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highlyeccentricCurrently Reading: Working through HP7 in audiobook; slowly progressing through Alexis Wright's 'Carpentaria' (good, but Slow Literature) and picking up 'The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window And Disappeared' for some variety.
Recently Finished: Most recent, a bio of Barbara Baynton; a Dawn French novel; and a detective story with a protag who has dementia.
Reviews, mostly from early Jan:
Earthly Delights by Kerry Greenwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a very *fun* book. It features Corinna, a fat divorced gourmet baker who finds a junkie close to dead on her doorstep one morning and from there becomes involved in a quest to figure out who exactly is feeding almost-pure heroin to the vulnerable of Melbourne. Meanwhile, someone is leaving death threats about HARLOTS to al the women in Corinna's building.Along the way she semi-adopts a recovering junkie, discovers the bdsm scene, and shags an attractive and mysterious soup kitchen security guard.
What bugged me here was Daniel, a widower and ex-Israeli army turned detective. His characterisation, and the impact of his service time on his character, was not fully explored - it only comes up to, I think, make him more attractive? And it seems to work for Corinna, but in a completely uncritica way totally at odds with her thinking on everything else. He speaks of having shot down a young boy and compares 'such evil' to her, 'now such good', and Corinna just... preens. Congrats you're less evil than palestinian insurgent? What? It's just *not explored* and Corinna has no qualms or even real interest in the dubious ethics and mental gymnastics any serviceman has to engage in regardless of allegiance.
It bugged me all the more because the book was peppered with leftie bait - in-jokes about John Howard and the victorian government and whatnot. We're supposed to believe that Corinna has *no thoughts whatsoever* about the fact her new squeeze admits to having shot down young boys (a terrorist, he says, but Corinna has *no thoughts whatsoever* about the circumstances that lead to young terrorists, etc etc). I think I would have rathered Corinna articulate an explicitly pro-Israeli logic than just... not think about it at all. Urk.
I don't know what's behind that - sloppy writing? An assumption that obvs the audience all uncritically hate terrorists? An author who doesn't actually know much about any military ever and hasn't thought through characterisation? IDEK. But it bugged me. All the more so because I *am* a military kid myself - I'd be cautious and interested both if getting up close and personal with any service or ex-service person except *maayyyybe* the swiss (no, even then i'd be INTERESTED, and want to know how national service had shaped them etc because it might not be in a way i could be comfortable with).
But, well, the timing. The book was published in 2007, which if i recall correctly was *not* a year when the news were super full of Israel-Palestine, and the social media effect was not yet in full swing. But now? It's like the thing where I get uncomfortable every time they arrest a black guy in Brooklyn Nine Nine who protests innocence: in 2014-15 I can't just take that for granted. Likewise I cannot take for granted that Mr Fictional Ex-Army Isreali Hero has only defended himself and his country against Evil Terrorists. That's... not how armies work and it's sure as shit not how Palestine works.
Now, the other thing that was a bit off-kilter was the handling of sub-dom relationships. It's not *bad* per se - the six-foot Mistress who runs the leather store was a brilliant character, and Corinna & Daniel's foray into the clubbing scene was well played out and non-judgemental. But Mr Pembernathy, the happy male sub who turned out to be bitterly resentful and murderous? There was nothing *specifically* offensive about the portrayal (I know there are misogynist male subs, that is a thing, it can be in stories too) but I wish the distinction between his kink-orientation and his misogyny had been further teased out.
I was for the first half of the book a bit... errhh about the fact that several characters kept asking if Mistress Dread 'is a man'. I couldn't see it going anywhere and wasn't sure what the point was other than marking Mistress Dread out as weird in all the ways. But it *did* turn out to be plot relevant and I was pleased to note that after the question had been answered as to Mistress Dread's legal name and assigned gender, nothing was said *to* her, no hassles given, and Corinna's internal monologue never popped up reminders that she 'had been a man'. It was like 'question answered, fact being used by bastards, let's fix this shit'.
Mateship With Birds by Carrie Tiffany
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was a very bad book. It gets two stars for sparks of literary flair in places, but overall: blergh.
This is a book about masturbation and dairy farming. The birds are actually a pretty minor role, and the poems about the birds get dreadfully boring.
I have nothing against writing about masturbation or dairy farming. By and large I thought the cow-related passages in this book were pretty tight. The sex ones, though? UGH. This author is way too carried away by the fact that she's writing A Book About Sex. The sex and sexual reflection passages drag on, frequently without adding to character or plot. It's like everything pauses while we hear about some long-ago sex scene, or Harry's opinions on pubic hair, or whatever.
The book raises some difficult notions about consent and power: for instance, Harry is oblivious to the weird pressure he's putting on his teenage neighbour by providing long reminiscent 'sex ed'. That's creepy! We can tell the lad is creeped out! But the book *does nothing* with that - the boy fades into the distance, after a brief scene where he's a dick to his girlfriend and then bangs her. That's not a resolution! It's not even character development. The boy's mother is, rightly, angry at Harry; then abruptly changes tack when she needs Harry's help getting rid of a dead owl. I think there might have been supposed to be something there about needing a Man Around The House, but it's not *explored*. And the book ends with a real-time sex scene, far less explicit than the reminiscences, which is mostly physical description and *doesn't answer any of the character questions*. It's infuriating.
This is a crappy book. I am sorry, for the sake of the national literary dignity, that it won the inaugrual Stella Prize. I would like to sentence the author to a year's hard labour in the erotica mines, in the hope she learns how to write sex like any other character development opportunity.
Heavenly Pleasures by Kerry Greenwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was also pretty fun! The circle of characters widened compared to 'Earthly Pleasures', and it was nice to see Jason (Corinna's teenage sidekick) developing in character and skills. I *really* liked the badass older lady character and her eventual Big Reveal. Rawww. Do not mess with scary old ladies.
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked this book, I liked it a lot. It was odd coming to it *after* watching the show - the set-up is quite different. (And Dorothy's surname is given as Bryant, although by googling I see that's an error Greenwood wants retconned - i *thought* her name was Wiliams in the later book I read.)
One delightful discovery that had been ommitted from the show was special police constable Joan whasthername. I'd forgotten that there were special female police in the period. She's a bit-part but quite well characterised. Ten points.
Recently Finished: Most recent, a bio of Barbara Baynton; a Dawn French novel; and a detective story with a protag who has dementia.
Reviews, mostly from early Jan:
Earthly Delights by Kerry GreenwoodMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a very *fun* book. It features Corinna, a fat divorced gourmet baker who finds a junkie close to dead on her doorstep one morning and from there becomes involved in a quest to figure out who exactly is feeding almost-pure heroin to the vulnerable of Melbourne. Meanwhile, someone is leaving death threats about HARLOTS to al the women in Corinna's building.Along the way she semi-adopts a recovering junkie, discovers the bdsm scene, and shags an attractive and mysterious soup kitchen security guard.
What bugged me here was Daniel, a widower and ex-Israeli army turned detective. His characterisation, and the impact of his service time on his character, was not fully explored - it only comes up to, I think, make him more attractive? And it seems to work for Corinna, but in a completely uncritica way totally at odds with her thinking on everything else. He speaks of having shot down a young boy and compares 'such evil' to her, 'now such good', and Corinna just... preens. Congrats you're less evil than palestinian insurgent? What? It's just *not explored* and Corinna has no qualms or even real interest in the dubious ethics and mental gymnastics any serviceman has to engage in regardless of allegiance.
It bugged me all the more because the book was peppered with leftie bait - in-jokes about John Howard and the victorian government and whatnot. We're supposed to believe that Corinna has *no thoughts whatsoever* about the fact her new squeeze admits to having shot down young boys (a terrorist, he says, but Corinna has *no thoughts whatsoever* about the circumstances that lead to young terrorists, etc etc). I think I would have rathered Corinna articulate an explicitly pro-Israeli logic than just... not think about it at all. Urk.
I don't know what's behind that - sloppy writing? An assumption that obvs the audience all uncritically hate terrorists? An author who doesn't actually know much about any military ever and hasn't thought through characterisation? IDEK. But it bugged me. All the more so because I *am* a military kid myself - I'd be cautious and interested both if getting up close and personal with any service or ex-service person except *maayyyybe* the swiss (no, even then i'd be INTERESTED, and want to know how national service had shaped them etc because it might not be in a way i could be comfortable with).
