JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas

Christos Tsiolkas’ stunning new novel Damascus is a work of soaring ambition and achievement, of immense power and epic scope, taking as its subject nothing less than events surrounding the birth and establishment of the Christian church.

Based around the gospels and letters of St Paul, and focusing on characters one and two generations on from the death of Christ, as well as Paul (Saul) himself, Damascus nevertheless explores the themes that have always obsessed Tsiolkas as a writer: class, religion, masculinity, patriarchy, colonisation, exile; the ways in which nations, societies, communities, families and individuals are united and divided – it’s all here, the contemporary and urgent questions, perennial concerns made vivid and visceral.

In Damascus, Tsiolkas has written a masterpiece of imagination and transformation: an historical novel of immense power and an unflinching dissection of doubt and faith, tyranny and revolution, and cruelty and sacrifice.

Acclaimed Australian author Christos Tsiolkas’ latest novel, Damascus, is an incredible surprise to read — an astonishing feat, tackling such a huge scope of a story in just 400 pages, but one of my favourite novels of the year and a book I felt completely blindsided by.

Damascus is an ancient biblical story about St Paul and the birth of the Christian Church, introducing us to Paul’s journey and involvement in the Church and other people along the way whose stories intersect with Paul. Christos explores class, family, status, reputation, faith and acceptance, set against the backdrop of the Roman Empire many years after the death of Jesus Christ.

“I was outraged. After such a brazen insult I was ready to go. But just then the screen was drawn and an old woman emerged, her head shrouded, her thin hands clutching a basket laden with dried fruits, breads and pickled nuts. The crowd rose as one and rushed to her….In an instant the basket had been emptied.”

If this book wasn’t written by someone as talented and acclaimed as Christos, I wouldn’t have requested it from the publisher. A tale such as this needs to be tackled properly, respectfully, compassionately, but it also needs to be interesting enough to bring in readers — like me — who don’t care that much for religion or faith. And Christos has done a marvellous job.

I can’t begin to imagine the level of research that would’ve gone into this book — the amount of time it took reading about the life of St Paul. At the end of the book, Christos’ author note tells us why he decided to write about St Paul, and I almost wish I had read this before starting the book. It’s reflective and eye-opening but it also adds a level of depth to the story that altered my perspective and made me think about Damascus on a much deeper level.

“They kill us, they crucify us, they throw us to beasts in the arena, they sew our lips together and watch us starve. They bugger children in front of their mothers and violate men in front of their wives. The temple priests flay us openly in the streets. We are hunted everywhere and we are hunted by everyone …”

Three quarters through the book and I do feel like the momentum slows down a little too much — I felt lost in the story, not entirely sure where it was headed and why we were meant to continue pursing this story. The storyline and characters become a little slow and beige, and my attention wavered. I’m glad I stuck it out though, because the conclusion to the story is authentic and welcome.

Recommended for literary fiction readers. Readers must possess some sort of interest in the Roman Empire because that forms the backdrop for this entire book. I have no interest in religion or Christianity — I am an avid Atheist and nothing will ever change that. And I loved this book. I’m therefore confident this book will appeal to many readers, and will find many loyal fans.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Damascus
Christos Tsiolkas
November 2019
Allen & Unwin Publishers

Wearing Paper Dresses by Anne Brinsden

You can talk about living in the Mallee. And you can talk about a Mallee tree. And you can talk about the Mallee itself: a land and a place full of red sand and short stubby trees. Silent skies. The undulating scorch of summer plains. Quiet, on the surface of things.

But Elise wasn’t from the Mallee, and she knew nothing of its ways.

Discover the world of a small homestead perched on the sunburnt farmland of northern Victoria. Meet Elise, whose urbane 1950s glamour is rudely transplanted to the pragmatic red soil of the Mallee when her husband returns to work the family farm. But you cannot uproot a plant and expect it to thrive.

And so it is with Elise. Her meringues don’t impress the shearers, the locals scoff at her Paris fashions, her husband works all day in the back paddock, and the drought kills everything but the geraniums she despises.

As their mother withdraws more and more into herself, her spirited, tearaway daughters, Marjorie and Ruby, wild as weeds, are left to raise themselves as best they can. Until tragedy strikes, and Marjorie flees to the city determined to leave her family behind. And there she stays, leading a very different life, until the boy she loves draws her back to the land she can’t forget…

Wearing Paper Dresses is a debut literary novel from Australian author Anne Brinsden, set in rural Mallee in the 1950s, which explores notions of family, land, mental illness and responsibility.

