Something Special, Something Rare: Outstanding short stories by Australian women

by Black Inc. (Editor), Kate Grenville (Contributor), Gillian Mears (Contributor)

Something Special, Something Rare presents outstanding short fiction by Australia’s finest female writers. These are tales of love, secrets, doubt and torment, the everyday and the extraordinary.

A sleepy town is gripped by delusory grief after the movie being filmed there wraps and leaves. A lingering heartbreak is replayed on Facebook. An ordinary family walks a shaky line between hopelessness and redemption.

Brilliant, shocking and profound, these tales will leave you reeling in ways that only a great short story can.

Kate Grenville * Mandy Sayer * Penni Russon * Favel Parrett * Tegan Bennett Daylight * Sonya Hartnett * Isabelle Li * Gillian Essex * Brenda Walker * Gillian Mears * Fiona MacFarlane * Joan London * Karen Hitchcock * Charlotte Wood * Tara June Winch * Cate Kennedy * Alice Pung * Anna Krien * Delia Falconer * Rebekah Clarkson

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Womens, Australia

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2015

Reviews

[Highlyeccentric · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to get into this, but in May I started reading the collection in earnest and really enjoyed it. The collection did okay, I think, at representing 15 or so years of writing, a range of ethnicities (both authors and protags) and a couple of queer protags (I do not know about authors). I was a bit uncomfortable with Gillian Mears' 'La Moustiquiare', a story about an indigenous female lackey and the dying stockman who kept her as servant. It didn't strike me as *racist*, it was perfectly aware the girl was being exploited and so on, but I'm still not sure that was a white woman's story to tell. (Compare it to Tara Jean Mears' 'Cloud Busting' - that left Mears' work in the dust. Surely there are other short stories by indigenous women and about indigenous women that could better complement it than Mears' work.)

Particular highlights:
Gillian Essex's 'One of the Girls', a story about a mother feeling out-of-place at her daughter's concert, and about fragile connections between family.
Fiona MacFarlane's 'The Movie People', which performed a delightful transition from realist to absurd.
Karen Hitchcock's 'Forging Friendship', for the anachronous narration and oblique way of dealing with queer realisation.
Alice Pung's 'Letter to A', which is just... arresting, sharp, beautifully worded.
Anna Krien's 'Flicking the Flint', which was tough going - it's a story about domestic violence and it doesn't have a morally satisfying conclusion - but very very well done.

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of short stories by Australian women. There are stories by some well known authors, such as Kate Grenville, Mandy Sayer, Gillian Mears, and rising stars such as Favel Parrett. There is something in here for everyone.

[ren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, perfect collection of stories. Not a single weak link in the entire collection! I think the only thing that might have improved it would have been to have a little more diversity - stories like Gillian Mears' La Moustiquaire stand out because they are so different in terms of setting, voice, and subject. It's hard to pick a favourite, but I think the best story was Tegan Bennett Daylights's J'aime Rose - will be seeking out her other works ASAP.

Would recommend this collection to anyone and everyone.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book from Australia... some of these stories are truly incredible. It is not a collection from a certain time period, though all the authors are contemporary, so I assume they were chosen to be a representation of Australia's female short story writers. Their diversity -- in topic, narration, and geography -- is vast, and shows us just how diverse the country is.

[Tay · Rating 5 out of 5]

#34 What a treasure trove of stories, another recommendation from a dear friend. An excellent array of literature that displays the diversity and quality of Australian women writers.

[tiffany_jaded · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories by some of Australia's most talented female writers.

[Cathy Miers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of short stories is always going to be a mixed bag but wow the Cate Kennedy had me heading immediately online to buy everything she has ever written. Which I must have done another time because I already had some! Absolutely loved it. Well done to all the authors. Except the ones with traumatic story lines. I hate a traumatic story lines. Two of them are still ringing in my head. Awful.

[Suki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories about love, hate, memories, youth...

[Anne Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review at http://annejenner.net/something-speci...

[Dale Erdmier · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I loved some of these stories. Didn't care for others. But it was nice to read the words of so many different women in one place!

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection. Very good writers

[Claire Dolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book filled with nice stories… I wish Favel Parretts was a bit longer though.

[Cadence Lz · Rating 1 out of 5]

initially was going to return before reading but then a friend said 'oh my grandma recommended that to me' so i went ahead and read it. Sure is something special and something rare. Thanking fuck im not a woman because if this is writing by australian woman...

[Catherine Davison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some brilliant writing in this collection. So glad I stumbled across it. I just couldn't read the last one because of the name of one of the main characters. This is a terrific collection. I recommend it highly.