Book Review: Still Life
September 17, 2023
I inhaled this warm, funny and occasionally heart-breaking novel about found family set between worn-torn England and sumptuous Italy.
I inhaled this warm, funny and occasionally heart-breaking novel about found family set between worn-torn England and sumptuous Italy.
Clark skilfully explores teenage friendship and manipulation, 2010’s internet culture, and the politics of class with a sharp eye.
Love, identity, grief, immigration and belonging are explored tenderly. I loved the music that was woven through the writing
There’s no traditional story arc here, she paints impressionistic moments join together to create a picture of our anxious and absurd times.
It interweaves fairy tales and biblical narrative to reflect the interconnectedness and confusion of faith and identity.
Eng is a mesmerizing writer – his graceful, atmospheric prose weaving characters, storylines, times, and places with aching poignancy.
McCracken delights in human absurdity and the slippery art of writing about your family – be it fiction or memoir, or both at once.
The story is told through the eyes of two female protagonists on the opposite spectrum of society, and as I read their stories, I found myself engaging with each one.
The twin sister’s story highlights the conflicting feelings of being too much and also not enough; of being so close to someone and yet so far apart; of loving a person overwhelmingly but still resenting them greatly for their presence and their absence.
A beautiful insight into the vastness of our small world and the impact that one event can have on many individuals.
Not only does it have important questions to ask about history, about art, about land, and the blundering colonial project generally – it’s also a gripping story bursting with a vivid array of characters, vibrant scenery and a good peppering of humour.
Rebecca F. Kuang has produced a gripping, hilarious satire – especially for anyone involved in or curious about the book trade.
I don’t know how to find the words to describe this book, but I do know that I want a lot of people to read it.
It gave me so much to think about as a parent, as a woman, as a potential jury member. Nothing is black and white.
This is a brilliant novel about grief, culture, family and growing up. Shafak has a wonderfully authentic way with words…
A journalist and a DJ, a lecturer and a dancer. Romance with a dystopian overlay and some heavy but compelling themes.
Bond villains (Elon Musk? Jeff Bezos?) and professors deeply invested in … nothing, really capture the zeitgeist.
The writing is so immediate and Agnes is an unforgettable character. Puts Shakespeare in a totally different light.
Lessons is an intense, compassionate and enormously satisfying read that will stay with you long after you close the covers.
Beagin successfully entices the reader into Greta and Flavia’s bizarre world and delivers a creative and confronting account