From the Bookshelf of Aussie Readers…

Five Bells

Gail Jones

Why we're reading this: On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the…more
[close] On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with the locals, enjoying the glorious surroundings and the play of light on water.

But each of the four carries a complicated history from elsewhere; each is haunted by past intimacies, secrets and guilt: Ellie is preoccupied by her sexual experiences as a girl, James by a tragedy for which he feels responsible, Catherine by the loss of her beloved brother in Dublin and Pei Xing by her imprisonment during China's Cultural Revolution.

Told over the course of a single Saturday, Five Bells describes four lives which chime and resonate, sharing mysterious patterns and symbols. But it is a fifth person, a child, whose presence at the Quay haunts the day and who will overshadow everything that unfolds. By night-time, when Sydney is drenched in a rainstorm, each life has been transformed.

Five Bells is a novel of singular beauty and power by one of Australia's most gifted novelists

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What Members Thought

Jun 02, 2011 Jodie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, 2011

A very literary read with astonishing prose. The book is so poetic and there is not a single turn of phrase or paragraph that is wasted. It is a relatively short read, but it feels much longer, and I mean that positively. It is fantastic that a writer can make us feel and understand her characters in such a short book. I found myself re-reading a lot of the paragraphs, I had to, to absorb the beauty of the words. On page 12 there is this description from Pei Xing one of the four characters in th A very literary read with astonishing prose. The book is so poetic and there is not a single turn of phrase or paragraph that is wasted. It is a relatively short read, but it feels much longer, and I mean that positively. It is fantastic that a writer can make us feel and understand her characters in such a short book. I found myself re-reading a lot of the paragraphs, I had to, to absorb the beauty of the words. On page 12 there is this description from Pei Xing one of the four characters in the book, where she describes seeing the Opera House from the harbour:

There it was, jade-white, lifting above the water. She never tired of seeing this form. It was a fixture she relied on. The shapes rested, like porcelain bowls, stacked one upon the other, fragile, tipped, in an unexpected harmony.

To me that is just the perfect evocative description of that landmark. And there are a plethora more throughout the book. The book takes place over one perfectly luminous Sydney day at Circular Quay. Four people travel in and around the Quay, unbeknownst to each other, their stories are intersecting. It is brilliant the way Ms Jones connects them. Sometimes it is because they are talking about the same book, or have passed the same train station, or have caught the same ferry. Utterly brilliant. And the light, I just loved the way the light is described. Catherine is our Irish girl in this story, as she steps out into the day she is astonished at the light and exclaims "how do Australians cope with all this light". It is true, I have travelled, when I was in Europe in their summer, I longed to see our magnificent sky again. There is just something about it, it is so vast and hopeful, not closed and low like the Northern Hemisphere, and Ms Jones totally nailed that portrayal in this book.

James is the character who suffers the most in this book, a few sad losses have tarnished him and he is basically barely holding on, living a kind of self fulfilling prophecy of one of his favourite paintings. Another favourite part of the book is from James where he has attended a funeral in his small home town:

At the funeral there were flowers, and suddenly it made sense, why this might be so. In this town with no florist, this tiny town on the edge of nowhere, somehow roses and lilies had turned up, somehow there were elaborate wreaths and cellophane-wrapped bunches, and he had no idea how or from whence they had arrived. Yet it made sense. Something offered so that everything did not have to rest inside words. Something with no purpose other than to declare that the beautiful exists and will not last.

I could go on about all the characters and their portrayal, but there is so much to discover in this book. It is sad and touching and agonising, and the ending leaves us with hope and mystery, which for me is perfect. I just loved it.

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Jul 27, 2011 Brenda rated it it was ok

This is my first read of a Gail Jones novel, and while the setting was well known, the story seemed all over the place to me.

For each of the four participants of this story, Catherine, James, Ellie and Pei Xing, their lives both in the past, and in the ‘here-now’ were told over the period of one Saturday on a summer day in Sydney. The four of them were each travelling, separately, but by train, to Circular Quay. Ellie to meet James, as they had known each other as children, but hadn’t seen each ...more

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Mar 07, 2011 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-are

Gail Jones begins Five Bells with an evocative depiction of a sunny day in Sydney's Circular Quay. I felt as if I stood in amongst the ebb and flow of the crowd, feeling the sun on my face, scenting the salt air, hearing the chug of the ferry and the squeal of a slowing train. From the corner of my eye I can almost see Ellie gazing at the water, Pei Qing exchanging a few dollars for an ice-cream, James frowning absently at the crowds, Catherine shading her eyes against the sun to watch the climb Gail Jones begins Five Bells with an evocative depiction of a sunny day in Sydney's Circular Quay. I felt as if I stood in amongst the ebb and flow of the crowd, feeling the sun on my face, scenting the salt air, hearing the chug of the ferry and the squeal of a slowing train. From the corner of my eye I can almost see Ellie gazing at the water, Pei Qing exchanging a few dollars for an ice-cream, James frowning absently at the crowds, Catherine shading her eyes against the sun to watch the climbers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the delighted giggle of a little girl with pink clips in her hair.

From the first pages the language of this novel is powerfully lyrical. Jones introduces her characters by describing their reactions to the iconic landmark of the Sydney Opera House. For Ellie the building is an ode to joy, to James it's white curves resemble predatory teeth, like those a shark. Pei Xing admires the harmony of form while Catherine compares it to the drooping petals of a white rose. It is these evocative descriptions that give us insight into the characters state of mind. Five Bells reveals the lives of these four very different people who are passing through Circular Quay on a sunny, summer day and we follow them until night falls. Ellie and James, once teenage lovers are meeting for the first time in years and separately reminisce about their past together and their lives since. Pei Xing recalls her life under the communist regime in China as she travels to visit her torturer, while Catherine mourns her brother, tragically killed in a car accident. I found the pasts of these characters fascinating, particularly Pei Xing's story, but their present is largely unremarkable.
Little actually happens in this novel but it is almost impossible not to be caught up in the secrets of these characters lives. The lack of plot and momentum can be off putting, though as Five Bells is just over 200 pages it's done before you realise it's not really going anywhere. This is not a novel you read for a compelling tale but to admire a beautiful turn of phrase and the occasional stunning insight.

Had Five Bells a more commercial story structure along with the gorgeous prose I wouldn't hesitate in recommending it but I think its rather pretentious literary bent limits its appeal. It is a worthy read but perhaps not an entertaining one.

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Oct 08, 2011 Kate Forsyth rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary

A dense, poetic, beautifully written novel set during one day in Sydney, Australia, Five Bells is one of those novels that is read more for its lyrical language than for a compelling story. Not much really happens at all, other than the thoughts and feelings of four adults – three women and a man – whose paths cross, or fail to cross, at Circular Quay, under the arches of the Sydney Opera House. However, the inner life of those four adults is so well-imagined that the novel has its own compulsio ...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Katherine rated it liked it · review of another edition

The language and imagery at the beginning of this book made me feel as though I were back in Sydney, right at Circular Quay. Four interesting and different people, Ellie, James, Catherine and Pei Xing, are at the Quay on the same day and we see the world through their different viewpoints. The structure of the novel with the characters' stories being told in retrospect is unusual and does not allow for the immediacy of a normal presentation, but it adds an interesting twist. The denouement is st ...more

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Feb 17, 2011 Magdalena added it

“But I hear nothing, nothing...only bells,
Five bells, the bumpkin calculus of Time.”

Like the epic poem from which it takes its title, Gail Jones’ Five Bells is a story about a series of inner illuminations or moments. From the start of the book and right through it, the reader is thrust into the very heart of four characters in a single location – Circular Quay in Sydney. At the centre of each of the lives we move in and out of, is the Sydney Opera House. It’s sails form, to use Jones’ own word ...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Anne_MB rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-fiction, 2012

Four people each travel to and from Circular Quay on a glorious summer day, each reminiscing about secrets in their pasts. I loved the descriptions of Sydney and the way the setting intertwines with the characters' thoughts. Having only ever spent one week there I could immediately picture where each character was, even down to that glorious French patisserie in The Rocks. A short book I didn't want to end and will be re-reading soon. ...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Cathy rated it liked it

Shelves: australian

At the start of this book I found the language a bit pretentious and the style quite self-conscious, however I warmed up to it and ended up liking it. I liked how the characters lives intersected in a single day. It gave a good feel of the Sydney Quay/Opera House precinct.

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