Glamorous, sophisticated, talented Elise leaves the city and moves with her two children and her husband to her father-in-law’s wheat and sheep farm in Mallee. The townsfolk are instantly suspicious of her and her ‘city’ ways. She drinks coffee and not tea and she doesn’t understand what it’s like to live in such a harsh environment.

Most of the novel is from the POV of Elise’s daughter Marjorie, and over the years, we witness Elise’s mental health deteriorate. She starts talking to plastic flowers and wearing tea cosies on her head. Her husband and father-in-law acknowledge her health but pretend to ignore it; they assume it’ll solve itself. Wearing Paper Dresses highlights how poorly mental illness was received in the 1950s.

“The talk might have stopped but the hint of a glittery look didn’t. The tea in the teapot went cold from then on. But naked teapots and cold tea didn’t bother Elise because she drank coffee — and coffee percolators didn’t generally dress themselves in cosies.”

Through Marjorie’s perspective, we experience the hurt, confusion and the embarrassment that she feels growing up. But we also witness the solid bond she forms with her sister Ruby, and there’s definitely a strong sense of camaraderie there as they both work together to get through their mother’s troubling illness and the effect it has on their childhood.

This book certainly wasn’t what I expected it to be, after reading the blurb and looking at the cover. I anticipated this to be a chick-lit, perhaps a rural romance novel. And whilst there’s an element of romance in this book between Marjorie and one of the boys in her class, this book is about the relationship between Marjorie and her family, and about the events that lead to Elise’s many nervous breakdowns.

Wearing Paper Dresses is as much a character-driven novel as it is plot-driven. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and found myself enchanted by the setting, the characters, and the plot. Whilst the book explores difficult themes such as mental illness and domestic abuse, you can’t help but fall in love with the characters.

“Marjorie stayed home from school after that and helped Elise. They dug and raked and swept. And Elise was alive and burning with energy. Their waking hours were consumed with garden making. They piled red dirt into neat garden beds all over the yard, Marjorie imaging all the while the rose garden to come.”

The setting is one of the strengths of the novel — Anne has perfectly captured the harsh, sunburnt landscape of the Mallee, and it’s easy to imagine just how difficult life would be like for Elise and her family. The setting feels incredibly isolating, but also claustrophobic at the same time, a juxtaposition that evokes great unease for most of the novel.

The writing is lyrical, funny and descriptive, the imagery drawing you in and holding you hostage with enticing vocabulary and prose. The pacing is on point — authentic and realistic to the storyline. Wearing Paper Dresses is an impressive debut.

Recommended for literary fiction readers, and those readers who love a rural setting. Fans of historical fiction will also find much to love about this book.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wearing Paper Dresses
Anne Brinsden
October 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls by Justine Ford

Can you catch a killer or find a missing person?

Australia is ‘the lucky country’. But not for everyone. Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls tells thirteen stories of people whose luck ran out in the most mysterious of circumstances.

It’s a journalistic deep-dive into Australia’s dark heart by one of Australia’s premier true crime writers, Justine Ford, the acclaimed bestselling author of Unsolved Australia and The Good Cop.

Why are four people missing from a Western Australian doomsday cult? Who abducted and murdered beauty queen Bronwynne Richardson on pageant night? And why is a cooked chook important evidence in the outback disappearance of Paddy Moriarty?

Key players are interviewed, evidence laid out and suspects assessed. Never-before-published information is revealed. Can you help crack the case and solve these mysteries?

Hold tight as Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls takes you on a chilling yet inspiring true crime rollercoaster ride where the final destination is hope.

Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls is a fascinating record of 13 Australians who have gone missing and have never been found, written by well-known Australian crime writer Justine Ford.

Each section of the book focuses on a different missing person, detailing their life and the final days that anyone saw them alive. If there have been any updates on the case in recent decades, Justine has included that. This book is very comprehensive, very detailed, and incredibly researched.

Additionally, the book features interviews with six key crime personnel, such as former police detectives, investigative journalists, private investigators, and criminologists. These interviews are fascinating, reading about their career trajectories, their experiences, and what they remember most about cold cases from their careers.

“When cops are described as ‘dogged’ it means they are the kinds of police who go the extra mile to crack a case. They are the investigators who spend sleepless nights wondering, Is there something I missed? They are the cops who struggle to accept it when they cannot find the answers.”

