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Absolutely Revolting

May 1999, no. 210

Welcome to the May 1999 issue of Australian Book Review. 

Dorothy Hewett reviews The Hanging of Jean Lee by Jordie Albiston
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Contents Category: Verse Novel
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The Hanging of Jean Lee is the third verse novel I have reviewed recently, except that this one is closer to the verse documentary.
Book 1 Title: The Hanging of Jean Lee
Book Author: Jordie Albiston
Book 1 Biblio: Black Pepper, $19.95 pb, 75 pp
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The Hanging of Jean Lee is the third verse novel I have reviewed recently, except that this one is closer to the verse documentary.

As one might expect, it is a grim, tough story of the deterioration of a young woman’s life and its brutal end. It is divided into four sections with deliberately cold-hearted titles, Personal Pages, Entertainment Section, Crime Supplement and Death Notices. The Hanging of Jean Lee is economically and imaginatively conceived with a strong narrative drive. In a series of short connected poems, Jordie Albiston has made a heart-breaker out of her material, ringing the verse changes, using rhyme and blank verse in short chopped lines, colloquial language, reportage, and newspaper headlines with considerable skill.

Read more: Dorothy Hewett reviews 'The Hanging of Jean Lee' by Jordie Albiston

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Stephen Matthews reviews Strange Journeys: The works of Gary Crew by Bernard McKenna and Sharyn Pearce
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Contents Category: Commentary
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All too few books about Australian children’s writers and writing manage to find a publisher. They’re unlikely to sell enough copies, is the standard explanation. All the more reason, therefore, to welcome an even greater rarity – a book which focuses on the work of a single writer. Even if Gary Crew might not necessarily be everyone’s first choice as the subject of such a volume, all those interested in Australian children’s literature will hope that Strange Journeys meets with a success which will encourage the publication of similar analyses of other contemporary writers’ work.
Book 1 Title: Strange Journeys
Book 1 Subtitle: The works of Gary Crew
Book Author: Bernard McKenna and Sharyn Pearce
Book 1 Biblio: Hodder & Stoughton, $29.95 pb, 240 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Author
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All too few books about Australian children’s writers and writing manage to find a publisher. They’re unlikely to sell enough copies, is the standard explanation. All the more reason, therefore, to welcome an even greater rarity – a book which focuses on the work of a single writer. Even if Gary Crew might not necessarily be everyone’s first choice as the subject of such a volume, all those interested in Australian children’s literature will hope that Strange Journeys meets with a success which will encourage the publication of similar analyses of other contemporary writers’ work.

Unfortunately, the book’s success is not a certainty, for it’s far from being an ideal example of its kind. It suffers too much from the declared closeness of its authors to their subject, approaching in the introduction the reverent tone of a publicist’s blurb. Things improve when the authors explore the religious (specifically Christadelphian) underpinnings of Crew’s work and build some understanding of how his experience in the small sect gave him an awareness of being separate, other, outside – a recurring theme in his books.

Read more: Stephen Matthews reviews 'Strange Journeys: The works of Gary Crew' by Bernard McKenna and Sharyn...

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David McCooey reviews The Queen of Bohemia: The Autobiography of Dulcie Deamer by Dulcie Deamer and An Incidental Memoir by Robin Dalton
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Contents Category: Biography
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It’s interesting how many comic autobiographers are theatrical, like Barry Humphries, Clive James, Hal Porter, and Robin Eakin, whose Aunts up the Cross (1965) is a minor masterpiece and very funny. Eakin’s belated follow-up, An Incidental Memoir, published under her married name of Dalton, compares interestingly with Dulcie Deamer’s posthumously published The Queen of Bohemia.
Book 1 Title: The Queen of Bohemia
Book 1 Subtitle: The autobiography of Dulcie Deamer
Book Author: Dulcie Deamer
Book 1 Biblio: UQP $29.95 pb, 239 pp
Book 1 Author Type: Author
Book 2 Title: An Incidental Memoir
Book 2 Author: Robin Dalton
Book 2 Biblio: Viking, $29.95 hb, 368 pp
Book 2 Author Type: Author
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Book 2 Cover Path (no longer required): images/ABR_Digitising_2021/Apr_2021/An Incidental Memoir.jpg
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It’s interesting how many comic autobiographers are theatrical, like Barry Humphries, Clive James, Hal Porter, and Robin Eakin, whose Aunts up the Cross (1965) is a minor masterpiece and very funny. Eakin’s belated follow-up, An Incidental Memoir, published under her married name of Dalton, compares interestingly with Dulcie Deamer’s posthumously published The Queen of Bohemia.

Read more: David McCooey reviews 'The Queen of Bohemia: The Autobiography of Dulcie Deamer' by Dulcie Deamer...

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J.R. Carroll reviews The Dragon Man by Garry Disher and Black Tide by Peter Temple
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Contents Category: Fiction
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Over the years, Garry Disher has made his considerable reputation as a crime novelist on the strength of his taciturn, emotionless, lone wolf criminal, Wyatt. It seems Wyatt has taken some sabbatical, or maybe he’s just lying low, planning his next heist, because The Dragon Man showcases all new characters in a new setting. Instead of a gritty, underworld perspective we have a law-enforcement point of view, mainly per medium of Inspector Hal Challis, whose beat is the Mornington Peninsula beachside area outside Melbourne.
Book 1 Title: The Dragon Man
Book Author: Garry Disher
Book 1 Biblio: Allen & Unwin, $22.95 pb, 238 pp
Book 2 Title: Black Tide
Book 2 Author: Peter Temple
Book 2 Biblio: Bantam, $22.95 pb, 311 pp
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Book 2 Cover Path (no longer required): images/1_SocialMedia/2021/June_2021/485995.jpg
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Over the years, Garry Disher has made his considerable reputation as a crime novelist on the strength of his taciturn, emotionless, lone wolf criminal, Wyatt. It seems Wyatt has taken some sabbatical, or maybe he’s just lying low, planning his next heist, because The Dragon Man showcases all new characters in a new setting. Instead of a gritty, underworld perspective we have a law-enforcement point of view, mainly per medium of Inspector Hal Challis, whose beat is the Mornington Peninsula beachside area outside Melbourne.

Read more: J.R. Carroll reviews 'The Dragon Man' by Garry Disher and 'Black Tide' by Peter Temple

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Free Article: No
Contents Category: Advances
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Recently I have had a number of enquiries from readers who want to submit books for review hand the enquiries came from people unfamiliar with the reviewing process. So for those readers who are unfamiliar with the reviewing process, a few words about it.
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Recently I have had a number of enquiries from readers who want to submit books for review hand the enquiries came from people unfamiliar with the reviewing process. So for those readers who are unfamiliar with the reviewing process, a few words about it.

First the publishers send us copies of their books in the hope that they will be selected for review. That applies also to self-published books. It is essential that first the book be sent to ABR, so it can be assessed in relation to all the other books we have received. And we receive many. Last year some 7,000 books were published, an average of 700 per issue of ABR – and I am referring only to Australian titles, since ABR only reviews Australian books or books with some Australian connection.

Read more: 'Editorial' by Helen Daniel

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