![]() ![]() I would also hazard a guess that for both genders, disarray means normal limits of behaviour crumble and people often do things they wouldn’t if their life was in a more settled phase. Men are expected to behave in this manner more often than women, even when there’s a strong imperative to remain loyal to the family. I guess when you present a young woman being driven by physical wants and desires, it is kind of brave. Did it require bravery to make your central character so morally complex? Do you think the complexity of her behaviour reflects the way life often unfolds, particularly in times of crisis? Early readers Steven Amsterdam and Carmel Bird have used the word ‘uncompromising’ to describe the book. Your narrator is often unsympathetic (for example, in the way she conducts her extra-marital affairs before she leaves her husband, who she admits is basically a nice guy). Descriptions of it are, of course, guided by the narrator’s mood, her thoughts it’s seen through her eyes, so to speak. In This Too Shall Pass, place is a reality, sometimes harsh and sometimes not. But there’s also no doubt it helps me to envisage a scene. It could be because I find it more straightforward to put on paper. Place has been central to me as a writer – perhaps before anything else. ![]() This novel is so firmly rooted in Melbourne and surrounds, with your descriptions of judgemental hippie rural towns, disengaged urban commuters, and details like St Kilda’s date palms, trams and cafes. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |