This is for the girl with the dodgy sense of humour; for the girl who likes sad songs and blue marbles, the one whose dog just got run over by a car, and the one whose cat just had kittens.
Part autobiography, part whimsy and all lovely, this is a collection of short stories and poems from award-winning author Brigid Lowry, a New Zealander who has spent much of there writing life in Australia, but has recently returned to he homeland. Both countries feature heavily in various stories.
Subject matter is wide and varies – from bad hair days to divorce and moving out of home – but the common thread is Lowry’s blend of wisdom with whimsy. Readers may well find themselves floating through the stories in a sort of dream-like state of awareness. Having said this, this adult reviewer had trouble imaging her teenage daughter enjoying the stories as much as she herself did, in spite of the young adult labelling of the book.
Lowry’s writing is easy to read, but never simplistic or patronising. Readers will get out of the stories what they choose to absorb, looking beyond problems such as what to do with one’s hair, to the reality of the problems of self-confidence which are being explored, for example. There are also plenty of opportunities for laughter and head-nodding agreement with Lowry’s take on life.
This is a beautiful collection with much to offer women and girls of any age.
Tomorrow All Will Be Beautiful, by Brigid Lowry
Allen & Unwin, 2007
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