Christos TsiolkasRecensioni

Tsiolkas writes characters and their emotions beautifully. This novel details the relationship that grows between Ivan and Perry, two middle-aged men coming to terms with their pasts.
There are explicit sex scenes in the book- something that is rarely included nowadays.
The story became a little disjointed for me in the last third, however. New characters were introduced and the novel began to feel more like a series of vignettes.

I couldn't finish Damascus. Too sordid for my tastes, so I put it down. Perhaps another time...

I liked the premise of the book and the question it posed. I found the characters a little exaggerated and think I would have related more had they been more nuanced.

I loved The Slap (to many people to dislike) and this book provided a few detestable characters too. I didn't race through it though as I didn't enjoy the story - found it hard going at times.

I heard Chris Tsiolkas speak before he had began, very enthusiastic. Then while writing he found it hard. When finished he was glad it was completed.
I said to Chris Cathie, out of the blue. “I really respectPaul.” She said rather startled, “You mean the Apostle ?” {OWTTE} I still do. 28:08:23

At a suburban picnic, some theoretically adult person loses control and slaps someone else's bratty little kid in the face. Lots of people then have opinions about this.

The basic premise of this one seemed like it could be a setup for something good. One shocking incident whose consequences ripple out across different people's lives in different ways, in eight sections each told from the point of view of a different person who witnessed it... that's got potential, right?

The problem is these people are all unbelievably awful and I resent having just spent nearly 500 pages in their company. It's not even that they're unlikable, as such. Unlikable characters can be fine. But if you're going to write them, by god, there needs to be something about them to make them worth reading about. They can be compelling in a train wreck kind of way, or provocative in their terribleness, or disturbingly sympathetic even when you don't want them to be, or at the absolute least they can get up to some entertainingly horrific things. But these folks? Nope, nothing of the sort. Their unlikability is entirely of the petty, banal, profoundly dull kind. And, hey, even that can work, if you're saying something interesting and resonant about the petty banality of people. I'm pretty sure that's what this one is trying to do. And there are moments where that almost works, little fleeting glimpses of some kind of possibly worthwhile commentary. But mostly it's just deeply tedious, with neither the characters nor the author feeling like they have anything actually insightful to say, despite their constant droning on about men and women and kids and relationships and The State of the World Today and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I spent a few days once in Melbourne, Australia, where this is set. I thought it was a lovely city, possibly one of the nicest I've ever been to. But I swear, less than a hundred pages in I was fantasizing about someone dropping a nuke on the place just to rid the world of these people. It would be a great shame, yes, but quite possibly worth it.

Rating: 2/5, and that's actually being super generous.

One of Australia's foremost writers tackles the story of St Paul, his conversion to Christianity and his subsequent wanderings spreading his version of Jesus' teachings. The story is interwoven with that of his follower Timothy, his early convert Lydia, and the Roman jailer who presides over his final incarceration.

The book is particularly good at highlighting the schisms that existed within the early church and the theological differences that already existed between the original apostles and Saul. These differences are widened by Saul's successors, Timothy and Onesimus (called Able here).

I was intrigued by how a gay writer would tackle the life of a man whose letters have been a wellspring of much bigotry towards him and others. It's a surprisingly sympathetic portrait, a paradox that the author explains well in his afterword.

I had hoped a book as popular as this was popular because it was good - I was wrong.
This novel places its merits on its characters, not on its writing or even its ability to tell a great story. I found none of its characters interesting or worthy to read about. Manolis was perhaps the only character I began to warm to, but as soon as I did, like every other character, a sordid, sexual deviancy was thrown in.
And then there was the character of Richie, who was not only boring, but whose chapter in the book could have easily been thrown out and it wouldn't have mattered.

Two thirds of the book is made up of drugs (I'm sorry but not every person of every age and every demographic takes drugs), sex and the description of male anatomy, the whole 'slap' incident was nothing more than a weak excuse to write chapters from every, boring character's view. I kept putting it down, and was unable to engrossed by it, and in all honesty, its vulgarity, lack of substance, and skill did not speak of 'braveness' nor 'brutal honesty' but rather of something completely common and uninspiring.

A plucked sentence: This finally, was love. This was its shape and essence, once the lust and ecstasy and danger and adventure had gone. Love, at its core, was negotiation, the surrender of two individuals to the messy, banal, domestic realities of sharing a life together. Page 406.

A wonderful collection of 15 short stories. The stories are varied, the characters rich and believable. Tsiolkas continues to prove that he is one of Australia's best story tellers.

This is the first time I’ve ever not finished a book, and I’ve read some utter rubbish. But I was so bored and all the characters were tedious yet also boring.

Nice characters, I felt like the author had a good insight into what motivates each character and the ultimate resolution was satisfying as well.

Not the 'must read' that people might tell you but very satisfying and outside my usual genre of sci-fi fantasy.

Literature

This is a disgusting and strange book about disgusting and strange people doing horrible things, including arguably sexually abusing a four-year-old as a vengeful act against their spouse because the spouse is still breastfeeding the four-year-old for no stated reason, leading me to think it's a sexual thing. Disgusting. The part about the slap and its consequences take up less than ten percent of the book. The other ninety percent is dedicated to gratuitous sex scenes as eveerrryyonnne cheats on one another at least once, sexual abuse of minors and everyone THINKING ABOUT EVERYTHING, and NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS. Apparently there's a Netflix whole series about this book over multiple episodes. Corporations really will make shows out of everything. I want the brain cells I wasted on this book back.

This is the first Tsiolkas book I have read.

Agree with other reviewers this was an uncomfortable read.

I felt the book jumped around unnecessarily and I felt that some of the scenes weren't necessary to the story.

In saying that I felt once finishing the book I still had unanswered questions, these questions were what kept me reading to the end in the first place.

A choice for my then book club.

I don't know how to rate this book or whether to recommend it to others.

It is extremely readable, in the sense that once you commence, it runs away with a life of its own and its constant change of narrator drives the narrative forward. which is just as well, given its 570 or so pages, and for some readers, the (seemingly) irredeemable morals of some (most) of the people who populate this novel.

Many are extremely self-centered, to the extent that if that has adverse impacts for others, including close family and friends, so be it. Personally, I don't accept that as a valid description of the the current Australian diaspora, nor that of the time this was written (copyright 2008), but I don't pretend to speak for the whole of Australia.

I was expecting something different with the book. I did not read the book when it was first published, but do remember the advertising of the TV adaption, which made a lot of 'whose side are you on' - that in the context of the titular 'slap' itself.

The slap was a father, at a family /wider friends BBQ, slapping a young boy - 5 years or thereabouts (not his own) who was perceived as threatening his own child, rather than taking other action or requesting the assistance of the boy's own parents to intervene, notwithstanding they were present and close by.

Many present quickly took sides, and the disagreement ended in court proceedings, never a place to be if seeking to settle personal (rather than purely legal) issues.

And whilst a lot of the book continued with the immediate fallout of 'the slap', it really used that as a starting point to consider the interactions between all and sundry on all matters (well beyond those immediately centered on 'the slap'. And the book never really resolved 'the slap'. Notwithstanding there was a legal outcome, such is usually not a resolution on any other ground.

Perhaps the TV adaption took the book a little away from where the original focus of the book was aimed or perhaps I was simply distracted.

The interpersonal interactions (particularly the hypocrisy and self centered (particularly as to the sex) attitudes of many of the characters also left me somewhat cold.

So as i say, I don't know how to rate or recommend this much discussed and at times highly commended novel of recent Australia.

Perhaps you need to read it for yourself and decide.

Big Ship

25 April 2022

This story is about soooo much. Coming of age, accepting defeat, standing out from the crowd, trying to figure out where you fit in the scheme of everything, and more.

14 year old Danny Kelly is special.
He is like a fish in water, he swims like no other and he has a scholarship to an elite, private school in Melbourne. He has the 2000 Sydney Olympics in his sights and within his grasp, and the the unthinkable happens and he is a lost soul trying to understand and come to grips with what went wrong.

Tsiolkas is at his best in the beautifully presented story. It will leave you with a lump in your throat.

Very enjoyable collection of Australian short-fiction.

Das Buch hat mir ausgesprochen gut gefallen. Es erzählt von einer Personengruppe in Melbourne, alle irgendwie verbunden durch ein Grillfest, in dessen Verlauf ein Mann einem Kind eine Ohrfeige gibt. Die daraus entstehenden Geschehnisse werden aus der Sicht immer wieder einer anderen Person dargestellt. Durch diesen guten Schachzug wird man auch als Leserin immer wieder in Frage gestellt, denn natürlich ergreift man innerlich Partei und hat Sympathien, wie alle Gäste dieser Feier. Die Personen sind genial gewählt, ich fand das Buch wirklich total gut geschrieben und komponiert.½

All I remember from this book was Tsolkas writing about a particularly satisfying dump he'd had one day!

Tsiolkas is an Australian writer whose parents emigrated from Greece. His hypothesis is that the Greek Orthodox religion of White's lifelong partner, Manoly Lascaris, has a discernible influence on the spiritual aspects of White's writing. Tsiolkas theorises that White's awareness of Lascaris' exile from his birthplace, the melting pot of Smyrna, adds depth to White's own sense of exile, and that of his characters.

Tsiolkas spent a year re-reading White's oeuvre, and this short book is the result. It made me want to read more of White's work.

I especially liked Dress Medium, The Evolution of Sadie Smith and The Amber Amulet. Will have to follow up the authors other works.

I thought that this was a beautiful short story collection. It took me quite a while to read as it’s quite heavy and rich so I had to take big breaks between stories.
Great stuff.

> On plonge dans l'intimité de familles passablement xénophobes et totalement déboussolées face aux brassages raciaux dont l'Australie est aujourd'hui le théâtre. Impitoyable.
—L'Express

> La gifle, par Christos Tsiolkas, Par André CLAVEL, publié le 04/07/2012 à 16:00. — Sélectionnée pour le Man Booker Prize 2010, cette Gifle a fait du bruit en Australie et, si l'on en ressort sonné, c'est à cause de l'aigreur d'une prose qui ne s'encombre pas de bonnes manières. Nous sommes dans la banlieue de Melbourne, chez Hector et Aisha, un couple d'immigrés apparemment bien intégrés qui ont invité quelques amis pour un pique-nique estival. Soudain, une gifle éclate : Harry, un adulte, a osé toucher le petit Hugo, un enfant roi insupportable… L'incident va aussitôt dégénérer et il aura de graves répercussions sur huit personnages qui prennent tour à tour la parole : à travers leurs confessions, on plonge dans l'intimité de familles passablement xénophobes, torpillées par l'alcool et la drogue, et totalement déboussolées face aux brassages raciaux dont l'Australie est aujourd'hui le théâtre. Impitoyable.
—L'Express

En bok som man uppslukas av. Ett härligt men udda persongalleri med inte alltigenom gemytliga människor men de känns så äkta. Även ämnet är sprängstoff och riktigt tankeväckande. Vad är rätt och vad är fel?

I’m making an effort to finish off the plethora of non-fiction books I’ve marked as ‘currently reading’ at Goodreads. My life is full of these books: in the sitting room, my library, the family room, the bedroom, the car, the handbag. The idea is to avoid the sense of panic at having nothing to read during an idle moment, but because I flit from one to another, it can take a long time for me to finish them…

I bought Griffith Review #69, The European Exchange because I miss being a member of the European community. (Yes, I’m an Aussie, but although I’ve never used it, a British passport was worth having before Brexit. Now it’s just a curiosity for the scrapbook.)

***

Mat Schulz has captured in ‘The tyranny of closeness’ exactly how so many of us feel. We lived in a world connected by cheap flights not Facebook and Zoom, and that mobility made us citizens of the world. Yes, there was a price to be paid in carbon footprints, and Australians have to reckon with ‘flight shame’ which propels Europeans to travel by train rather than by air, but still, we feel compelled to travel, marooned as we are at the edge of the world.

Flight shame comes with far deeper ramifications for Australians than for Europeans. Travel from Australia to any other country involves an enormous carbon footprint. If we submit fully to guilt, Europe once again becomes a distant land in physical terms. If, soon enough, Australians rarely fly any more, rarely visit the rest of the world, then the tyranny of closeness will come to mean something else — evoking a constant network of virtual togetherness that will never be truly satisfying. (p.35)

As Schulz says, Europeans who live so close to each other, never feel the same jolt when arriving after a long-haul flight. (I vividly remember my first arrival, in Vienna. Stupid with jetlag, I was so disorientated that I thought I was hallucinating and would wake up soon and be back in Australia).

Schulz is conscious not only of his own travel miles, but of those he’s caused as an artistic director of a music festival, bringing literally thousands of people into Krakow to attend it. If the solution to the carbon problem is to make this festival local, then Australian musicians would be excluded. (We have been excluded from hearing the world’s best opera stars for years and years. They’re happy for us to buy their recordings, but they won’t make the long haul flight here to perform.) The cancelled flights of C-19 are teaching us what our future might be like…

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/12/16/griffith-review-69-the-european-exchange-edi...