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nina_reads_books's review
5.0
I'd never read any of Maxine Beneba Clarke's work until I received The Saturday Portraits in a blind book swap at Christmas.
In 2014, editor Erik Jensen approches Clarke who has been writing short fiction and poetry to write for a new national newspaper called The Saturday Paper. He asks her to write what he calls creative portraits. In these portraits she brings a diverse range of characters to life over the course of a few years. From then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Hugh Jackman and Roxane Gay through to a love letter to Prince and stalking Santas, The Saturday Portraits compiles her series of creative portraits together in one impactful whole.
Each portrait is a masterpiece which in just a few pages highlights a particular moment in each subjects life woven through with Maxine's own life experiences as she interviews them. I really can't explain how incredible her writing is. She doesn't interview her subjects in a traditional sense but you leave each portrait with a sense of having learnt something personal about both the subject and the author.
There is also something quite wonderful about reading the entire series of portraits in one book topped and tailed with an insightful prologue and epilogue. The sum of the whole in this case seems even more amazing than its parts.
I loved this work and was sad to come to the end. Maxine Beneba Clarke is so very talented and I'd highly recommend this book.
In 2014, editor Erik Jensen approches Clarke who has been writing short fiction and poetry to write for a new national newspaper called The Saturday Paper. He asks her to write what he calls creative portraits. In these portraits she brings a diverse range of characters to life over the course of a few years. From then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Hugh Jackman and Roxane Gay through to a love letter to Prince and stalking Santas, The Saturday Portraits compiles her series of creative portraits together in one impactful whole.
Each portrait is a masterpiece which in just a few pages highlights a particular moment in each subjects life woven through with Maxine's own life experiences as she interviews them. I really can't explain how incredible her writing is. She doesn't interview her subjects in a traditional sense but you leave each portrait with a sense of having learnt something personal about both the subject and the author.
There is also something quite wonderful about reading the entire series of portraits in one book topped and tailed with an insightful prologue and epilogue. The sum of the whole in this case seems even more amazing than its parts.
I loved this work and was sad to come to the end. Maxine Beneba Clarke is so very talented and I'd highly recommend this book.
jaclyn_sixminutesforme's review
5.0
I love what Maxine Beneba Clarke is doing with form in these “portraits”—they show such attention to detail in the act of observation and interviewing. They’re as much about this process as they are about the subject they are written about. It’s the intricacies and anecdotal details that made this such a terrific read, that and the insightful author notes that bookend the collection. The context of their publication, responses during edits and the critical reception pieces received. They’re also just fascinating windows into the lives of really interesting people, whether they be beloved writers or detested politicians. The subjects had varying degrees of agency in the process which in itself made for a really engaging read.
earlgreybooks's review
4.0
Anything MBC touches immediately gets a shot at my top book for the year, and this is no exception. If you want something filled with honesty and humour then you really don't need to look anywhere else but here. My favourites in here were Santa, Roxane Gay and Melissa Lucashenko. I've definitely got a few more people to learn more about now!
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