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alisonb13's reviews
146 reviews
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
4.0
Read this ahead of teen studying it for VCE and can see why a good text for debate in Lit. Plenty of ideas around class, what makes up individual merit (class vs individual), female place and tyranny of employer versus tyranny if union. A page turning good read which is still thought provoking and current.
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
5.0
Such a fabulous joyous roller coaster of a book. Completely captivated by 12-yr-old Eli and his travails with sometime-mute and very deep older brother August. Goodies are bad and baddies are good and some baddies are really really bad but there is humour and optimism and wisdom and so very many glorious details and asides. At turns heartbreaking and hilarious. Couldn’t put it down. Absolutely recommend
Ulysses by James Joyce
4.0
Wow! Really what can you say. The huge concept of it all, the ordinariness of Bloom, compared to the classical stature of Odysseus. But his challenges and braveries writ small and felt large. The humour, the fabulous detail, at times beautifully written, at times almost wilfully incomprehensible. Worth the effort, but easier with a plan. Grab Blamires, promise yourself 5-10pgs a day and travel Dublin with Poldy:-)
A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers by Michael Holroyd
4.0
This book left me absolutely elated. I loved the way it wended its way from a Rodin bust of the mistress of an obscure aristocrat I had never heard of to the lonely death of his increasingly eccentric and unpleasant better known daughter Violet Trefusis. I am in awe of the details unearthed about the lives they lead, the letters they wrote, what people thought of them and the very many interesting people they met and the sometimes breathtaking way these lives intersected. Fascinating, and humane. It reads less like a scholarly study and more like a memoir of friends. Holroyd gives us a glimpse of these women who were at the edge of the spotlight and it is a warm and kind view but not it is a warts and all view. I was delighted to have met them, sad that they died, aghast at his comment it was his last book and inspired to hunt down at least some of Violet Trefusis's books and reread Virginia Woolf's Orlando. A gem!