A Writing Life Helen Garner and Her Work

• Author: B. Brennan
• Title: A Writing Life Helen Garner and Her Work
• Published: 2017
• Triva: Longlist Stella Prize 2018

• List of Challenges 2018
• Monthly reading plan
• #AWW2018  @AusWomenWriters

Conclusion:

1. Helen Garner writes fiction but has accrued
2. …quite a bit of attention with her non-fiction books:
3. Joe Cinque’s Consolation ( 2004) and
4. The House of Grief (2014).
5. She delves deeply into a crime, follows the
6. judicial process carefully, speaks to expert
7. psychologists/psychiatrists/doctors/pathologists and the family members.
8. It is an extraordinary way of writing.
9. She has to take care that
10. ..she is not “drawn into the darkness”
11. …of the subject she is writing about.
12. It has taken an emotional an
13. physical toll on Helen Garner.
14. I had my doubts on page 80.
15. I nearly abandoned this book. Why?
16. I knew nothing about Helen Garner.
17. I had difficultlygetting through her …early writing years ( Monkey Grip)
18. But I found the muscle to keep going after a slow start.
19. Once Helen Garner moved to non-fiction
20. …I was hooked while reading chapter 7.
21. Strong point:  Garner’s her ability to get into people’s heads.
22. Strong point: Garner operates as a filter for ideas.
23. Strong point: Garner presents the evidence of the crime
24. but into a form that builds the narrative tension.
25. Last thoughts:
26. The book is an impressive undertaking.
27. Bernadette Brennan did a stellar job.
28. The book deserved to be mentioned
29. …on the longlist for Stella Prize 2018.
30. I am only sorry the jury did
31. …not place it on the  Stella Prize shortlist.
32. But we all know...sometimes the real winners
33. …are on the long list!
34. You just have to look for them!