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tildahlia's review
5.0
The more you read and the older you get, the harder it is to stumble across writing that feels genuinely unique. Enter Maria Tumarkin, who examines grief, abuse, suicide and trauma in an unflinching and completely authentic way. It’s been years since I’ve felt the need to transcribe quotes out of a book, but I spent at least half an hour doing it for Axiomatic. She wades through the layers of self-delusion and oversimplification we collectively indulge in when considering social harm, abuse and poverty and points out what many of us know but don’t care to admit: that many people don’t recover from trauma or have a happy ending, and they are at the mercy of a callous and indifferent society that fails to acknowledge and recognise their suffering. Sound bleak? You bet it is, but the truth bombs are so on-point, you’ll keep turning the pages.
hrtaylor95's review against another edition
4.0
There is rarely a book where the writing affects me in the way that Tumarkin's does. The prose is poetic, ethereal, and engaging. Despite the way it made me ache, I couldn't put it down.
Axiomatic seamlessly interweaves different traumas, personal and cultural, across chapters. From suicide waves to the dissolution and conflict of a long relationship, the book shows that hardships do not exist in a vacuum. We are all connected, both in joy and pain.
I don't know that I have anything powerful to say on it other than to read it. It will be hard, but worth it.
Axiomatic seamlessly interweaves different traumas, personal and cultural, across chapters. From suicide waves to the dissolution and conflict of a long relationship, the book shows that hardships do not exist in a vacuum. We are all connected, both in joy and pain.
I don't know that I have anything powerful to say on it other than to read it. It will be hard, but worth it.
sloatsj's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting, moving and worthwhile book, mostly about trauma. I particularly liked the first section about suicide among young people, which was moving and illuminating; and the second section about the grandmother--a holocaust survivor--who kidnaps her grandson and hides him in a walled off part of the house. The other three sections were also good, but had less coherence. Sometimes I'd forget what the focus of the section was and have to go back a few pages and regain the thread. This could be my attention span.
Tumarkin is a good writer and erudite (in a good way). I wasn't familiar with her before reading this, yet in her writing I had the feeling she presumed the reader was familiar with her, perhaps because her books are well known in Australia. I don't know!
Tumarkin is a good writer and erudite (in a good way). I wasn't familiar with her before reading this, yet in her writing I had the feeling she presumed the reader was familiar with her, perhaps because her books are well known in Australia. I don't know!
tevreads's review
5.0
Shortlisted for the Stella Prize 2019, and winner of the Melbourne Prize for Literature 2018, Axiomatic is essentially a collection of writings about trauma, directly affecting, or relating to the author's life.
I had mixed feelings about this book at the start. The first segment is so shocking and visceral that I didnt think I would enjoy it at all. I thought the book would be a conflated look at trauma that substituted depth and analysis for an emotional barrage of events in Australian history. Instead, it seemed like the first segment was a critical and nuanced exposition of the author's own psyche, her personal experiences influencing her valuations of such events.
Then I became engrossed in Tumarkin's writing, the juxtaposition between her own sense of self with those she met, and the stories she immersed herself in. This book made me think deeply about the injustices of the justice system, how we view mental health, and how we respond to trauma that affects us personally, or instances of such through history.
Overall, a compelling read that has made me reassess my views on a number of things, and like all great reads, will continue to do so over time.
I had mixed feelings about this book at the start. The first segment is so shocking and visceral that I didnt think I would enjoy it at all. I thought the book would be a conflated look at trauma that substituted depth and analysis for an emotional barrage of events in Australian history. Instead, it seemed like the first segment was a critical and nuanced exposition of the author's own psyche, her personal experiences influencing her valuations of such events.
Then I became engrossed in Tumarkin's writing, the juxtaposition between her own sense of self with those she met, and the stories she immersed herself in. This book made me think deeply about the injustices of the justice system, how we view mental health, and how we respond to trauma that affects us personally, or instances of such through history.
Overall, a compelling read that has made me reassess my views on a number of things, and like all great reads, will continue to do so over time.
nick_jenkins's review
4.0
Tumarkin writes about the heaviest of subjects with a sense of deep moral obligation, a gravity that cuts through cliché--that is, in fact the point of the title: the axioms she refers to are truisms about grief and growing up and the passing of time. But there is also a vitality and a relentlessness about the essays that makes reading them feel at once effortlessly immersive but never monotonous, more like being just offshore as a strong tide comes in, rolling over you with varying swells and nudges.
But the book is more than just a performance of language: Tumarkin's style gets so much attention from critics that her ideas are left in shadow. I am still processing the scope and meaning of her arguments and observations, and I imagine I will be for some time.
But the book is more than just a performance of language: Tumarkin's style gets so much attention from critics that her ideas are left in shadow. I am still processing the scope and meaning of her arguments and observations, and I imagine I will be for some time.
astridandlouise's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
jrl6809's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Axiomatic is beautifully written and handles a very dark and diffult topic with sensitivity and grace while nver losing the heaviness of it. All of the narratives are very powerful in how they shows the absolutely giant effect that a trauma can have not only on individuals but also on an entire communties, and how grief can manifest for different people.
I like the flow of Tumarkin's writing. The narratives jump seamlessly from person to person, story to story. It never gets confusing and lends itself to illustrating the universality of the grief experience.
I like the flow of Tumarkin's writing. The narratives jump seamlessly from person to person, story to story. It never gets confusing and lends itself to illustrating the universality of the grief experience.