What do you think?
Rate this book
Julia
'I'm ignited by three small words. I will not.'
It's 9 October, 2012. She's been PM for two years and four months and she's worn down. She's been hounded, slurred, dissected, libelled. She's been violated over and over again by words. Julia Gillard's prime ministership was marred by the Australian media monopoly's inability to step over one that she was a woman. A woman who, as a young aspiring lawyer, was told, 'When you are on your way up, don't forget the flowers that grow on the roadside'. There, in the spotlight of Australia's politics and patriarchy, she encounters thorns of the sharpest, cruellest kind.
Joanna Murray-Smith's Julia peels back the public mask to attend to the private woman; one who harbours compassion, doubt, rage and ambition. A woman compelled not simply by her own voice, but by the voices of a million others speaking to, and with, her.
'The writing teems with wit, desire and tenderness.' — ArtsHub
It's 9 October, 2012. She's been PM for two years and four months and she's worn down. She's been hounded, slurred, dissected, libelled. She's been violated over and over again by words. Julia Gillard's prime ministership was marred by the Australian media monopoly's inability to step over one that she was a woman. A woman who, as a young aspiring lawyer, was told, 'When you are on your way up, don't forget the flowers that grow on the roadside'. There, in the spotlight of Australia's politics and patriarchy, she encounters thorns of the sharpest, cruellest kind.
Joanna Murray-Smith's Julia peels back the public mask to attend to the private woman; one who harbours compassion, doubt, rage and ambition. A woman compelled not simply by her own voice, but by the voices of a million others speaking to, and with, her.
'The writing teems with wit, desire and tenderness.' — ArtsHub
65 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 7, 2024
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 28, 2024
I bought this to read after seeing Justine Clarke in the Melbourne Theatre Company's recent production of this play. I was completely transfixed. I wanted to re-read the play, not only to remember Julia Gillard's famous "misogyny speech", but also to remember the context in which that speech occurred, and to reflect on how Murray-Smith's script expressed the effect of power on Gillard's parliamentary role. There were so many lines that I wanted to remember.
Murray-Smith does a fantastic job at capturing the conflict between power and conscience - how does one remain in a position of influence? Is it possible to do that while still staying true to what you believe in. Gillard was an incredibly successful politician, but there were some surprising exceptions where she did not stand up for those who were struggling. In the words of her father, "All battles for justice are all our battles, Julia", but in the end she could not stand up for everyone. "Because what good is courage if it costs you power? Courage needs power or it's irrelevant." Ultimately, politicians hang on to power.
It was difficult to look back and remember how awful Australia was to Gillard during her prime ministership. I like to think we have improved as a society. But it is sad to see, in the week that I read this, that the new Democrat nominee for the US Presidency Kamala Harris is facing the same ugly rhetoric that Gillard faced. I hope that, at least in Australia, our next female leader will not face the same problems.
Murray-Smith does a fantastic job at capturing the conflict between power and conscience - how does one remain in a position of influence? Is it possible to do that while still staying true to what you believe in. Gillard was an incredibly successful politician, but there were some surprising exceptions where she did not stand up for those who were struggling. In the words of her father, "All battles for justice are all our battles, Julia", but in the end she could not stand up for everyone. "Because what good is courage if it costs you power? Courage needs power or it's irrelevant." Ultimately, politicians hang on to power.
It was difficult to look back and remember how awful Australia was to Gillard during her prime ministership. I like to think we have improved as a society. But it is sad to see, in the week that I read this, that the new Democrat nominee for the US Presidency Kamala Harris is facing the same ugly rhetoric that Gillard faced. I hope that, at least in Australia, our next female leader will not face the same problems.
Displaying 1 of 1 review