Reading Madame Bovary

Amanda Lohrey,Amanda Lohrey

Reading Madame Bovary
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Black Inc.
Country
Australia
Published
30 August 2010
Pages
288
ISBN
9781863954907

Reading Madame Bovary

Amanda Lohrey,Amanda Lohrey

From one of Australia’s leading short-fiction writers comes a thrilling collection of stories that deal with transition and transformation.
A woman finds her everyday world engulfed by vivid fantasies, a businessman finds a new way to deal with his rage, a couple contemplate the best way to educate their children, a young woman finds herself on a boat with a bunch of delinquent schoolkids, a diary is dicovered, a commune goes wrong.
In these riveting stories, characters deal with crises of body and spirit. They find themselves ccaught between order and chaos, and must face the need to change or be trapped. Shot through with serene intelligence and a keen eye for character, these tales enlighten and entertain in equal measure.

Review

I was blown away by Amanda Lohrey’s novella of 2008, Vertigo, and finished this first collection of stories wishing for a volume of novellas. (Of course, there is her rich and satisfying backlist to consider if you’re new to her marvellous body of work.)

The beautifully pitched characters, perspectives and settings in Reading Madame Bovary are typically engaging. There’s an appealing range of scenarios on offer here, including a young Australian traveller looking after British schoolkids on a barge, a family of house-sitters in the Sydney hills, an academic drawn to a religious student’s sick mother and harassed corporate underlings seeking restoration. The most lacerating speaker in the book, a genial Sydney neurosurgeon, speaks to us in interview mode, providing an acerbic monologue which left me quaking: ‘Am I grateful to my father for talking me out of becoming a mathematician? Yeah, probably’ (‘The Existence of Other Men’). This follows ‘The Art of Convalescence’, an excursion into the very real terrors of tracking an ovary through the public hospital system, with the Sydney Piano Competition as a glittering soundtrack. As Kay remarks in the mesmerising ‘Primates’, Fluctuat nec mergitur: we are tossed by the waves but we do not sink. Come on in, this water is amazing.

This item is not currently in-stock. It can be ordered online and is expected to ship in 7-14 days

Our stock data is updated periodically, and availability may change throughout the day for in-demand items. Please call the relevant shop for the most current stock information. Prices are subject to change without notice.

Sign in or become a Readings Member to add this title to a wishlist.