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The Eulogy
The Eulogy is a literary page-turner from new Australian voice Jackie Bailey – a story about family, death and grief that is full of love, humour and life.
It’s winter in Logan, south-east Queensland, and still warm enough to sleep in a car at night if you have nowhere else to go. But Kathy can’t sleep. Her husband is on her blocked caller list and she’s running from a kidnapping charge, a Tupperware container of 300 sleeping pills in her glovebox. She has driven from Sydney to plan a funeral with her five surviving siblings (most of whom she hardly speaks to) because their sister Annie is finally, blessedly, inconceivably dead from the brain tumour she was diagnosed with twenty-five years ago, the year everything changed.
Kathy wonders – she has always wondered – did Annie get sick to protect her? And if so, from what?
In writing Annie’s eulogy, Kathy attempts to understand the tangled story of the Bradley family: from their mother’s childhood during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War Two and their father’s experiences in the Malayan conflict and the Vietnam War, to Annie’s cancer and disability, and the events that have shaped the person that Kathy is today. Ultimately, Kathy needs Annie to help her decide whether she will allow herself to love and be loved.
It’s winter in Logan, south-east Queensland, and still warm enough to sleep in a car at night if you have nowhere else to go. But Kathy can’t sleep. Her husband is on her blocked caller list and she’s running from a kidnapping charge, a Tupperware container of 300 sleeping pills in her glovebox. She has driven from Sydney to plan a funeral with her five surviving siblings (most of whom she hardly speaks to) because their sister Annie is finally, blessedly, inconceivably dead from the brain tumour she was diagnosed with twenty-five years ago, the year everything changed.
Kathy wonders – she has always wondered – did Annie get sick to protect her? And if so, from what?
In writing Annie’s eulogy, Kathy attempts to understand the tangled story of the Bradley family: from their mother’s childhood during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War Two and their father’s experiences in the Malayan conflict and the Vietnam War, to Annie’s cancer and disability, and the events that have shaped the person that Kathy is today. Ultimately, Kathy needs Annie to help her decide whether she will allow herself to love and be loved.
320 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2022
19 people are currently reading
338 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
June 20, 2022
You know when a book is really, really good and you try to slow down while you're reading it because you don't want it to end too quickly? This book is just like that. I went as slowly as I could, but even then, eking it out bit by bit, when I finished I was brought undone, completely torn apart.
It is so, so good.
The story has moved me in the way all the very best ones do - with sadness, anger, grief and love.
There is so much that is familiar about this book. Part of it is the fact that I share some landmarks of childhood with the author - the dusty unsealed Mt Cotton Road, the Hyperdome or ‘largest single storey shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere.’ I laughed out loud at the idea that fleeing to Bundaberg shows a drastic failure of imagination. Actually I laughed MANY times but that one sticks beautifully and makes me smile even now.
But mostly it’s because the themes are just so perfectly observed and expressed - the weight of family and history and the inescapable roles we each play, grief and fury and injustice and frustration. But also humour and love and compassion; there is so much kindness in this novel it broke my heart.
This is the best book I have read in a long, long time - it is BRILLIANT. Everyone: do yourself a favour and read it now, don’t wait another day.
It is so, so good.
The story has moved me in the way all the very best ones do - with sadness, anger, grief and love.
There is so much that is familiar about this book. Part of it is the fact that I share some landmarks of childhood with the author - the dusty unsealed Mt Cotton Road, the Hyperdome or ‘largest single storey shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere.’ I laughed out loud at the idea that fleeing to Bundaberg shows a drastic failure of imagination. Actually I laughed MANY times but that one sticks beautifully and makes me smile even now.
But mostly it’s because the themes are just so perfectly observed and expressed - the weight of family and history and the inescapable roles we each play, grief and fury and injustice and frustration. But also humour and love and compassion; there is so much kindness in this novel it broke my heart.
This is the best book I have read in a long, long time - it is BRILLIANT. Everyone: do yourself a favour and read it now, don’t wait another day.
August 27, 2025
A remarkable debut novel, largely told through first person as Kathy Bradley reflects on her dysfunctional family and some troubling prior experiences.
As the title suggests this explores love, loss, death and grief.
As the title suggests this explores love, loss, death and grief.
June 20, 2022
Recently, I received a copy of The Eulogy from @hardiegrantbooks which was a lovely #gifted surprise. This is the debut novel of new Australian author Jackie Bailey and is billed as literary auto fiction.
In The Eulogy the protagonist Kathy is in Queensland and reuniting with her siblings to prepare for her sister Annie’s funeral. Annie has died after years of ill health after first being diagnosed with a brain tumour as a child. Kathy has fled from Sydney and her own problems to say her final goodbyes to her sister and it is in writing Annie’s eulogy that Kathy attempts to understand her life and the history of her family.
This history includes a strict mother and her upbringing in Singapore, an Australian father who fought in two wars, many siblings and the stress they all lived through as children but most especially Annie and her cancer and the childhood that shaped Kathy's life.
The Eulogy is focussed on the trauma that can occur deep within a dysfunctional family. It is about death and how you grieve a life no matter how expected or not it might be. And while these themes sound heavy (and they are!) there is also so much love and life in this book. There’s also humour though maybe not the laugh out loud kind.
My copy came with a letter written by the author in which she explains how she initially started writing a memoir focussed on her sister’s diagnosis as a child but was encouraged to switch to fiction which led to Kathy, additional plot lines and the safety net of being able to explore hard themes without needing to be wholly true to history. She says “I wrote everything I could remember, and imagined all the things I could not” which I found such a fascinating way to think about this blended writing style.
I enjoyed reading The Eulogy and found it to be a strong piece of debut writing, although I do warn you there are events and memories from Kathy’s childhood that are difficult to read about. I haven’t seen it promoted much but I do hope it gets some more love. Surely this gorgeous cover catches your eye?
In The Eulogy the protagonist Kathy is in Queensland and reuniting with her siblings to prepare for her sister Annie’s funeral. Annie has died after years of ill health after first being diagnosed with a brain tumour as a child. Kathy has fled from Sydney and her own problems to say her final goodbyes to her sister and it is in writing Annie’s eulogy that Kathy attempts to understand her life and the history of her family.
This history includes a strict mother and her upbringing in Singapore, an Australian father who fought in two wars, many siblings and the stress they all lived through as children but most especially Annie and her cancer and the childhood that shaped Kathy's life.
The Eulogy is focussed on the trauma that can occur deep within a dysfunctional family. It is about death and how you grieve a life no matter how expected or not it might be. And while these themes sound heavy (and they are!) there is also so much love and life in this book. There’s also humour though maybe not the laugh out loud kind.
My copy came with a letter written by the author in which she explains how she initially started writing a memoir focussed on her sister’s diagnosis as a child but was encouraged to switch to fiction which led to Kathy, additional plot lines and the safety net of being able to explore hard themes without needing to be wholly true to history. She says “I wrote everything I could remember, and imagined all the things I could not” which I found such a fascinating way to think about this blended writing style.
I enjoyed reading The Eulogy and found it to be a strong piece of debut writing, although I do warn you there are events and memories from Kathy’s childhood that are difficult to read about. I haven’t seen it promoted much but I do hope it gets some more love. Surely this gorgeous cover catches your eye?
Read
October 28, 2022Yet again another book in my DNF list (read 50%) Maybe a pattern developing here, re I’m not a non-fiction reader. Found it a slow burn, couldn’t get into the story. And what on earth is “autofiction” anyway?
June 23, 2022
I loved this book from start to finish, it’s the first book in a long time that I haven’t been able to put down! The Eulogy is an honest, moving, funny and no holds barred insight to family life. It is very cleverly written, moving back and forth through time allowing the reader to understand the characters in more depth. I particularly enjoyed learning about Kathy’s parents history and how it affected the future family dynamics. I was touched by the beautiful bond between Kathy and her sister and kept interested with surprises, laughs and tears. I can’t recommend this book enough!
June 20, 2022
This book had me feeling every emotion. Jackie has written about things that are hard to talk about and it sinks your heart into your chest, with thoughts of Oh no…
But you just can’t put it down because in there also, is love, the warm honest kind and the knowing there are a few special people, that are just supposed to be in your life.
But you just can’t put it down because in there also, is love, the warm honest kind and the knowing there are a few special people, that are just supposed to be in your life.
July 3, 2022
Cannot finish it. Awful
Not funny.
