Cross-posted at ArtsHub

The nostalgic allure of the genre we might call the ‘prep school novel’ is potent in Jennifer Miller’s tender and absorbing The Year of the Gadfly. Part mystery, part coming of age story, the novel centres around 14-year-old Iris Dupont, who has recently moved to the small Western Massachusetts town of Nye. As she starts to uncover some of the long-buried secrets of the elite Mariana Academy, the past and the present interweave in an absorbing story of love, loss, and the enduring effects of not fitting in.

Wise beyond her years and wounded beyond her years, Iris is fiercely focused on her goal of becoming a great journalist, and would much rather have conversations with her idol Edward R. Murrow ̵– whose appearance in her imagination becomes increasingly real to her – than to get close to any of her new classmates. “Yes, I knew he’d been dead for forty-seven years, but why should a person limit her interlocutors to the living?” she says. She is, however, deeply intrigued by her biology teacher, Mr Kaplan, who seems to harbour a secret pain that she recognises. Then there’s Prisom’s Party, the school’s secret society, which she finds herself increasingly entangled with. As Iris digs deeper into her investigations, it becomes harder and harder for her to tell who the good guys and the bad guys are. (more…)

Cross-posted at ArtsHub

A tightly packaged collection of new Australian writing, Overland has always been amongst the most engaging and intellectually stimulating Australian literary journals. With a blend of politics, economics, literature and culture interspersed with short fiction and poetry, Overland achieves a commendable balance of progressive thought and entertainment.

True to standard, issue 206 presents a solid and cohesive selection of work. One of the standout voices is that of aspiring African-Australian actor Tariro Mavondo. In her personal essay ‘The danger of a single story’, she considers the way ethnic diversity is treated in Australian cultural products, particularly television shows. Remembering black characters in shows like Home and Away and Neighbours ¬– always portrayed as ‘the desperate illegal other’ – Mavondo explores the position of the migrant artist, and wonders if the current push for ‘colour-blind casting’ in theatre will help to encourage change. (more…)

Cross-posted at 3008Docklands

Dark clouds, harsh winds and the threat of hurricanes blow throughout Janette Turner Hospital’s exquisitely crafted collection of short stories, saturating the slim volume with an unsettling sense of dread. Forecast: Turbulence brings together a compelling cast of characters, each somehow floundering in an uncertain world. Some stories are gentle and elegiac; others are intense to the point of horror. Each one demonstrates Hospital’s incredible mastery of storytelling, creating richly complex worlds that pull the reader right into their centre.

In the opening story, Blind Date, we are introduced to Lachlan, a young boy hovering in the background of preparations for his sister’s wedding, wondering if his estranged father will appear. Lachlan is blind, but he can tell light from dark and reads the footsteps and vibrations of movement of the people around him, and in his mind he vividly recalls the soapy scent of his father’s freshly laundered shirt and his parting words: “I’m drowning, mate, and I just can’t breathe.” The drowning metaphor is then deftly woven into the following story, where a skipper of a whale-watching boat, who hasn’t spoken since his mother was killed by sharks, ruminates on stories of American World War II servicemen also killed at sea. (more…)

Whether they love it or hate it, everyone’s talking about Girls, the new HBO show by 25-year-old Lena Dunham. If you’ve missed some of the discussion (which is understandable, in little old Australia, where we have to be crafty to be able to even watch the same TV shows as our friends in the US), there is of course a Shit Girls Say About Girls video to help get you up to speed.

Generally, the spectrum of responses stretches between these two poles:

• Girls is groundbreaking and completely relatable for our generation
• Girls is about privileged hipsters whining about White Girl Problems

After just two episodes, there’s already a pretty frenzied debate between the lovers and haters of this show (and also some bitching from some fool from the band Girls who thinks it’s super disrespectful that they stole the name.) There are clearly plenty of women who relate closely to the experiences of the girls on the show, who feel that it represents them and their lives and their generation. “It’s like they broke into my house and filmed my life,” one girl in the Shit Girls Say video says. But there are also a lot of women who can’t relate to it – and so they feel a little betrayed, like they were promised something else.

(more…)

Swift as Desire by Laura Esquivel

Jubilo has two great gifts: “he was good at communicating and at loving Lucha.” As a child he uses his gift for communication to change the messages he is translating between his two warring grandmothers, using simple language tweaks to improve their relationship. Growing up to become a telegraph worker, he plays similar tricks, using his special sensitivity to try to make the world as joyful as he is. And his life is overflowing with the joy of love: “Lucha swayed her hips gently, but with Jubilo’s heightened sensibilities, his hand amplified her movement and it washed over him like an effervescent wave, hot, joyful, dissolute.”

But his gift sometimes falters, and the consequences of misunderstanding signals can be drastic. The youthful love story between Jubilo and Lucha is contrasted with the story of the present, where Jubilo is dying a slow, cruel death by Parkinsons, crippled, mute and missing his ex wife. Lucha, now bitter and angry, is just as unrecognisable. And yet, with all the charm and whimsicalness of a fable, the story is ultimately a sweet and happy one. After all, “words travel as swiftly as desire, so it is possible to send a message of love without them.” (more…)

In Utero is probably one of my favourite albums of all time and everything, but I can’t help thinking it could use a few more kittens. JUST SAYIN, I would have made it a bit more like this:

Kitten Utero
1993, Kitten Records

1. Serve the Kitten (“Kitten angst has paid off well/ Now I’m bored and old.”)

2. Scentless Kitten (“He was born senseless and scentless/ He was born a scentless kitten.”)

3. Heart Shaped Kitten (“Meat-eating kittens forgive no one just yet/ Cut myself on angel hair and kittens’ breath.”)

4. Kitten Me (“Kitten me my friend/ Kitten me again.”)

5. Frances Kitten Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (“She’ll come back as a kitten/ And burn all the liars.”)

6. Dumb Kitten (“I think I’m kitten/ Or maybe just happy… My kitten is broke/ But I have some glue.”)

7. Very Kitten (“If you ever need kittens please don’t/ Hesitate to ask someone else first.”)

8. Kitten Milk It (“Left kitten, right kitten, broken kitten/ Lack of kittens and or sleeping.”)

9. Pennyroyal Kitten (“I’m a liar and a kitten/ … I’m anaemic kitten.”)

10. Kitten-Friendly Unit Shifter (“What is wrong with kitten?/ Kitten is what I need.)

11. Tourette’s Kitten (“Everything kitten sees/ Is all wrong.”)

12. All Kitten (“What else should I be?/ All kitten.”)

Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

Sombre, theatrical and filled with some deliciously gothic images, this is a book that demonstrates how dark the consequences of desire – and how thin the lines between love and hate – can be. Therese, stuck in a dull and passionless marriage to her sickly cousin Camille, discovers life-changing passion and excitement and intensity in an affair with Camille’s friend Laurent. It would be so convenient if Camille were to die – so, consumed by their yearning to be together, Therese and Laurent make that happen.

Obviously, this is the sort of plan that was much better as a fantasy, and after the deed is done the story descends into a sort of morality tale that is both dark and hilarious. While the story is somewhat predictable at times and can get quite repetitive towards the end, there are some wonderful recurring images – Camille’s sea-monsterish face in the morgue, the blistering marks on Laurent’s neck – that more than make up for it. (more…)

(Cross-posted at 3008Docklands)

There’s a scene in the movie Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (an adaptation of the novel by Patrick Suskind) in which a retiring perfumer discovers a fragrance created by a young olfactory genius. The scent transports him to a lush, mystical world in his mind. Surrounded by luscious flowers, a beautiful woman leans in and kisses him on the cheek and whispers in his ear. When he opens his eyes again, the change in him is visible – the scent has moved him, altered him in some way.

This is what Emma Leah believes fragrances should do. Working out of a cosy, beautifully decorated atelier on Park St in South Melbourne, Leah creates natural perfumes that she hopes will transport customers in a similar way. “Perfume is something that’s intimate, something that’s on the skin when you’ve got nothing else there. This is something that’s mixing with your body,” she says. “We want to go back to the lost art of perfumery, for people who feel passionate about fragrance and can’t find the rich perfumes that used to exist.” (more…)

(Cross-posted at Lipmag)

Confidence, individuality and classic sophistication are three key elements at the heart of Australian fashion label Mina & Katusha’s collection of comfortable and versatile designs.

Four years ago, RMIT design alumni Sarina Zammit and fashion entrepreneur Katya Baxter began creating and marketing their designs under the name Mina & Katusha – a reference to the nicknames the two women were given as children. Since then, Mina & Katusha has firmly established its place within the unique and creative fabric of Australian fashion, and the clean lines, classic silhouettes and playful detail of their garments have earned them increasing attention from overseas.

With the launch of their new collection, ‘Encounter’, Sarina and Katya spoke to Lip about their inspiration, passion and design philosophy.

How did Mina & Katusha begin?
It all started rather organically. We met one another through Sarina doing work experience for Katya in her textile agency. We came across a great cotton print fabric and decided to design some maxi dresses and sell them to friends, and see what came of it. Four years later we are still holding onto the fabric and so ecstatic that we have a label together. Our partnership works well as we worked together before becoming friends and we take care of different areas of the business with our different skills.

(more…)

(Cross-posted at 3008Docklands)

As an animal person, it’s hard to really understand those who are not animal people. Stephen, who is most decidedly not an animal person, has the opposite dilemma. “He was not an animal person in the same way he was not a musical person, or an intellectual person,” Charlotte Wood writes. “Not to be musical or intellectual was unremarkable and provoked no suspicion. But not to be an animal person somehow meant he wasn’t fully human.”

This sense of being not quite human, not quite grown up, not quite living properly, saturates the whole novel, which stretches over the expanse of a single day in Stephen’s life. It’s a fairly ordinary day, but long, sweltering, exhausting.  Stephen drifts through his normal routine, mindlessly working at the zoo kiosk with the same complacency as always. The familiarity of it – talking to his mother on the phone about a new TV she wants to buy, having to endure a tedious team-building activity at work – makes time lag, and the more disturbing events that punctuate the day slowly build up a feeling of weariness and defeat, growing like the residue of grime and sweat on his skin. (more…)