The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood :: Review

The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
Publisher: Europa Editions. June 28, 2016.
Pages: 230
Genre: Literary
Source: Publisher



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Drugged, dressed in old-fashioned rags, and fiending for a cigarette, Yolanda wakes up in a barren room. Verla, a young woman who seems vaguely familiar, sits nearby. Down a hallway echoing loudly with the voices of mysterious men, in a stark compound deep in the Australian outback, other captive women are just coming to. Starved, sedated, the girls can't be sure of anything—except the painful episodes in their pasts that link them.

Charlotte Wood depicts a world where a woman's sexuality has become a weapon turned against her. The characters, each marked by their own public scandal, are silenced and shackled by a cruel system of corporate control and misogyny. In a Kafkaesque drag of days marked only by the increasing strangeness of their predicament, the fraught, surreal, and fierce reality of inhabiting a female body becomes frighteningly vivid.-Goodreads

I went into this book completely expecting to love it. It won the 2016 Stella Prize, a prize for Australian fiction & non-fiction written by women. I was more than ready to be blown away. So many people I trust rated this 4 to 5 stars. And, let's be real, it's completely in my wheelhouse. The best way I've heard it described is as "feminist horror." Women who have been involved in sexual scandals (mistresses, rape victims, etc.) are gathered up and taken to a range in the middle of nowhere where they're treated like animals basically. I'm so there for feminist allegory. I'm not squeamish about graphic stuff. And, still, this book did not completely work for me.

Wood's writing is quite good. I loved any description of the outback of Australia. But no matter how much I wanted to love this story, I felt like I was often pushing to continue it. It didn't feel especially compelling to me. And then there was the ending. I won't go into details, but I will just say that I'm totally fine with open endings! I don't need all the questions answered. But the whole time I was reading, I was waiting for a real wow moment that would turn it into a 5 star read for me and it never happened. Even if a novel is full of rich, important metaphors, it's still crucial to have a solid story that carries those metaphors. A story that keeps the reader reading and gives the metaphors context. The mystery about what exactly was going on was completely intriguing! But I didn't get the payoff I expected after all the build up. It's difficult to leave everything open and also be a metaphor heavy novel, because the points you're trying to make won't have enough support to leave a lasting impression on the reader. Surely, one of the main points made at the very end about what happens to the women involved in these events is important, but it wasn't a new idea for me. It was very much something I had thought about before. So if that was where the wow was, it didn't affect me in a strong way. Maybe it will for other readers.

Would it be said they were abandoned or taken, the way people said a girl was attacked, a woman was raped, this femaleness always at the center, as if womanhood itself were the cause of these things? As if the girls somehow, through the natural way of things, did it to themselves.

There are so many good moments in this book. I will never hear Adele's Rolling in the Deep and not think of this book. I'll also never see rabbits the same way again. A couple times, I was very very tense. The women in this book face a lot of depravity that might be hard for some to read. There aren't any graphic depictions of rape, though, so that's good! It's just sort of mentioned in passing a couple times. It was definitely less graphic of a book than I thought it would be going in, which was a nice surprise.

I'm glad that this book was written. There's a lot of anger to be had about the patriarchy and I'm glad we're having it openly. I'm glad a talented author like Charlotte Wood is getting readers. This is a way to create change. There was just a little too much hype for me with this book, and it fell a little flat. I still applaud Charlotte Wood and hope to read more of her novels in the future.

'What about this!' From Lydia: the Pavilion at Maroubra on a hot day, watching the surfers moving across that rich greeny ocean, a Skinny Dip in your hand, and a huge plate of fish and chips.
They groaned. Hot chips.
'And a hot guy!' yelled Barbs.
They murmured again, out of politeness, but it was the chips that stayed in the mind.

Thrifty Saturday #2: Oyster & Chorus of Mushrooms

Ok, so obviously this is supposed to be Thrifty Thursday, because Thrifty Saturday doesn't sound nearly as good. But I've been absent for almost a week and I missed Thursday, so here I am doing what I want. I swear I'm still reading and stuff. It's just really hard to get a moment to myself when a bunch of people are living in my apartment and I have to entertain them. I will be a solitary creature again on Tuesday, thank god.

Thrifty Thursday is a meme started by my friend Sal over at Motion Sick Lit, which is a phenomenal book blog.

The idea of Thrifty Thursday: each week you link up a used book you get for (preferably) under $5. Grabbing a book you've never heard of is encouraged. It's a cool way to support local shops and maybe find a new favorite book. Since I love judging books by their covers, this is just the activity for me.


THE BOOKSTORE: Myopic Books

If you live in Chicago, you're probably well aware of Myopic Books in Wicker Park. It's an absolutely enormous used bookstore with winding shelves and three floors. And they're open until 11pm every night, so it's kind of catered to my lifestyle. It's so much fun to get lost in, and there are a bunch of great stores, restaurants, and bars nearby.

Normally when I go into used bookstores, I kind of have a list of books in my head that I'm looking for. This time, I wasn't really finding anything. So I just grabbed two books based on their names and covers. I have never ever heard of either of these books. And they ended up being perfect for me (as far as I can tell based on the descriptions and reviews on goodreads). I need to do this more often.


THE BOOK(s): 

Oyster by Janette Turner Hospital 

Outer Maroo, a small, opal mining town in the Australian outback, is stewing in heat, drought, and guilty anxiety. Some ghastly cataclysm has occurred on the opal fields, but this is a taboo subject. At the heart of the mystery is the cult messiah, Oyster, dressed in white, sexually compelling, and preaching the end of time.

Small town! Harsh Australian outback! Cult! An ideal trifecta, honestly. According to the goodreads reviews that I skimmed, the writing is beautiful and it gets really dark. I want to start this one RIGHT NOW.

Chorus of Mushrooms by Hiromi Goto

"Chorus of Mushrooms" heralds the debut of a young Japanese Canadian feminist, Hiromi Goto. Until the publication of "Chorus of Mushrooms" in 1994, the primary voice heard from Japanese Canadians was that of the people interned during World War II. Hiromi Goto examines the immigration experience of the Japanese Canadian beyond war and into present day Alberta. Celebrating cultural differences as a privilege, Chorus of Mushrooms explores the shifts and collisions of culture through the lives of three generations of women in a Japanese family living in a small prairie town.

You had me at "Japanese Canadian feminist." I grabbed this one solely for the title, and that was a good choice. Apparently the protagonist is absolutely amazing. And the writing is lyrical. So I'm very excited.

TOTAL PRICE: $15

Not the least expensive, but I do what I want.

Thanks for hosting this, Sal!


What cheap books have you picked up recently? Tell me about your favorite used bookstore!

8 Books by Female Australian Authors to Try

I'm not normally a person who pays attention to awards, but I just found out about the Stella Prize. This is an award for books by female Australian writers of fiction and nonfiction, and it seems SO GREAT. All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld was on the shortlist this past year, so I'm in. And the only reason that isn't on my list is because I'm going to post a review of it within a week!

I don't know what it is about Australia. I don't know that much about it historically or politically, but I'm trying to learn! The atmosphere of books set in Australia really appeals to me. So I went through all the nominees for this award and picked out some of the books that I really really want to check out.
Summaries from the publishers.

The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane
"Ruth is widowed, her sons are grown, and she lives in an isolated beach house outside of town. Her routines are few and small. One day a stranger arrives at her door, looking as if she has been blown in from the sea. This woman—Frida—claims to be a care worker sent by the government. Ruth lets her in.
     Now that Frida is in her house, is Ruth right to fear the tiger she hears on the prowl at night, far from its jungle habitat? Why do memories of childhood in Fiji press upon her with increasing urgency? How far can she trust this mysterious woman, Frida, who seems to carry with her her own troubled past? And how far can Ruth trust herself?"

Boy, Lost by Kristina Olsson

"Kristina Olsson’s mother lost her infant son, Peter,when he was snatched from her arms as she boarded a train in the hot summer of 1950. She was young and frightened, trying to escape a brutal marriage, but despite the violence and cruelty she’d endured, she was not prepared for this final blow, this breathtaking punishment. Yvonne would not see her son again for nearly 40 years.

Kristina was the first child of her mother’s subsequent, much gentler marriage and, like her siblings, grew up unaware of the reasons behind her mother’s sorrow, though Peter’s absence resounded through the family, marking each one. Yvonne dreamt of her son by day and by night, while Peter grew up a thousand miles and a lifetime away, dreaming of his missing mother."

 

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
I know everybody already raved about this two years ago, but this is my first time looking into it! Something about the cover .
"Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard."

 

Heat and Light by Ellen Van Neerven
"In this award-winning work of fiction, Ellen van Neerven takes her readers on a journey that is mythical, mystical and still achingly real.

Over three parts, she takes traditional storytelling and gives it a unique, contemporary twist. In ‘Heat’, we meet several generations of the Kresinger family and the legacy left by the mysterious Pearl. In ‘Water’, a futuristic world is imagined and the fate of a people threatened. In ‘Light’, familial ties are challenged and characters are caught between a desire for freedom and a sense of belonging."




 

In My Mother's Hands by Biff Ward
"There are secrets in this family. Before Biff and her younger brother, Mark, there was baby Alison, who drowned in her bath because, it was said, her mother was distracted. Biff too, lives in fear of her mother's irrational behaviour and paranoia, and she is always on guard and fears for the safety of her brother. As Biff grows into teenage hood, there develops a conspiratorial relationship between her and her father, who is a famous and gregarious man, trying to keep his wife's problems a family secret. This was a time when the insane were committed and locked up in Dickensian institutions; whatever his problems her father was desperate to save his wife from that fate. But also to protect his children from the effects of living with a tragically disturbed mother."

The Swan Book by Alexis Wright
This one might be TOO weird for me, but I'm very interested in a story about Aboriginals.
"The Swan Book is set in the future, with Aboriginals still living under the Intervention in the north, in an environment fundamentally altered by climate change. It follows the life of a mute young woman called Oblivia, the victim of gang-rape by petrol-sniffing youths, from the displaced community where she lives in a hulk, in a swamp filled with rusting boats, and thousands of black swans, to her marriage to Warren Finch, the first Aboriginal president of Australia, and her elevation to the position of First Lady, confined to a tower in a flooded and lawless southern city. The Swan Book has all the qualities which made Wright’s previous novel, Carpentaria, a prize-winning best-seller. It offers an intimate awareness of the realities facing Aboriginal people; the energy and humour in her writing finds hope in the bleakest situations; and the remarkable combination of storytelling elements, drawn from myth and legend and fairy tale, has Oblivia Ethylene in the company of amazing characters like Aunty Bella Donna of the Champions, the Harbour Master, Big Red and the Mechanic, a talking monkey called Rigoletto, three genies with doctorates, and throughout, the guiding presence of swans." 

 

This House of Grief by Helen Garner
I'll give true crime another chance for this!
"On the evening of 4 September 2005, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother when his car plunged into a dam. The boys, aged ten, seven, and two, drowned. Was this an act of deliberate revenge or a tragic accident? The court case became Helen Garner's obsession. She was in the courtroom every day of Farquharson's trial and subsequent retrial, along with countless journalists and the families of both the accused and his former wife.

In this utterly compelling book, Helen Garner tells the story of a man and his broken life. At its core is a search for truth that takes author and reader through complex psychological terrain. Garner exposes, with great compassion, that truth and justice are as complex as human frailty and morality."

 

The Sunlit Zone by Lisa Jacobson
"The Sunlit Zone is a moving elegy of love and loss, admirable for its narrative sweep and the family dynamic that drives it. A risk-taking work of rare, imaginative power. The Sunlit Zone combines the narrative drive of the novel with the perfect pitch of true poetry. A darkly futuristic vision shot through with bolts of light. Brilliant, poignant, disconcerting. - Adrian Hyland, author of Kinglake 350 and Diamond Dove 
This novel in verse, at once magical and irresistible, draws us in to a vivid future. In Lisa Jacobson's telling, the Australian fascination with salt water and sea change is made over anew. Romance holds hands with science and takes to the ocean. - Chris Wallace-Crabbe, author of The Domestic Sublime and By and Large."

What do you think of these Australian books? What sounds good to you?