A Small Resurrection: A Review of Banana Yoshimoto’s Asleep The combination of very realistic, interesting, and believable characters, with a hint of supernatural epiphany which turns the ordinary into something magic and extraordinary, is very powerful. With delicate strokes of…
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A Review of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections
The style is edged in irony as one might expect with such a subject but there are few quotable passages. Franzen is more concerned with the production of a seamless narrative. Although there are no solecisms, a few sentences are…
A Review of Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift
A Review of Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift Humboldt’s Gift has its picaresque side and the selection of types and traumas may be looked at as modern translations of Huck’s own troubles and concerns. The honesty of the writer is a…
A Review of This is the Place by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
The book is about how the persecuted become the persecutors; how those who have suffered from bigotry and prejudice become bigoted and prejudiced. It is about “us” and “them”, about inclusion and exclusion, about the comforts and benefits of belonging…
A Review of Isabel Allende’s Portrait in Sepia
Portrait in Sepia is a very easy to read, well researched, straightforward narrative, which is interesting for its historical context, and perhaps relaxing, albeit devoid of serious philosophical depths, real characterisation, or linguistic innovation. Reviewed by Magdalena Ball Portrait in Sepia…
A review of Hilary McPhee’s Other People’s Words
McPhee Gribble was a powerful voice in Australian publishing in the 70s and 80s, and their unique style of working, the partnerships with their authors, the intimacy, as well as the pitfalls they encountered, make for fascinating reader for anyone…
Interview with Hilary McPhee
The author of Other People’s Words talks about being an author, the publishing industry, the McPhee Gribble story, the Australian voice, e-books, and her latest project. (photo credit:Ponch Hawkes) Interview by Magdalena Ball Magdalena: With all of your publishing experience, is it difficult…
A Review of Hooking Up by Tom Wolfe
Despite the occasional whine, the self-aggrandisement which is rampant throughout the essays, some of which read like a prelude to an autobiography which must surely be in the works, Hooking Up is a worthwhile read, if only for the genius which comes…
Interview with Sue Gough, author of The Nether Regions
Sue Gough talks about the origins of The Nether Regions, the differences between writing adult and teenage targeted literature, about language, its limitations and power, her characters, on the creative process, on what she is reading, on teaching creative writing,…
A review of Sue Gough’s The Nether Regions
The Nether Regions is a marvellous novel, coupling linguistic beauty with humour, psychological fascination and intensity. Reviewed by Magdalena Ball The Nether Regions is Sue Gough’s first adult novel, but she isn’t new to writing. She has written 17 books,…