The book is a plea to the readers, asking them to read the stories and provide help with any clues or information they may see that has been missed. There are people out there who know what happened to these thirteen individuals — reading these stories may jog someone’s memory.

Generous rewards are on offer for anyone that can help with each case. Although, quite a few of these missing persons disappeared decades ago, so I understand it’d be very unlikely someone will read this and remember anything useful to police.

“What was unusual — for them, at least — was the strange entity they saw bobbing in the water on the starboard side of their boat. It must be an animal, they thought, maybe a dog…The men looked once, they looked twice, and then agreed: it was a human body.”

Justine’s tone is appropriate for the subject matter — she’s compassionate and caring, and you can tell she genuinely wants to find out what happened to these missing persons. She also does well to present all of the relevant information to the reader in a succinct, clear manner.

“For half an hour the police boat judders across the swell until what looks like a dot on the horizon — a farmhouse — comes into sight. It’s lonely out here and the ocean surrounding the property ahead is hundreds, if not thousands, of metres deep.”

At almost 300 pages, I grew emotionally exhausted by the end of the story. There are no solutions or answers to these cold cases. Reading about thirteen people who disappeared in strange circumstances and have never been seen again was mentally draining towards the end.

I’d recommend readers pace themselves with this book. Each section of the book is an appropriate length — long enough to include all the facts, information, and updates on the case, but not too long where you feel your attention waning.

Recommended for true crime lovers.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls
Justine Ford
July 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

That Will Never Work by Marc Randolph

The incredible untold story of how Netflix went from concept to company — all revealed by co-founder and first CEO Marc Randolph.

Once upon a time, brick-and-mortar video stores were king. Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. These were the widely accepted laws of the land in 1997 when Marc Randolph had an idea.

It was a simple thought – leveraging the internet to rent movies – and was just one of many more proposals that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings, on their commute to work each morning. But Hastings was intrigued, and the pair – with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO – founded a company.

Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix’s triumph feels inevitable but the twenty-first century’s most disruptive start-up began with few believers and calamity at every turn.

From idea generation to team building to knowing when it’s time to let go, That Will Never Work is not only the ultimate follow-your-dreams parable but also one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time.

Written by co-founder and former CEO Marc Randolph, That Will Never Work is the behind-the-scenes origin story of Netflix, and how it went from idea to global brand.

It’s clear from the first few pages that Marc Randolph always preferred to work for himself. He’d previously co-founded the magazine MacUser and also worked in the marketing department of a software giant. But it wasn’t enough — it wasn’t what he wanted to continue doing. Every day on their way to work, Marc would pitch ideas to his friend Reed Hastings, who had the brains to recognise a good business prospect and the money to fund a start-up. Some of Marc’s ideas included personalised dog food, personalised baseball bats, and a shampoo delivery service.

And then Marc thought of renting videotapes.

“Every idea I brought to the whiteboard was bad, even if Christina and Te’s research made it clear just how implausible some of my middle-of-the-night revelations for a new business were, I knew that eventually we’d land on something good.”

That Will Never Work highlights Marc’s motivation and determination, his hard work and his never-give-up attitude. After he and Reed founded Netflix, Marc worked long hours every day to achieve everything that needed to be ticked off the To Do list. He employed a small, dedicated group of staff to help with the necessary tasks, and with every new problem that arose — and there were a lot — he had to find a way to solve them.

When I finished this book, I didn’t think that Marc’s success was ‘lucky’. His success was earned. He worked incredibly hard to build that company, and with a little help from investors and employees who knew more about postal services, finances, HR, PR, web design etc, he was able to launch Netflix.

I lost count of how many times things unravelled in the team while they were in the beginning stages of launching Netflix — technology they didn’t understand, posting systems that didn’t allow for what they wanted, servers that weren’t equipped to handle launch day. It wasn’t smooth sailing, and even when they solved one issue, something major was around the corner.

You can’t read this book and not feel complete admiration for the entire team in those beginning years. They’re the reason Netflix is now a global giant; they put blood, sweat and tears into launching the brand.

“I was learning that when you’re in charge, it ultimately falls on you to ensure that the most basic elements of office life — telephones, printers, staples for the stapler — are there for your workers…Not only that, I had to make decisions about things I’d never considered. Did we want the office cleaned weekly or biweekly? How do you organise keys? Which bank should we use?”

