Exquisite', 'extraordinary', 'insightful': the best Australian books out in May
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Loading... - Emma Endris
- 25 May 2022
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Homesickness by Janine Mikosza
Janine Mikosza presents her extraordinary memoir about surviving childhood trauma as a conversation between two grown-up versions of herself: Janine, the author, trying gently but doggedly to probe for painful details; and “Nin”, the subject, whose trauma is still so raw that it muddles her memory and tenses – and occasionally shuts her down entirely. As heavy as it sounds, the pair make wonderful company – insightful, warm, funny – as they revisit the 14 houses Janine lived in before she turned 18. In some she can only remember the bedrooms and bathrooms; others she can’t set foot in at all.
Perhaps all memoir writing necessitates a personality split, as the author tries to wrestle the subject down. That split is made literal here, in a heartbreakingly honest rendering of both the process and the story. – Steph Harmon
Bedtime Story by Chloe Hooper
In children’s literature, absent parents abound. They’re away at war, they’ve gone to work while the kids run amok, or they’ve died, leaving orphans to be sent to the country, or to live with aunt Polly, or to become wizards. But what lessons hide in the ages of literature to prepare children for the reality of death?
This was a driving question for author Chloe Hooper upon discovering her partner and father of two young sons, Don Watson, had a rare and aggressive illness. Her resulting book is an exquisite work in which her prodigious talent for getting to the true heart of a story is turned inwards. Hooper invites the reader into her home, heart, and head, to sit by her children’s beds, but carefully, gracefully. She staves off easy mawkishness and strikes a perfect balance – with mood-perfect illustrations by Anna Walker – as she searches for a way to tell her children about the likely tragedy that awaits. While it’s a deeply personal dilemma, Hooper finds universality in a magical and compelling book. – Lucy Clark
Here Goes Nothing by Steve Toltz
Australian author Toltz, best known for his Booker-nominated debut doorstopper, A Fraction of the Whole, is a Vegemite writer: you either really don’t enjoy him or think he’s delicious on toast.
His third novel, Here Goes Nothing, is perhaps the clearest demonstration of Toltz’s skills as a humorist: from the opener we know our narrator, Angus Mooney, is dead, trapped in a bureaucratic afterlife making umbrellas in order to fund trips back to this Earthly plane to haunt his former home, where his pregnant wife and the man who murdered him still live. You can tell the author is having great fun – the word-play, aphorisms and gags can feel almost relentless at times – and some readers will have great fun with this too. Read More…
