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Hello Beautiful!: Scenes from a Life

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A memoir in parts, from one of Australia's best-loved playwrights.

Hannie Rayson - writer, mother, daughter, sister, wife, romantic, adventuress, parking-spot optimist - has spent a lifetime giving voice to others in the many roles she has written for stage and television.

In her new book, she shines the spotlight on herself. This collection of stories from a dramatic life radiate with the great warmth and humour that has made Hannie one of the best-known playwrights in the country. From a childhood in Brighton to a urinary tract infection in Spain, from a body buried under the house to a play on a tram, Hello, Beautiful! captures a life behind the scenes - a life of tender moments, hilarious encounters and, inevitably, drama.

Hannie Rayson is a playwright and screenwriter. Her works - including Hotel Sorrento, Inheritance and Life After George - have been performed around Australia and internationally. She has been awarded two Australian Writers' Guild Awards, four Helpmann Awards, two NSW Premier's Literary Awards and a Victorian Premier's Literary Award. Her play Life After George was the first play to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Hannie lives in Melbourne.

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First published January 1, 2015

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5 stars
32 (19%)
4 stars
74 (45%)
3 stars
46 (28%)
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10 (6%)
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2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
Profile Image for S.C. Karakaltsas.
Author 5 books30 followers
January 14, 2022
I have to confess that I'd never heard of Australian playwright, Hannie Rayson. Yet I knew of her plays. When my book club chose this book I was extremely curious.

In Hello Beautiful, Hannie Rayson detours from plays to a memoir of revealing snapshots from her own life.

It’s a highly relatable book especially for those who lived in Melbourne during the eighties. Hannie grew up in East Brighton as the daughter of a real-estate agent who made and lost money. He was a ‘Melbourne bitter man. Anything else was cat’s piss.’

Nothing seems to be off limits in this memoir from ‘women’s problems’, and vagina moles to childbirth, together with blended families and dead bodies.

It’s a humorous collection of anecdotes as well as insights into inner suburban living, feminism, sex, being a mum, wife and friend, and becoming a writer.

‘One weekend my neighbours Suzie and Dave demolished their house. But the most significant impact on our household was that (they)… decided to move. Into our place. It seemed to me then that the nuclear family was a ludicrous idea – conceived not by nature, nor by God, but by people who wanted to sell us stuff.’

Hannie Rayson writes very well with charm and humour. If you don’t know Melbourne you might not fully appreciate the nuances but if you want an amusing insight, then give this one a go.
Profile Image for Amanda.
759 reviews63 followers
March 14, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed these snippets from Hannie Rayon's life. She's an amusing writer, an engaging and charming personality and just the sort of person most of us would like as a friend.
A lovely, light weekend read.
576 reviews8 followers
January 23, 2016
A perfect last-thing-at-night read for middle-aged, Radio National listening, intelligent female readers. Isn't that all of us? A series of short vignettes, arranged roughly chronologically, of the life of Hannie Rayson, successful Australian playwright. Funny, self-deprecating and honest.
Profile Image for Gail Chilianis.
82 reviews3 followers
February 1, 2016
I enjoyed the stories but I didn't feel engaged and it took me a while to finish the book..
Profile Image for Anthea Carta.
573 reviews5 followers
February 29, 2020
What a lovely book - so funny in parts. I loved Hotel Sorrento when I saw it a few years ago, and she has so beautifully captured Melbourne, that I can most definitely say she is a beautiful writer.
Profile Image for Steve lovell.
335 reviews18 followers
May 13, 2015
'A few years ago a friend of mine travelled to Vermont, in the United States. After taking in the panoramic views, she noticed an ice-creamery. She went in and joined the queue.
There, standing two metres away, was Paul Newman.
She thought to herself, 'Oh my god, that is Paul Newman,' (as you would) 'I am standing two metres away from Paul Newman.'
She bought her ice-cream cone and walked out onto the veranda to take in the view. There he was eating an ice-cream.
'Beautiful day,' he said.
'Yes,' she said.
They both looked out for a bit more and then she said, 'Oh, what have I done with my ice-cream?'
He said, 'It's in your handbag.'

