Throughout Advanced Writing, author Wells Earl Draughon is careful to define his terms, and uses his close analysis of words normally used to designate the tools of fiction – things like dynamics, consummation scenes, character appeal, architecture, and setting as…
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A review of Elizabeth Costello by J M Coetzee
Pointless is, unfortunately, the best adjective for this book. There is no coherence between any of the chapters, we have no feeling for any of Costello’s work, and none of the characters, including Costello, are developed. The potential theme, which…
A review of Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginedes
Middlesex the novel is presented as Cal’s third birth – his artistic creation of the “roller coaster ride of a single gene through time.” Cal’s voice is the heart of the story, which is told in a kind of first…
A review of At Home with the Glynns by Eric Kraft
by Bob Williams At Home with the Glynns by Eric Kraft Paperback: 179 pages Picador USA; Reprint edition (May 1996), ISBN: 031214279X Of the first eight books by Kraft, four of them (Little Follies, Where Do You Stop?, What a…
A review of Yellow Dog by Martin Amis
In the often farcical rollercoaster ride that the book follows, the reader encounters a kind of Quixote tilt at the Windmills of honesty, straining to work out what is real and what isn’t, who is really guilty, and if innocence…
A review of The Point by Marion Halligan
Told in short, simply constructed sentences, the narrative builds beguiling complexity and sophistication from deceptive sparseness, like one of Flora’s culinary creations. Reviewed by Hope Nesmith The Point By Marion Halligan Allen & Unwin 335 pp On a fictitious promontory…
A review of How to Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
If you have any pretensions at all towards baking, for family, for friends, for the school, or just for yourself, you couldn’t find a more seductive, more appealing, and more inspiring book. It is pure pleasure to read, and just…
A review of That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx
The combination of lighthearted comedy with a very serious main character and intense scenery descriptions makes for an enjoyable and even languorous read. Right from the start the novel plunges into deep description – one imagines Proulx herself driving past…
A review of Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
As an example of mainstream fiction it is by no means despicable. It offers solid enjoyments although the careful reader will be uneasy about many authorial choices. Reviewed by Bob Williams Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier Plume…
A Review of My Life As a Fake by Peter Carey
The slick post-modern magic realism narration never interferes with Carey’s first and greatest strength, which is that of a terrific storyteller. Although the story moves quickly, the writing is almost always tight, beautiful, and compelling, interlaced with delicate puns, and…