Towards the end, when Marc discusses his departure from the company, some of the language and vocabulary reads a little bitter. It feels like Marc is continually trying to justify why he left the company — like he’s trying to convince the reader that he made the right decision at the time. I think the ending could’ve been edited a bit more, perhaps to take out some of the emotional information and conclude it on more of a practical note.

It is rather funny to read about their failed meeting with Amazon and Blockbuster, considering Blockbuster is now practically non-existent and Amazon had the chance to absorb an incoming Netflix, and instead, opened up the gates for a major competitor.

This book will only interest people who read the blurb and feel intrigued. I love reading about the conceptual journey of major companies — I find the journey from idea to fame completely fascinating. This book is for people like me. Highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea
Marc Randolph
October 2019
Hachette Publishers

The Girls by Chloe Higgins

In 2005, Chloe Higgins was seventeen years old. She and her mother, Rhonda, stayed home so that she could revise for her exams while her two younger sisters Carlie and Lisa went skiing with their father. On the way back from their trip, their car veered off the highway, flipped on its side and burst into flames. Both her sisters were killed. Their father walked away from the accident with only minor injuries.

This book is about what happened next.

In a memoir of breathtaking power, Chloe Higgins describes the heartbreaking aftermath of that one terrible day. It is a story of grieving, and learning to leave grief behind, for anyone who has ever loved, and lost.

The Girls by Chloe Higgins is a memoir about the death of Chloe’s two sisters in 2005, and the aftermath.

While Chloe was studying for her HSC at the family home in Western Sydney, her father and her two sisters were on their way from an annual trip to the snowfields. On a highway near Canberra, Chloe’s father veered off to the other side of the road — presumably falling asleep — and he hits another car. Their vehicle flips and the back of the car bursts into flames. Chloe’s two sisters are killed, but their father walks away with minor injuries.

This is a memoir about grief, and what comes after a tragic event. It’s about how Chloe’s life went down a very different path than what she’d have planned as a young girl.

The Girls is tender and well-written, but also just very heartbreaking. People all over the world experience heartbreak, grief, and death every day, but when you focus on one person’s story and read beyond the tragedy, you realise the effect such events can have on a person’s health and wellbeing. We read about Chloe’s life beyond the death of her sisters, and we experience how her and her parents have attempted to move past the car accident.

“I am ashamed by how little I remember them. I’ve been reading books lately where people write their memories of losing a husband to cancer, their eyesight at eighteen, their father to the Vietnamese/American War.”

Chloe turns to sex work, drugs, alcohol and self harm to cope with her loss. In a way, focussing on these activities helped her avoid thinking about or remembering her sisters.

It’s stomach-dropping to read about Chloe’s father’s reaction to the accident — his guilt, his tears, his mental deterioration. Chloe does her best to maintain a relationship with her mother and father, but it’s complicated for all parties. They’re coping in the only ways they know how, and Chloe — being the only child left — sometimes finds it easier to not be at home.

“Sometimes I am well for weeks at a time: my head is clear, it is easy to smile, I feel less tension than usual around other people. I spent years working out how to get to this place, and often it comes down to routine.”

The plot jumps around a little, and at times feels a little uneven and jolting. The first third of the book centres around the girls, the accident, and the aftermath of the accident. The middle third of the book is years later when Chloe is in psychiatric care and is then working as a prostitute. The final third focuses on the girls again. The back and forth did feel a little inorganic, but the writing is beautiful and lyrical — poetic, even.

One of the toughest sections of the book is reading Chloe’s father’s diary entries from after the accident. He regained very little memories of that afternoon, and so he relies on information from others to understand what happened.

At first, they thought it was a car fault. But then after eye witness statements, it’s clear that Maurice fell asleep at the wheel. This information is incredibly difficult for him to swallow, and even in the present, he tries to find other reasons why the accident may have happened.

“We have a good day at the beach, Kris and I. I am glad Mum made him get the razor off me, but I like the little scab that is forming across my wrist. I don’t want anyone else to see it, just my parents and Kris, so they will know I need help.”

An exploration of grief, family, understanding and identity, The Girls is a devastating, harrowing read. It’d be a tough read for anyone, even if you don’t have children yourself, but the messages within its pages are important, relevant and universal.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls
Chloe Higgins
September 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

%d bloggers like this: