Book Bites February 2012

Burwood Scene journalist, Mitchell Jordan, reviews the latest books to make their way on to the shelves.

With My Body

By Nikki Gemmell

No one will ever forget the controversy that erupted when Nikki Gemmell anonymously published her erotic novel, The Bride Stripped Bare. Now, she’s back with a follow up featuring another isolated Australian house wife lonely in England who is haunted by an adolescent affair with a reclusive writer who taught her about love and desire. While it’s nowhere near as explosive or powerful as its predecessor, Gemmell’s writing is beautiful, daring and thought-provoking.

 

The Marriage Plot

By Jeffrey Eugenides

There’s no polite way to hide the disappointment this writer felt when reading this book. Eugenides has always been a favourite of mine: both The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex were compulsively readable, but the tale of three unlikeable college students in 1980s America is far from compelling and will likely isolate many with its plethora of literary theory and names-dropping that left me struggling to continue reading. In a word: polarising.

 

All That I Am

By Anna Funder

Based on real events, Anna Funder’s fictional debut touches on similar material to her first book, Stasiland. This is the story of Ruth Blatt, who resisted Germany’s Nazi movement and, decades later, is living in eastern suburbs Sydney. When Ruth one day receives a notebook in the post, her memories of this chilling time in history come flooding back. Funder proves herself capable of producing a gripping story, but what would be really interesting is if she were to next tackle entirely different subject matter.