Everywhere I Look

June 20, 2016
Garner, one of Australia’s most acclaimed writers (This House of Grief), gives her fans a captivating collection of personal essays and diary entries. In 33 short pieces, she covers a wide variety of topics, including the weariness of moving houses, the wisdom of dogs, the suburbs (she defends them), other Australian writers, and Russell Crowe films. Garner’s is a deeply personal book, in which the subject that interests her most is her own family. She writes a touching tribute to her complicated mother and a series of sweet descriptions of her grandson, Ted, who is obsessed with cowboys. She also recounts a moving story about her friendship with the writer and Holocaust survivor Jacob Rosenberg. Perhaps the best essay in the book is “The Insults of Age,” Garner’s catalogue of the ways aging makes a woman invisible—or even downright despised—in modern society. She discusses her previous books and explains why she was drawn to write about the case of Robert Farquharson, a father convicted of killing his three children, arguing that the case demands a more complex response than simply calling a man “evil” and looking away. No matter the topic, Garner is a charming and courageous writer whose distinctive voice exemplifies the range of what is possible in personal writing.

July 1, 2016
A veteran Australian novelist and essayist returns with a motley, spirited collection of pieces dating back more than a decade.One of the first things readers new to Garner (The House of Grief: The Story of a Murder Trial, 2015, etc.) will notice is her candor. She writes frankly about her youthful indiscretions, failed marriages, temper (she goes off on a teenage girl taunting older women), and ignorance about certain subjects (ballet, for example). She does so in the same frank and clear voice she uses throughout these essays that range from memories (a rare book from girlhood) to reviews (of films and personalities, from United 93 to the complete films of Russell Crowe) to searches for meaning in her quotidian experiences (she invariably finds something). A couple of times Garner mentions key dreams that conveniently fit with the theme of the piece, but she nonetheless convinces throughout that she is one on whom little is lost. Most pieces are quite brief, just several pages, and they appear in thematic rather than chronological order. Most are from the 2000s, but one about pianist Glenn Gould is from 1994: "J.S. Bach is God, as far as I'm concerned, and...Gould was one of his major prophets." Throughout, we learn quite a bit about the author. Her feelings about her parents, her fondness for her ukulele, her gratitude to a tough teacher from girlhood, her admiration for writers (from Elizabeth Jolley to Janet Malcolm; she calls the latter "Dear boss"), her broken relationship with a family dog, her battle with depression, her responses to aging (she's now 73)--these and other richly human subjects connect the author emotionally to her readers. Among the most engaging pieces are three selections from her diary; though generally very brief, they provide sharp images of her work, her reading, and her fellow travelers. Like strolling around in an idiosyncratic, surprising, and informative museum.

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Starred review from October 15, 2016

Australian novelist and journalist Garner's (The Monkey Grip) latest collection of short pieces addresses the invisibility of aging women to an analysis of the antipodean phenomenon that is Russell Crowe. Her unsentimental, but not heartless, accounts demonstrate her range and capacity for emotional accuracy in the face of difficulty. Garner uses her powers of observation to confront unpleasant truths. Her graceful prose will challenge readers to look at the world around them. VERDICT Garner approaches core questions about leading a meaningful life, providing baby boomers in particular with examples of how to live thoughtfully and observantly. [See Memoir, 7/18/16; ow.ly/yI6y304zQxw.]--Th�r�se Purcell Nielsen

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