I love that anecdote – seven degrees of separation and all that (or far less in this account) – between author Rayson and the great and famous. Newman is by far the top of the pile of celebrities name-checked in 'Hello Beautiful'. But we also find out that she and hubby (arts media personality Michael Cathcart) stay at Paul Cox's French idyll when in that part of the world; that she is related to a former teacher who advised Cate Blanchett that fronting a class in the future would be far a better use of her talents as she was clearly never going to make it as a thesp and that on her business card, apart from name, comedienne Wendy Harmer has simply 'Adventuress'.

To be quite honest Hannie Rayson had never been on my radar until recently. Had I been a frequenter of major city theatre productions I would have been more attuned to her prominence in that field. I know of an earlier work of hers through the resulting movie adaptation, 'Hotel Sorrento'. But this book was all over that once Melbourne broadsheet and the Oz. Several amusing extracts in those convinced me to shell out for her tome.

Yarra City critic Cameron Woodhead describes it as follows –It's a book of beautifully crafted, free-flowing vignettes that illuminates with warmth and humour and some urbanity the paradox of an artist who's relatively well-adjusted and ordinary, and the contours of the intimate relationships that formed her.' A few of these vignettes fall flat through being a little too forced in the humour department, but overwhelmingly she had me chortling away more often than not. Added to this levity there are reality checks such as miscarrying whilst in the process of interviewing, as a young journalist, icon Arthur Boyd at his home and the intensely intimate tale of a worrisome mole on her vagina. I related to her as a member of the select club that also features my own lovely lady – they both pride themselves in finding parking, without fail, immediately outside every destination – and the author does it in Melbourne! Poor Michael - or MC as he is lovingly referenced in the book - and yours truly have to invariably park several clicks away and commence walking. Her tale of her experience at 'Wally Groggin's Golden Mile of Used Cars' also hit a nerve. This time she has it, in common with your scribe – we're both complete and utter incompetents with anything to do with automobiles. In our relationship Leigh is the car-savvy one. And back in my old stomping ground up north, Burnie also boasted its 'Golden Mile' of used cars, at Cooee. Wanting to update my old banger, in lieu of Leigh who had already decamped to Hobs, I took along friend Keith. I quickly spotted a sporty number – sleek green and streamlined I seem to recall – and figured that I would look very nifty indeed behind it's wheel. I think it was my one and only attack of the Peter Pans. Thankfully Keith, with the words, 'You'd kill yourself in that thing Steve' was able to bring me back to reality and we ended up with a serviceable but very boring Mondeo. With her mate Mark along in similar support, Rayson was protected from any dodgy dealer who'd figure he'd get one over the little woman. There's also the delightful tale she tells of fellow wordsmith Carrie Tiffany, entering a book store to buy a copy of her own award winning (and excellent) 'Mateship With Birds', has the Gen Y person behind the counter advise her not to bother with it as it is a shit read.

It seems Hannie Rayson wrote this memoir as an antidote to some recent career setbacks with several of her plays she'd invested much sweat in being underwhelming at the box office, or even failing to get up for staging. For one, I trust that this lovely and seamlessly readable trip down her formative years in the less sophisticated Victorian capital of the fifties, sixties and seventies – and then beyond to the multicultural metropolis it is today - will not be a one-off. Her work is as addictive as McInnes at his best and I was thoroughly enchanted by her 'not so ordinary life'.
Profile Image for Karen O'Brien-Hall.
119 reviews6 followers
April 4, 2021
Many thespians know Hannie Rayson as the author of one, or several, of their favourite plays, Inheritance, Two Brothers, The Swimming Club Hotel Sorrento (also a successful movie) and many others. Many of her works also appear on High School English curriculums.

A personal favourite is Life After George about a man with two ex, and one present, wives who is totally unable to keep his eyes, and hands, of any pretty girl who comes his way. His wives have a use by date and they are replaced with their younger self. Such is the talent of this author that wives, and audiences, love George – he is written with such charm!

When I saw in a catalogue that Hannie was publishing a memoir, I welcomed the opportunity to learn more about an author whose work I admire. Someone who could make George a charming and lovable person, has to have interesting things to say. Thank you Text Publishing for my ARC.

In the prologue, Hannie says, “I am a playwright. I have spent thirty years pretending to be other people. I lie on the floor in my study and try to imagine I am someone else. It’s exhausting. Right now I am a dying man with drug¬resistant tuberculosis. Earlier this morning I was his angry daughter and after lunch I plan to be his Asian wife. Often I am everyone at the same time.

