This was a great read, really engaging, the characters were sweet and quirky, the main character is a good guy with various issues, he was so real thoThis was a great read, really engaging, the characters were sweet and quirky, the main character is a good guy with various issues, he was so real though and was happy to be himself. I found myself really gunning for him! Rosie sweeps into his life which places him into a bit of a spin, life is about to change, and it's a fun ride whilst this happens. She was great too, just like in real life it's nice to meet people who buck the trend and don't have to be like 'everybody else'. I recommend this book, it's a charming story and I felt like I had a friend throughout.
This is an example of fine storytelling, and I honestly think it's a great book to recommend to anyone looking for an Aussie read with an amazing amount quirk and spirit. It has got both in abundance. This author knows what he's doing!...more
I found this story to be an odd and unlikely scenario, but I will always read the Moriarty siblings as I think they are great. Each with a distinct stI found this story to be an odd and unlikely scenario, but I will always read the Moriarty siblings as I think they are great. Each with a distinct style, and as they should.
Two young women, both with troubled and complex pasts, intersect in a way that is quite far-fetched. Hannah is running from something and doesn’t want to stop, and India (this name suits her character) cross paths in London.
Hannah likes being the fixer and actively seeks those who she can help, and of course Hannah seemed to need lots of this. Hannah is a runner and doesn’t stop – this is her void for refusing her troubles, and Hannah has her void for fixing and avoiding hers.
There’s lots to this and I didn’t enjoy it, I am probably judging the very unlikely events - to me - that were from start to finish.
There were heart-warming moments and serious themes, but just wasn’t for moi. ...more
This book is for me. Three kids under the age of three, a definite member of a mother’s group albeit from way back when, and a lover of contemporary bThis book is for me. Three kids under the age of three, a definite member of a mother’s group albeit from way back when, and a lover of contemporary books. Added to my reading experience was meeting the author last month. She is as relaxed and real as her story is, and as I loved the story and could relate in spades, I think I’m not surprised that Fiona is as down to earth as she was. Thanks to Fiona for signing my book and for a lovely chat about life, family, work and books. A huge thank you to my friend Marianne, whom is otherwise known as ‘The book whisperer’ for grabbing my copy of this book (again).
Ginie (I couldn’t help but mispronounce this name incorrectly in my head each time, to me it rhymes with tiny..!) is out of my demographic, and in this case, I feel the same as I did with Big Little Lies, I would love to live on the northern beaches of Sydney. I have a healthy envy. A group of new mums meet up after the births of their first-borns. Coffee, company, and even a book club. It's not always helpful to compare authors, but I myself see similarities in style and con-temporariness with Fiona Higgins and Liane Moriarty. I really think they are a strong voice in Australian storytelling. I had to laugh when I agreed with the fictional assessment of Eat, Pray, Love and assumed these were that of the author in relation to westerners seeking happiness. Can’t we just be sad at times? 'Made' is the character that is born in Indonesia, and this theme will continue with another book by this author. I look forward to these. I also enjoyed the story line of Made integrating her new Australian life into a friendship group of what she may perceive to be those of privileged Australian women. Privileged in the sense of material wealth perhaps, but are they really happy?
Working mums, botox mums, stressed out mums, gossipy mums, mums that dominate, mums that are reserved, and even mums with pelvic floor issues. I mostly could relate to Miranda who ran around after a toddler who wasn’t hers (married a widow) who seemed just to be able to do it without complaint. She had a story to tell and I knew there was more to it.
As always there is more to it than meets the eye and I loved working this out as I went along. I worked it out, but this is what I love about reading contemporary stories. The story wasn’t hard work, it just was. I can relate. Mother’s groups always have issues boiling under the surface. It is such an angst ridden time. Mine was 15 years ago, and having had a child only four years ago I did not need to do it again.
This book is great. Loved the story, the writing was polished and I didn’t sense any ‘new author’ stuff here. I felt like I was in safe hands and I like that feeling. Recommended reading and in my non-literary way as always, I say read it. It’s good value....more
Gill is talking at my Professional Staff Conference at work tomorrow - I can't wait. I must get to the book. Such a shame it's only on Zoom land. I wiGill is talking at my Professional Staff Conference at work tomorrow - I can't wait. I must get to the book. Such a shame it's only on Zoom land. I will get my hands on this quick smart....more
I want to be a Kettle sister. Ha! But I’d do anything for some extra excitement. Nuff said. This is the author's debut. I don’t see that she has anythI want to be a Kettle sister. Ha! But I’d do anything for some extra excitement. Nuff said. This is the author's debut. I don’t see that she has anything to improve on if I was to be honest! I just love her original stories, she's got a flair for it.
This one in particular shows me we are of the same era. I love when the books I read contain little tid bits of pop culture references that I can relate to and really bond with. Teletubies and Bananarama’s song ‘Venus’ being a couple of them. The Kettle triplets jumping around to this song with abandoned pleasure made me smile. I smiled all the way through with this Aussie story. All the characters were quirky and real, the story line funny, and every step of the way was completely engaging.
"He’s experiencing empathy for the first time in his life” said Cat with a noticeable lack of empathy. ‘About time.’ ‘He’s just surprised, poor Dad’, said Gemma, who had always suffered from excessive empathy. Lyn had seen her walking down a street of parked cars, winding each time she saw a parking ticket on a windscreen." (This is pretty close to me actually, I empathise with Gemma, I really really do!)
Here’s another bit of gold “Someone did a ladylike fart during Beginners Yoga for Mums-to-Be”. It doesn’t get better than that. Down to earth and a touch self-deprecating, AKA real!
I love a good contemporary read, it’s not all about rocket science, and for me it’s all about enjoyable bantering fiction. I met Liane Moriarty this year and am not at all surprised that I love every book she’s written. The little stories she told at the event I attended I can relate back to all her work and enjoy knowing that little bit more.
Highly recommended reading if you’re like me and enjoy being able to laugh at yourself, it's full of all the non-serious funny stuff you could ever imagine. It’s a treat!...more
This man's journey sounds amazing. Listened to a radio interview today. Sounds like a 'to read' for everyone. This man's journey sounds amazing. Listened to a radio interview today. Sounds like a 'to read' for everyone. ...more
What a classic. My son’s English teacher recommended I read this book at the same time as she asked the class to read this during the last school holiWhat a classic. My son’s English teacher recommended I read this book at the same time as she asked the class to read this during the last school holidays. As I spoke to her I had the niggling idea that I probably did own this one. A couple of minutes later I found it on my shelf. I find I am receiving a lot of books from publishers and authors and this takes away a little of my ‘choice’ factor, in picking up a lovely book from one of my shelves. [Or random pile]. I am known to have various piles, and a few are even holding up a [clean] pot plant.
I listened to the audio in combination with the physical book. I did this to speed up the process as I was on a review deadline for another. This was a great way which I had not done before. I wrote one quote down, which epitomises the grass roots Australian feel of this book, and the way that this iconic author simply is an excellent writer.
Motionless as a shire committeeDon’t you just love it?
This is around 1940 and 1950, so we are witness to familial relationships, connection with nature and the strength of family to prosper and possibly thrive in hard and rural times. Two contrasting Australian families come together reluctantly at first and out of necessity. These families the Lamb’s and the Pickle’s are as different as their namesakes are an excellent match. The kids are rat bags, they play, skirmish, explore and some even help their parents get work done. There is more family connection that I sense is lacking today.
I was witness to the working class and reminded that these were some bloody hard times, especially when these two groups of people suffered the extraordinary hardships that they did.
Converging on Cloudstreet out of necessity after separate tragedies, lives are forged ahead and relationships blossom and falter. The Pickles patriarch is obsessed with the notion of life being all about luck, but this Sam Pickle is everything but. His ultimate saving grace is an unexpected windfall of inheriting the rambling huge structure that is Cloudstreet, and if walls could talk, which it seems Cloudstreet does, there is so much to be told.
Enter the Lambs; hardworking, robust and opposite to the Pickles, renting out half of the enigmatic property. Children are everywhere, noise, cooking smells, one clean yard, one catastrophic, both, initially, separated by a fence creating the definite distinction separating the lazy and depressed, and the hard working.
The matriarchs also as different as can be; Dolly Pickles only faithful to the grog, unhinged and drifting, Oriel Lamb almost a woman man; with manly hands and a stocky build, the hardest worker of the lot, and as one of her offspring states, she’s just to bloody good at everything. At one stage Oriel retreats to live in a tent in the back yard and a grocery business is born in the Lamb’s half. The Pickles sorely need this income and life steams ahead for the next twenty years.
The theme of water is a tragic one, even one of the children is called Fish, and Fish Lamb adores the water and would skylark there forever given the chance. Some of the children carried the burden of the times, Rose Pickles was a complex daughter, having to carry too much weight on her tiny shoulders and dealing with a mother with even more complex problems. Another Pickle was a very interesting study of Australian boyhood. Quick. Quick Lamb adores his younger brother, Fish. Quick also seems to carry the weight on his shoulders and has seen too much wrong for his young years. He has an obvious empathy for the human spirit and has taken to clipping out tragic stories and putting them on his wall, he is troubled and has seen harsh things.
