this place has been offered up now, and why it has been left alone so long.
Interspersed with this are classified documents from an investigation into some unusual and violent happenings at the naval base that surrounds Anja’s new property some 30+ years ago, some of which have been removed and other information is occasionally redacted.
Anja is a complicated protagonist, at the beginning of the book she is arriving back at work after some time away, during which it’s hinted that something has happened or gone wrong. Her focus is back on work but immediately it seems that Anja is….perhaps struggling a bit mentally. She is hyper focused on things sometimes and doesn’t seem to notice the ‘bigger picture’. She has an intense rivalry with a fellow employee and in her desperation to one up this person, makes a mistake that basically ends her career. Even after this happens, it seems that Anja can’t actually see what she did wrong and seems to feel like she’d do the same thing again every time. She makes impulsive, rash decisions and doesn’t seem to ever take responsibility for anything. After a bit of a rocky start she settles into her new life in the cottage and even manages to find herself a job but she still can’t let go of the past, constantly checking up on her previous work colleague.
I really liked the parts of the story that involved the previous investigation into the naval base. I found them incredibly interesting and quite good at building a sinister vibe in a slow and steady way, the precise nature of the military reports giving you nothing but clinical facts and observations as the investigator proceeds with interviews. Your imagination begins to fill in the gaps, try and work out what is happening by what isn’t being said (and by trying to figure out what was been removed from the report as several items are listed as so). These are complimented by some unusual happenings that Anja notices at the cabin, but how much of this is the product of the isolation and Anja’s frame of mind, is uncertain.
The writing in this is beautiful and so well done. It’s not a long story and it manages to convey so much, especially about Anja without specifically really telling the reader much about her at all. As I mentioned, even the investigative reports are used to maximum effect and the difference between the clinical feel of those and Anja’s slightly frantic thoughts help with creating an atmosphere of foreboding. For me it was all building towards something but I cannot help but feel like the ending was….not quite what I was expecting.
An interesting debut with impressive writing but there were some elements of the story that didn’t really work out for me in the end.
***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***
It’s essentially a story told in two parts – firstly, the story of Anja, an antiquarian who works in Melbourne. Anja is passionate about a classification system for antiques that she devised for her thesis, something that she longs to implement in her professional life and believes she might be able to do so, once she reaches the level of ‘Specialist’. She has a rivalry of sorts with Fran, someone who works in the same office, as to who might reach this first. When Anja makes a decision that torpedoes her career, she finds herself using the last of her inheritance from her mother to purchase a 100 year lease on a remote cottage on the vast grounds of a naval base. The cottage is isolated and has not been used for some time and although it has a spectacular view of the sea, usage of the beach is not included as it belongs to the defence force. Not long after she moves in, Anja notices several disturbing incidents which makes her wonder why this place has been offered up now, and why it has been left alone so long.
Interspersed with this are classified documents from an investigation into some unusual and violent happenings at the naval base that surrounds Anja’s new property some 30+ years ago, some of which have been removed and other information is occasionally redacted.
Anja is a complicated protagonist, at the beginning of the book she is arriving back at work after some time away, during which it’s hinted that something has happened or gone wrong. Her focus is back on work but immediately it seems that Anja is….perhaps struggling a bit mentally. She is hyper focused on things sometimes and doesn’t seem to notice the ‘bigger picture’. She has an intense rivalry with a fellow employee and in her desperation to one up this person, makes a mistake that basically ends her career. Even after this happens, it seems that Anja can’t actually see what she did wrong and seems to feel like she’d do the same thing again every time. She makes impulsive, rash decisions and doesn’t seem to ever take responsibility for anything. After a bit of a rocky start she settles into her new life in the cottage and even manages to find herself a job but she still can’t let go of the past, constantly checking up on her previous work colleague.
I really liked the parts of the story that involved the previous investigation into the naval base. I found them incredibly interesting and quite good at building a sinister vibe in a slow and steady way, the precise nature of the military reports giving you nothing but clinical facts and observations as the investigator proceeds with interviews. Your imagination begins to fill in the gaps, try and work out what is happening by what isn’t being said (and by trying to figure out what was been removed from the report as several items are listed as so). These are complimented by some unusual happenings that Anja notices at the cabin, but how much of this is the product of the isolation and Anja’s frame of mind, is uncertain.
The writing in this is beautiful and so well done. It’s not a long story and it manages to convey so much, especially about Anja without specifically really telling the reader much about her at all. As I mentioned, even the investigative reports are used to maximum effect and the difference between the clinical feel of those and Anja’s slightly frantic thoughts help with creating an atmosphere of foreboding. For me it was all building towards something but I cannot help but feel like the ending was….not quite what I was expecting.