My imaginary people are always spitting the dummy. They cheat, they fight and they lie; they’re cruel and they betray each other. The more scandalously they behave, the better for all concerned. I develop an affection for most of my characters. Even the racists and the bigots.
… My plays are never about me. But for reasons I cannot explain, I have woken up and found myself interesting.”

With her strong opinions on many subjects, the Hannie Rayson we meet in this memoir is very interesting not only to herself, but to us. She writes in chapters, not necessarily chronological, which not only offer an often humourous insight into the woman and the playwright, but are great conversations starters. For example:

On graffiti – “… If you don’t like the aesthetics of graffiti and tagging it can fill you with terrible despair. I know that other people call it art. I experience it as white noise. Visual tinnitus. It is indifferent to the architecture on which it is imposed. It scorns urban form. It sneers at grace. …” There is, however, one piece of graffiti which appeals to her, but that spoiler will wait until you read the book.

On dinner parties: “… people are suffering from performance anxiety at the prospect of entertaining their friends at home; the modern ‘fetishisation” of food has contributed to less conviviality rather than more. If only we were content to throw a few chops on the barbie and serve them up with a green salad, we’d see more of each other.” Despite feeling this way, Hannie admits she just cannot take her own advice.

Another chapter which particularly appealed to me is entitled “Love and Writing”, where she reminisces about going to romantic movies with her mother and “… I was sick with worry and pity for my mother. I thought this is all over for her. She’s married to my Dad.” With typical teenage narcissism, she pitied her mother for never walking barefoot in the park, having breakfast at Tiffany’s, or a farm in Africa. I have to admit that Hannie shared many traits with yours truly.

Many authors will relate to Hannie’s desktop meeting with a play’s characters: “I’ve gathered you here today to tell you that despite my best efforts you have all wilfully refused to contribute to any sort of plot. It’s clear that you are not remotely interested in illuminating the human condition. Frankly you will never amount to anything and as of today, I’m shutting down operations in this plant.”

I was sorry to finish this book. It is an easy, entertaining read, written in a chatty, friendly, open style. I thoroughly enjoyed this look inside the life of a playwright I admire; Hello Beautiful.

This review is published on Starts at 60 – link http://bit.ly/1Eotg95

Profile Image for Kirsten.
356 reviews8 followers
July 5, 2015
Felt so good reading this. I truly did laugh and cry. I started this in bed one night when I came across this line on p2 regarding the difference between writing plays and writing this: "I do not have to think of nine hundred people sitting in the dark in the Playhouse Theatre wanting DRAMA. I just have to imagine you you, tucked up in bed, wanting something companionable and consoling." Talk about having me pegged!

Funny kid anecdotes included, such as her kid's response to Hannie confessing she wasn't good at talking in front of groups prior to addressing his primary school class on her job: "He is nodding in his wise, eight-year-old way. 'It's okay', he says. 'I'll still love you if you're a failure.' When did my son start talking like a did in an American sitcom?"

The chapter on Love and Writing was funny and moving: "My love affair with writing is childish and profound, full of stings and jealousies, excitability and calm, tantrums and glittering happiness". Makes me want to write!

Her description of her wedding involves references to Colin Firth and Orlando Bloom.

So many gems. I won't quote the next one but check out pages 224 and 225 for the perfect counter to saccharine positive messaging.
Profile Image for Alayne.
2,440 reviews7 followers
May 13, 2015
Hannie Rayson has written a very interesting book. It is funny, and as I was born the year after she was, I could relate to much of what she wrote about. She doesn't write in chronological order, but mentions things that happened and later explains more of what happened. It is an unusual way to write an autobiography, but it did not detract from the story. Very enjoyable.
Profile Image for Michael Livingston.
795 reviews291 followers
September 29, 2015
As the subtitle suggests, this is a book of scenes, rather than a conventional memoir. Rayson is a lovely writer - witty and warm - but the stories didn't always engage me, and some moments left me irritated (e.g. the author lamenting that she can't just have the simple life of a bank worker, the hilariously priggish dismissal of graffiti in Fitzroy, buying shark fins to cook with).
Profile Image for Jess.
119 reviews2 followers
July 10, 2021
My god I struggled through this. I probably should have just abandoned it but I kept ploughing through it. I don't know what I was expecting...