This book was an extraordinary Australian one, I needed to look up old colloquialisms to ensure I could enjoy this properly. Tim Winton captured the essence and nuance of Australian life, mateship, hard work, larrikinism and grief in a special and, I don’t say this lightly, haunting way....more
Where else would you see such gold offerings such as these cards are as useless as a Chocolate teapot and sassy time. I love small happenings like theWhere else would you see such gold offerings such as these cards are as useless as a Chocolate teapot and sassy time. I love small happenings like these in a novel, and will quickly warm to these special things.
There is no way my little, insignificant review of this classic novel, can convey the level of greatness of this classic Australian novel.
I am abashed to say I have only just started reading this author’s work in readiness of seeing him at an event next week. I quickly listened to all books on the audio format and can see why this book is so special.
Silvey uses place, time, and relationships to convey such a special story in such a way that the reader leaves their experience being overwhelmed and amazed. Well, this reader was!
The audio was narrated by Matt Cowlrick who delivered an outstanding performance. Young Charlie is our exuberant bookish, quirky, and funny boy who is wise beyond his years. His best mate, Vietnamese Jeffrey Lu is read so well by this narrator that I was transported to 1965 Corrigan, the fictional rural Western Australian town. These two have such a banter and comradery, through mostly turbulent times, they were an absolute force of nature. Jeffrey is an utter delight, with a comedic appearance required to outwardly deal with the unacceptable racist treatment faced his entire short life, as has his family. The Vietnam War is part of this racist attitude. He portrays a strong sense of self, and a bravado that hides a lot.
The racism suffered at the hands of ignorant, racist, jealous, and corrupt townsfolk was intense and unrelenting, but these boys showed a stoicism unbridled, and that combined was truly heart warming. Their jokes and warm relationship hide the mask of the constant bullying and mistreatment. The town shows a noted lack of maturity compared to our collective group of young.
This story is not just about these two, who clearly stole my heart, but of Jasper, our voice and narrator who pulls this story together. Jasper Jones is a tough kid, of mixed race who is the scape goat of everything in this town that goes wrong, imagined or otherwise. Labelled the half-caste, he has a very special relationship with the girl that goes missing in Corrigan, the elusive Laura, daughter of the mayor.
Street smart and cool Jasper appears at Charlie’s window one night needing his assistance. Charlie mirrors what Jasper sees in himself, another misfit although in very different ways, bookish and another outsider. Jasper is in need of a connection with someone that may understand the conundrum he finds himself in. Charlie is scared to death but will help him and is honoured to be approached. They have a definite alliance, but interestingly, Jasper has no family and looks after himself, whereas our Charlie has what appears to be a ‘normal’ family with the presence of both parents. Jasper drinks and smokes, thus conveying his worldliness and an older like mystical quality.
Character descriptions, such as Charlie’s insipid mother in contrast to his quiet, unassuming father who may by all accounts be seen as a push over, and Jeffrey’s strong, silent, and upstanding disrespected parents are all presented in such a way that requires skill and outstanding writing. Charlie's mother is another lesson, all in herself. The allusion, imagery and use of similes are such that it is clear why this book is used as texts in Australian schools. Teacher’s will have a field day teaching this text, and in fact I receommended it to an overseas English teaching friend.
Serious life changing events have occurred amongst this group of individuals for this crescendo to erupt. All these young characters are an enigma in a way, and at many times do not have the words to convey their turmoil, but the author has the deft skill of showing us via all the different ways I have mentioned that these kids are smart, emotive, they are strong beings with the weight of the world on their young shoulders.
There is a very important cricket match, stakes are very high, usually young Jeffrey never gets a look in. He is always 12th man or a fair go; the team and coach do not include or recognise him as a part of. Jeffrey pulls off a performance that is magical, and to anyone that does not understand cricket (I do) this does not matter. The emotion, the importance and the build up happen naturally, and the outcome plain and heart-palpably real. Cricket was Jeffrey’s weapon, and he used it that day.
This is a must read for everyone, and alas, my lengthy reviews can’t be tamed here. There is too much good stuff going on if one looks hard enough to absorb it all completely.
To leave this serious consideration of a wonderful novel in a less sombre mood, it must be said that ‘sassy time’ alludes to canoodling – of the girl and boy kind. Did Jeffrey give his best mate stick about that! This was an absolute delight.
**Addendum 18/10/2022 It was a treat to see the author in conversation last night. Such a clever guy and very interesting to see how things come together in his process. A hint.. he's written a screen play along with (another) book... How?!!...more
This wee gem has been on my Aussie author radar for some time (Marianne our/my own Whisperer spoke of this unique novel a long time ago). It is also oThis wee gem has been on my Aussie author radar for some time (Marianne our/my own Whisperer spoke of this unique novel a long time ago). It is also one of the first books ever added to this site when I joined years ago. So in my own little way I can say I'm working on my Tbr. Doubtful, Suz.
Quirky it was. Grace (19 letters in her full name) has a number issue. Counting counting counting. OCD to the extreme, and she even has a partner in crime, Mr Nikola Tesla. He sits by her bedside, waxed moustache and all. This book is full of fact, and most entertaining fiction. Grace is a very likeable character, and I loved the journey she made, beginning with the handsome, totally understanding and endearing Seamus O'Reilly (again 19).
Loved loved loved loved it, Grace still ended up counting her poppy seeds et all, but on her terms. Toni Jordan has written a beautiful and just simply a lovely story, and in my opinion a sparkling debut. Please let me count on you to give it a whirl, I promise you a whole lot of quirk and special!...more
Hard to review this one. This lady is a great writer, obviously very clever and on the top of her game, but with a subject matter so dark it was hard Hard to review this one. This lady is a great writer, obviously very clever and on the top of her game, but with a subject matter so dark it was hard to enjoy. Maybe if you were a horse lover you could totally appreciate (and understand) it all, but a lot of it was lost on me. And.... I have a 9 month old boy, first pages are grueling and the subject with which they relate is hard to digest, when you read the novel you'll understand my point. But it's one of those books which I'd say do read, to see how great she is with words and her description of matters so dark/ugly/unpleasant and a bit crazy. I wanted to like it more after a really positive review from dad (he borrowed it from his library for a month for my summer beach holiday) but just didn't. A pleasant summer read it just is not.
Addendum, July 2016. I have been thinking about this book a lot since the passing of the author, Gillian Mears. Partly for that reason, but also due to my growing interest in the field of AWW (Australian Women Authors). This is also due to the fact that I have been looking at this theme in my studies of Library and Information services. Not that I'm an expert, but I feel this author did not get a terrible lot of recognition (or is that just me)? This is a book that is very special, with excellent writing and a challenging theme. I encourage readers that enjoy Australian themes or just enjoy the AWW experience to give this book a go. I realise it's not a five star read for me but it is really very, very good. ...more
This was a quirky little find, set in a 'fictional' town of Beechville that I have an affinity to as I spend my annual beach side holiday there. Or arThis was a quirky little find, set in a 'fictional' town of Beechville that I have an affinity to as I spend my annual beach side holiday there. Or around abouts at least! I met the author at her launch, and due to the normal business I have only gotten around to reading it - my loss!
Cassandra is a city girl, formerly of Blacktown. This was another funny little aspect as I live around the corner from there and somewhat feel the same way as Cassandra - there are many other beachside places that I'd prefer to live!
She makes her way out of the west and moves onto bigger and brighter things, but these brighter things don't ring true as she finds her way into the hearts and minds of Beechville.
This is Lisa Walker's debut, and she has blended her career into her story, she knows a lot about wildlife and conservation, which does add an interesting aspect to a contemporary feel.
An unimportant aside was the use of words such as snookie and snooks drove me a bit nuts, and when Cassandra's boyfriend was licking her calves I had an 'oh man' moment, but overall it was fun and entertaining.
I really enjoyed Lisa's Liar Bird and look forward to her next novel. To those of you who like an Aussie setting, I encourage you to read this one as there are many Aussie quirks that you could enjoy. It's fun.
I just met Pat Farmer, the author of this book at my children's school where he spoke for more than an hour. He'd just stepped off the plane from VietI just met Pat Farmer, the author of this book at my children's school where he spoke for more than an hour. He'd just stepped off the plane from Vietnam where he is completing his next running mission. He had a great story to tell, and related it well to the young children he was addressing. He signed my copy, I'm very much looking forward to it....more
Have that many books that I forgot I'd purchased it 2nd hand. Not many people love it but I'll have to try it at some stage..Have that many books that I forgot I'd purchased it 2nd hand. Not many people love it but I'll have to try it at some stage.....more