Tag Archives: books by women

Book Review: Oleanders are Poisonous by A J Collins

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I don’t normally read a lot of young adult fiction but what I have read is usually quite suitable for adults. Oleanders are Poisonous is one such book.


Lauren, is a young teenage girl who lives in a small country town. She has a close mate, Harry whom she’s known for years. Singing with him takes her mind off her home life where her mother is deteriorating from a debilitating illness. Lauren and her step-father, Samuel struggle to cope until one night on Lauren’s sixteenth birthday, when everything dramatically changes.


This is the first book out of a series of two. Being short, I read it in a few hours and found I couldn’t put it down: reading it on the train, on the escalator and in the dentist waiting room hoping he was running late – he was.


I was hopelessly hooked into this coming of age story, immediately caring so much about Lauren and what was happening to her. How she navigates her feelings and her way in the world had me cheering for her all the way. Collin’s writing is superb and fast-pace. Oleanders are Poisonous is an easy and quick read. 


Now for the sequel, Magnolia’s don’t Die.

Book Review: The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

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This book is a difficult one to review as I have mixed feelings about it. I’d read The Natural Way of Things which won the Stella Prize and was blown away by it.

The Weekend is absolutely nothing like it. The story is about three seventy-something- year- old women who come together over Christmas to clear out the house of their dead friend. The relationship of the women is complex, as it is long, having known each other for more than forty years. Jude is an accomplished restaurant manager, Wendy, a published academic who owns a very old dog, called Finn and Adele is an ageing and out of work actress. Sylvie, the dead friend is the connection for the four and we are taken on a journey tackling their losses, loves, friendship, grief and betrayal.

It’s well-written and the setting on the north coast of N.S.W. is divine. Yet I struggled to find any real connection to any of the women. They didn’t seem like good friends, instead they each came across as needy and selfish, barely tolerant of each other. I didn’t understand why they were indeed friends. Jude was an odd character. Confident, well organised, supposedly self-reliant earning her own money yet she’d been a kept mistress for twenty years. The dog, Finn dominated the story a lot in an almost repetitive way. Wendy, seemed a bit dithering and Adele was narcissistic and self-absorbed, more like a teenager than a mature woman and that was a challenge for me to accept.

Yet, I was compelled along as it was an easy read. The second half of the book was almost like watching a dramatic play and I could easily visualise it. Perhaps this was intentional, perhaps not. In the end, I didn’t love it but I didn’t mind it.

Book Review: Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

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It’s taken a few weeks to find the words to describe how powerful this book is. And even so I probably won’t do it full justice.

Girl, Woman, Other written by Bernadine Evaristo, together with The Testaments by Margaret Attwood, won the Booker Prize in 2019.

This book, set mostly in Britain contains twelve different stories in various timelines about a group of diverse women, most of whom are black. The reader is taken on a journey with each of the women and we learn about them and their lives with an almost brutal honesty.  This book is a social commentary of what it means to be black and a woman in modern Britain and predictably it’s not always pretty.

There’s Grace in 1905 an orphan, Winsome in 1953, a migrant from Barbados, Amma is 1980 who sets up a feminist theatre. Then there’s Carole, the high flyer in 2008 who turns her back on her Nigerian heritage, and Morgan, once known as Megan in 2017 navigating her way to independence.

These are almost stand-alone short stories except that there is a connection which comes together with an incredible last chapter via Penelope who bears the brunt of family secrets in a calamitous way.

The characters grow on the reader quickly because the writing is succinct, poetic yet direct. The absence of regular punctuation such as full stops and capital letters to start sentences doesn’t call attention to itself as the reader gets very used to the easy to read style within a few short pages.

Amma misses her daughter now she’s away at university

not the spiteful snake that slithers out of her tongue to hurt her mother, because in Yazz’s world young people are the only ones with feelings

but she misses the Yazz who stomps about the place

who rushes in as if a hurricane’s just blown into her room –

 

A word of warning: The connection between the many characters can be confusing and a map would have helped on occasion to prompt the memory. But if you read the book quickly, it shouldn’t worry you too much. And it is very easy to read. But my advice is to take it slowly and saviour it as each word earns its place.

This one is an important book to read, enlightening us all about the history of the black women’s experience in Britain.

I simply loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Lost Man by Jane Harper

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I’ve read every book written by Jane Harper and her latest, The Lost Man, certainly did not disappoint.

Cameron and Bub are brothers who have arranged to meet each other on the border of their large cattle property located in outback Queensland. Cameron doesn’t turn up and after a search, is found dead at a legendary stockman’s grave in the middle of nowhere. What’s puzzling is his car is found nine kilometres away. The car hasn’t broken down and is fully stocked with water and food and the driver’s door left ajar.

Cameron lived in the old family homestead with his wife, two daughters, his younger brother Bub and his mother.  Nathan, the older of the three brothers, who hadn’t seen his family in months has his sixteen-year-old son Xander staying with him when he gets the call about Cameron. It’s through his eyes that the reader is taken on a journey of family mystery and intrigue.

Cameron had been agitated in the months leading up to his death and with one policeman to cover hundreds of kilometres of remote area, it’s concluded that with no sign of violence or tampering with his car that he deliberately walked to his death. Nathan is not convinced.

The characters are very well drawn and the layers of the family’s history are cleverly peeled away revealing multiple secrets. The landscape, red dust and suffocating heat was beautifully descriptive of how harsh life is in the outback.

“He adjusted his mirrors as the sun’s reflection rose, blinding red behind them. They were heading west, towards the desert, and the sky loomed huge above the perfect flat horizon. By the time they hit the edge and turned north, they would be able to see the dunes; huge sandy peaks running north to south for hundreds of kilometres.”

Indeed, the central theme around mental health issues in the outback is well covered, the lack of resources and the isolation for both women and men is all too real.

“He had lain there, anxious and unsettled, as it dawned on him. He was entirely alone. No staff. Nothing but static on the radio… There was not a single other person near him for hours in every direction. He had been cast fully and completely adrift.”

There is such a lot in this book and like The Dry, I was guessing what happened right up until the end and was certainly surprised. I’m still trying to the digest the motivation and can’t say I’m fully convinced. Saying anymore would be to divulge the spoilers and that wouldn’t be fair. So, I guess that’s a good enough reason to read it yourself. It’s certainly a page turner and a perfect summer read and I’ll let you judge if you think the ending was right.

Book Review: The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

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The Island of Sea Women is a fascinating novel of sorrow and grief but more importantly it’s also a novel of friendship, spirituality and the strength of women in an unusual matriarchal society.

Set on the  Korean Island of Jeju, the friendship of two women Young-sook and Mi-ja stretches across time from the occupation by the Japanese until 2008. From different backgrounds, they join the Haenyeo, a collective of women, who traditionally for centuries dive and harvest sea creatures to not only feed themselves, but for sale. The men traditionally stay home and look after the children while the women come together and dive. The island is known for their Haenyeo traditions where women dive even in freezing conditions and worship a female god to protect them when they go out. At the age of fifty-five they retire and nuture baby dives in their teen years.

I thought the book started slowly as we learnt about how the friendship began and all about the matriarchy of the collective and the diving. I have to be honest, while I didn’t warm to the characters at first, I persisted and I’m so glad I did. The next two thirds was a dynamite of action, tragedy and heartbreak. The story flipped into and out of 2008 but not too often.

It’s a fascinating history and the author has done a mountain of work on her research, not just about the Haenyeo, the ancient practice of worshipping female Gods but of Korea’s past and lead up to the War. I’d never heard of this particular Island and when I finished the novel, I found myself reading more about it.

I’d recommend it thoroughly.

Book Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney

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There’s a lot to admire about this novel. The writing for one is wonderful. It’s quite different although you’ll need to get used to the lack of dialogue punctuation. But I liked this touch, as if listening in on a conversation. There are lots of detail which puts you right into the world of two young people, Marianne and Connor. We’re taken into key moments in their lives identified by the chapter headings of two months later, six months etc. You might also be surprised as I was that it’s not set in America but in Ireland.

Now, for a bit of background. Marianne is friendless and alone in high school with a poor home life, despite being wealthy. She’s the odd one out and is ostracised by everyone. Connor on the other hand is one of the popular boys at school and he fits in well. The class difference is stark as Connor’s mum is Marianne’s family cleaner. At school they pretend not to know each other but a relationship between them builds. He’s desperate to keep their relationship a secret for fear of ridicule but she doesn’t care. This changes when they leave home and go to the same University where being the odd one is cool and popular while Connor struggles to fit in.

Their relationship and the power dynamics between the two, twists and turns from sexual to friendship and back again. Apart, they’re different people and struggle with their own angst about their identity and how they fit into the world. What happened in Marianne’s family is teased out slowly until we understand her more, although I failed to understand why her mother was so against her. Together, they’re better people but can’t seem to communicate clearly about what they want and this becomes a pattern in their relationship. At times this feels frustrating and I can see why it has polarised some readers. About three-quarters of the way through I was getting restless and then I was pulled in again.

There are dark themes tackled and there’s been a lot written about the ending which I enjoyed. It was as it should have been. The subject matter of young love and angst may not be to everyone’s taste but it’s one to read simply because it’s very well done. Long listed for a host of prizes including the Booker, it really is a good read, skilfully written.

Book Review: The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

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It’s an ordinary day for Lucy. The kids are arguing over a television program, her husband Ollie is cooking burgers on the barbecue, and the house is a mess. When police knock on the door, Lucy knows what it will be about.

“I close my eyes because I already know what she is going to say. My mother-in-law, (Diana) is dead.”

A suicide note is found next to Diana but things don’t add up. She was an upstanding member of the community with high standards. She also happens to be very wealthy and questions begin piling up. When Ollie and his sister, Nettie both desperate for money, find out that the will was changed only weeks earlier, things really begin to get interesting.

The story is told mostly from two points of view, Lucy and Diana. We get inside the heads of both women, feeling their pain as their secrets unfold. When Lucy met Diana, she hoped for a  mother figure to replace her own long dead mother but is disappointed by her mother-in-law’s coldness.

I liked the intricacies of the relationships between every member of the family and secrets are revealed nicely so that the reader understands why they behave the way they do. Diana’s harsh upbringing and the way she treats her children makes sense when you find out what happened to her as a teenager. Her husband Tom is a saint keeping the peace between his children and his wife.

It’s an intricate story weaving back and forth between the main characters. In fact, each character is well drawn and the changing relationship particularly between Lucy and Diana is very well done.

This is another great book by a Melbourne author who also happens to be a New York Times best seller.  If you’re looking for something fantastic to read during the holiday season or a great gift, then grab this one.