She's a wonderful writer, no doubt about it. Some of the little chapters were great stories but a lot of them, I just didn't care enough about. I didn't even read the last one, just sort of kept flicking the pages until it was over.

I'm feeling guilty about leaving a negative review but it is what it is. You might find it a lovely collection of stories that sort of work together to make a memoir, it just wasn't for me.
Profile Image for Wonderkell.
248 reviews18 followers
June 21, 2017
Hannie Rayson is one of my favourite playwrights & she brings the same trademark humour, honesty & humanity in her plays to this book. She is wonderfully funny & warm & in the next moment she will break your heart. A wonderful memoir.
Profile Image for Hazel Edwards.
Author 172 books95 followers
August 14, 2018
Enjoyed the lcoal references. Easy reading. Insight into the contemporary workstyle of a practising writer.
12 reviews
February 21, 2019
Definitely some good bits in this story. I didn’t find it that easy to read though.
Profile Image for Kate Gordon.
72 reviews
April 18, 2019
Fun, lighthearted wander through a lovely person's life. Laughed often!
Profile Image for Andrew Walton.
200 reviews
February 24, 2022
Great collection of personal history and family moments.
Sensitively handled.
Enjoyed the depth and brevity structure of the chapters.
Profile Image for Malvina.
1,895 reviews9 followers
December 8, 2015
I don't suppose I would have encountered this book, except it was a book club choice. I am so grateful for book clubs, the other people choose books you would usually not consider...and I would have missed out on this playwright's warm, witty memoir. Told in a series of scenes, in loose-ish chronological order, Hannie shares with us the good, the bad, the funny, and the sad times. Her voice is descriptively rich, and fills in unusual and small details which make her observations uniquely interesting. I feel now as though I'd love to have a conversation with her and her husband Michael Cathcart, and her son Jack. Her love for them shines through, also for her friends; even her ex-partner. The title comes from a red scrawled sign she kept seeing on the footpath on her walks through Melbourne: Hello Beautiful! If I found that I would smile, too...
Profile Image for Susan Wight.
217 reviews
August 22, 2016
As Hannie Rayson recounted her suburban childhood, this book didn't appeal at all. I had my own suburban childhood, why read about someone else's? But the more I read the more I was seduced by Hannie's sense of humour and gentle amusement at the opinions of her younger self. Who can resist her self-deprecating reminiscence...
"In 1978, politics was a relatively simply business. You didn't have to get your head around the current account deficit or its relationship to globalisation. You just had to understand that good and evil were matters of gender. All things male were suspect and all things female illuminated the path to world peace, social justice, creativity and care for the environment."
Hannie was good company.
73 reviews
June 9, 2016
One of a ten book prize pack from a weekend newspaper earlier this year, my thanks to The Sunday Age for introducing me to scenes from Hannie Rayson’s life in Hello Beautiful; an entertaining and engaging read.
1,314 reviews7 followers
March 28, 2016
'Hello Beautiful Scenes From a Life' by playwright Hannie Rayson is delightful.
With incredible charm, skill, whimsy and insight, Hannie unfolds her life from her early years to now.
It resonated greatly with me, and had some wonderful laugh-out-loud moments.
Profile Image for Kate.
64 reviews4 followers
July 13, 2016
Hannie Rayson is a candid, charming woman with a canny sense of observation and a clever writing style. The book is somewhat sequential but not exactly, so it's more than the days of Hannie's life.

I think her cover is very brave!

Nearly 5 stars from me. 4.5 at least.
Profile Image for Jude.
31 reviews3 followers
May 2, 2015
This was engaging, entertaining and so easy to read. Many times I laughed out loud. I definitely want to try a Turkish bath in the hamam after reading her description. Lovely book.
49 reviews3 followers
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August 19, 2015
I enjoyed this book especially Hannie Rayson's humour - very funny at times!
59 reviews
February 14, 2016
Hannie Rayson, centre stage. What a woman. I like her!
Profile Image for Linda.
212 reviews6 followers
November 6, 2016
Beautiful, delightful, and filled with Australian humour and charm. I so adored this wonderful telling of a life well lived.
685 reviews1 follower
June 15, 2016
A lovely collection of observations that are heartfelt, funny, and very (inner) Melbourne.
Profile Image for Erika.
181 reviews9 followers
June 29, 2016
Funny, reflective life stories, always neatly & charmingly tied up at the end of each chapter.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews

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