Tag: book review

Fairy Tales for Grown Ups, by Jennifer Rowe

If you grew up with your head full of handsome princes, magic frogs and happy endings, then the child within you is probably still craving a fairy tale. And if you didn’t, then you probably love a good laugh. Either way, Fairy Tales for Grown Ups is a little book which is likely to appeal to you.

This collection of seven slightly twisted fairy tales combines fantasy with a wicked sense of humour. In The Magic Fish a woman is offered three wishes by a goldfish she meets in a dentist’s waiting room – on the condition she sets the goldfish free. The dentist who owns the fish appears in a later story, Angela’s Mandrake, where a pretty merchant banker called Angela searches for happiness in her life.

In The Lonely Prince, the heir of a fast food chain also searches for happiness, – desperate to be loved for more than just his prospects. Is pizza and cheap wine the way to test the love of his beautiful suitors? The heroine of The Fat Wife also searches for happiness after her husband trades her in for a younger, slimmer model. Is it possible to be fat and victorious?

These new-millenium characters with their modern dilemmas are gorgeously supported by a cast of frogs and trolls and dragons, set amongst happy endings and hilariously funny twists.

Jennifer Rowe, best known for her serious crime novels, proves her versatility as a writer with this wickedly funny offering. Fairy Tales for grown Ups would make an excellent Christmas gift.

Fairy Tales for Grown Ups, by Jennifer Rowe (rrp$12.95)
Allen & Unwin, 2001.

A Taste

Once there was a young woman whose name was Annabel Smudge. She was small and slightly untidy-looking with gentle, widely spaced hazel eyes, curly, mouse-brown hair and a sweet, hesitating voice. She was not exactly simple, but she was not what most people would call a bright spark, either. Six days a week she worked as a cleaner in a factory that made staples, paperclips and metal edges for hanging files. Monday to Thursday evenings, after cooking dinner for her live-in boyfriend, Lawrence, who was an out-of-work security guard in delicate health, she would hurry to her local shopping centre to wash dishes at Tony’s Good Eats, the café beside Pompey’s Family Hair Salon…

Blaze

The anticipated announcement of Nina Jansous’ retirement as the Editor in Chief of internationally acclaimed magazine, BLAZE, is causing ripples of anticipation among younger, ambitious magazine staff, especially Ali Gruber. Ali is eagerly awaiting her chance to be editor of the magazine.

But Nina does not announce her retirement, instead deciding to head the setting up of an Australian edition of the magazine. To top it off, she wants Ali to come with her – to be the editor of this publication.

In Australia, Ali struggles to win the confidence of her staff. She also has to confront the demons of her youth, spent here in Australia before her escape to the States. Nina is not there to support – she is off on a quest of her own to confront her own past. Neither is Ali’s deputy, Larissa Kelly, likely to be an ally. Larissa finds herself trying to keep the magazine together in the wake of Ali’s failures.

Blaze, Di Morrissey’s ninth novel, provides a gripping expose of the cutthroat world of glossy magazines. The stories of the women at the center of the novel are different yet wonderfully intertwined. An excellent read.

Blaze, by Di Morrissey
Pan Macmillan Australia, 2000

Carole King is an Alien

Cara Kerr thinks the whole New Age ‘malarky’ a self-indulgent crutch. But when she is offered the chance to write the biography of mystic guru Gaelle Carrington-Keane, she doesn’t turn it down. After all, the money will help pay her mounting bills, and the publicity will certainly help her career. Plus, Gaelle’s assistant, Cam, is seriously sexy.

Living in London with her fellow Australians, TV-producer Moni and graphic designer Lucy, Cara enjoys a life of drinking, partying and sleeping late. Her love life may be a little stale but otherwise she’s perfectly happy. So this job will be nothing more than a good laugh and some excellent cash. Or will it?

As she meets and works with Gaelle, Cara findes herself disturbingly drawn to the woman’s predictions and methods. Along with Moni, Lu and an assortment of boyfriends and hangers-on, Cara finds herself questioning whether they may in fact be more to life than what they are currently doing.

Along the way she discovers the joys of meditation, the highs and lows of sex and relationships, and the importance of friendship. Despite her strong willed efforts at resistance she grows strangely fond of Gaelle.

This is a novel about good times, about love and friendship and, importantly, self discovery. For all those who have gone through the Australian ritual of spending a year in London, there will be a comfortable feeling of déjà vu. For those who haven’t, the book is still comfortably familiar. An excellent read.

