Bitin' Back, by Vivienne Cleven

A twenty-one-year-old Aboriginal man wakes one morning and tells his mother he has become a woman.

All hell has broken loose in the rural town of Mandamooka. Single Aboriginal mother Mavis Dooley’s adult son, Nevil, wakes one morning and declares himself a woman. And not just any woman, he now insists on being known as Jean Rhys, the British author of Wide Sargasso Sea. Poor Mavis is thrown for a six. Has Nevil addled his brains with too many trashy American talk shows? When his Uncle Booty finds out that Nevil has taken to not only a new name, but wearing dresses and lipstick, he decides it’s time to toughen the boy up with a bit of extreme sport. The big worry is that Nevil has gone gay, but he calmly tells everyone he isn’t. Mavis does all she can to keep Nevil’s new identity under wraps, but this is difficult when nosey neighbour Mrs Warby is always peering over the fence, standing on her kero tin and asking far too many questions. Finally there is the local footy team, the Blackouts. Nevil is their star player, and they are trying to get him into practice for a big upcoming game.

If all of that were not enough, there is trouble at the local Bingo Hall where Mavis’s rival, Dotty Reedman, is making her life hell. Dotty is a nasty piece of work, accusing Mavis of cheating, competing for her romantic interest, Terry Thompson, and generally causing mayhem in Mandamooka society. It’s all too much for one woman to bear and Mavis fears that she might be losing her marbles. 

Bitin’ Back was Kamilaroi author Vivienne Cleven’s first novel, published in 2001. It’s been re-printed several times since then and is now part of the First Nations Classics series, by University of Queensland Press. The novel is narrated by Mavis in her own burly, broad accent, which propels the story at a great clip. She is incredibly funny, with a Chaucerian kind of energy. Mavis’s character also has touches of Nelly Dean, the redoubtable servant in Wuthering Heights who must singlehandedly battle chaos on every front. The novel’s strong comic aspects, however, act as a relief to the story’s alarming violence. It’s made clear that any divergence from the path expected of Mandamooka’s citizens - gender conformity, for one - will result in beatings and ostracism. Yet for all that Bitin’ Back feels like an affectionate, if unvarnished portrait of rural Queensland. 

In the end, the reasons for Nevil’s adoption of the Jean Rhys persona are explained, and all ends well. Bitin’ Back sometimes reads as a caricature of a novel - a mixture of the brutally real and the clearly absurd. Some aspects of the plot are far-fetched, requiring a suspension of disbelief, and near the end the threads of the story are stretched almost to breaking point. But that is only a minor quibble. Overwhelmingly Bitin’ Back is a great triumph, a success carried by the great Mavis Dooley, a true original in Australian literature. 

Bitin' Back, by Vivienne Cleven. Published by University of Queensland Press

JULY24

Lucia in London, by E. F. Benson

When Lucia's husband inherits a house in London, her personal stocks rise, but can she sustain the heady lifestyle in the bustling metropolis?

Lucia in London (1927) is the third novel in the "Mapp and Lucia" series of novels by E. F. Benson. For the uninitiated, they are classics in the camp canon, featuring two domineering socialites, Elizabeth Mapp of Tilling and Emmeline Lucas (self-styled "Lucia") of Riseholme. Both characters rule their quaint villages with an iron fist, but hidden within a velvet glove. E. F. Benson writes in a becalming lapidary prose, describing with faultless precision the frivolous goings on his vain, silly yet still quite endearing characters. 

In Lucia in London, Lucia's husband "Pepino" has inherited a house in London from his recently deceased aunt. As soon as the neighbours find this out, they take out their pencils and paper, trying to calculate the value of the newly inherited assets, including furniture and jewelry. Everyone wonders what the couple will do with the property. Surely they wouldn't betray Riseholme by moving to London? It soon turns out that this is pretty much the case. Lucia and Pepino decide to spend a part of the year in London. For Lucia this means aggressive social climbing. At first her endeavours pay off and her name starts appearing in the society pages, but inevitably there is a ceiling to her ambitions. Good fortune appears in a the guise of misfortune: her Pepino falls ill. This provides perfect cover for an honorable return to Riseholme, advertising her need to nurse her husband back to health in comfortable surrounds. 

Another plot involves a ouija board and mysterious ancient called Abfou, who suggests to Lucia's rival, Daisy Quantock, that she should start up a local museum, highlighting Riseholme's most interesting artifacts. In reality, the residents of Riseholme merely fill it with old junk they no longer want in their houses, charging weekend American tourists to see it.

If you love the Lucia novels, this one will not disappoint.

Until August, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The final novel from Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Anna Magdalena Bach, a middle-aged woman, is married and has two children. Every August she takes a trip to the Caribbean island where her mother is buried and leaves flowers. One year on this trip she meets a man in a bar and boldly asks him up to her room. For several years after, she repeats this act of infidelity, but with a different man each time, and in differing circumstances. Eventually Anna Magdalena discovers a secret her mother has long held, one which adds particular meaning to her own double life.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was working on Until August in the years before his death, during which he was suffering from dementia. It’s a surprisingly enjoyable read, an absorbing if minor story about a woman’s meditation on her mother’s death and her quest for self-discovery. While the story sounds sordid (Anna Magdalena’s betrayals are never interrogated; in fact, they seem almost an open secret), Marquez manages a breezy, morally uncluttered atmosphere. The book perhaps most resembles the work of Anais Nin, an explorer of female sexuality and heightened consciousness. The clever, surreal ending will surprise readers with its indelible, Dali-esque image of death and desire.  

Until August, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Published by Viking. $35

JUN24

Limitarianism, by Ingrid Robeyns

An argument against extreme wealth.

Ingrid Robeyns is a Dutch and Belgian (she holds dual citizenship) philosopher and economist. In her book Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth, she suggests a wealth limit that no citizen should cross. For Robeyns, that figure should be around 10 million dollars. There are many reasons why wealth should be limited, beyond the very obvious one that greed is not good. Extreme wealth has multiple negative effects, ones we often don’t think of. It has a corrosive effect on public policy (the rich have an undue influence on law making), is bad for the environment (promoting rampant consumption) and weakens democracy.  Interestingly, even  the wealthy don’t enjoy their good fortune. They suffer feelings of guilt, associate only with other rich people, are socially isolated and stressed trying to maintain their fortunes. The irony of extreme wealth is that beyond a certain point, money becomes useless. You can’t spend billions of dollars, only show your bank balance to other billionaires.

Written in a plain, easy to understand style, Limitarianism mixes ethics and economics into a convincing argument on why limiting wealth is critical for the health of society and the world. 

Limitarianism, by Ingrid Robeyns. Published by Allen Lane. $55

JUN24

Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo

A joyous children's novel of bustling family life.

The Wilkey family are a bustling clan with plenty to keep them busy. Ferris (so-named because she was born beneath a ferris wheel), whose main fault is that she tries too hard to please others, is dealing with life at a transitional phase, just before entering fifth grade. Her grandmother, Charisse, who lives with the family, keeps seeing a ghost. She has some health issues and the ghostly visions could mean something darker, perhaps a summons from the world beyond. In other family developments Uncle Ted has left his wife and taken to the Wilkey family’s basement, to pursue his work as an artist. Then there is the youngest member of the Wilkey brood, six-year-old Pinky, who runs around terrorising people in a black cape, announcing she has become an outlaw.  

Award winning children’s author Kate DeCamillo’s latest novel is a sheer delight. She perfectly captures the dynamics of chaotic yet joyful family life, with extended family members living under the one roof. The comic scenarios involving Pinky are laugh-out-loud good and the close friendship between Ferris and young pianist Billy Jackson is especially sweet. A feelgood book that also deals with serious issues of grief and mortality. 

Ages 9-12

Ferris, by Kate DiCamillo. Walker Books. $19.99

JUN24

James, by Percival Everett

A famous literary character tells his own story. ​

It’s 1861 and Jim, an enslaved Black man in America’s deep south, finds out he’s to be sold. The news is terrifying. It means most likely he’ll end up with a sadistic owner fond of viciously beating his “property”, but worst of all, it means he will be forever separated from his wife Sadie and daughter Lizzie. His only hope is to find freedom in a northern state and make enough money to buy his wife and child. He promptly runs away, knowing all the time that capture would most certainly mean death, a grisly one, perhaps involving lynching. 

Jim’s young white friend, Huckleberry Finn, it turns out has run away too - he has a violent father - and the two take a raft and try to make their way to the northern states along the Mississippi River. They experience many adventures along the way - often terrifying for Jim, who cannot be seen in public without a white “owner”, a role Huckleberry occasionally fills. Often the scrapes Jim and Huck find themselves in are beyond surreal, like when Jim is asked to sing in a minstrel group. He must play a white man, pretending to be black. Finally Jim’s wanted status catches up with him, and in desperation he must use his wits to foment rebellion on a “breeding” farm - a place where enslaved Blacks are forced to reproduce. 

James is Percival Everett’s reimagining of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, this time from the enslaved Jim’s perspective. Indeed, the book is written in his highly engaging, idiosyncratic  voice. Language, we learn early on, is important. Jim speaks in two voices - an enslaved voice, one he puts on for whites. They expect stupidity, obedience and submissiveness. In this perverse masquerade, the enslaved must not appear intelligent or perceptive, as it would threaten the white status quo. Jim’s other voice is his real one, the one he uses with fellow enslaved Blacks, and in imaginary conversations with famous philosophers. In this real language, Jim prefers to be addressed by the more dignified “James”. Language shows how the enslaved must be careful with their words, maintaining the illusion of wilful subservience. But James can read and write, skills he must keep secret.

Percival Everett has managed to create both an entertaining and instructive novel about the brutality and depravity of the slave trade in 19th century America. He cleverly balances comic episodes and delusional white characters against a background of  brutal racism and pervasive violence. A brilliant accomplishment. 

James, by Percival Everett. Published by Mantle. $34.99

JUN24

The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, by Joseph Stiglitz

The esteemed economist and public policy analyst Joseph Stiglitz argues that we need rules and regulations in order to maximise freedom for all. 

Joseph Stiglitz, if he needs any introduction, is an American economist whose work mainly concentrates on bringing more fairness and equity to modern economies. The title of his latest book, The Road to Freedom, is a play on Friedrich Hayek’s hugely influential The Road to Serfdom (1944), which argued in favour of free markets and individual liberty. 

It was Hayek and American economist Milton Friedman who ushered in the age of neoliberalism, an economic philosophy (critics would say dogma) of no holds barred capitalism. Formidable politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan gave these ideas flesh and bone, implementing neoliberal policies. 

In The Road to Freedom, Stiglitz argues that unfettered freedom is a myth. One person’s liberty  impacts on the freedom of others. We need regulation and government intervention to ensure the utmost freedom for all, so wealth does not become too concentrated and the poorer in society not exploited. One of the basic premises of neoliberalism is that markets work with crystal clear transparency, a perfectly level playing field. But Stiglitz argues there are multiple power imbalances that corrupt outcomes and work towards consolidating wealth in the hands of the few. 

While The Road to Freedom is ostensibly a book on economics, it also deals with other interesting areas, such as how belief systems are formed and the internet’s ability to reinforce and entrench false narratives. This is a work of philosophy as much as it is one of economics. 

Impassioned, urgent and written in Stiglitz’s usual accessible style, The Road to Freedom explains why we cannot continue under the current system of extreme wealth to individuals and excessive power to corporations. A must read for all students of economics and politics.  

The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, by Joseph Stiglitz. Published by Allen Lane. $36.99

JUN24