But, well, the timing. The book was published in 2007, which if i recall correctly was *not* a year when the news were super full of Israel-Palestine, and the social media effect was not yet in full swing. But now? It's like the thing where I get uncomfortable every time they arrest a black guy in Brooklyn Nine Nine who protests innocence: in 2014-15 I can't just take that for granted. Likewise I cannot take for granted that Mr Fictional Ex-Army Isreali Hero has only defended himself and his country against Evil Terrorists. That's... not how armies work and it's sure as shit not how Palestine works.
Now, the other thing that was a bit off-kilter was the handling of sub-dom relationships. It's not *bad* per se - the six-foot Mistress who runs the leather store was a brilliant character, and Corinna & Daniel's foray into the clubbing scene was well played out and non-judgemental. But Mr Pembernathy, the happy male sub who turned out to be bitterly resentful and murderous? There was nothing *specifically* offensive about the portrayal (I know there are misogynist male subs, that is a thing, it can be in stories too) but I wish the distinction between his kink-orientation and his misogyny had been further teased out.
I was for the first half of the book a bit... errhh about the fact that several characters kept asking if Mistress Dread 'is a man'. I couldn't see it going anywhere and wasn't sure what the point was other than marking Mistress Dread out as weird in all the ways. But it *did* turn out to be plot relevant and I was pleased to note that after the question had been answered as to Mistress Dread's legal name and assigned gender, nothing was said *to* her, no hassles given, and Corinna's internal monologue never popped up reminders that she 'had been a man'. It was like 'question answered, fact being used by bastards, let's fix this shit'.
Mateship With Birds by Carrie TiffanyMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
This was a very bad book. It gets two stars for sparks of literary flair in places, but overall: blergh.
This is a book about masturbation and dairy farming. The birds are actually a pretty minor role, and the poems about the birds get dreadfully boring.
I have nothing against writing about masturbation or dairy farming. By and large I thought the cow-related passages in this book were pretty tight. The sex ones, though? UGH. This author is way too carried away by the fact that she's writing A Book About Sex. The sex and sexual reflection passages drag on, frequently without adding to character or plot. It's like everything pauses while we hear about some long-ago sex scene, or Harry's opinions on pubic hair, or whatever.
The book raises some difficult notions about consent and power: for instance, Harry is oblivious to the weird pressure he's putting on his teenage neighbour by providing long reminiscent 'sex ed'. That's creepy! We can tell the lad is creeped out! But the book *does nothing* with that - the boy fades into the distance, after a brief scene where he's a dick to his girlfriend and then bangs her. That's not a resolution! It's not even character development. The boy's mother is, rightly, angry at Harry; then abruptly changes tack when she needs Harry's help getting rid of a dead owl. I think there might have been supposed to be something there about needing a Man Around The House, but it's not *explored*. And the book ends with a real-time sex scene, far less explicit than the reminiscences, which is mostly physical description and *doesn't answer any of the character questions*. It's infuriating.
This is a crappy book. I am sorry, for the sake of the national literary dignity, that it won the inaugrual Stella Prize. I would like to sentence the author to a year's hard labour in the erotica mines, in the hope she learns how to write sex like any other character development opportunity.
Heavenly Pleasures by Kerry GreenwoodMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was also pretty fun! The circle of characters widened compared to 'Earthly Pleasures', and it was nice to see Jason (Corinna's teenage sidekick) developing in character and skills. I *really* liked the badass older lady character and her eventual Big Reveal. Rawww. Do not mess with scary old ladies.
Cocaine Blues by Kerry GreenwoodMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked this book, I liked it a lot. It was odd coming to it *after* watching the show - the set-up is quite different. (And Dorothy's surname is given as Bryant, although by googling I see that's an error Greenwood wants retconned - i *thought* her name was Wiliams in the later book I read.)
One delightful discovery that had been ommitted from the show was special police constable Joan whasthername. I'd forgotten that there were special female police in the period. She's a bit-part but quite well characterised. Ten points.