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Geography
Shortlisted, Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Best First Book 2004
'Just getting on a plane made me want sex.'
For Catherine travel is about many things other than getting from here to there. Cities, for instance, and what cities do to people; the perils of geography and the excuses people use to keep others at a distance. It is about loss and longing, and the possibility of escape. In the years after she first meets Michael in Los Angeles, it is mostly about obsessive desire and damage.
Sophie Cunningham's first novel is a fearless evocation of a woman losing herself to the idea of love. It will remind you how easy it is to cross the line, and how hard it can be to get back.
Sophie Cunningham is a former publisher and the author of two novels, Geography published in 2004, and Bird published in 2008. She is a former editor of Meanjin, and the the current Chair of the Literature Strategy Panel of the Australia Council. She was a founding member of the Stella Prize.
textpublishing.com.au
'Geography is a new map of the heart from an author equipped with the latest global positioning system.' Weekend Australian
'Geography is a story for anyone who has ever been kept on a string by a lover and yet was too comfortable in their desire to be able to cut themselves free. A tragic but beautiful story...' West Australian
'lean pacy prose and pitch-perfect dialogue.' Aviva Tuffield, Sunday Age
'a first novel that is autobiographical, starkly erotic, full of some fine writing and a good read as well.' Jason Steger, Sunday Age
'genuinely erotic...a compelling journey through an intriguing interior landscape.' Sunday Telegraph
'Cunningham controversially encapsulates some of the many ambivalent complexities faced by contemporary women as they attempt the risky negotiations of feminism and heterosexuality...Her writing courageously depicts the unsanitised contents of an often contradictory female pleasure which feminism sometimes fails to accommodate or refuses to admit. Yet, with its universally relatable themes of lust, love, longing and betrayal, Geography will be appreciated by male and female readers alike...brave and refreshing' Australian Book Review
'Cunningham's story mirrors our prosperous and narcissistic era, in which, by and large, we have the time and resources to map our subconscious.' Sydney Morning Herald
259 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2004
4 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Sophie Cunningham
37 books54 followersSophie Cunningham is the author of six books including City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest (Text, 2020). She is also the editor of the collection Fire, Flood, Plague: Australian writers respond to 2020 (Vintage, 2020).
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 16, 2012
Geography is an intense, absorbing novel, an erotic, emotive narrative which explores the point at which passion becomes obsession.
Whilst travelling through India, Catherine tells her newfound friend and travelling companion Ruby the story of her intense love affair with a man named Michael. Thus the story moves between the past and present, drawing connections between the two in its exploration of friendship, love, desire and the search for a sense of place.
Catherine’s travels in India are grounded in the real; she seems fully present in what she is experiencing. This provides a sharp contrast to her ‘relationship’ with Michael, which seems mostly to be a construct of her imagination, built on a flimsy framework of occasional sexual encounters and sporadic faxes and emails. Unable to accept her brief, intense affair with Michael as just that, Catherine convinces herself it is a grand passion and loses herself pursuing a man who can never give her what she seeks. It is only in telling her story to Ruby that this becomes clear to Catherine and she can begin the process of reclaiming herself.
Cunningham’s descriptions of India are vivid and beautiful and Catherine’s journey through India provides relief from the chronicle of her obsessive relationship with Michael. However, Cunningham does not allow the story of Catherine’s travels in India to take over the novel, making it just another travel book, or yet another book about India. She manages to maintain the perfect balance between the two threads of the narrative and it is this interweaving which makes the novel work.
Whilst travelling through India, Catherine tells her newfound friend and travelling companion Ruby the story of her intense love affair with a man named Michael. Thus the story moves between the past and present, drawing connections between the two in its exploration of friendship, love, desire and the search for a sense of place.
Catherine’s travels in India are grounded in the real; she seems fully present in what she is experiencing. This provides a sharp contrast to her ‘relationship’ with Michael, which seems mostly to be a construct of her imagination, built on a flimsy framework of occasional sexual encounters and sporadic faxes and emails. Unable to accept her brief, intense affair with Michael as just that, Catherine convinces herself it is a grand passion and loses herself pursuing a man who can never give her what she seeks. It is only in telling her story to Ruby that this becomes clear to Catherine and she can begin the process of reclaiming herself.
Cunningham’s descriptions of India are vivid and beautiful and Catherine’s journey through India provides relief from the chronicle of her obsessive relationship with Michael. However, Cunningham does not allow the story of Catherine’s travels in India to take over the novel, making it just another travel book, or yet another book about India. She manages to maintain the perfect balance between the two threads of the narrative and it is this interweaving which makes the novel work.
April 16, 2023
Sophie Cunningham's newest book This Devastating Fever (2022) — described at the SMH as a great novel of enduring significance and enormous beauty — is receiving rave reviews everywhere so I thought it was a good time to review her debut novel Geography which turned up a couple of years ago in an OpShop. Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book, South East Asia (2004), Geography is nearly two decades old now, but it's aged well and remains compelling reading.
By coincidence I see this morning that Stu from Winston's Dad has reviewed Sandor Marai's Conversations in Bolzano which is about Casanova, the (in)famous libertine whose name is synonymous with womaniser. Geography is about a woman Who Should Know Better who goes weak at the knees over An Unworthy Man. Like all Catherine's friends in the novel, the reader wants to stop this train wreck of a 'relationship'... but does not lose patience with its vulnerable narrator...
It is a measure of Sophie Cunningham's skill as an author that she makes an absorbing tale out of this. Set in two time frames in transnational settings, Geography signals from the outset that the relationship has ended, but we do not know if Catherine is over it, or if she's going to fall under Michael's spell again. And the thing is, it's not about the things that make a relationship great. As her loyal friend Marion says in bafflement:
It's just lust. (BTW, the language is 'earthy' and there's a lot of episodes that take place in bed. And other places, notably a bathroom sink which *chuckle* sounds rather uncomfortable to me.)
Marion's partner Raff says (p.87)
This self-deprecating joke has serious intent because Raff is genuinely concerned about Catherine. In the household they share with Catherine in inner-city Melbourne, these two are expecting a baby to add to their family, of which Catherine is a much-loved member.
With rare exceptions, there's a bit of a dearth of nice men in contemporary fiction, but there's a nice available man called Tony who is waiting patiently for Catherine, and Catherine's brother Finn in New York is also a nice man like Raff. The playful dialogue between these siblings sparkles with humour and shared understandings. Dialogue is a real strength in this novel.
The other strength of Geography is its settings.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/04/16/g...
By coincidence I see this morning that Stu from Winston's Dad has reviewed Sandor Marai's Conversations in Bolzano which is about Casanova, the (in)famous libertine whose name is synonymous with womaniser. Geography is about a woman Who Should Know Better who goes weak at the knees over An Unworthy Man. Like all Catherine's friends in the novel, the reader wants to stop this train wreck of a 'relationship'... but does not lose patience with its vulnerable narrator...
It is a measure of Sophie Cunningham's skill as an author that she makes an absorbing tale out of this. Set in two time frames in transnational settings, Geography signals from the outset that the relationship has ended, but we do not know if Catherine is over it, or if she's going to fall under Michael's spell again. And the thing is, it's not about the things that make a relationship great. As her loyal friend Marion says in bafflement:
'Just don't wake up one morning to find five years have gone by and you're still hooked. He's not real, Catherine. You don't know him. Nothing is more alluring than a man you make up in your head.'
'Of course he's real.'
'No, he's not. He's drama and chaos. He's Los Angeles. He's good sex. ' Marion stared at me in exasperation. 'You don't get it, do you? With real boyfriends you do things. You hang out after you have sex. You talk about stuff. All you've done with this guy is f___, get a postcard or sit by the phone in a range of exotic locations. It is not a relationship.' (p.98)
It's just lust. (BTW, the language is 'earthy' and there's a lot of episodes that take place in bed. And other places, notably a bathroom sink which *chuckle* sounds rather uncomfortable to me.)
Marion's partner Raff says (p.87)
'You're not still interested, are you?' He looked at me. 'Jesus, you are. Women, I'll never understand them. It's the nice men like me that always get passed over.' (p.87)
This self-deprecating joke has serious intent because Raff is genuinely concerned about Catherine. In the household they share with Catherine in inner-city Melbourne, these two are expecting a baby to add to their family, of which Catherine is a much-loved member.
With rare exceptions, there's a bit of a dearth of nice men in contemporary fiction, but there's a nice available man called Tony who is waiting patiently for Catherine, and Catherine's brother Finn in New York is also a nice man like Raff. The playful dialogue between these siblings sparkles with humour and shared understandings. Dialogue is a real strength in this novel.
The other strength of Geography is its settings.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/04/16/g...
November 2, 2010
Read this because I am interested in Meanjin and its fate (rumours that it is about to become online-only, and apparently this will kill it) and have been reading about Cunningham’s editorship in particular. She is about to leave at the end of the year, so there have been a lot of comments and reflections on her time as editor, most quite positive and flattering. Made me curious to see what her novel/s were like. Imagined they would be quite literary and thoughtful.
This was very light reading for me, although, thinking about the content, that was actually quite heavy. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right space to take it seriously, or maybe it was a path that has been a little too well-worn, but I just read it as a light hearted story about love and travel, albeit more of the crazy and consuming and damaging kind.
There was a lot of sex, angry painful sex, and a lot of self destructive obsessing, mostly about a 5 year love interest that you already know was never going to work out – it says something like he is the one that drove her crazy, or the one that broke her, something to that effect. And he definitely does that. And although it is not exactly clear why it happens, why she lets this guy (who lives on the other side of the world) take over and ruin her life, it doesn’t feel too forced or ridiculous. It is a redemptive story, sweetened by her travel partner, kept me reading but overall nothing too exciting.
This was very light reading for me, although, thinking about the content, that was actually quite heavy. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right space to take it seriously, or maybe it was a path that has been a little too well-worn, but I just read it as a light hearted story about love and travel, albeit more of the crazy and consuming and damaging kind.
There was a lot of sex, angry painful sex, and a lot of self destructive obsessing, mostly about a 5 year love interest that you already know was never going to work out – it says something like he is the one that drove her crazy, or the one that broke her, something to that effect. And he definitely does that. And although it is not exactly clear why it happens, why she lets this guy (who lives on the other side of the world) take over and ruin her life, it doesn’t feel too forced or ridiculous. It is a redemptive story, sweetened by her travel partner, kept me reading but overall nothing too exciting.
January 14, 2020
A book filled with obsession and desire. However, it took me around the world with wonderful descriptions as well as identified world events at the time. We are going through a natural disaster here due to bushfires in 2020 but it reminded me that natural disasters certainly happen every year.
April 2, 2023
A lovely book I read in one sitting. A story of the danger of romance and loving potential. Wonderful one night read.
January 26, 2016
For a book sold at Hares & Hyenas (a gay and lesbian bookshop in Melbourne), there was an awful lot of heterosexual sex/obsession in this book. Don't get me wrong. I am sure people who like het sex would find this book very interesting but as a lesbian reader after lesbian literature from a gay and lesbian bookshop, I was a bit disappointed that there was so much het sex in the book which I bought, and it continued almost right up until the end.
From my understanding, the author Sophie Cunningham is a lesbian and has a long term partner and this book was published in 2004. I'm not sure of the criteria for getting on the bookshelves at Hares & Hyenas, gay, gay author, gay topic/storyline. I was just a bit surprised.
Having said all that, I think the storyline is definitely one worth telling. It is the flipside and ugly side of all those records we grew up with that carried anthems which encouraged and extolled the benefits of sexual and love obsession. The book is called Geography - and a lot of geography was covered in it: historical events (freakishly linked to life/love disasters); weather patterns; continents. 'I built a relationship block by block, from words and weather ..' The book could just as easily have been called Obsession.
The parallels between the obsession with geography and the obsession with the Michael character were not lost on me.
Needless to say, I preferred the Ruby character, who was the Indian travelling companion in the chapters in between. I wanted more Ruby. I craved more Ruby. I found I understood Ruby's belief and philosophies, but I had trouble visualising her. She was more theory than reality to me. And there was not much of her. I suppose as a lesbian reader it isn't particularly surprising to say I wanted more.
The book was nicely written and an easy read. The brother character was nice, as was the friend Marion. I loved Marion's anecdote about a wimpy lover 'George of the Jungle' who, whilst on safari in Africa, beat her to a small tree and climbed it to get away from a lion, 'flailing' and 'kicking out' 'with these massive Timberland hikers .. he came very close to kicking my glasses off'. I think that was my favourite part.
From my understanding, the author Sophie Cunningham is a lesbian and has a long term partner and this book was published in 2004. I'm not sure of the criteria for getting on the bookshelves at Hares & Hyenas, gay, gay author, gay topic/storyline. I was just a bit surprised.
Having said all that, I think the storyline is definitely one worth telling. It is the flipside and ugly side of all those records we grew up with that carried anthems which encouraged and extolled the benefits of sexual and love obsession. The book is called Geography - and a lot of geography was covered in it: historical events (freakishly linked to life/love disasters); weather patterns; continents. 'I built a relationship block by block, from words and weather ..' The book could just as easily have been called Obsession.
The parallels between the obsession with geography and the obsession with the Michael character were not lost on me.
Needless to say, I preferred the Ruby character, who was the Indian travelling companion in the chapters in between. I wanted more Ruby. I craved more Ruby. I found I understood Ruby's belief and philosophies, but I had trouble visualising her. She was more theory than reality to me. And there was not much of her. I suppose as a lesbian reader it isn't particularly surprising to say I wanted more.
The book was nicely written and an easy read. The brother character was nice, as was the friend Marion. I loved Marion's anecdote about a wimpy lover 'George of the Jungle' who, whilst on safari in Africa, beat her to a small tree and climbed it to get away from a lion, 'flailing' and 'kicking out' 'with these massive Timberland hikers .. he came very close to kicking my glasses off'. I think that was my favourite part.
August 10, 2016
I borrowed this book almost by chance, after browsing the "English Language" section at my local library (I'm Italian). Little did I know that I would find a book that described the love story I lived with an English guy in the 90's (who, funnily enough, is now living in Australia).
This book describes exactly the pain, the uncertainty, the waiting, the sudden bursts of passion, followed by the disappointment, of a long distance relationship.
I don't know if the author really experienced such a love story, but she described extremely well all the phases of such a relationship, especially the "addiction", not very different from the one caused by a drug.
Thinking back to what I had experienced between years 1990 and 1997, I was relieved that someone else has lived or at least was able to describe such an "addiction".
The book does have some weak parts, but overall I enjoyed it a lot, especially now that I am in a steady relationship and that the story with the English guy is a thing of the past.
It made me reflect upon the years I lost; reading it was like some sort of "therapy" to me. I read some reviews of readers who are skeptical about such pattern of relationships, but they are a lot more common than one might think.
I liked the descriptions of the weather and the wreckage it can cause, and how it goes along with the psychological turmoil of the main character.
Some bits are uncannily similar to what I lived (even the dislike for the character of Andie McDowell in the movie "Groundhog Day").
All in all a good book, even for the description of the digital revolution (from faxes to the beginning of the e-mails, all things we went through in the 90's).
Like the author, I could say: "This is what happened to me in the nineties".
This book describes exactly the pain, the uncertainty, the waiting, the sudden bursts of passion, followed by the disappointment, of a long distance relationship.
I don't know if the author really experienced such a love story, but she described extremely well all the phases of such a relationship, especially the "addiction", not very different from the one caused by a drug.
Thinking back to what I had experienced between years 1990 and 1997, I was relieved that someone else has lived or at least was able to describe such an "addiction".
The book does have some weak parts, but overall I enjoyed it a lot, especially now that I am in a steady relationship and that the story with the English guy is a thing of the past.
It made me reflect upon the years I lost; reading it was like some sort of "therapy" to me. I read some reviews of readers who are skeptical about such pattern of relationships, but they are a lot more common than one might think.
I liked the descriptions of the weather and the wreckage it can cause, and how it goes along with the psychological turmoil of the main character.
Some bits are uncannily similar to what I lived (even the dislike for the character of Andie McDowell in the movie "Groundhog Day").
All in all a good book, even for the description of the digital revolution (from faxes to the beginning of the e-mails, all things we went through in the 90's).
Like the author, I could say: "This is what happened to me in the nineties".
November 13, 2013
What a load of rubbish. A narcissist talks about her sex and travel addiction in some kind of soft porn story thinly veiled as travel writing. Don't even get me started on the ending!
The critics of Eat, Love, Pray would have a field day with this one... but they might re-think what they consider to be self gratifying fiction.
Made a train trip go a bit faster - but I may have lost a few brain cells in the process. Wish there was a half star option... blah.
The critics of Eat, Love, Pray would have a field day with this one... but they might re-think what they consider to be self gratifying fiction.
Made a train trip go a bit faster - but I may have lost a few brain cells in the process. Wish there was a half star option... blah.
September 9, 2010
Cunningham writes well and this book is full of rather predictable drama and titillating sex. She attempts to blend the drama of 90's news events into the drama of the clearly failed nature of her non-relationship and as a reader, I can't manage to feel very sorry for her or even empathize. I'd read a 2nd novel only if it swore off discussing relationships.
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February 2, 2013I didn't mind this book. It was certainly evocative of Melbourne and its time, but it didn't speak to me.
August 16, 2012
Like her style plus it includes melbourne
December 19, 2013
8/10/2013 1 of 20 books @ $10
December 2, 2013
Entertaining enough, a story of love, obsession, identity and place. Quick and easy to read, a good one for the beach or similar.
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April 23, 2015Book Club book - re-reading one off the book shelf.
May 13, 2016
Another one abandoned a third in, this time due to nothing happening...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews