What we're reading: Throsby & Murdoch
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.
Lian Hingee is reading Clarke by Holly Throsby
I bought Clarke on a whim just before Christmas thinking it might be a good book to give to my Mum, but I'm glad I ended up keeping it for myself because I turned the last page last night, and let me tell you: it's excellent. Billed as a crime novel – perhaps to capture the lucrative outback noir market – Clarke actually takes place in the margins of a murder investigation.
Estranged from his wife and teenaged son, Barney is nonplussed to discover that his new rental property may be the scene of a murder that took place some six years previously. As the forensic police begin to dig in his backyard for the body of a missing woman, Barney becomes acquainted with his neighbour Leone, who is carrying her own burdens from the past. Clarke isn't actually the story of a murder that may-or-may-not have happened; it's the story of what lies in the hearts of those left behind, the grief that weighs them down, the dashed hopes and broken hearts of the living. It's a keenly depicted portrait of human nature, and of the need for love, connection, and community. And, look, it's a pretty compelling mystery too, with a wonderfully satisfying ending. I particularly recommend it for fans of Liane Moriarty.
Baz Ozurk is reading A Fairly Honourable Defeat by Iris Murdoch
A while back I read Murdoch’s novel Under the Net and, having liked it a lot, decided to read more of her. But you know what can happen. There are many great books and authors in the world, we’re so spoilt for choice, that it’s easy for years to pass before you remember or follow through with an intention. And that’s been the case for me with Murdoch. Fortunately one of my colleagues recently gave me the nudge and recommendation I needed, and I finally picked up A Fairly Honourable Defeat. And it’s good. Very good.
Set in London, it features a cast of (mostly) self-satisfied characters whose comfortable domestic lives are disturbed by the entrance of the sly, gleefully menacing Julius who decides to test the solidity of their relationships and pretensions. The plotting is excellent, the writing flows nimbly, it has great narrative drive and is packed with stimulating ideas. Murdoch is an assured writer, both brainy and entertaining, and my ride with A Fairly Honourable Defeat has been a weird and wild one.