Awful family violence and abuse
Not funny.
Awful family violence and abuse
December 1, 2024
3.5 ⭐
Struggled to get into this at first, found the 2nd half flowed better.
Debut novel.
Covers dark topics-check triggers.
Struggled to get into this at first, found the 2nd half flowed better.
Debut novel.
Covers dark topics-check triggers.
July 12, 2022
3.5
Relentlessly bleak, every trigger known to man. I was glad to read it but also to finish.
Relentlessly bleak, every trigger known to man. I was glad to read it but also to finish.
August 11, 2022
A tear jerker to say the least.
March 15, 2023
I really enjoyed this book, more and more as I read on. Liked the little ‘ how to write a eulogy’ messages throughout the book. An emotional read.
August 25, 2024
3.5⭐️ Content: Multiple Trigger Warning
Confronting and challenging content. Well written. Jackie has an incredible gift with words. This book talks about family history, race, death, suicide, generational trauma, disability, child loss, cancer, war, grief, abuse, love etc. If I had known the content of this book before hand, I would perhaps have chosen not to read it. However, it was thought provoking and ultimately offers glimmers of hope in human connection. I found it gritty, honest, but ultimately hard to read due to content.
Confronting and challenging content. Well written. Jackie has an incredible gift with words. This book talks about family history, race, death, suicide, generational trauma, disability, child loss, cancer, war, grief, abuse, love etc. If I had known the content of this book before hand, I would perhaps have chosen not to read it. However, it was thought provoking and ultimately offers glimmers of hope in human connection. I found it gritty, honest, but ultimately hard to read due to content.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 13, 2022
The Eulogy is a confronting debut novel by Jackie Bailey.
Kathy returns to her childhood home in the Queensland for her sisters funeral. As Kathy writes the eulogy, she reflects on their lives, growing up being the youngest of eight siblings, her sister being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour as a child, dysfunctional parents and traumatic family upbringing. The story touches on topics such as race, disability, trauma, poverty and abuse. It is not all doom and gloom, Kathy also talks about the love and bond between her and her ill sister.
It was an interesting read that will stay with me for a while.
Thank you Better Reading for providing me a copy of this book
Kathy returns to her childhood home in the Queensland for her sisters funeral. As Kathy writes the eulogy, she reflects on their lives, growing up being the youngest of eight siblings, her sister being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour as a child, dysfunctional parents and traumatic family upbringing. The story touches on topics such as race, disability, trauma, poverty and abuse. It is not all doom and gloom, Kathy also talks about the love and bond between her and her ill sister.
It was an interesting read that will stay with me for a while.
Thank you Better Reading for providing me a copy of this book
September 3, 2022
A hard book to read, but so beautiful.
November 6, 2022
2.5 stars
This is really a book of two halves. The first half is a 2-star I did not like it. The second half is a 3-star interesting story. This is why I'm giving it 2.5 stars (rounded down for GoodReads).
Notes:
The book was extremely hard to get into. In the first half of the book, you have no idea who anyone is. Something happened with Kathy which means she is estranged from her husband and she's not allowed near young children. You have no idea why. I don't feel that this not knowing adds to the story in any way. It makes it very hard to follow what is happening. It makes it very hard to know who is who. I almost gave up. I couldn't see the point of it.
Once we go to Singapore and start to learn about Kathy's mum's story is when the book starts to pick up. From there the book is readable and compelling. My book club did mention that there was a lot of trauma in the story. Childhood cancer, abuse, infant loss... it's all a bit much. As there is so much trauma in the storyline I don't think it's all explored or dealt with very well.
Finishes quite abruptly too. I need a little bit more closure on all the unhappiness please.
This is really a book of two halves. The first half is a 2-star I did not like it. The second half is a 3-star interesting story. This is why I'm giving it 2.5 stars (rounded down for GoodReads).
Notes:
The book was extremely hard to get into. In the first half of the book, you have no idea who anyone is. Something happened with Kathy which means she is estranged from her husband and she's not allowed near young children. You have no idea why. I don't feel that this not knowing adds to the story in any way. It makes it very hard to follow what is happening. It makes it very hard to know who is who. I almost gave up. I couldn't see the point of it.