Carole King is an Alien, by Yasmin Boland
Published by Penguin Books, 2000

The Floating Brothel

Many stories of convict life present romanticised tales of poor innocents wrongly accused of trivial crimes and sent on ships with billowing sails to ultimately lead a wonderful new life in the bountiful southern land.

In The Floating Brothel, Sian Rees presents a vividly different view. This is the previously untold story of life aboard the Lady Julian which sailed from England in 1789 bearing a cargo of convicts destined for Botany Bay.

This is an historical account, not a piece of fiction, so do not expect a light romance or tales of happily ever after, though this does not mean that The Floating Brothel is overly pessimistic or negative. Rees has carefully researched this history and provides a detailed exploration of life on board the Lady Julian, and of the history of those who came to sail on her. Details of life in and beyond the new colony for the key figures round off the book.

For those who enjoy historical fiction, the opening chapters of The Floating Brothel may prove to be a little hard-going. Rees details the social circumstances which led to the use of deportation as a means of relieving pressure on English prisons and, more broadly, English society, as well as the crimes and circumstances of the women who sailed on the Lady Julian. Perseverance with this opening will find the reader drawn in to the tale and to the individual stories of some of those on board, especially that of the ship’s steward, John Nicol, and 19 year old Sarah Whitelam.

Despite its title, The Floating Brothel is not a tale of moral depravity – Rees delves deep into the realities of the relationships and activities on board the ship. This is an absorbing read for anyone with an interest in this era of Australia’s history.


The Floating Brothel, by Sian Reees
Published by Hodder, 2001.

The Water Underneath, by Kate Lyons

When a young woman and her baby go missing, gossip abounds in the small mining town where she lives. Twenty years later, the local lake yields human bones. The woman’s daughter, Ruth, returns to the town of her birth, ostensibly to see her dying Uncle Frank. He has carried secrets through those two decades which have rendered him a shadow of the man he once was.

The Water Underneath, by Kate Lyons, is a superb piece of literature. Its style, coupled with its water and journeying motifs, lend it satisfactory tones of Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing. The gripping mystery of the disappearance and the family’s history is seen through the eyes of three women of different generations who, while not close, share the common bond of their love for Frank, the man at the head of the family.

The Water Underneath, Lyons’ first novel, was a deserving runner-up in the 1999 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. It paints a vivid picture of the town and countryside in which it is set – both the physical surrounds and the social backdrop to the tale – at the same time exploring some of the issues which have divided Australian society.

This is a story which will grip you with its mystery and its believability from start to finish.

The Water Underneath, by Kate Lyons
Published by Allen & Unwin, 2001

Just Crazy

Hey kids, do you bounce so high on your bed that you hit your head on the ceiling? Do you look in the mirror and see a crazy maniac staring at you? Do you like reading stories about cute animals getting pulverised by machines? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you will love Just Crazy!, by Andy Griffiths. Even if you answered no, chances are you’ll still enjoy this book.

These nine crazy stories will have you shaking your head, screwing up your nose, groaning out loud, but, most of all, laughing out loud. Journey with Andy as he figures out how (not) to remove a bandaid from his face with a vacuum cleaner, how to get his homework back out of his dog when he’s just eaten it, how to get out of a wheelie bin and many more valuable life skills.

These hilarious stories come with FREE – yes, completely free – page numbers and cool cartoon illustrations from well known Australian illustrator Terry Denton.

Parents, don’t worry, this book will not harm your kids, because they are of course way too sensible to copy the things that Andy does. Aren’t they? This really is an excellent read for kids aged 9 to 14 years, and would be a good offering for a reluctant reader.

Just Crazy!, by Andy Griffiths
Published by Pan Books, 2000

ISBN 9780330362153

This book can e purchased in good bookstores or online from Fishpond.

Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps

Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps is a book which will have you alternately laughing, crying and nodding your head in agreement. It should be read by everyone in a relationship, or who has ever been in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

Allan and Barbara Pease have worked together to produce a book which explores the differences between men and women and the reasons for these differences. Their explanations are based on detailed scientific research, but are presented in an entertaining and informative way. Cartoons, diagrams and one liners punctuate the text, illustrating key points with wit and simplicity.

Because it is written by a couple the findings are balanced – there are as many jibes at men as at women. Despite the humour and simplicity, the book is amazingly accurate and informative.

The Peases explore physiological and psychological differences, illustrating with examples and case studies. Differences in sensory capability, communication, sexual drive, academic ability and more are all explored, with the intention of helping us understand why these differences occur. There are also practical suggestions how men and women can cope with these differences.

Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps is an outstanding balance of information and entertainment, making it appealing to all adult readers.

Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps, by Allan and Barbara Pease

Pease Training International, 1999