Book Reviews
In April 2015, I answered a tweet from Writing NSW (formerly the NSW Writers’ Centre) seeking interest from potential book reviewers. I soon found I enjoyed the review process because it made me think about books from different angles:
- Firstly, there’s me as a reader: What did I get from the book, and would I recommend reading it to others?
- Next, for those who will read my review: What can I tell them about the book to entice them to read it without spoiling their enjoyment?
- And finally, the writer: What was their goal in writing the book, and how did they set about achieving it?
I still like reading and reviewing books and have shared these on Tall And True, an online showcase and forum for writers, readers and publishers.
Selection of Book Reviews
The following is a selection of my book reviews. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. You can find more of my books, films and music reviews on Tall And True.
A ROMAN DEATH BY JOAN O’HAGAN
This ancient-world whodunnit is set in 45 BC. Julius Caesar is at the height of his power, yet the Ides of March looms, and Rome will soon descend into turmoil. For now, the Roman elite live a pampered existence, attended to by slaves, while plotting how to increase their wealth and standing.
DRAGONFISH BY VU TRAN
Vu Tran’s debut novel opens with a letter from a mother to her daughter, with whom she has lost contact. She recounts their escape from Vietnam in an overcrowded boat and confesses she had not wanted to leave behind her homeland and husband, and that she blamed her daughter for having done so.
DYSCHRONIA BY JENNIFER MILLS
Jennifer Mills sets her novel, Dyschronia, in the run-down coastal town of Clapstone. The townsfolk view Sam as their oracle and depend upon her visions. And yet a great catastrophe has occurred, seemingly taking with it Clapstone’s last hope for renewal. So why didn’t Sam warn the town?
SEEING THE ELEPHANT BY PORTLAND JONES
Portland Jones’ debut novel is set in 1962, when a small contingent of Australian soldiers, the AATTV, was sent to Vietnam under the leadership of the CIA to help the Americans train South Vietnamese soldiers and villagers to fight the North Vietnamese Communists and Viet Cong insurgents.
SWEETIES BY LEON SILVER
One “ordinary Monday morning” an image invades Abel Marvin’s thoughts as he swims his laps: the “twisted, burned-out hulk of a wheelchair with two welded, gaping red and black skeletons”. It’s a scene that’s haunted Abel for most of his adult life and he buries his face in the water to drown it.
THE BETTER SON BY KATHERINE JOHNSON
In the summer of 1952, Kip and his older brother, Tommy, find the entrance to a cave hidden in the hills above the family farm in the central north of Tasmania. It is now 2002, and middle-aged Kip has returned to the Mole Creek cave from where he ran back to the farm fifty years ago without Tommy.
THE MECHANIC BY ALAN GOLD
Chasca Broderick has rushed home from her work with the War Crimes Tribunal in Sarajevo to attend her grandfather’s funeral. Theodore Broderick had been a lawyer, an eminent legal academic, an adviser to presidents, a Supreme Court Justice, and a defence attorney at the Nuremberg Trials.
TO THE ISLANDS BY RANDOLPH STOW
Patrick White won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award in 1957 for Voss. A year later, Randolph Stow won for To the Islands. He was only 22-years-old but had already published two novels, A Haunted Land (1956) and The Bystander (1957) and a collection of award-winning poems, Act One (1957).
About RobertFairhead.com
Welcome to the blog posts and selected writing of Robert Fairhead. A writer and editor at the Tall And True writers' website, Robert also writes and narrates episodes for the Tall And True Short Reads storytelling podcast. In addition, his book reviews and other writing have appeared in print and online media, and he's published several collections of short stories. Please contact Robert for further details.
