The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville

I read this book over the weekend. It was not a particularly challenging read, but I enjoyed it. I do not imagine that it will make the shortlist or win but I do think it is a worthy addition to the list. It gives a great depiction of what life must have been like for women in rural Australia in the early 20th century and the lack of choices available to to them.

I will note that much of the book was set in north western rural NSW where I grew up and then in various places where I have also lived - so much of my enjoyment came from the description these places (Tamworth, Manilla, Gooonoo Goonoo (pronounced Gun-ah-Gun-ooh BTW), Wahroonga, Newtown. They were very real to me. I rarely read fiction set in these areas - I think I read more books set in Maine in the last 12 months than I have read books set in NW NSW in my lifetime.

I am glad that she chose to end the book with the Chapter entitled 'Thinking About Silences' as ultimately this is another book about white people living on someone else's land.

I was quite impressed with this in the end.

I read this today and enjoyed. Completely agree with Susan, don’t think it will make the shortlist, but thought it was well written and the notes at the end really made it. My maiden name was Wiseman, so i had a chuckle at the convict ancestor having this surname. The third Kate Grenville I’ve read and there is something very reassuring and solid about them.

Finished the audiobook today. It was very well done. I very much enjoyed the story of Restless Dolly and how it illustrated the late 19th and first half of the 20th century challenge women had in Australia (and most of the Western World - with the rest of the world still struggling) to continue their education, to work outside the home, and to own property in their own names. Also glad for the last paragraph recognizing the plight of the indigenous peoples.

I enjoyed Restless Dolly quite a lot in the beginning, but there is a certain... predictability and sameness that is starting to get to me. Interesting to hear that the end is worth it, because it might help me get over the slump!

It definitely morphs into Repetitive Dolly Maunder

I reached the end and will concur it does elevate the novel significantly. although I am a bit conflicted: read without the non-fiction parts at the end, the novel is a bit middle of the road for me. I normally like for my novels to speak for themselves!

I liked this, but it’s not screaming winner to me. Just Soldier Sailor to go…

I listened to this whole book today, basically in one go. This one definitely had the strongest impact on me, emotionally, of any of the long or shortlist books I've read. Partly that's personal: I lost my mother a couple of years ago, and there is a lot about Dolly that could be about my mother. Including the poignant scene between Dolly and her granddaughter near the end of the book. So I found those last few chapters particularly moving.

Beyond that, I found this to be a profoundly feminist book, in a positive way - I thought it dug deeply into what it meant to be a capable, intelligent woman in the before times, Dolly both is and is not a sympathetic character at the same time. I was frequently infuriated by her (repeated) bad reactions to her children. At the same time, having experienced many of the same kinds of reactions from a very similar mother, the way her character was written also evoked a lot of empathy.

This is not a very clinical, literary review of this book! But I guess that's my point. This one was unique in evoking a very deep emotional reaction based on empathy, which I find is a pretty unusual thing. In a sense it makes it hard for me to judge this books literary value or worth, but it is a book that will stick with me for a long time, I think. Which is quite rare.

I think one of the measurements of literary value is the emotional reaction it manages to spark - very much like other art forms. thank you for sharing your non-clinical review.

Just been listed for the 2024 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, the richest literary prize in Australia together with Stone Yard Devotional from the Booker and Edenglassie (not released in UK but excellent).

No Praiseworthy oddly.

Fiction

Anam by André Dao (Penguin Random House)
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville (Text Publishing) 
Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko (University of Queensland Press) 
The Carnal Fugues by Catherine McNamara (Puncher and Wattmann)
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)