Literary Brooding

When the Moon Hatched Sarah A. Parker 560 pages, Paperback First published 13 January 2024 Raeve is an assassin for the rebellion against the current regime, she undertakes and completes her orders without getting caught. In carrying out on of her order Raeve becomes entangled with a man who seems to know her but she is able to escape his clutches. Being a successful assassin she is a target and to bring her out of hiding, a bounty hunter Rekk kills her companion Essi. Enraged by grief, Raeve seeks to destroy Rekk and take her revenge. Parker has created a realistic world, has developed complex governance and religious structures. The characters are well crafted and have unique personalities and ambitions. Each chapter is told through a different characters point of view and always in the first person, There will be spoilers and I hate doing that, but it is the only way to really discuss the story. Raeve as the main character, is a woman who has a strong sense of right and wrong, she i...

The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire  Chloe Hooper 258 pages, Paperback First published 15 October 2018 In 2009 two fires were lit deliberately in the LaTrobe Valley, Victoria, the devastation of that single act resulted in the loss of lives and property. Hooper looks at how the police investigated the crime of arson; the impact fire has on the community and the workings of the mind of an arsonist. Hooper’s book is compelling reading as you are deftly navigated through the police commencing their work to understand where the fire commenced, its path and the outcomes. The stories of those who did and did not survive are heartbreaking. Too often we see numbers on a news headline, 173 dead, over 3,500 structures destroyed, and 450,000 ha burnt. They are big numbers, but Hooper brings in the real damage through the words of the people who were there. It is through their descriptions of the intensity of the heat, lack of visibility, walls of flames, and the speed of what they were facing. Hoope...

The aims for 2025  Hey, yes been a bit slack updating over the new year, that thing called life.  My challenges for 2025, aiming for 50 books and 55,000 pages. I am more interested in the pages as I want to get into some fairly big tomes. I keep saying it, never do it but this year I have a determined mind set. Read at least one advanced reading copy a month and read a tad more non-fiction. That is really it.  I am already behind on posting reviews so you will do a catchup. I was unwell over the holiday break and writing anything of substance was just not going to happen. 

Iris - Fiona Kelly McGregor 464 pages, Paperback, First published September 27, 2022 Iris Webber is a woman trying to find a way to survive in the brutality that is Australia in the 1930s. There is a recession, there is rampant domestic violence and crime is an entrenched way of life. We follow Iris from her childhood in rural New South Wales, where poverty is the norm. Iris does the norm, she finds a man, she marries and for a long time she tries to be a good housewife. As the relationship progress Iris comes to understand how her husband has been fleecing her and the family. In a fit of rage, she shoots her husband and finds herself incarcerated at Hay Gaol. After her release, Iris heads to Sydney where she is quickly drawn into the world of prostitution, sly grog and running scams for cash. There is nothing romantic about what McGregor has put down on the page, this is an ugly story of Sydney in the 30’s and how women were the punching bag of society. Iris is based on a real person ...

  Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke 320 pages, published September 12, 2017 Darren Matthews has problems, his career as a Texas Ranger, his marriage and his personal life is on the precipice of crashing spectacularly.  While suspended, Matthews is given the opportunity by a colleague to look into the suspicious deaths of a black lawyer and a local white woman in the small town of Lark, in Shelby County. Matthews's investigation opens up old wounds, further festers existing wounds and has him questioning all he knows.   As I finished the last words of this novel, I was just in awe. Locke has put down on the page a story and characters that are beautifully realised. I was completely taken back by the prose, the descriptions, the characters, the plotting, it was quite simply a master class.  The topics that Locke covers are deftly done; you fully understand the complexity that all the characters find themselves in.   What starts as a go down, have a look ar...

The Season Helen Garner Text Publishing, December 2024, 208 pages The Season is a glorious book as Garner watches her youngest grandson mature into a man as through their share enjoyment of footy. What makes this special is Garner's honesty, humour, and insight. You have a young man moving into the prime of his life and Garner acknowledging that her time is limited. There is no sadness but a wonderful tenderness. For those who don't appreciate the fanatic AFL football fans, it is captured beautifully with the dedication and commitment to having a team on the winning side. Garner's writing is on point. Her descriptions immediately create a sense of place, and you know the characters. I really liked the observations of the people who used the oval from the joggers, grandparents pushing grandchildren, the skateboarders, and those who attended games. These little snippets are just fantastic. I just really loved the book, and I am ever so appreciative of being allowed an opportu...