An interesting debut with impressive writing but there were some elements of the story that didn’t really work out for me in the end.
***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***
June 3, 2023
Anya is a hot mess and I am here for it. Love to see an Australian take on the disaffected female protagonist trope - so funny and so twisted.
August 26, 2022
I guess this one just wasn't quite what I expected. I expected it to be more of a thriller with a bit of the "paranormal" thrown in but it's not a thriller at all. There's a bit of a suspense, I suppose, but it's more to do with the mental condition of the protagonist. In a way, the author has done very well conveying the thoughts and feelings of a protagonist who appeared to be utterly lost and imbalanced, teetering on the edge of a "normal" life as we know it.
In between of the present perspective, there were transcripts describing mysterious events from the past. But they were so mysterious, I still can't get my head around it. I'm thinking it's a bit like the thylacine myth.
I'm also not one for slapsticks nor black humour so while I can see where some things are meant to be humourous, I... just... cringed.
Overall, Hydra is not really my cup of tea but I do like that intriguing cover.
My thanks to Transit Lounge Publishing for this copy of book in exchange of my honest thoughts
In between of the present perspective, there were transcripts describing mysterious events from the past. But they were so mysterious, I still can't get my head around it. I'm thinking it's a bit like the thylacine myth.
I'm also not one for slapsticks nor black humour so while I can see where some things are meant to be humourous, I... just... cringed.
Overall, Hydra is not really my cup of tea but I do like that intriguing cover.
My thanks to Transit Lounge Publishing for this copy of book in exchange of my honest thoughts
May 8, 2023
Unsure how this book ended - about a woman who buys a house near an army base with a wild cat on the lose
April 8, 2023
Hydra
by Adriane Howell is true to its title - a beast that is hard to contain. It's loosely Australian gothic, and tells of Anja, a young, ambitious antiquarian, whose specialty is mid-century furniture.
We learn a few important things about Anja early in the story - her rival at the auction house where she works is Fran; her marriage ended on a recent trip to Greece; and she is intent on classifying objects based on emotional response (as opposed to origin or period).
As well as her marriage imploding, so does Anja's career (not helped by a run-in with Fran). Suddenly adrift, she purchases a clifftop cottage on an isolated stretch of coast held by the neighbouring naval base. The cottage is derelict and surrounded by scrub. Anja does her best to tame the garden and yet a presence – beast, ghost or other – is close, and Anja's fear slowly rises.
The story is told in the first person and Anja's unraveling is interspersed with historical naval intelligence reports, which elude to specific but unexplained events at the naval base. The reports correlate with Anja's suspicions about the presence of a beast, allowing the reader to join some of the dots, but still maintaining the suspense.
There was something a little bit too clever about Hydra for me - perhaps my lack of knowledge about Greek mythology did me a disservice and I failed to see the parallels. And particular events - such as the ghost in the vineyard, the fateful dinner at the fancy restaurant, the suiciding squid, and the sporadic visits by Anja's father - were given narrative prominence but I failed to see how they pulled the reader toward the conclusion. Maybe I have missed something glaringly obvious...?
Additionally, some of the detail was uneven - lots about mid-century Wegner chairs and Susie Cooper tea sets, light on the emotional plot line (the break-up with her husband left me wondering, as did the argument with her friend, Beth) - maybe this was the author's intention? Maybe the Cooper teapot was a metaphor for something?
What I did enjoy was the setting - I think modeled on Point Nepean, the Mornington Peninsula and the Tyabb Packing House? That's what was in my mind as I read. Howell's descriptions of the landscape were striking and she creates a strong sense of place -
While I seem a little indifferent to Hydra, there are two scenes that bookend the novel - both feature Susie Cooper and both will make you gasp (for those who have read the book, the first relates to how Anja loses her job, and the second involves a shovel) - that are truly memorable.
3/5 Interesting.
We learn a few important things about Anja early in the story - her rival at the auction house where she works is Fran; her marriage ended on a recent trip to Greece; and she is intent on classifying objects based on emotional response (as opposed to origin or period).
Teapots, I decided, were connected to storytelling, belonging to the Department of Once Upon a Time.
As well as her marriage imploding, so does Anja's career (not helped by a run-in with Fran). Suddenly adrift, she purchases a clifftop cottage on an isolated stretch of coast held by the neighbouring naval base. The cottage is derelict and surrounded by scrub. Anja does her best to tame the garden and yet a presence – beast, ghost or other – is close, and Anja's fear slowly rises.
The story is told in the first person and Anja's unraveling is interspersed with historical naval intelligence reports, which elude to specific but unexplained events at the naval base. The reports correlate with Anja's suspicions about the presence of a beast, allowing the reader to join some of the dots, but still maintaining the suspense.
There was something a little bit too clever about Hydra for me - perhaps my lack of knowledge about Greek mythology did me a disservice and I failed to see the parallels. And particular events - such as the ghost in the vineyard, the fateful dinner at the fancy restaurant, the suiciding squid, and the sporadic visits by Anja's father - were given narrative prominence but I failed to see how they pulled the reader toward the conclusion. Maybe I have missed something glaringly obvious...?
Additionally, some of the detail was uneven - lots about mid-century Wegner chairs and Susie Cooper tea sets, light on the emotional plot line (the break-up with her husband left me wondering, as did the argument with her friend, Beth) - maybe this was the author's intention? Maybe the Cooper teapot was a metaphor for something?
What I did enjoy was the setting - I think modeled on Point Nepean, the Mornington Peninsula and the Tyabb Packing House? That's what was in my mind as I read. Howell's descriptions of the landscape were striking and she creates a strong sense of place -
The bush was like a rococo relief: scrolling and curvaceous, dramatic and untamed. Everything uninhibited until ... ahead ... the emerald shoots of a wallaby grass parted unnaturally...
While I seem a little indifferent to Hydra, there are two scenes that bookend the novel - both feature Susie Cooper and both will make you gasp (for those who have read the book, the first relates to how Anja loses her job, and the second involves a shovel) - that are truly memorable.
3/5 Interesting.
April 6, 2023
Wow, what a beautiful work of art. Dark, brooding, funny, acerbic. The first shock had me gasping, laughing, totally delighted.
A nod to anyone of us who has experienced the death of a parent and then had their dream job ripped away. Relatable. The temptation to ruin it all, run away from the world, surely tempting to us all, at times?
Anja has just lost her mother, and then had her marriage end in dramatic fashion whilst away overseas. She returns from leave to the job she has big dreams about, and hopes to realise her thesis declarations within, to find her replacement desperately and completely inadequately filling her shoes. Even the wrong kind of shoes! In a moment of complete impulsivity, she blows it all up, packs up and lands herself a long term lease in a remote cottage on a cliff next to a naval base on the peninsula.
Totally imaginable, or least considered in dark times, no? Here she whittles away the last of her inheritance, while trying to become in tune to her land - and the many odd things going on there and within her life.
Moments of being completely reckless, unhinged, of having a breakdown. Mysterious incursions on her property lead her to more and more moments of madness - all whilst we readers are privy to some history of the area that may or may not explain.
A love note to exquisite furniture and style, Mid-Century finds, and to unique interests and expertise. To life upending unexpectedly, and the traumatic, lost scramble it is to try and right it all - like a tea cup, to topple and smash or stop still and intact.
A worthy Stella Prize shortlist book. A 'fever dream' indeed, as it says on the cover. A read that hit home to me, which might just be revealing too much about my own psyche!
A nod to anyone of us who has experienced the death of a parent and then had their dream job ripped away. Relatable. The temptation to ruin it all, run away from the world, surely tempting to us all, at times?
Anja has just lost her mother, and then had her marriage end in dramatic fashion whilst away overseas. She returns from leave to the job she has big dreams about, and hopes to realise her thesis declarations within, to find her replacement desperately and completely inadequately filling her shoes. Even the wrong kind of shoes! In a moment of complete impulsivity, she blows it all up, packs up and lands herself a long term lease in a remote cottage on a cliff next to a naval base on the peninsula.
Totally imaginable, or least considered in dark times, no? Here she whittles away the last of her inheritance, while trying to become in tune to her land - and the many odd things going on there and within her life.
Moments of being completely reckless, unhinged, of having a breakdown. Mysterious incursions on her property lead her to more and more moments of madness - all whilst we readers are privy to some history of the area that may or may not explain.
A love note to exquisite furniture and style, Mid-Century finds, and to unique interests and expertise. To life upending unexpectedly, and the traumatic, lost scramble it is to try and right it all - like a tea cup, to topple and smash or stop still and intact.
A worthy Stella Prize shortlist book. A 'fever dream' indeed, as it says on the cover. A read that hit home to me, which might just be revealing too much about my own psyche!
