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Brave!
That’s what I would call Charlotte Wood, having just finished reading her Stella Award novel, ‘The Natural Way of Things’. The first thought that fixes in my mind is “unnatural”, and this novel is disturbing, to say the least. I have had friends say they couldn’t finish reading it because they found it so disturbing. But even though I was struck by its raw brutality, I persisted. And I have to say, that in the end, I am glad I did.
When all is said and done, who wants to read “vanilla” stor ...more
That’s what I would call Charlotte Wood, having just finished reading her Stella Award novel, ‘The Natural Way of Things’. The first thought that fixes in my mind is “unnatural”, and this novel is disturbing, to say the least. I have had friends say they couldn’t finish reading it because they found it so disturbing. But even though I was struck by its raw brutality, I persisted. And I have to say, that in the end, I am glad I did.
When all is said and done, who wants to read “vanilla” stor ...more
As always, Charlotte Wood's writing is superb, and as always after finishing each of her novels I am eagerly waiting for her next book.
Powerful and thought-provoking, maybe dystopian but so close to current society it is frightening. A tale of survival, but only of individual survival, with no hope of change in the culture that this story is a part of.
Page 176, a short chapter referencing the title of the book, is worth reading over and over again.
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Powerful and thought-provoking, maybe dystopian but so close to current society it is frightening. A tale of survival, but only of individual survival, with no hope of change in the culture that this story is a part of.
Page 176, a short chapter referencing the title of the book, is worth reading over and over again.
...more
Charlotte Wood’s latest novel is receiving rave reviews from every corner and I’m afraid I have to be deathly boring and add my voice to the applause. This is a tour de force. A blinding indictment of misogyny, the ways women are punished for breaking the rules – of sexuality, of decorum, of asserting their humanity.
Full review here: http://leatherboundpounds.com/2015/10... ...more
Full review here: http://leatherboundpounds.com/2015/10... ...more
Harrowing, powerful, amazingly written... I don't know what to say about this book. There are inevitable comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale and Bitch Planet, but this book is set in a contemporary Australia just barely different from our own.
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My favourite book of the year by some margin, thought provoking and anger inducing, slightly dystopic yet all too believable. Beautifully written too. I need to re-read it to pick over details and really do any sort of justice to trying to review it. I thought the ending prefect, but I like being questioned and left questioning.
This was like reading a Patrick White novel with the starkness of the Australian outback depicted so poetically, watching/reading orange is the new black with it's depiction of female relationships in confinement and viewing misogynist troll comments on Clementine Ford's Facebook page all at the same time. Brilliantly written but a horrifying read so 4 stars only.
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Sep 21, 2015
Belinda
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John
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