Once we go to Singapore and start to learn about Kathy's mum's story is when the book starts to pick up. From there the book is readable and compelling. My book club did mention that there was a lot of trauma in the story. Childhood cancer, abuse, infant loss... it's all a bit much. As there is so much trauma in the storyline I don't think it's all explored or dealt with very well.
Finishes quite abruptly too. I need a little bit more closure on all the unhappiness please.
April 13, 2024
Can we talk about how this book is gng to make evry person cry who's holding a very deep connection with their sibling. I bawled my eyes out reading every chapter and im gonna hold this book close to heart forever.
Well it did gave me a fear of losing someone :(
Well it did gave me a fear of losing someone :(
July 19, 2022
Different .. untangling a complicated family dynamic ..
September 13, 2022
Was bored for the first half but saw another review and someone said it got better…the second half was definitely more interesting as things started to piece together but it just didn’t grab me
September 29, 2022
I don't think I really understood this book until I reached almost to the end and even then........
July 22, 2022
Written mostly in first person, this autofiction novel by debut Australian author Jackie Bailey is many things. First and foremost, it is a love letter from a woman (Kathy) to her dead sister (Annie). It is an examination of family and the role each member plays: the contribution they make, the wounds they carry and the legacy they leave. And it is about reconciling the past in order to identify a way forward.
This book is a page turner. Not in a suspenseful need-to-know-what-happens-next kind of way (although there is a trail of breadcrumbs left through the story). It’s subtler than that. It feels familiar and vulnerable. Like a conversation with your closest friend. I often forgot that Kathy was speaking to Annie on these pages. It felt like she was talking to me. Confiding in me. And I didn’t want to leave her side as she poured out her heart, sharing her innermost fears and bravely pulling dark, painful childhood memories up to the surface to stand exposed in the light of day for a moment of reckoning.
Perhaps this book resonated with me because I can relate to parts of it: the bond of sisterhood; the rocky relationship between mother and father; having a different skin colour and the prejudices that can bring; the setting in Loganlea (not far from where I live). Or perhaps I was simply moved by how honest and unshielded the author was in sharing such a realistic experience of loss and grief.
It’s a heartbreaking novel. Confronting. Messy. Uncomfortable. But, as its bright yellow cover suggests, it carries hope and is a teacher in how to apply love and forgiveness to change the narrative you find yourself in.
I will marinade in this book for a long time to come. Thank you Jackie Bailey for persisting with this project and putting it out into the world.
This book is a page turner. Not in a suspenseful need-to-know-what-happens-next kind of way (although there is a trail of breadcrumbs left through the story). It’s subtler than that. It feels familiar and vulnerable. Like a conversation with your closest friend. I often forgot that Kathy was speaking to Annie on these pages. It felt like she was talking to me. Confiding in me. And I didn’t want to leave her side as she poured out her heart, sharing her innermost fears and bravely pulling dark, painful childhood memories up to the surface to stand exposed in the light of day for a moment of reckoning.
Perhaps this book resonated with me because I can relate to parts of it: the bond of sisterhood; the rocky relationship between mother and father; having a different skin colour and the prejudices that can bring; the setting in Loganlea (not far from where I live). Or perhaps I was simply moved by how honest and unshielded the author was in sharing such a realistic experience of loss and grief.
It’s a heartbreaking novel. Confronting. Messy. Uncomfortable. But, as its bright yellow cover suggests, it carries hope and is a teacher in how to apply love and forgiveness to change the narrative you find yourself in.
I will marinade in this book for a long time to come. Thank you Jackie Bailey for persisting with this project and putting it out into the world.
October 26, 2022
Jackie Baily has written the most beautiful piece of autofiction that delves into the impact that our family history has on us right now.
The novel is written (in first person present) from the perspective of Kathy Bradley and written to her sister who has just died after a life-long illness in the days ahead of her funeral as she is crafting her Eulogy.
The writing of the Eulogy is a device to answer the question "How did we get here? Not in a general sense, but specifically here"
The book opens with the protagonist, Kathy, sitting in a car that she has "been living in for the last twenty-four hours, a husband on my blocked caller list, an airtight Tupperware container filled with the finely blended powder of three hundred sleeping pills in the glove box; and you, or what is left of you, currently in transit from the Logan Hospital morgue to the Angel Companions Funeral Home."
Jackie delivers an intimate look into a large family whose parents (one Australian, one Chinese Malay) met in Malaya during the 1950s and how that time, and their past before that, echoes to the present day.
As a work of auto-fiction there are parts which are closely aligned to Jackie's life and others that are not. At the recent Melbourne Writers Festival, she noted that fiction was a safe space to give the character of Kathy the agency and power she would've liked in her own life and that it was a safe way to own the trauma of her upbringing.
We have seen this approach with Trent Dalton in Boy Swallows Universe where the character of Eli took action he wished he had done as a child but didn't. It had me wondering which elements of this novel were enabling Jackie to relieve her past on her terms.
The novel is written (in first person present) from the perspective of Kathy Bradley and written to her sister who has just died after a life-long illness in the days ahead of her funeral as she is crafting her Eulogy.
The writing of the Eulogy is a device to answer the question "How did we get here? Not in a general sense, but specifically here"
The book opens with the protagonist, Kathy, sitting in a car that she has "been living in for the last twenty-four hours, a husband on my blocked caller list, an airtight Tupperware container filled with the finely blended powder of three hundred sleeping pills in the glove box; and you, or what is left of you, currently in transit from the Logan Hospital morgue to the Angel Companions Funeral Home."
Jackie delivers an intimate look into a large family whose parents (one Australian, one Chinese Malay) met in Malaya during the 1950s and how that time, and their past before that, echoes to the present day.
As a work of auto-fiction there are parts which are closely aligned to Jackie's life and others that are not. At the recent Melbourne Writers Festival, she noted that fiction was a safe space to give the character of Kathy the agency and power she would've liked in her own life and that it was a safe way to own the trauma of her upbringing.
We have seen this approach with Trent Dalton in Boy Swallows Universe where the character of Eli took action he wished he had done as a child but didn't. It had me wondering which elements of this novel were enabling Jackie to relieve her past on her terms.
May 12, 2023
Blurb
It’s winter in Logan, south-east Queensland, and still warm enough to sleep in a car at night if you have nowhere else to go. But Kathy can’t sleep. Her husband is on her blocked caller list and she’s running from a kidnapping charge, a Tupperware container of 300 sleeping pills in her glovebox. She has driven from Sydney to plan a funeral with her five surviving siblings (most of whom she hardly speaks to) because their sister Annie is finally, blessedly, inconceivably dead from the brain tumour she was diagnosed with twenty-five years ago, the year everything changed.
Kathy wonders – she has always wondered – did Annie get sick to protect her? And if so, from what?
In writing Annie’s eulogy, Kathy attempts to understand the tangled story of the Bradley family: from their mother’s childhood during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War Two and their father’s experiences in the Malayan conflict and the Vietnam War, to Annie’s cancer and disability, and the events that have shaped the person that Kathy is today. Ultimately, Kathy needs Annie to help her decide whether she will allow herself to love and be loved.
Jackie Bailey’s autofiction novel is an astounding debut, deftly weaving together storylines and relationships over decades, and will stay with readers long after the last page.
My review :
Heart wrenching and heavy. I wouldn’t call it funny, like the cover advertises. It deeply explores disability and it’s effect on families, domestic violence, family of origin, racial differences. Well written.
It’s winter in Logan, south-east Queensland, and still warm enough to sleep in a car at night if you have nowhere else to go. But Kathy can’t sleep. Her husband is on her blocked caller list and she’s running from a kidnapping charge, a Tupperware container of 300 sleeping pills in her glovebox. She has driven from Sydney to plan a funeral with her five surviving siblings (most of whom she hardly speaks to) because their sister Annie is finally, blessedly, inconceivably dead from the brain tumour she was diagnosed with twenty-five years ago, the year everything changed.
Kathy wonders – she has always wondered – did Annie get sick to protect her? And if so, from what?
In writing Annie’s eulogy, Kathy attempts to understand the tangled story of the Bradley family: from their mother’s childhood during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in World War Two and their father’s experiences in the Malayan conflict and the Vietnam War, to Annie’s cancer and disability, and the events that have shaped the person that Kathy is today. Ultimately, Kathy needs Annie to help her decide whether she will allow herself to love and be loved.
Jackie Bailey’s autofiction novel is an astounding debut, deftly weaving together storylines and relationships over decades, and will stay with readers long after the last page.
My review :
Heart wrenching and heavy. I wouldn’t call it funny, like the cover advertises. It deeply explores disability and it’s effect on families, domestic violence, family of origin, racial differences. Well written.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2022
I recently finished THE EULOGY by JACKIE BAILEY, a debut novel focussing on trauma and grief amongst a dysfunctional family. *There is definitely a trigger warning with this novel.
I struggled at the start with this on audible but finally got there and finished the final chapters quite quickly. The story follows Kathy, the sister of Annie who passes away from illness. BAILEY does a great job of building the relationships amongst the family, through continuous issues whilst navigating Annie’s illness.
I also enjoyed this being based in SE Queensland and embraced the references to the Logan Hyperdome and the Pacific Motorway. Very nostalgic.
I have released that I don’t enjoy listening to fiction books as much as Non-fiction so back we go.
Have you read this? Did you enjoy it?
#theeulogy #jackiebailey #bookstagram #bookreview #bookrecommendations #australianauthor #fiction #booklover #books #audible
I struggled at the start with this on audible but finally got there and finished the final chapters quite quickly. The story follows Kathy, the sister of Annie who passes away from illness. BAILEY does a great job of building the relationships amongst the family, through continuous issues whilst navigating Annie’s illness.
I also enjoyed this being based in SE Queensland and embraced the references to the Logan Hyperdome and the Pacific Motorway. Very nostalgic.
I have released that I don’t enjoy listening to fiction books as much as Non-fiction so back we go.
Have you read this? Did you enjoy it?
#theeulogy #jackiebailey #bookstagram #bookreview #bookrecommendations #australianauthor #fiction #booklover #books #audible
September 29, 2022
The Eulogy is Jackie Bailey’s first novel and probably not one I’d choose, but my mother gave it to me and said, ‘Read this. You might pick up some tips’.
Also, it’s set in Logan, South-East Qld, not far from where me and my family lived in the 80’s.
Interest piqued.
The narrator, Kathy, is trying to write a eulogy for her younger sister, Annie, who has died from a brain tumour 25 years after she was first diagnosed in 1983 at seven years old.
Sounds morbid, and true, this is a story about death, grief, sibling grievances, and emotional and physical abuse, but it’s also a story with heart, love and life. Kathy confronts her past, and throughout the narrative, speaks to her now dead sister. A very satisfying ending.
Yes, it did prompt me to think about what I’d include in a loved ones’ eulogy if asked to speak. Worth a read.
*Touted as a ‘literary page-turner’.
Not sure what gives this novel a literary edge. I’d call it commercial fiction.
Also, it’s set in Logan, South-East Qld, not far from where me and my family lived in the 80’s.
Interest piqued.
The narrator, Kathy, is trying to write a eulogy for her younger sister, Annie, who has died from a brain tumour 25 years after she was first diagnosed in 1983 at seven years old.
Sounds morbid, and true, this is a story about death, grief, sibling grievances, and emotional and physical abuse, but it’s also a story with heart, love and life. Kathy confronts her past, and throughout the narrative, speaks to her now dead sister. A very satisfying ending.
Yes, it did prompt me to think about what I’d include in a loved ones’ eulogy if asked to speak. Worth a read.
*Touted as a ‘literary page-turner’.
Not sure what gives this novel a literary edge. I’d call it commercial fiction.
April 12, 2023
This book was a heart wrenching dive into ways we shield ourselves from feeling love or memory.
I want to say I really enjoyed all of it but quite a bit had me gasping at the treatment of these hopeful children. Quite a few instances had me feeling very uncomfortable or even disgusted in humanity as a whole… while also feeling great compassion for a grown woman who has clearly experienced many different traumas and managed to prevail in life despite her heavy past.
It was a tender look at sisterhood and the obtrusion of cancer. A uncomfortable detailing of parent child relationships and the past that formed said relationships.
Though we cannot strip our family from our genes or our memories from our brains we can keep going to create better ones. I loved the hope in Annie and Kath despite all obstacles. I loved the vulnerability and raw explanation.
This is a book about a lot of things but what stood out for me was an urge to never give up hope.
I want to say I really enjoyed all of it but quite a bit had me gasping at the treatment of these hopeful children. Quite a few instances had me feeling very uncomfortable or even disgusted in humanity as a whole… while also feeling great compassion for a grown woman who has clearly experienced many different traumas and managed to prevail in life despite her heavy past.
It was a tender look at sisterhood and the obtrusion of cancer. A uncomfortable detailing of parent child relationships and the past that formed said relationships.
Though we cannot strip our family from our genes or our memories from our brains we can keep going to create better ones. I loved the hope in Annie and Kath despite all obstacles. I loved the vulnerability and raw explanation.
This is a book about a lot of things but what stood out for me was an urge to never give up hope.
June 29, 2023
This was a heavier read than I was expecting, it explores and unpacks a lot including domestic violence, racial differences, family of origin, disability and it's effect on families, gambling and PTSD. We hear the story from Kathy, the youngest child in a large family. Kathy is reuniting with her siblings to prepare for her sister Annie's funeral, Annie has died after years of ill health after first being diagnosed with a brain tumour as a child and Kathy is attempting to understand her life and her family as she writes a eulogy for Annie. Though the material covered means it's not always an easy read, it is well written and worth reading. If you want to read more about the author I wrote an entire book to say goodbye to my sister.
August 2, 2022
Well what a wonderful read this novel was. I was very lucky to be gifted a copy from Better Reading - thank you. The story is set mostly around the Logan area of Queensland, which I live quite close to. The descriptions of the city and the warms seasons are so very accurate. The story covers many topics. But I did not find it overwhelming, just lovely. Some things covered include living with cancer and disability, depression, domestic violence, sexual assault, sibling relationships, expectations, culture and death and dying. Every reader will
learn something and take away a different thing from this incredible story. I read it so quickly and just didn’t want it to finish, and have to say I’m really sad it’s come to an end. I’m seriously thinking of reading it again. It would also make an excellent TV series too, as long as the author, Dr Jacqui Bailey was involved all the way
learn something and take away a different thing from this incredible story. I read it so quickly and just didn’t want it to finish, and have to say I’m really sad it’s come to an end. I’m seriously thinking of reading it again. It would also make an excellent TV series too, as long as the author, Dr Jacqui Bailey was involved all the way
July 23, 2022
This is an absorbing, although sometimes confronting, account of a family’s history written from the perspective of Kathy, one of the daughters, who is returning to her hometown for a funeral. Kathy recounts episodes of hers and her family’s life while composing the eulogy for her sister who has died after having suffered many years from brain cancer. Although the book’s main focus is on grief and family dysfunction, some events and characters are portrayed with humour and warmth. However, the descriptions of traumatic events which included domestic violence and abuse does not make this an easy read and for some it may be triggering. It was not a comfortable read and I would advise caution to readers especially those who have suffered a recent loss. With thanks to Better Reading and Hardie Grant Books for the preview copy. #BRPreview
July 31, 2022
A story of family, of love, loss & grief as told through the eyes of Kathy, the youngest of eight children in the dysfunctional Bradley family. The story unfolds as Kathy, living in her car & planning to suicide after her sister’s funeral, prepares to write the eulogy for this sister. She follows the steps for writing a eulogy, and in doing so, reveals the family history, explores the various characters & how the family has evolved into what it is today.
I thought the story started slowly, but step by step, as the story weaves from the present to the past, and back again, until at the funeral, our questions are answered.
I thought the story started slowly, but step by step, as the story weaves from the present to the past, and back again, until at the funeral, our questions are answered.
February 12, 2023
The Eulogy is a beautiful, affectionate and tragic portrait of an Australian family. This book touched me deeply and I felt drawn into Kathy’s life. The auto fiction format is enthralling, especially as a Chinese Australian born to migrants, the writing is peppered in detail that makes it feel so real, so specific and yet universal.
The Eulogy deals with difficult topics- these plot points you hope are fiction but feel so infused with pain and pathos, you strongly suspect they fall more into the autobio category - but ultimately feels hopeful. I look forward to reading more from Jackie Bailey.
The Eulogy deals with difficult topics- these plot points you hope are fiction but feel so infused with pain and pathos, you strongly suspect they fall more into the autobio category - but ultimately feels hopeful. I look forward to reading more from Jackie Bailey.
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