Two reviews for Non-Fiction Novella Week!
300 Arguments by Sarah Manguso for #NovNov
Nonfiction November: Week 2 – Book Pairings
Sunday Praise: What’s Made Me Happy This Week?
Six Degrees of Separation: The Novella Edition!
No 459 Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson may be the perfect novella. It may even, for me, be the perfect book. It is epic yet small, and contains the multitudes of life within a little over 100 pages. The economy of language on display is paired with a surfeit of emotion, giving this slim book the heft…
No 460 Mostly Hero by Anna Burns #NovNov
Calling Mostly Hero a novella might be pushing my luck slightly. A long short story maybe? No matter how you categorise it though, Mostly Hero is an amusing and unexpected romp through the world of superheroes as depicted by the unique voice of Booker Prize-winner Anna Burns. Published as an e-book before the publication (and…
No 461 The Spare Room by Helen Garner
On the surface, Helen Garner’s sharp and insightful novella The Spare Room, is a relatively straightforward tale of friendship under duress. Nicola has stage-four bowel cancer and has decided to abandon traditional treatments in favour of a punishing alternative regime. She is coming to Melbourne to attend the Theodore Institue for a three-week course of…
No 461 Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
I am kicking off Contemporary Novellas week with a little known surrealist gem that explores the relationship between a lonely housewife and an amphibious humanoid sea creature named Larry. Yep, you did read that right but please trust me! Mrs. Caliban is, afirst and foremost, a romance. Dorothy is a depressed and trapped housewife whose…
