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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
UGH.
I don't think I've ever wanted to throw a book into a fire as much as I did this one. The amount of times the words 'ugly' and 'fairer sex' were mentioned made me want to die. This was a huge NOPE for me.
I don't think I've ever wanted to throw a book into a fire as much as I did this one. The amount of times the words 'ugly' and 'fairer sex' were mentioned made me want to die. This was a huge NOPE for me.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think part of the reason why I love this book is due to the story behind the author and how this book related to her everyday life and her revolutionary thinking for a woman of her time. Such a shame that the question mark that she intended to be within the title no longer appears. Really worth a read if you enjoy historical fiction.
I enjoyed reading this story - it is rather Jane Austen. I can appreciate what a stir it must have caused when first published. The story is about a girl who is brought up in poverty but yearns for art and culture. She is sent to live with her grandmother in relative wealth for a period, when she dreams to be a writer. She returns to poverty but will not marry to escape it.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In libraries, it is generally quite easy to find British and American classics that prove delightful to read and live up to classic standard without holding that stereotypical classical boredom. However, I have never read an Australian classic and, therefore, I had high standards for My Brilliant Career.
The protagonist of My Brilliant Career takes the form of an independent, headstrong young woman called Syballa who refuses to marry a rich man of her age. She therefore is forced to become a governess by her indebted father.
The plot could be considered as similar to Syballa- brilliant at times but often infuriating. There were several parts where one wondered, ‘Why would you do that?’ Otherwise, it flowed quite like a Jane Austen novel- romantic and light.
Franklin wrote the book when she was around twenty although no one would know from reading the book as it is written extremely maturely. Quotations like ‘Christmas, only distinguished from the fifty-two slow Sundays of the year by plum-pudding, roast turkey, and a few bottles of home-made beer,’ and ‘If the souls of lives were voiced in music, there are some that none but a great organ could express, others the clash of a full orchestra, a few to which nought but the refined and exquisite sadness of a violin could do justice. Many might be likened unto common pianos, jangling and out of tune, and some to the feeble piping of a penny whistle, and mine could be told with a couple of nails in a rusty tin-pot.’
Syballa’s airs may be annoying but Franklin’s writing style most definitely isn’t. This is a true Australian beauty of the bush.
The protagonist of My Brilliant Career takes the form of an independent, headstrong young woman called Syballa who refuses to marry a rich man of her age. She therefore is forced to become a governess by her indebted father.
The plot could be considered as similar to Syballa- brilliant at times but often infuriating. There were several parts where one wondered, ‘Why would you do that?’ Otherwise, it flowed quite like a Jane Austen novel- romantic and light.
Franklin wrote the book when she was around twenty although no one would know from reading the book as it is written extremely maturely. Quotations like ‘Christmas, only distinguished from the fifty-two slow Sundays of the year by plum-pudding, roast turkey, and a few bottles of home-made beer,’ and ‘If the souls of lives were voiced in music, there are some that none but a great organ could express, others the clash of a full orchestra, a few to which nought but the refined and exquisite sadness of a violin could do justice. Many might be likened unto common pianos, jangling and out of tune, and some to the feeble piping of a penny whistle, and mine could be told with a couple of nails in a rusty tin-pot.’
Syballa’s airs may be annoying but Franklin’s writing style most definitely isn’t. This is a true Australian beauty of the bush.
I liked it. I've always avoided this book being under the misunderstanding that it was a dry and dusty tome. (ie boring!) I'm glad I gave it a go, as it is certainly not boring. Sybylla is an odd girl, kind of like Anne of Green Gables with a fervent feminist streak. It's nice to see a romance written by a young girl that doesn't have a cloying, happy ending, and I admire her resolve to do the "right" thing by Harold in the end, even though that may not be what he thinks he wants. I'm quite certain I could never have been that committed to an ideal given similar lack of opportunities, but perhaps if I'd had to grow up in the stultifying world of colonial Australia things would be very different. The book is definitely a bit childish and melodramatic, but I think it shows nicely the way that feminism and female suffrage were viewed at the time of Federation, from the point of view of someone who lived through it.
I was reminded of Louisa Mae Alcott while reading this book. The two authors, neither of whom ever married, are best known for one semi-autobiographical novel which eclipsed their other efforts. Both women were also early feminists and wrote some of their work under male pseudonyms. Also, in both My Brilliant Career as in Little Women, there is a romantic element that will probably frustrate many readers since it defies conventional expectations. It did frustrate me!
It’s hard to say, since I knew going in that Franklin wrote this book as a very young woman, but I think it is evident it was written by a young adult. There is quite a lot of teenage angst, mood swings and emotive language. The story is of Sybylla who at age 16 is sent from her father’s unsuccessful dairy farm to her maternal grandmother’s home. Her life with her family in Possums Gully is a grind where the children work long hours only to see their father drink away any profits the farm makes. On the other hand, at her grandmother’s, where her mother grew up, life is fairly cultured and lively which Sybylla soaks up like a sponge, so starved was she for books and music and company.
Sybylla is a great heroine, even though the reader will want to shake her more than once. She is, however, in her wish to live a life beholden to no man but completely on her own terms, a very modern heroine and one to be admired. Also, the book is very much worth reading for Franklin’s loving descriptions of the Australian landscape.
I wish I could have read an annotated version so I could have more easily accessed the Australian English in the book like jackaroo, cockie or bobberie.
It’s hard to say, since I knew going in that Franklin wrote this book as a very young woman, but I think it is evident it was written by a young adult. There is quite a lot of teenage angst, mood swings and emotive language. The story is of Sybylla who at age 16 is sent from her father’s unsuccessful dairy farm to her maternal grandmother’s home. Her life with her family in Possums Gully is a grind where the children work long hours only to see their father drink away any profits the farm makes. On the other hand, at her grandmother’s, where her mother grew up, life is fairly cultured and lively which Sybylla soaks up like a sponge, so starved was she for books and music and company.
Sybylla is a great heroine, even though the reader will want to shake her more than once. She is, however, in her wish to live a life beholden to no man but completely on her own terms, a very modern heroine and one to be admired. Also, the book is very much worth reading for Franklin’s loving descriptions of the Australian landscape.
I wish I could have read an annotated version so I could have more easily accessed the Australian English in the book like jackaroo, cockie or bobberie.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced