 An Irish poet's legacy is generational trauma for daughter and granddaughter alike.
Nell is a twenty-something freelance writer, knocking out dodgy travel pieces for online publications. She's in a sort-of relationship with Felim, a strapping lad of farming stock. Things are less than ideal, as Felim is borderline abusive. The sex is often rough and unsatisfying, but Nell is a bit of a masochist, prone to self-harm, and employs a wry sense of humour to try and rationalise her experiences. She has moved away from home, and her mother Carmel, to try and begin living an independent life, and hopefully forge a more independent identity. The two women, mother and daughter, have a complicated relationship, full of love, but also frustration and exasperation. Carmel is a no-nonsense woman, with a realistic yet also ironic outlook. She raised Nell without a father, conceiving her daughter randomly, seeing single motherhood as less complicated than a traditional nuclear family. Carmel's attitude to men is perhaps coloured by her father, Phil McDanagh, a famous Irish poet (as far as poet's can be famous) Phil McDanagh is a mildly comic figure, the proverbial Irish poet. Neither daughter nor granddaughter take him too seriously, although he is a major presence in their lives, despite the fact that he has passed away. The poetic Phil, in touch with the beauty of language and expression, dumped his wife Terry when she was suffering with cancer and quickly took up with other women. Old television interviews of Phil are available online, which are a focus of Nell and Carmel's attention, as they try to figure out what his relationship with them meant, and how it continues to shape them. Anne Enright has a great skill for describing life as it really is, with a focus on motherhood and its complex, often divided emotions. Nell and Carmel are undoubtedly close, and would do anything for each other, but there are fights and resentments. Enright also writes about the body in an almost Chaucerian way, with emphasis on menstrual blood and sperm, stark realities of life's cycle. All these elements put together – the natural insistence of the body, the challenges of mother-daughter relationships, a steady stream of bad or boring sex, a gnome-like poet father – create an emotionally messy yet compelling page-turner of a novel. Enright weaves much humour through her well observed prose, creating well rounded characters that readers will feel close to. A skilful portrait of intergenerational relationships, executed with wit and understanding. The Wren, The Wren, by Anne Enright. Published by Jonathan Cape. $32.99 Review by Chris Saliba  Megan Davis and George Williams take an historical perspective on the Voice in this instructive and useful guide.
Constitutional experts Megan Davis (a Cobble Cobble woman from south-west Queensland) and George Williams AO have put together a neat, easy-to-read history of the Indigenous struggle for recognition in Australia's founding document, with useful timelines and appendices. Starting with an explanation of how the constitution came to be, Everything You Need to Know About the Voice then moves onto the 1967 referendum, which proposed changes that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be counted as part of the population and provide the Commonwealth with the power to make laws for them. This referendum was carried with an overwhelming majority and the authors spend much time dissecting the reasons for its success and the misunderstandings as to what was being proposed. The rest of the book describes the democratic process that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and some of its key goals, namely Voice, Treaty and Truth-Telling. Davis and Williams put the Voice referendum in historical perspective, highlighting its challenges and clearing away the fog of misinformation. A vital contribution to the upcoming referendum that will help citizens to make an informed decision. Everything You Need to Know About the Voice, by Megan Davis and George Williams. Published by New South Publishing. $27.99 Review by Chris Saliba  A novelised account of Kate Grenville's grandmother's life.
Born in the early 1880s in rural New South Wales, Sarah Catherine (Dolly) Maunder was never going to have many career options. In those days when women married, their fate depended on the quality of their husbands . Dolly wants to teach, one of the few pathways to independence for a woman, but her stern, cheerless father forbids it. Instead Dolly marries Bert Russell, a friend of the family from childhood. It's a loveless match, even though Bert is handsome and a decent enough chap. The couple have three children, but Dolly isn't really suited to motherhood. And she loathes farming. She spurs Bert to set up various businesses – shops and pubs – that turn into roaring successes. Despite Dolly having all the get-go to take risks and get ahead, being a woman means she has no money in her own name. Celebrated Australian author Kate Grenville has turned the life of her grandmother into a novelised account of what it is to be a woman in late 19th and early 20th century Australia. It's a tough life, with hard won successes and much heartbreak. A gritty portrait of early Australia, with subtly woven in feminist themes. Restless Dolly Maunder, by Kate Grenville. Published by Text. $45 Review by Chris Saliba  A son turns his mother's migrant story into first class literary fiction.
In the prelude to Peter Polites third novel, God Forgets About the Poor, a sassy, wise-cracking mother gives her adult son some tips on how to write her story. “You don't know the first thing about me,” she admonishes her gay son, warning him off entwining his personal story too much with hers. Through the course of the novel we learn about Honoured's (the mother's name) growing up on the Greek island of Lefkada. It's the post-war period, and Greece is in the midst of a civil war. Honoured and her sisters are peasants, and being girls, they're not prized. In fact, their very female existence is a source of shame. It was a boy, highly valued by agrarian Greek culture, that their parents really wanted. Honoured will eventually make her way to Sydney, Australia, marry and have two children. She carries with her the scars from a serious leg infection she contracted in Greece as a child, which left her hospitalised for a year. She remains ambivalent about her life, torn between two cultures, and is resigned, though not happy, about her second class status as a woman of migrant origin. An aura of dissatisfaction surrounds her. Polites could easily have fallen into the trap of writing a straight, fictionalised biography of his mother in this deeply resonant novel. Instead he's opted to write a long prose-poem, a rich and evocative portrait of peasant life in Greece during the post-war period and an homage to the migrant experience. There are profound layers of meaning to be gleaned from Polites' fine, textured prose as he explores identity, being, gender and one's place in the world. This is an absorbing, formally innovative book that demands careful reading and will most likely appeal to fans of Rachel Cusk and Deborah Levy. A triumph of skilled storytelling. God Forgets About the Poor, by Peter Polites. Published by Ultimo Press. $34.99 Review by Chris Saliba |
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