Anna itibaren 30036 Stigliano VE, 義大利
Should've been titled "Don't Be a Lesbian in Victorian England while Drinking Your Juice in the Hood."
I recently saw the film Another Year by Mike Leigh and I was intrigued by the way he blended comedy and tragedy so that I wasn't always certain which was which. Murray Bail does something similar in this book which often took me by surprise. Sometimes I wondered if I was meant to understand what I was reading, or if it wasn't just a bit of an elbow nudge. The story is about what happens when two women friends, Erica, a philosopher and Sophie, a psychoanalyst, venture from the City into the wilds of outback New South Wales. Alternately we read about the life of Wesley Antill, whose papers Erica has been asked to assess. He is the deceased older brother of Lesley and Roger, sister and brother who run the family sheep station, who as a self-proclaimed philosopher, spent many years abroad before returning home to write his life's work. It is a tale of travels - including those of the mind and heart; and the 'big' questions of philosophy and the emotions. It is a small book but one to savour. It will continue to amuse and perplex me for quite some time. Highly recommended.