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Good Reading : July 2015
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GOOD READING JULY 2015 41 GENERAL FICTION WOM word of mouth The Ash Burner Kári Gíslason Ted, the narrator of this story, lives in an Australian coastal town with his father, a magistrate and widower. We learn that Ted’s mother is dead – a swimming accident in England. Her absence haunts their lives. Grief, reticence, secrets and silence from the father; loss, desolation and regrets from the son. When Ted meets Anthony and Claire, an intense friendship develops. There are rumours about Anthony: he’s gay, he’s on drugs, his father is a terrible bully. Ted takes these rumours in his stride, as do the 30 locals to whom Anthony teaches tai chi. Anthony and Claire introduce Ted to poetry and art. Anthony and Claire finish Year 12 and move to Sydney, where they attend art school and share a house with Jens, a Danish student. Ted follows a year or so later. He has it all planned out: he will study law. As a partner in a firm of solicitors, he will be the breadwinner, the one who keeps an eye on the two bohemian artists to ensure they don’t starve. But fate intervenes and Ted flies off to Denmark to take a postgraduate course in international law. There he meets up with Jens, the Danish student who shared a house with Anthony and Claire in Sydney. Jens, Ted now discovers, is someone who is less vulnerable and less impenetrable than Anthony. Jens introduces him to left-wing politics. Ted reads the suggested literature and thinks that, perhaps, he’s a socialist too. This thoughtful coming-of-age novel, which is full of pain, unconfessed feelings and tragedy, is sensitively written. The inter mittent laborious introspection, however, will not appeal to all. ★★★★ RG UQP $29.95 Reviewed by Clive Hodges AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR All Together Now Gill Hornby The publicity blurb for Gill Hornby’s second novel claims it is ‘hilarious’, but for this reader it proved to be just gently humorous. It tells the stories of choir members in one of those dormitory English towns that most people leave each day to work elsewhere. The Bridgeford Community Choir, which some members have attended for 30 years, is in dire need of new members. Hornby gently introduces some of those newcomers, from the newly redundant and separated Bennett, who has never really understood his family life, to Tracey, who has worked hard to maintain her aloof single-mum-and-son unit. Then there’s choir stalwart Annie, who is outwardly busy with numerous activities in the town and only too happy to take on all kinds of chores. She is ready to give practical advice to all, including a call-centre salesman in India. But her own personal life and her family seem to be falling apart around her. Hornby’s portrayal of her characters is wry and affectionate, and her account of the small-town politics in the choir is spot on. Throw in a group of unemployed youths who hang about the local war memorial, community protests against a proposed superstore, as well as a regional choir competition, and there’s plenty happening in Bridgeford. The author wraps it up in a truly spectacular finale. But don’t cheat by skipping to the end, as the story is worth the journey. ★★★ Little, Brown $29.99 Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville has it all planned out: he will study law. As a partner in a firm of solicitors, he will be the breadwinner, the one who keeps an eye on the two bohemian artists to ensure they don’t starve. flies off to Denmark to take a postgraduate course in international law. There he meets up with Jens, the Danish student who shared a house with Anthony and Claire in Sydney. Jens,Ted now discovers, is someone All Together Now Gill Hornby Tsecond novel claims it is ‘hilarious’, but for this reader it proved to be just gently humorous. It tells the stories of choir members in one of those dormitory RATINGS ★ ★ ★★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★★ ★★★★ ★★★★★ RG
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