#Novel Dymphna Cusack
The Blue Mountains, Australia
OCTOBER
Finish date: 13 October 2022
Genre: novel (258 pg)
Rating: B
Review: Say No to Death (ISBN: 9781743315378)
Good news: This is NOT a book that I would select but it has been on my Kindle for three years!
I keep avoiding it because I know it will be…very sad, a tragic romance, a terminal illness…in short a tear-jerker. But compliments to Ms Cusack who keep the narrative readable without sinking into melodrama.
Good news: Dymphma Cusack has managed to create the right tone so I could at least finish the book. The author kept the book observational, removed, and calm. It was NOT emotionally exhausting but rather touching, heart wrenching.
Good news: Sad as the book was…it did show the reader what a person with tuberculosis goes through. …how quickly this disease can spread and what the treatment was like in 1950s Australia.
Personal: Glad I finished the book and kept my emotions intact. Would I read another Ms Cusack book? Probably yes…her descriptions of the Australian landscape, the Blue Mountains and Forty Baskets Beach near Sydney were beautiful.
Feedback: comment by Brona @bronasbooks:
Brona, I’m not drawn to romance in fiction very often….but Dymphna’s writing style was addictive. She kept the chapters short…let the main characters (Jan and Bart) evolve from starstruck lovers to people who have learned that very best thing in the world is loving someone so much that you would give your life for them. Someone whose happiness means more to you than your own happiness. Someone who depends on you… someone on whom you can depend. News flash…I like this book better than several Thea Astley’s book!!
NancyElin.blog 
I learnt a lot from this Nancy. I didn’t know that a TB sanatorium existed in the Blue Mountains – a quick google revealed that one did indeed exist on the outskirts of Wentworth Falls – The Queen Victoria Sanatorium. It would have been a pretty remote destination back in the day.
I wasn’t sure about 40 Baskets Beach either, but when I checked I realised I would have walked along it back in 1996 when I treked the Manly to Spit coastal walk. It’s a 10km walk well worth the effort, but I’ve only ever done it the once! And 40 Basket Beach was pretty small and towards the end of the walk…and I don’t remember it at all.
You’ve made me very curious about this book now….thanks :-)
Brona, I’m not drawn to romance in fiction very often….but Dymphna’s writing style was addictive. She kept the chapters short…let the main characters (Jan and Bart) evolve from starstruck lovers to people who have learned that very best thing in the world is loving someone so much that you would give your life for them. Someone whose happiness means more to you than your own happiness. Someone who depends on you… someone on whom you can depend. News flash…I liked this book better than several of Thea Astley’s novels!!