Beatrice Salvioni, The Cursed Friend

- This debut Italian novel is so good. We’re in Fascist Italy in the 1930’s, and no-one is resisting Mussolini. In fact they idolise him, treating him almost as a new Jesus. Italians at that time were hook, line and sinker into the Fascist regime. They particularly liked their colonial war against the rebellious Ethiopians in Africa. Young men were desperate to sign up and be sent to fight them.

- Except for two teenage girls, Maddalena and her new friend Francesca. From a very early age Maddalena is rebellious and strong. She hates the fascists and everything about Italian society at that time. She absolutely refuses to obey her teachers at school who demand the students stand and give the Fascist salute at the beginning of every lesson. Maddalena continues to sit. Eventually she is expelled. 

- The citizens of the small city of Monza in Northern Italy are so gullible. They’ll believe anything, follow anybody, desperately needing comfort. Mussolini provides it. And what is so appalling is the absolute obedience of the women to the dictates of the men. They must keep their place - the kitchen and the bed - and never express any political or social opinion that differs from their husbands or parents. Francesca's mother is abhorrent. She will tolerate no disobedience from her daughter, no matter how minor.

- However Francesca is inspired by Maddalena's intelligence and character, and she resents her own captivity. When Maddalena's brother is killed in Ethiopia, and when a violent young man from a rich family sexually abuses Francesca, they both commit to vengeance.   

- There are other young friends who side with them so the tensions in the town build to a climax. The resolution is very satisfactory.  

- Interestingly, The Prologue at the beginning of the novel is really the conclusion. What meant little when first read means so much more when re-read. 

(The title of the Italian version of the novel is La Malnata, literally meaning 'The Born Wrong'. It refers to Maddalena. The translator, Elena Pala, and her English publishers opted for ‘The Cursed Friend’. To me that just doesn't do it. It has no resonance or power at all. The English edition should be called Born Wrong) 

Dennis Glover, Repeat

 

- Historian Dennis Glover puts today’s deep political and social conflicts into a larger perspective.The book is concise, enlightening and detailed, particularly the first part which mainly summarises the two world wars of the 20th century and their sheer ugliness. 

- It’s so refreshing to be reminded of what happened politically, economically, and socially in the past, and whether there are similar problems and trends that are causing the same fissures today. Hitler and Stalin then - Putin and Trump now. How the West refused to step in to thwart the Fascist Franco in Spain in the 1930's, how the rise of Hitler was naively misunderstood, and how the abject evil of Stalin was tolerated.

- Glover writes well and very clearly. His macro vision of the last century is full of detail and the horrible statistics of death and destruction. He also examines the criticism and commentary at the time - Keynes valuable insights about the brutal impact on Germany of Versailles, which were ignored, and the insights of George Orwell, Christopher Isherwood and other writers who were also ignored. 

- The book is in two parts - the past and the present (Tragedy and Farce). The contest between elitism and populism has re-emerged. 

- The problem I have with Glover's thesis is his belief that the two periods are closely aligned. I find that debatable. Are the parallels really that close? The big difference is post-war American dominance and power. For example, he ignores Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, China, Iran. He does outline what is happening today in Israel and Palestine but offers no insights into the conflict's origins. 

- Neither does he delve into Ukraine's history and NATO's push eastward despite continual warnings about unnecessarily provoking Russia. His views are simple and without much subtlety. Many commentators think Ukraine should have long ago adopted a position of neutrality like Switzerland.

- So I'm in two minds about this short book, and I may be wrong. 

Hayley Scrivenor, Girl Falling

 

- This second novel from the author of the international bestseller Dirt Town is a riveting read.

- I polished it off in two days, despite having other things to do, because it sucked me in and demanded my attention, and I thought about it - the characters, the possible endings - during the night when I was trying to sleep!

- I can't do better than the back cover blurb to describe the basics of the novel:

Finn and her best friend, Daphne, have grown up together in the Blue Mountains. Bonded by both having lost a younger sister to suicide they've always had a close - sometimes too close - friendship. Now in their twenties, their lives have finally started to diverge: Daphne is at university and Finn is working in the Mountains, as well as falling in love with a beautiful newcomer called Magdu. 

Unused to sharing Finn, Daphne starts to act up in ways that will allow her to maintain the control over her best friend she's always relished. Then, one fateful day, Finn, Daphne and Magdu all go rock-climbing - and Magnu falls to her death. Is it suicide, or a terrible accident - or something more sinister?

Bold, dramatic and utterly compelling, Girl Falling forces us to confront the stories we tell ourselves about the people we love. Displaying all of Hayley Scrivenor's razor-sharp skills for character, landscape and narrative, this is a breathtaking read. 

- There is much more to the book than this brief description. It's a study of gay relationships, an analysis of narcissism, parental oversight, sibling rivalry, and the very elusive nature of frankness, truth and courage. Is suicide always the right word, for example, when 'accidental' may be more accurate? 

- Right to the last page I couldn't predict the ending. There were a number of realistic possibilities. That there says a lot about the high quality of this multi-layered, deep and insightful crime thriller. 

- Absolutely worth your time. 

Kevin Peoples, Killing TAFE

 

- The author of this very well-written little book is an old friend of mine from many years ago. We were students together for a few years at a Catholic seminary in the Blue Mountains. 

- The first half of the book is personal and unfortunately a bit lightweight. It tracks Kev's many jobs after he left school, his family and marriage, his university days, and his subsequent role as a TAFE teacher. He taught humanities. 

- The second half of the book though is excellent. The role of the TAFE system was being thoroughly undermined by the global ideology of Neoliberalism which was sweeping across the Western world in the 1980's and 90's. Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Paul Keating were enthusiasts. 

- TAFE was virtually privatised. Corporate interests dominated the revised curriculum and private providers set up their own operations. (None existed in 1989 but five years later there were around 1000). The whole sector was gutted. What these naive entities didn't comprehend was that the TAFE system, an educational sector, was not merely the handmaiden of industry. 'We were catering for community needs. Giving people second chances. Enabling individuals to change jobs. Providing work skills for individuals capped with qualifications - Certificates, Associate Diplomas and Diplomas - not available in schools or universities'. 

- A wide range of Studies were offered to individuals with no direct link to employers, eg. Child Care, Printing, Librarianship, Graphic Design, Interior Design, Tourism and Hospitality, Computing, Landscaping, Photography, Fashion, English, Numeracy, etc. 

- However Keating, despite the radical changes he initiated, at least wanted TAFE to do well. He continued to fund it generously. The new PM John Howard put an end to that. 'Whipping TAFE was the new political correctness'. The system suffered dramatically. Professional staff were often replaced by casuals, tutors, and teacher 'assistants'. 

- What's missing from Kev's reflections in this book is where are we now, in 2024. Although he retired at the end of 1997 an Afterword would have been fascinating. His perspective would be enlightening.  



- (A note to the publisher BookPOD: Recommended Retail Price (RRP) means the GST-inclusive price. It is absolutely illegal under Australian Consumer Law to list a retail price which is not inclusive of the 10% GST markup. So the price of this book is $27.50, not $25.00). 

Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie

 

- In this magnificent novel, published late last year, Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Melissa Lucashenko immerses us in the richness of Indigenous history and culture in Southeast Queensland. 

- The story is told from the perspective of the Indigenous people. It's an in-depth portrait of a family and their connections over generations, and how the English colonisers treated them with abject racism. It's a heartbreaking story, full of tragedy, courage, guts, and passion. There are murders, false arrests and abuse on all levels. 

- Thankfully there are some English men and women who are sympathetic and understanding, and who defend the Aboriginal people in their employ. They are rare. 

- The story bridges two time periods, 1854 and 2024. Young man Mulanyin falls in love with the beautiful Nita in the early colony in 1854 and they bear two children. In 2024 the young doctor Johnny is attracted to the fiery Indigenous activist Winona. Stringing the two periods together is Granny Eddie, a 103 year old fireball. There is a profound connection between them all which is revealed at the end.

- In the meantime Lucashenko amply shows her skill as a storyteller. The tale is riveting. And her dialogue is blisteringly good. She renders accents, both Indigenous and English, like no one else. She also delves deep into the social and cultural ways of the Indigenous mobs and how they were forced to cope with the entitled English colonisers. It's very enlightening indeed.

- (In the Author’s Notes at the end of the book she writes this: Goorie villages were repeatedly invaded during the Frontier Wars. The campaign of sustained attacks on Aboriginal civilians across the Australian continent from the late 1700s can only be viewed as constituting either war crimes, or as terrorism. The total numbers slaughtered are staggering. According to historian Professor Robert Orsted-Jensen, the death toll on the Queensland frontier alone rivals the total number of Australian soldiers killed in World War One). 

Ella Baxter, Woo Woo

 

- This is one of the best Australian novels I’ve read in a long time. It's a thrilling, exhilarating, powerful piece of work. The richness of Baxter's prose is astonishing. We’re immersed in the unsettling process of art creation, and the horror of exhibiting it. 

- Sabine is a 38 year old conceptual artist. ‘My personal style is playful, irreverent’ she reflects. She's preparing for an exhibition of her latest work, a series of photographs of herself and a short video. She’s full of the usual performance anxieties. That may be an understatement - she's actually thoroughly upended by it. 

- Her partner, Constantine, has just been promoted to head chef at a fancy Melbourne restaurant, so there's plenty of delicious food and drink references dotted throughout. But he works long hours and she hates that. As well there's her obsession with makeup, and their house which is always shambolic and untidy, with bits of food and clothing everywhere.  

- Carolee Schneemann, a ‘painter, revolutionary, early pioneer of installation, body politics and feminist art’, is dead but her ghost visits her and all sorts of fantasies are indulged in. Sabine is inspired by her. 

- The other ghost-like figure in her life is ‘Rembrandt Man’, a stalker. He appears in her back garden and peers at her through the windows and leaves threatening notes about her 'whore-like' clothes and other personal things. It adds profoundly to her anxiety. She chews and swallows his notes ‘letting her membranes and muscles shove it deep into the wet dungeon of her body’. 

- She’s self-centred and highly dramatic. ‘Hell is an artist three days before their exhibition opens...In fact, seeing her exhibition printed, the force of her wild and miraculous work had hit Sabine so fully, so utterly completely, that it had become impossible for her to believe she was anything less than a young god.’ She also constantly live streams herself on TikTok. The comments from her fans, many critical, are often very funny. 

- One night she digs a small hole in her backyard. 'She placed a foot either side of the hole, hugged her thighs to her chest in a squat, screamed at the sky and shat...The shit was authentic, it was animalistic. This was a territorial shit. It zinged with transcendence…This genuine art. This materia prima. It was divine. Her shit was holy.’ 

- Yes the novel is often whacky in the extreme. But that's what gives it so much thrust and power. I’ll read this novel again, and sections of it again and again. 

George Monbiot/Peter Hutchison, The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism

 

- This short book is an excellent dissection of an economic ideology that has overtaken modern democratic politics in the last 50 years. The authors are well known and respected commentators on political and social issues. George Monbiot is an author, Guardian columnist and environmental campaigner. Peter Hutchison is a filmmaker, educator and activist. 

- Neoliberalism. Do you know what it is? Inspired by the economists Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman in the middle of last century the principle argument was that the role of governments should be to eliminate the obstacles that prevent the expansion of the economy. They must cut taxes, shed regulation, privatise public services, curtail protest, diminish the power of trade unions and eradicate collective bargaining. They must shrink the state and blunt political action. In doing so, they will liberate the market, freeing entrepreneurs to generate the wealth that will enhance the lives of all. Once the market has been released from political restraints, its benefits will be distributed to everyone by means of what the philosopher Adam Smith called the 'invisible hand'.  

- After decades of cutbacks in government funding of essential services such as health, welfare, education, public housing, infrastructure, the arts, science, and other spheres, major democracies across the globe are ruptured and inequality is rife. The ordinary citizens, the working class, the exploited casuals, the sick, elderly, addicted, unemployed, homeless, have been abandoned and they're getting angrier. They are fed up and won't take it for much longer. Anti-immigration is being weaponised and becoming ugly. Racist thugs are on the march. We've ended up with what economist John Kenneth Galbraith described as 'private opulence and public squalor': the rich becoming ever wealthier, while the services on which the rest depend are hollowed out. 

-  Monbiot and Hutchison offer a clear-sighted, lucidly argued case for major reform - a return to substantial government funding of essential services, major tax increases on the rich and limitations on corporate power. They call it 'ambitious intervention'.

- For all this to happen, the excessive accumulation of private wealth will need to be discouraged...Just as there is a poverty line below which no one should fall...there is a wealth line above which no one should rise. Wealth taxes on income and assets, including death duties, must return. Will Labor and other so-called progressive governments around the world do it? Oh please! 

- I highly recommend this book. It's an enlightening and inspiring read, and it offers hope. And a fair bit of despair. 

Eric Beecher, The Men Who Killed the News

 

- The news media today is like a once-prosperous man about town who now tramps the same streets, shabbily dressed, looking for handouts. It has lost its advertising rivers of gold. It has become increasingly dependent for funding on governments and competitors. It pleads for philanthropic assistance. It must constantly downsize, retrench, remodel. 

- Former Fairfax and Murdoch editor and now chair and largest shareholder of Private Media , owner of Crikey, Eric Beecher has written a detailed, thoroughly researched, and absorbing book on the history across the globe of media dynasties. He covers the 20th century in detail and the huge challenges traditional media now faces in the 21st century. 

- He doesn't pull any punches on naming and shaming their founders and current owners, and particularly dumps all over the ugly Murdochs and their constant sacking of editors who refuse to arse-lick as expected. 

- Australia is not his main focus, which is refreshing. All $ amounts are in US$. He tells a global tale, delving into the moguls' private lives as well as public - their outrageous mansions, properties, estates, boats, etc. Owning newspapers gives them power, political and social, not just massive wealth. 

- It never occurred to me, when I resigned as a Murdoch editor, that I had been a member of a cult. But over the years, as I've watched News Corp and Fox News dissolve into propaganda operations that devalue facts, construct and attack lists of enemies, and treat ethics as an alien concept, the resemblance has become striking...these companies have some of the key characteristics of a privately controlled messianic cult: they are led by an authoritarian leader, demand unwavering loyalty from adherents, follow a prescribed dogma, and exist in a culture of 'us versus them'.   

- Beecher mercilessly details Murdoch’s anti-climate change propaganda; his privacy-invasion business model, including the relentless hacking of phones and computers of ordinary citizens; the propaganda machine that is Fox News; his huge tax avoidance schemes; the immoral ways they reported on 'enemies'; and the enormous payouts in compensation over the decades that he incurred. 

- Beecher not only digs deep into the 'moral swamp' of Murdoch's business, but also tells the fascinating stories of US, British, Canadian, French and other European media empires. William Randolph Hearst, Lord Northcliffe, and Viscount Rothermere (all enthusiastic Hitler supporters in the 1930's), Lord Beaverbrook, Conrad Black and Silvio Berlusconi were all morally deficient thugs and criminals.

- But there were, and still are, reputable publishers that earned respect: Joseph Pulitzer, Edward Scripps, Henry Luce, Eugene Meyer, Lord Thomson, and John B Fairfax. And the news organisations that developed and still have it: The New York Times, Le Monde, Mediapart, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Post, The Economist. 

- Now we're in the third decade of the 21st century what does the future look like? Corporate billionaires (the whacky Musk, Bezos) are buying the media platforms. And there is greatly increased government control of media across the world: India, Mexico, Hong Kong, Hungary, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia. 

- We're witnessing a massive decline in newspaper revenues and staffing since 2000, and startups who've failed - Gawker, Vice, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed. What was conceived as a  ‘new era' at the turn of the century is already over. Podcasts have become very popular but have aleady hit a commercial roadblock. They're now a niche.

- Facebook and other social media entities, and their massive intrusion into privacy, have  enabled precision advertising via cookies which has given them a huge majority of world wide media revenues. 

- In Beecher's final chapter we look at AI and journalism’s future. It is now clear that  commercial media models are dead. Massive financial subsidies from governments or private trusts are essential.