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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
A great summer read, as much of the story involves the unbelievable heat of the Australian outback. I went back and forth in my sympathy for the heroine of this autobiography and I wouldn't have made the same decisions she did, but the writing is wonderful.
Read this for my Victorian lit class. It was a really interesting read, and the main character was really easy to relate to-- although sometimes she just drove me crazy!
I really enjoyed My Brilliant Career. We've just had a camping trip to the Snowy Mountains and camped at Talbingo where Miles Franklin was born, which prompted me to read it. My Brilliant Career was amazingly fresh and contemporary and bubbled with energy and thwarted feminism and stubborn optimism, and the beginnings of a sad realisation that the world would not be a place where Sybilla would fit in. To think she wrote it when she was 16!
I'm keen to read a biography of Miles Franklin next. She really was a remarkable women.
I'm keen to read a biography of Miles Franklin next. She really was a remarkable women.
Sybilla has dreams. She wants a life in the arts, to travel the world, and to love without becoming someone’s wife. She encounters adventure, joy, and the tough lessons of living along her journey. It’s not just about what or why of what she wants, but *how* she says it and that when she says it, you know that she means it with every fiber of her being.
The Gillian Armstrong movie brought me to the book, and I’m happy to have them both as companions to this story most fundamentally about being a girl and wanting things. The story of this novel is interesting within itself - Miles Franklin wrote it when she was nary 16(?) and it’s largely autobiographical - and it so continues to remain relevant. The questions Franklin’s Sybilla asks herself, are ones that most girls and women ask themselves today. What to be? How to be? Who to be with? Judgement of others, wanting comfort, the imposition of practical concerns, brain fever, loneliness, feeling ugly, despairing. I think often of this girl in Lake Nabugabo, Uganda who I casually called beautiful- because she was and I was happy to tell her so - and her countenance transformed, like I had given her the sun by referring to her as such. It was powerful and heartbreaking. The things that matter when we’re young.
My Brilliant Career is one of those rare literary texts where the spirit of the character has been crafted such that she acquires life beyond it. It’s such a pleasure to know the complicated, indomitable Sybilla, and I’ll think about her when I attempt bravery and live uninhibitedly and make decisions of consequence.
The Gillian Armstrong movie brought me to the book, and I’m happy to have them both as companions to this story most fundamentally about being a girl and wanting things. The story of this novel is interesting within itself - Miles Franklin wrote it when she was nary 16(?) and it’s largely autobiographical - and it so continues to remain relevant. The questions Franklin’s Sybilla asks herself, are ones that most girls and women ask themselves today. What to be? How to be? Who to be with? Judgement of others, wanting comfort, the imposition of practical concerns, brain fever, loneliness, feeling ugly, despairing. I think often of this girl in Lake Nabugabo, Uganda who I casually called beautiful- because she was and I was happy to tell her so - and her countenance transformed, like I had given her the sun by referring to her as such. It was powerful and heartbreaking. The things that matter when we’re young.
My Brilliant Career is one of those rare literary texts where the spirit of the character has been crafted such that she acquires life beyond it. It’s such a pleasure to know the complicated, indomitable Sybilla, and I’ll think about her when I attempt bravery and live uninhibitedly and make decisions of consequence.
Now, this story was forced on me by my mother who learnt about Miles Franklin while we were in America and then found this book on our arrival in Australia at which point she had to buy it.
This is, in a way, an autobiography of the author told with different names for the characters so that it seems more of a story than her actual life. Miles Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career when she was 16 and longed to leave her family's dairy farm and to become a writer. She holds a deep resentment of all male feelings and has sworn herself off of marriage, that is until she meets a certain Harold Beecham.
Being a Romantic, I was so hoping for the story to end happily with a white wedding but the various twists and turns of Franklin's teenage years left me always changing my theory of the ending. That being said, I was rather disappointed when I came to the last few chapters because the plan that I had constructed for her was not even close to what actually took place.
The beginning is tough because the author has a rather arrogant tone of voice and her constant disagreement with the rest of the characters [especially Harold] left me extremely frustrated.
All in all, it was a decent tale if you only count the juicy parts in the middle. I wouldn't read it again and I probably wouldn't recommend it to just anyone.
This is, in a way, an autobiography of the author told with different names for the characters so that it seems more of a story than her actual life. Miles Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career when she was 16 and longed to leave her family's dairy farm and to become a writer. She holds a deep resentment of all male feelings and has sworn herself off of marriage, that is until she meets a certain Harold Beecham.
Being a Romantic, I was so hoping for the story to end happily with a white wedding but the various twists and turns of Franklin's teenage years left me always changing my theory of the ending. That being said, I was rather disappointed when I came to the last few chapters because the plan that I had constructed for her was not even close to what actually took place.
The beginning is tough because the author has a rather arrogant tone of voice and her constant disagreement with the rest of the characters [especially Harold] left me extremely frustrated.
All in all, it was a decent tale if you only count the juicy parts in the middle. I wouldn't read it again and I probably wouldn't recommend it to just anyone.
I was enamoured with the confidence of the heroine of this novel from the start. I lost some interest in the story through the middle, but I'm glad I finally read this classic. Great audio read by Megan E Rees
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
First read in high school many decades ago and also watched the movie.
I did enjoy re-reading it, except for passages containing the treatment of animals. Horses are whipped till they bleed and are overworked. Starving cows collapsed on the ground crying for food, being lifted up by wooden palings when too weak to stand on their own etc.. Animals are shown no respect or compassion.
*I found these brief passages distressing, and have therefore warned of minor animal abuse.*
I did enjoy re-reading it, except for passages containing the treatment of animals. Horses are whipped till they bleed and are overworked. Starving cows collapsed on the ground crying for food, being lifted up by wooden palings when too weak to stand on their own etc.. Animals are shown no respect or compassion.
*I found these brief passages distressing, and have therefore warned of minor animal abuse.*
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty
I read this for school when I had to compare two texts, and actually enjoyed it. I matched it with Looking for Alibrandi. I liked this book because it showed a woman not settling for a man - and in those days it was something to talk about. I enjoyed her wit and common sense.
emotional
slow-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes