viragohaus's reviews
237 reviews

11 intertwined tales of the placid macabre as well fitted as a bespoke seal-skinned bag sown for a heart.

Conversations tinged with memories of Cambodia's catastrophic past - See more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/conversations-tinged-with-memories-of-cambodias-catastrophic-past/story-fn9n8gph-1226754955727#sthash.qipqMvnV.dpuf

'(R)ead it as if it were a thriller, though no one is murdered. There is only...the death of a heart.' Joan London in the Text Classics Introduction of this brilliant novel.

Blankly playful and comprehensibly elusive, Juul delivers a brilliant exercise in voice and narrative suspension.
Highly recommended.

Small sips of a poem or a two at a time rather than the gulp of a collection suit the colloquial stillness of Cavalli's limited range of subjects. Of the 13 translators here, Gini Alhadeff and Jorie Graham wring the best out.

Although never less than engaging, Yeah Yeah Yeah is freighted with so much anecdote that it fails to service a clear narrative.
This eventually leads to it reading as a series of unusually considered music mag pieces rather than as a book.

‘…a propulsive wave of sense and force.’
http://wheelercentre.com/projects/victorian-premier-s-literary-awards-2014/book/the-swan-book/

Pinging from themes as deathless as death, '2001:A Space Odyssey' and David Bowie, Smith's elegant recall of her late father is by turns touching, astringent, expansive and intimate.