Theresa Smith's Blog, page 29
February 12, 2023
Book Review: Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes
Nisha Cantor and Sam Kemp are two very different women.
Nisha, 45, lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband inexplicably cuts her off entirely. She doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.
That’s because Sam – 47, middle-aged, struggling to keep herself and her family afloat – has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag.
Now Nisha’s got nothing. And Sam’s walking tall with shoes that catch eyes – and give her career an unexpected boost.
Except Nisha wants her life back – and she’ll start with her shoes.
Published by Penguin Random House Australia – Michael Joseph
Released February 2023
My Thoughts:I haven’t yet read a Jojo Moyes I haven’t loved. She has a knack for writing stories that have All. The. Feels. Her latest novel, Someone Else’s Shoes, certainly has all the feels, but I really loved the whole premise of the story: an accidental bag swap at the gym that leads to two very different women taking a walk in the other one’s – very different – shoes. And it just got better from there.
‘She recalls a philosophy teacher asking her class, “How many of the decisions you make each day are because you actually want to do something, and how many are to avoid the consequences of not doing it?” Nearly everything she does these days is to stop something else happening. If she doesn’t keep her steps up she will get fat. If she doesn’t walk the dog he will wee in the hall. Sometimes Sam feels she has been so conditioned to be useful every minute of every day that there is almost nothing she does in which she is not simultaneously keeping a subconscious tally.’
At its heart, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story of female friendship, the kind that bridges differences and surpasses all else. It’s also a story of female agency, how as we age, we disappear, we feel dispensable, invisible, needed by everyone but wanted by no one. This story, particularly with regards to Sam, was very much about this. I really felt for Sam too, with a total arse of a boss, I couldn’t believe that guy, and the challenges of running the whole show at home along with being the breadwinner while her husband suffered from a depression he was unwilling to acknowledge, much less seek treatment for. And Sam’s parents! They were so self-absorbed and entitled, as though just because Sam was their daughter, that immediately made her their slave. They made me really angry. Thank goodness for Andrea, a ray of light in Sam’s life and probably the saviour of her own sanity.
Nisha was an interesting character. Immediately dislikeable yet layered enough for you to know that there was more there, that your first impressions weren’t likely to be your last. The way she was treated by her (ex) husband Carl was appalling and also quite frightening because I can imagine many women going from riches to rags in a similar fashion. Her grit and determination were to be admired and she really grew on me over the course of the novel.
‘Strength – real strength – is not doing what someone asks you, necessarily. Strength is turning up every day to a situation that is intolerable, unbearable even, just to support the people you love.’
Some aspects of the plot were a little farfetched, but it all worked within the context of the story and made for an enjoyable read. I particularly liked the character growth over the course of this novel, and I think that had a lot to do with the ages of the women being comparable to my own. It all felt rather relatable and relevant.
Jojo Moyes is a star. Highly recommended!
February 10, 2023
Book Review: The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth
He said she jumped. He wouldn’t lie.
Before the woman went over the cliff, Pippa and Gabe were happy. They had the kind of marriage that everyone envies, as well as two sweet young daughters, a supportive family, and a picturesque cliff-side home – which would have been idyllic had the tall beachside cliffs not become so popular among those wishing to end their lives.
Gabe has become somewhat of a local hero since they moved to the cliff house, talking seven people down from stepping off the edge. But when Gabe fails to save the eighth, a sordid web of secrets begins to unravel, pushing bonds of loyalty and love to the brink.
What wouldn’t you do for your soulmate?
Published by Pan Macmillan Australia
Released October 2022
My Thoughts:Love is blind. I’ve never read a novel where this has been more apparent between a couple. Sally Hepworth has long been a page turner for me, but in her latest, The Soulmate, she had me fuming in my seat, reading as fast as I could, hoping against hope that Pippa’s blinders would come off before it was too late. And that, right there, is a masterful storyteller. One who can not only hold your rapture for the duration, but also reel you in until you are so invested that it’s almost feels like you’d be doing yourself some sort of injustice if you didn’t read and read as much as you could in a single sitting.
Sally’s trademark dark humour was absent from this one, probably my only criticism of it. I enjoy her humour and the absence of it within this one was noticeable to me. That aside, The Soulmate is compulsively readable. The chapters are short and reel you in with the then and now and the two different character perspectives. Structurally, this novel is a cracker.
I have to say, I really despised Gabe, mental illness aside, the guy was an A-grade arse. That Pippa couldn’t/wouldn’t see/acknowledge this made for some exasperated reading moments for me. And it’s these two I’m referring to with the abovementioned love is blind comment, or Pippa, anyway. There were some very unrealistic accommodations going on within that relationship and also one instance of Pippa acting so out of character, I just wasn’t quite able to accept it against a backdrop of her unchecked adoration for Gabe, who was entirely unworthy, by the way. I have to say, it was an immense relief to discover that Pippa’s family were not as blind as she was, not by a long shot.
I did really like Max and Amanda as a couple, although their story, once it had come full circle, made me quite sad at how we can miss out through a lack of/fear of communication with those we love. There’s a bit of wisdom right there to take home from this one.
All in all, this is a good read that you’ll be hard pressed to put down. An ideal one for book clubs, the discussion points are many!
February 5, 2023
Pre-Release Book Review: The Fancies by Kim Lock
A story about stories: those we tell, those we believe and those we make into a reality, whether true, murky or not true at all.
Port Kingerton: the insular cray-fishing town at the butt-end of South Australia, where everyone knows everyone. And everyone knows too that when Abigail Fancy left town at seventeen, she hung out the window of her boyfriend’s Corolla, middle fingers held high, swearing she’d never come back. And she hasn’t, until now.
At her parents’ house Abigail finds a party (read town meeting) in full swing over something iffy found on the beach – a thighbone. And although iffy things aren’t uncommon in Port Kingerton, Abigail’s surprise arrival forces a family – and an entire town – to unpack a twenty-four-year-old secret that rocked this tiny place to its core: that time they found something much iffier.
Through Abigail, her grandfather Old Dick Fancy’s unreliable memories and the collective voices of the town itself, Port Kingerton unravels as old wounds are picked open, skeletons fall from closets and unlikely bonds are forged. But will Abigail finally change the past?
Fresh, punchy, expertly crafted and deliciously wry – the author of The Other Side of Beautiful returns with a tour de force of a small-town mystery where a homecoming lifts the veil on a time when a town failed to stand up for its girls.
Published by HarperCollins Publishers Australia – HQ Fiction AU
Released 5th April 2023
My Thoughts:Kim Lock has returned with her trademark breath of fresh air approach to fiction, this time around with a very Australian story that put me in mind of The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham. That type of dark humour that pokes some friendly fun at what it means to exist in a tiny, insular town in Australia. The Fancies are a family who appear to ‘rule the town’ in a *mostly* non-criminal mafia like way. The return of their prodigal daughter, Abigail, coinciding with a couple of gossip worthy events, ignites the town in way that is reminiscent of days gone by – days that are better left in the past.
‘Young Dick didn’t want to be a leader; he simply wanted to live his life, quiet with his family. Sure, he guarded some unfortunate truths he’d have to take to his grave, but regardless, for six years he had tried to wean the town from the Fancy reign and tonight it appeared they’d finally chosen to let go of the damn nipple. They had decided to ignore him and think for themselves. And now he wished they hadn’t.’
To me, this was a very funny novel that also dug deep into misogyny. The chapters told from the perspective of Old Dick were hilarious and a lot more insightful than I first gave them credit for. I really enjoyed the way in which Kim utilised third-person omniscient narration to provide the perspectives of the townsfolk. Again, as the novel progressed, incredibly insightful in terms of the way people accept or resist change when making comparisons with past events. Also, again, very funny. With this novel, Kim has proven that she has a sharply intelligent sense of humour and that she’s not afraid to use it.
‘Maybe aversion – to other people, to connections, to feeling things – can run in the genes, thread into one’s DNA little stitches of repulsion. Or maybe sometimes there simply isn’t an explanation.
For a good part of the story, I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Put your trust into Kim, it all comes together in the last quarter, and it was well worth the entertaining journey. Five stars and a highly recommended for this one.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
The Week That Was…
Joke of the week:
~~~
What Zeus has been up to:
Somebody dropped bacon…~~~
What I’ve been watching:
It’s back! Youngest son and I are unavailable Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights for the foreseeable future.
This was perfect for a midweek date night. Utterly delightful, we both enjoyed it.~~~
What I’ve been reading:
Loved each of these books!
~~~
Until next week… 
January 31, 2023
A Month of Reading – January
A solid start to the reading year with 9 books read in January. No reading challenges this year, just letting myself follow whatever path my reading mood takes me down.
Review Books:
Off the TBR:
Until next month! Yours, in good reading x
Book Review: Leaning Out by Kristine Ziwica
In Leaning Out, respected journalist Kristine Ziwica maps a decade of stasis on the gender equality front in Australia, and why the pandemic has led to a breakthrough. As the historic 2020 Women’s March attests, a generation of younger women are speaking truth to power and changing the way we think of women in the workplace. This is the third book in The Crikey Read series from Crikey and Hardie Grant Books.
For ten years Australian women have been sold a dazzling promise: through sheer ’will’ and individual self-empowerment they could overcome decades of gender inequality in the workplace. The hard, structural work didn’t need to be done; all the solutions could be individual. Yet leaning in, power-posing and speaking up (and being spoken over) at the boardroom table have made very little difference for the great majority of women, still underpaid and overworked compared to their male colleagues.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shockingly revealed the fragile foundations of women’s working lives. It’s also given us a rare opportunity for a reimagining. But Australian women are still being told to ‘Lean In’ at precisely the moment when so many are ‘leaning out’. With the majority of all jobs lost in the pandemic being held by women, and successive governments unable or unwilling to address the ‘gender issue’, we are at crisis point. Leaning Out is a manifesto for what we can – and should – do with this moment.
From Crikey and Hardie Grant Books, The Crikey Read is a series that brings an unflinching and truly independent eye to the issues of the day in Australia and the world.
Published by Hardie Grant Books
Released September 2022
My Thoughts:‘In Australia, the ‘motherhood penalty’ was already deeply entrenched even before the pandemic. In fact, it was getting worse. This penalty, an umbrella term coined to encapsulate the myriad of injustices that contribute to mothers’ inequality in the workplace, captures all of the things that have long contributed to a career cliff edge of sorts for too many working mothers, forcing them onto a ‘mummy track’ of poor pay and poor prospects – if they manage to continue working at all.’
I am an over educated and underperforming Australian woman. My entire working life has been a serious of choices that have led to me working part-time in order to raise my children without using childcare, effectively maximising my ex-husband’s progression up the career ladder and minimising mine. I have now reached the point where I am working in a job that most definitely does not utilise my qualifications but which I enjoy because I have effectively given up on the idea that I will ever have an actual career. I have a job, period, full-time now rather than part-time, but it’s not a career. It will remain as it is, like most jobs. I toyed a couple of years ago, at the time when my marriage ended, with the idea of going back to university and qualifying in a different field. Starting over! Make the right choices this time! The logistics of this combined with the financial aspect proved too much, so I abandoned the idea and just found a new job with more working hours that I (fortunately) enjoy. The simple fact is, I made a series of choices throughout my early working life and then my marriage that exponentially made it harder and harder for me to get off this track I set out on. I know I’m not the only woman who is on the same track – the ‘mummy track’. This year is my youngest child’s final year of schooling. By May, he should have his driver’s license, effectively ending my school run days. No more juggle! Too bad I’m too tired to do anything about it at this point in time.
‘The pandemic has been absolute hell in terms of women’s mental health…. the increase in anxiety disorders, depression disorders, alcohol use disorders, eating disorders, they have all really escalated in women – and that’s across the globe; and even when the infection and financial aspects of the crisis are more under control, this is going to be something that really hurts for quite some time.’
‘Likening what mothers experienced to the kind of ‘moral injury’ frequently experienced by physicians (moral injury is the concept that systemic problems in the medical industry prevent doctors from doing what they know is right for their patients), Lakshim wrote that the crushing toll on working mothers’ mental health, in particular, reflected that level of societal ‘betrayal’. While burnout places the blame (and thus the responsibility) on the individual and tells working mums they aren’t resilient enough, betrayal points to the broken structures around them.’
This is a real little powerhouse of a book, clocking in at just over 100 pages, it covers a lot of ground and makes a whole lot of sense. The subtitle of the book, ‘A fairer future for women at work in Australia’, isn’t just a title, this book is like a roadmap on how to get there, whilst also detailing the journey so far and particularly, where that journey has gone pear-shaped and steered us into the wrong direction. Needless to say, much of it spoke to me on a very personal level, but my life experiences aside, this convergence of the political with the societal is an enduring area of interest to me. Kristine Ziwica also writes with such accessibility and utter common sense. The whole book is so well researched and sourced, it’s truly a brilliant read.
‘It’s really important that we look at the higher-level factors that have led to all of this,’ Dr Adele Murdolo, the executive director of Australia’s Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health, told me. COVID caused lots of stuff, but it also just exacerbated a lot of inequality that was already there. It showed up and it made it more apparent to everybody.’
‘At the ballot box, women abandoned the Coalition in droves, clearly rejecting the ‘choice’ feminist solutions it had on offer, the kinds of solutions that largely blamed women for their own inequality and left it to them to fix the problem, on an individual basis.’
‘Women would simply not be gaslit into believing they were more economically secure when the reality of their daily lives told them something different, especially for the women on the front line of the pandemic in undervalued caring professions. Nor would women be persuaded they were better off when many were all too aware of the fact that women over the age of fifty-five were the fastest growing portion of the homeless population.
Women raged, they marched, and then they voted.’
Highly recommended reading for all Australians. There’s so much more in here that I haven’t even brushed the sides of.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
January 26, 2023
Book Review: I’ll Leave You With This by Kylie Ladd
I’ll Leave You With This is a heart-breaking, funny, thought-provoking and honest novel about a brother’s legacy and the tangled bonds of sisterhood.
The O’Shea sisters couldn’t be more different.
Allison, an obstetrician, has always put others before herself and is torn between her job and young family.
Prizewinning film director Bridie hasn’t had work in over a decade, though her actor husband is on the brink of stardom.
Clare, desperate for a baby, is bereft when her wife leaves her after their latest IVF failure.
And Emma, the youngest, has turned to God to fill the aching loneliness in her life.
When their only brother Daniel is killed the four women drift even further apart…
Then, on the third anniversary of Daniel’s death, Clare proposes an idea: they should trace the many recipients saved by his donated organs. Perhaps their brother’s gift of life can bring them back together again?
Published by Penguin Random House Australia
Released 31st January 2023
My Thoughts:‘The four of them were like planets in the solar system, occasionally hoving into view of one another, but always, always fixed in their own immovable orbits.’
Family stories are tricky beasts at the best of times, but Kylie Ladd seems to have a distinct knack for harnessing them into brilliant novels. Her latest, I’ll Leave You With This, is beautifully complex, funny, heartfelt, and filled with insight and compassion – everything I have come to expect from her.
Sisterhood is at the forefront of this story, and I loved the dynamics that existed between Allison, Bridie, Clare and Emma. It wasn’t just distinctive personalities providing barriers between these sisters but their age gap, which was significant from eldest through to youngest. The loss of their brother seemed to make this gap one that was difficult to breach. There were many things each sister didn’t know about the others, from the incidental through to the major. The uncovering of these things throughout the story made for a compelling narrative.
Of the topics covered within this novel, organ donation is at the top of the list, but other important issues are also woven through the characters’ lives. Infertility, self-harm, grief, work-life balance, sexuality, religion, and palliative care within the family, to name the main ones. It’s a loaded novel, but written with a deft hand, so never once are you left feeling like there was too much. Everything, and I mean everything, was well placed and woven into the narrative with precision and care.
It’s no secret that I love Kylie Ladd’s novels, I have done right from the start. But with such talent, who could blame me? Highly recommended, particularly for book clubs, this one is a five-star read. I feel it would make an excellent television series as well.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
January 24, 2023
Book Review: The Heroines by Laura Shepperson
ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL meets ARIADNE in this thrilling, evocatively told debut novel, reframing the trial of Phaedra, one of classical literature’s most controversial figures, for the modern reader.
In Athens, crowds flock to witness the most shocking trial of the ancient world. The royal family is mired in scandal. Phaedra, young bride of King Theseus, has accused her stepson, Hippolytus of rape.
He’s a prince, a talented horseman, a promising noble with his whole life ahead of him. She’s a young and neglected wife, the youngest in a long line of Cretan women with less than savoury reputations.
The men of Athens must determine the truth. Who is guilty, and who is innocent?
But the women know truth is a slippery thing. After all, this is the age of heroes and the age of monsters. There are two sides to every story, and theirs has gone unheard.
Until now.
Published by Hachette Australia – Sphere
Released 31st January 2023
My Thoughts:‘It was not until ten summers later, when Theseus was to come to Crete seeking power beyond what we could give him, that I was to learn the truth: that any man can throw words up into the air, and it is women who must pay when those words land.’
It’s been established that I am a bit of a fan of the sub-genre of feminist retellings of Greek mythology. One thing that I’ve observed with each new one that I read is the fluidity of the mythology – each author bends it and flexes it to fit their fictional retelling and essentially, the myths are just stories anyway, so it’s almost become a choose your own adventure for each Goddess who pops up repeatedly with a different take on her life and end within each new novel.
The Heroines is heaving with feminist rage and is specific in its focus on sexual violence against women. In this, it’s done very well. There is, between every few chapters, a section titled ‘Night Chorus’. These are the whisperings of the women from court, the servants, and their chorus speaks of the violence against women that pervades the court. Initially, the chorus is sympathetic to Phaedra when they learn of her rape, but once she decides to proceed with a trial against Hippolytus for his crime against her, the tide of their whispering turns.
‘I felt sorry for her before, but she has made our lives harder. Why could she not be quiet? Do you even believe her? I heard she had her eye on him from the start. We all saw her follow him round the court. She is expecting his child. Maybe she made all this up to convince Theseus that she was not unfaithful while he was away. Princesses can bring trials. But someone still has to make their beds, and lie in them, too.’
See what she made him do. She deserved it because of what she was wearing. She asked for it because she tempted him. Women turning on women when class/privilege comes into play – this was sharply demonstrated with the Night Chorus sections. They made this novel for me, they were so cleverly written and inserted at all the right places.
The only thing that let this novel down for me was that it had a large cast of characters, and all of their perspectives were told in the first person. Now, it’s not the number of perspectives that bothered me, it was the use of first person exclusively. I didn’t find there was enough to distinguish one character from the other and I was constantly checking back to remind myself of whose view I was currently in. I’m not a fan of first-person narration, it can have its place within certain novels and with certain characters, but to have such a large cast and to write all of them this way needed greater character development and more unique voicing for each of the characters in order to succeed. I do feel this technique let the novel down immensely and it has affected my rating.
If you are a fan of feminist retellings of Greek mythology, then you probably won’t want to miss this one.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
January 21, 2023
The Week That Was…
It’s been quite a week this week. I turned 46, my daughter flew to San Francisco to commence her third year of university with a semester long college exchange program, and I had the pleasure of meeting one of my blogging friends in real life over a lovely bookish chatty long dinner together.
What Zeus has been doing:
Growing hair. It’s been two months since his surgery and his face once again looks normal but that triple coat is taking its time to grow back on his head. At present he looks like a dog who lost a dare at a party and was clippered by his drunk mate.
What I’ve been watching:
Solo, I’ve been watching the second season of Firefly Lane, which I’m enjoying more than the first season. It still has its cringe moments, but my low expectations going in are mostly being exceeded. Together, M and I started watching The Serpent Queen. It’s very good and I’m pleased it’s been renewed for another season.
What I’ve been reading:
These two are both released end of January so my reviews will pop up in line with that. Kylie Ladd has once again delivered five-star quality with a brilliant story of family and morality – all the feels with this one. The Heroines, the latest in the ever-popular sub-genre of Greek myths retold is not the best I’ve read but it’s also not the worst. More about that later. The cover is divine though.
Until next week…
January 15, 2023
Book Review: The Lessons by John Purcell
What if your first love was your one and only chance of happiness? In our lives, some promises are easily forgotten, while others come to haunt us with tragic results. From the bestselling author of The Girl on the Page comes The Lessons, a compelling novel about love and betrayal.
1961: When teens Daisy and Harry meet, it feels so right they promise to love each other forever, but in 1960s England everything is stacked against them: class, education, expectations. When Daisy is sent by her parents to live with her glamorous, bohemian Aunt Jane, a novelist working on her second book, she is confronted by adult truths and suffers a loss of innocence that flings her far from the one good thing in her life, Harry.
1983: Jane Curtis, now a famous novelist, is at a prestigious book event in New York, being interviewed about her life and work, including a novel about the traumatic coming of age of a young woman. But she won’t answer the interviewer’s probing questions. What is she trying to hide?
This is a novel about the painful lessons life has to teach us, about ourselves, about love, honesty and morality. Echoing novels such as Persuasion and A Room with a View and the memoir An Education, The Lessons is a striking and powerful story about the loss of innocence and betrayal and how much we can forgive – if we forgive.
Published by HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Released April 2022
My Thoughts:‘Art is about holding one’s breath. You have to dive deep and stay down for as long as you can. Those who dive deepest and stay down longest, those who hold their nerve, produce the best art.’
This novel. I am both speechless and filled with so much to say about it. The writing, the characterisation, the story; this is sublime fiction. An absolute cracker of a read.
‘We never mentioned Jane. We never mentioned not mentioning her either. There were times when I missed her terribly and others when I could have happily watched her burning at the stake.’
I think this might be the first time I’ve ever despised a character in a novel so much, yet still felt compelled to keep reading. Jane is the pits, an absolute disgrace of a woman. She literally destroys everything for everyone. And it was like she did it as some sort of experiment, a means of gathering experiences that she could then write about in her novels, further destroying those around her and forever condemning and immortalising them as recognisable figures within her fiction. And her sister Kate was not all that much better, the least mothering mother I’ve come across in a very long time. Daisy was like a ray of sunshine and yet, there was little hope for her remaining unscathed with Kate as a mother and Jane as an aunt.
‘The problem was, as awful as Jane could be, she was a force. Her character was challenging and abrasive, but one felt a coward not standing up to her. And when she was gone you felt her absence, which certainly wasn’t the case with most people.’
John Purcell might just be one of my favourite authors now. He is utterly brilliant at what he does, I am only regretting that I didn’t read this novel sooner and that I haven’t yet read his previous one. The twists within this story, the betrayals, the passions, the rage, the connections made and broken. And the dialogue! Everything about this novel was utter perfection. It has all the hallmarks of a literary classic. Is it too early to call book of the year? Five solid stars.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