October 16, 2022
A slow starter, and took me a little to get into it, but once I did, I really enjoyed it. Characters are all a little off kilter. No-one is perfect, and sure, not much happens, but it doesn't need to. I really enjoyed the Mid Century furniture aspect and auction house behind the scenes (reminded me of a place here in Melbourne). At first I didn't get the navy notes, but it came together. I also liked the sense of humour, and how Howell didn't give ALL the details of every encounter, left some to your imagination. I also really enjoyed the editing, crisp, well done. I'd read another by Howell.
June 26, 2024
This was weird! I liked it! There’s also something so seductive about fucking up every aspect of your life. Obviously you don’t want to, but what if? I don’t want to do it to my own, so I like reading about other people doing it
February 22, 2023
I really enjoyed Hydra. It was part ghost-story, part Australian gothic and part journey of self discovery. It was gripping and funny and full of wit. An unsoftened look into what it is to be female and to be animal and to follow your instincts.
October 21, 2022
A ghostly and disquieting novel. The sense of place and otherworldly atmosphere entranced me from the first page. Wonderfully written.
September 5, 2022
Frustrating read with an unrelatable (and fairly unlikable) character. Messy with no intrigue.
September 25, 2022
I so wanted to like this and was hoping for some deep female psychological insights with the title Hydra. I am sorry to say I found the story unbelievable, the main character unrelatable and the promise of suspense, unfulfilled.
October 9, 2022
Anja is an ambitious young appraiser at a Melbourne auction house. A series of catastrophic decisions and personal crises sees her moving to a dilapidated shack on a naval reserve on (I guess?) the Mornington Peninsula to lick her wounds. But she finds herself being haunted in a variety of different ways. Interspersed throughout are documents related to an internal naval investigation in the 80s.
This feels like multiple different books which have been sandwiched together. Some elements are great, I really liked the auction house stuff for example, and Howell well explores the clawing and backbiting and the discussion of various objects and their context. There is a hyper-locality to this, Melbourne desperately copying the tastes and pretensions of the Old World in restaurants and collecting objects, but it's all on a golf course.
Then there are dreamlike elements which reminded me a bit of the Pisces or something, action which maybe happened or maybe didn't and the thematic exploration of men who abandon women -- after sex, as parents, as husbands
I found the flashback to Greece a bit derivative. There are lot of books in which our hero's life falls to ruins amongst the ruins -- A Separation, Hot Milk and Beautiful Animals being a few I can think of without a great deal of effort.
But in all, I enjoyed this a lot and speedread through it.
This feels like multiple different books which have been sandwiched together. Some elements are great, I really liked the auction house stuff for example, and Howell well explores the clawing and backbiting and the discussion of various objects and their context. There is a hyper-locality to this, Melbourne desperately copying the tastes and pretensions of the Old World in restaurants and collecting objects, but it's all on a golf course.
Then there are dreamlike elements which reminded me a bit of the Pisces or something, action which maybe happened or maybe didn't and the thematic exploration of men who abandon women -- after sex, as parents, as husbands
I found the flashback to Greece a bit derivative. There are lot of books in which our hero's life falls to ruins amongst the ruins -- A Separation, Hot Milk and Beautiful Animals being a few I can think of without a great deal of effort.
But in all, I enjoyed this a lot and speedread through it.
March 7, 2023
4.5⭐️
This debut novel by Australian writer, Adriane Howell has recently been longlisted for the 2023 Stella Prize for women and non-binary writers. I will be surprised if this doesn't make it to the shortlist.
This novel is not what I was expecting at all. It drew me in from the first pages and had me aghast as we move with Anja, page by page, from her seemingly perfect life as an antiques dealer, to slowly unravelling into a strange wilderness of erratic behaviour and unexplained nocturnal disturbances. At times it is hard to discern what is real and what is imaginary.
This is a strange but beautifully written book. It is dark, unsettling and at times I just wanted to reach out and place a calming hand on Anja and reassure her, and other times I wanted to scream and shout at her to get a grip. Howell's character development of Anja is so compelling.
The ending is definitely not what I was expecting but I didn't hate it. Rather it left me feeling some unease and wondering WTF have I just read. Strangely, an uneasy satisfaction.
This is a true literary read. I love writing that alerts all the senses. It made me think of the great Australian classic, Picnic at Hanging Rock - shrouded in mystery and not all that it seems. @felinefelttip is a writer I look forward to reading more of!
This debut novel by Australian writer, Adriane Howell has recently been longlisted for the 2023 Stella Prize for women and non-binary writers. I will be surprised if this doesn't make it to the shortlist.
This novel is not what I was expecting at all. It drew me in from the first pages and had me aghast as we move with Anja, page by page, from her seemingly perfect life as an antiques dealer, to slowly unravelling into a strange wilderness of erratic behaviour and unexplained nocturnal disturbances. At times it is hard to discern what is real and what is imaginary.
This is a strange but beautifully written book. It is dark, unsettling and at times I just wanted to reach out and place a calming hand on Anja and reassure her, and other times I wanted to scream and shout at her to get a grip. Howell's character development of Anja is so compelling.
The ending is definitely not what I was expecting but I didn't hate it. Rather it left me feeling some unease and wondering WTF have I just read. Strangely, an uneasy satisfaction.
This is a true literary read. I love writing that alerts all the senses. It made me think of the great Australian classic, Picnic at Hanging Rock - shrouded in mystery and not all that it seems. @felinefelttip is a writer I look forward to reading more of!
September 2, 2022
What a strange book. I did not dislike it, but I think I’m still working through my confusion to know if I did like it.
Anja is an antiquarian who loves mid-century furniture. After her marriage falls apart she makes some questionable decisions at work, resulting in her being fired. She leaves Melbourne for a tiny house on remote property near a naval base. And then…things start to happen.
The present-day story is interspersed with transcripts from interviews conducted on the naval base in 1985, about…things happening.
The build-up is excellent and this is a very easy book to read (I got through in a day with little effort), but the ending is so weird. Not good, not bad, just weird.
Personal notes:
• Regarding the Expeditionary Medal (p.122) - this award was created by JFK in 1961. How could it have been given to someone in 1942? Unless it is the USN-specific one, created in 1936? I also cannot believe that military officers would have said medals on hand during active operations.
• I wish the author would have noted that Anaba is a Navajo name, rather than just saying it’s “Native American” (p. 192). It’s like saying Pierre is only a “European” name.
Again, this is an odd book, but I think worth your time.
Anja is an antiquarian who loves mid-century furniture. After her marriage falls apart she makes some questionable decisions at work, resulting in her being fired. She leaves Melbourne for a tiny house on remote property near a naval base. And then…things start to happen.
The present-day story is interspersed with transcripts from interviews conducted on the naval base in 1985, about…things happening.
The build-up is excellent and this is a very easy book to read (I got through in a day with little effort), but the ending is so weird. Not good, not bad, just weird.
Personal notes:
• Regarding the Expeditionary Medal (p.122) - this award was created by JFK in 1961. How could it have been given to someone in 1942? Unless it is the USN-specific one, created in 1936? I also cannot believe that military officers would have said medals on hand during active operations.
• I wish the author would have noted that Anaba is a Navajo name, rather than just saying it’s “Native American” (p. 192). It’s like saying Pierre is only a “European” name.
Again, this is an odd book, but I think worth your time.
October 14, 2022
An outstanding novel, subtly satirizing tropes of sea-changers, Australian folklore, and the village mystery novel. Those looking for a satisfying Scooby-Doo reveal won't find it here, rather the plot's structure is one of psychological self-revelation. The protagonist, Anja, is a flawed and self destructive narrator or, in other words, a human I found very real and relatable. In her majestically snobbish way, Anja is full of spite, jealousy, prone to terrible decisions, and drawn into aesthetic adventures she which leans into with an academic streak that is more than a course of study she has left behind - her thesis has become part of the way she reads the world. This allows for clever play with Jungian archetypes and mythology. Not only is Anja particularly well drawn, Howell's skill with characterization is shown with vivid, efficient strokes in giving life and personality to even the most momentary characters. Hydra did something I love in a novel, it genuinely led to places I didn't expect and the ending (no spoilers) was both a call back to the start of the story that brought all narrative threads together, and something I couldn't have seen coming. Laugh out loud funny in places, genuinely affecting in others. Highly recommended.
April 27, 2023
This book is weird and tense, but it is also a lot of fun - frankly much too fun for the horror tag it keeps getting (also lacking in scares and gore, thankfully). In Anja, Howell has created a protagonist you just want to spend time with, even as her choices get ever more questionable. There are probably a dozen different ways to read this book, Anja's emotional cycling could be classified as grief, or neurodiversity, or both. The poignant images - the boar sunk in soil, the mysterious presence and it's various twist reveals, are all variously symbolic. But the book is also just able to be enjoyed for its wit and warmth, which abound - both in sly touches, such as the final reveal of the second-person, and sharp-enough-to-cut-yourself affectionate send-ups of the world of antiquities, foodie destination restaurants and more - and it's generous character arc, which is the best (i.e. tempered) kind of hopeful.
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