Pure comedy with intelligence, a thriller of sorts, twists and turns, megalomania and poignant sorrow, laugh out loud moments and the mental imagery is enough to curl any vegan tree-hugging bookaholic! I LOVE this novel!
My second time romp through the pages of this tome had me just as enthralled as the first time experience. It appeases the intellect's need for information and cognitive coherence, as much as it does the mystery behind the bizarre murders (the landfill manager buried in his own soiled dump, complete with dirty diaper in his mouth) and just how the whole sit com can resolve itself... vivisection, cross-species implants, environmental concerns, greed, revenge, the quest for immortal life, and so many more human conditions and issues are addressed through Bill's lighthearted yet twisted view on the world...
I can't forget Arty, the guy who severs his limbs for the insurance and sells his body organs for huge profit, reduced to just a torso being carted around in a backpack by his biker bud... and I will never shake the scrotal imagery evoked by the description of Mr Landis' testicles when he gets the third one implanted (courtesy of Arty.)
Read this novel - it's funny, thought provoking, and twisted! Highly entertaining escapism!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Dear Merilyn by Barbra Leslie
To say I have doubts I could do justice writing a review on this book is an understatement. The effects of the story within its pages lingers in the psyche, leaving me touched in such a deep way I am very tempted to track down the author and... hug her!
I really struggled writing this review. It took some deep thought and clarifying what meaning Barbra's journey has for me as an intrinsic part of "Dear Merilyn's" message. A deeply personal book, the courage this amazing woman has shown by being so frank is a gift of healing and insight for those who are devoured by it's story.
I was initially drawn in by the plethora of colour artwork scattered through the pages, from native landscapes to erotica to harsh depictions of domestic violence to the naiveties of youth.
A riveting, very real book chronicling the life journey of an incredible woman. Australian artist Barbra Leslie's forthright and frank, painful and exuberant, biography begins with the Ash Wednesday fires in 1980. A beginning of high emotion fraught with tension sets the stage for her journey fraught with highs and lows, pain and joy, light and shadows. As the native bush around Barbra regenerates, so too does she, as the writer reliving her experiences and healing her past.
I wonder if this book touched such chords within me as in many ways it reflected my own experiences, as well as the archetypal journey of artist, woman and survivor.
To intimately describe the contents of this book would really do it an injustice however some of the topics include child and sexual abuse, abortion, domestic violence, physical pain, the mother-daughter relationship, the concept of family, suicide and healing the past. Life's unpredictable tragedies are interspersed with golden sunlight catching the forms of eucalypti and sandy estuaries. Life is Art, in wholism.
"Dear Merilyn" is mostly written as a series of letters to Barbra's friend, and one also forms a relationship with her. It is 'what isn't said', 'what isn't told', that captures the mind and heart as much as what is said.
The book is raw, it is shocking, it is strength and vulnerability. It isn't a book of joy, however it is one of hope. Of victory. The feeling of finishing that last page leaves a lasting impression of familiarity, admiration, respect and deep affinity with the author. She surely brings you into the precious sanctums of her inner being, complete with fragile poppet.
Wherever Barbra Leslie is now, I surely know she is passionately exploring life as wholeheartedly and honestly as she can - hopefully with a glass of wine in hand, a sway to her hips, friends and family aplenty, and an eye on just how that flight of cockatoos paints its own unique calligraphy across the limitless horizon...
I really struggled writing this review. It took some deep thought and clarifying what meaning Barbra's journey has for me as an intrinsic part of "Dear Merilyn's" message. A deeply personal book, the courage this amazing woman has shown by being so frank is a gift of healing and insight for those who are devoured by it's story.
I was initially drawn in by the plethora of colour artwork scattered through the pages, from native landscapes to erotica to harsh depictions of domestic violence to the naiveties of youth.
A riveting, very real book chronicling the life journey of an incredible woman. Australian artist Barbra Leslie's forthright and frank, painful and exuberant, biography begins with the Ash Wednesday fires in 1980. A beginning of high emotion fraught with tension sets the stage for her journey fraught with highs and lows, pain and joy, light and shadows. As the native bush around Barbra regenerates, so too does she, as the writer reliving her experiences and healing her past.
I wonder if this book touched such chords within me as in many ways it reflected my own experiences, as well as the archetypal journey of artist, woman and survivor.
To intimately describe the contents of this book would really do it an injustice however some of the topics include child and sexual abuse, abortion, domestic violence, physical pain, the mother-daughter relationship, the concept of family, suicide and healing the past. Life's unpredictable tragedies are interspersed with golden sunlight catching the forms of eucalypti and sandy estuaries. Life is Art, in wholism.
"Dear Merilyn" is mostly written as a series of letters to Barbra's friend, and one also forms a relationship with her. It is 'what isn't said', 'what isn't told', that captures the mind and heart as much as what is said.
The book is raw, it is shocking, it is strength and vulnerability. It isn't a book of joy, however it is one of hope. Of victory. The feeling of finishing that last page leaves a lasting impression of familiarity, admiration, respect and deep affinity with the author. She surely brings you into the precious sanctums of her inner being, complete with fragile poppet.
Wherever Barbra Leslie is now, I surely know she is passionately exploring life as wholeheartedly and honestly as she can - hopefully with a glass of wine in hand, a sway to her hips, friends and family aplenty, and an eye on just how that flight of cockatoos paints its own unique calligraphy across the limitless horizon...
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