Storia di un'amicizia bugiarda

by Dominic Amerena, Claudia Durastanti (Translator)

Di Brenda Shales, celeberrima scrittrice australiana, dopo due romanzi di grande successo e un’accusa di plagio, si sono perse le tracce. Fino a oggi. Perché un giovane scrittore in crisi l’ha appena trovata, ed è disposto a tutto pur di raccontare la sua storia. L’unico problema? Deve fingere di essere qualcuno che non è per farlo.
Quante bugie servono per arrivare alla verità? Ma sopratutto, cosa è disposto a sacrificare per diventare il prossimo grande scrittore australiano?
Con una prosa raffinata e affilata, Dominic Amerena firma un romanzo che è un gioco di specchi vorticoso, dove la letteratura è un inganno a cui, però, nessuno dei personaggi sembra voler sfuggire.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Book Club, Australia, Mystery, Writing, Literary Fiction

277 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 29, 2025

About the author

Dominic Amerena is a writer from Melbourne. His work has appeared in places like Australian Book Review, Overland, the Australian, the Lifted Brow, the Age, Meanjin and Kill Your Darlings.
His work has been recognised in a number of awards, most recently the 2017 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize.

Reviews

[Jaclyn]

Our ambitions might just devour us whole. I haven’t loved hating such an empty soulless protagonist in ages. I could kiss this book. In nicely styled prose, Amerena destroys Australian literature and the ethics of telling stories not our own. What would you give to tell a story sure to get you published? What would you take? What lies would you happily tell? It was the emptiness and depravity of the very nature of storytelling that pinned me to the page. Blind ambition is a bitch. Amerena clearly has talent to burn and has my full attention. Damn.

[Sophie Skotland-Crowe]

Yellowface if it was written by a man. Very verbose to the point of being a littttle pretentious. Also the authors choice to use em dashes to represent dialog in lieu of quotation marks was frustrating and at times made following the conversations between characters a chore.

[EmG ReadsDaily]

I was hooked into this literary mystery, from the very opening - ‘An innocent mistake. Innocent, then progressively less so. I acted immorally, but what did literature have to do with morality? Looking back, it all seemed inevitable, the first mistaken identity leading to the second, leading me to the bedside of the last, great Australian writer, observing her in her natural habitat: captivity.’

A multifaceted and thoroughly enjoyable debut novel, with plenty of psychological tension, morally grey characters and a complicated web of deception.

[Marianne]

I Want Everything is the first novel by Australian author, Dominic Amerena. His lover, Ruth, summarises the protagonist’s situation well: “You recognise a noted recluse, whom no-one has heard boo from in fifty years. You ambush her at her place of residence, and she invites you in for tea and bickies, decides to spill the full, unabridged beans. The great mystery of Australian letters falls right into your lap.” But what Ruth doesn’t know, what he hasn’t told her, is that he was mistaken for the grandson of this mysterious author, an error he didn’t correct. So he’s there under false pretences.

What do we call this unnamed protagonist? The failed novelist? The former editor of a now-defunct journal? The frequent hospital inpatient? Ruth’s lover? The son of a retired anaesthetics nurse? Not Brenda Shales’s grandson? He sees himself as an emerging author currently in a writing rut, now receiving “…manna from literary heaven.”

He begins to write something that is not a straight-out biography but includes himself as the writer. He knows that “what I was concocting was not literature, but the story of a parasite and his perfect host. Or maybe I was the host, infected by Brenda’s story.” He’d confessed to Brenda his desire to be the next great Australian writer, “a notion which struck me now as ludicrous overreach.”

But he’s a man many would find lazy, lacking integrity, whose occasional feelings of guilt are quickly dismissed for the sake of getting his name on the cover. Watching him desperately trying to cover his lies is entertaining, but by the time he’s doing a deep self-analysis, it’s hard to muster any sympathy for him.

There’s a lot to like in this tale: Brenda is candid and down-to-earth; her dialogue is a delight, insightful, expressive and observant: “Writing a book is like assembling a chicken coop in the middle of a tornado. One moment it’s a patchwork of jottings, and the next it’s a single, unified thing. There’s no better feeling in the world.” There’s plenty of black humour, a clever plot, and then there are some excellent twists that soon have the reader wondering, “Is either narrator entirely reliable?” Is anyone quite who they claim to be?

Amerena has eschewed the use of quote marks for speech, a trend that many readers won’t appreciate; he denotes speech with a dash at the start, better than nothing, but picking dialogue apart from narrative can be confusing. And during Brenda’s interviews, his occasional switches between the two first-person narratives do require a reset in the reader’s mind. An impressive debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Good Reading Magazine and Simon & Schuster Australia.

[Geoff Orton]

Any book that describes the ups and downs of trying the rainbow of Cheaper By Miles TimTam gets 5 stars from me.

[Bianca]

I Want Everything is told, for the most part, from the point of view of an unnamed aspiring writer, who's returning home to his girlfriend after a long stint in the hospital.

By chance, he's noticed an elderly woman, whom she recognises as the long disappeared (in)famous feminist writer, Brenda Shale. The uninspired but ambitious writer sees an opportunity to make a name for himself by writing a biography of the famous writer. It turns out, she lives in a home for the elderly. A slip of the tongue by a staff member at the residential age care, gives the narrator a way in by pretending to be Shale's long-lost grandson.

As the two develop a relationship, things change between them. Brenda is a verbose, cheeky older woman, irreverent and self-deprecating.

This multi-faceted novel looks at ambition, duality, writing inspiration, whose stories we hear and who has the right to tell them, the manipulation of truth to serve us and so much more.

I Want Everything is an accomplished debut novel that should have more readers.

[Dayna]

Not really much to say for this one. I struggled to finish it, I think because I never took a liking to the main character so honestly didn’t care to follow his story. And it was further than a “unlikeable” character, I felt rather icked at times.
In saying that, that is a personal review, and generally the plot twists were enjoyable. Just felt like a long time coming and blown out.

[Aneets]

This book felt very self consciously 'clever'. The characters lacked authenticity and felt like art house movie stereotypes. I expect this will be popular but I wouldn't recommend it. 3 stars

[Μαρία Δριμή]

Υποδειγματική πλοκή, μια ιστορία που κρατάει τον αναγνώστη δέσμιο μέχρι τέλους, με απρόσμενη ανατροπή. Χαρακτήρες πολύπλευροι, ανάγλυφοι. Ένα πολύ ωραίο βιβλίο.

[Tegan]

Plot: Sad self loathing author idolises another sad self loathing author, with a twist.

Everyone in this book was insufferable - the main guy (never got his name), Ruth, the friend. Was enjoying Brenda’s story till the end, then she also disappointed me (mainly how she treated her friend).

I can see what the author was trying to do and it was a good idea - it just wasn’t written well enough to achieve it.

[Madeline Pentland]

Good for her.

[Vaso]

Ένας νεαρός συγγραφέας, αναγνωρίζει τη Μπρεντα Σέιλς, μια συγγραφέα που τα δύο βιβλία της κατέκτησαν το κοινό της Αυστραλίας και μετά εξαφανίστηκε. Όντας ο ίδιος σε συγγραφικό τέλμα, την προσεγγίζει κι ανέλπιστα, εισέρχεται στη ζωή της. Αυτά όμως που εκείνη τελικά του αποκαλύπτει, δεν τα φανταζόταν ποτέ κι αναρωτιέται, ποια ήταν άραγε η Μπρέντα Σέιλς;

Μέσω του απρόσωπου αφηγητή, ο νεαρός Αυστραλός συγγραφέας, μιλά για το θράσος και την ανάγκη της επιτυχίας που νιώθουν ενδεχομένως όλοι όσοι γράφουν. Κι ενώ εσύ νομίζεις ότι θα διαβάσεις ένα τρόπον τινά βιβλίο μυστηρίου, έρχονται εγκιβωτισμένα τα βιβλία της Μπρεντα, σε παρασέρνουν και σε αφοπλίζουν, μιας και μιλούν για τη μητρότητα, την αποικιοκρατία, τις σχέσεις των ανθρώπων και τις πληγές της ψυχής. Ο αφηγητής μας ξέρει ότι δεν θα μπορούσε ποτέ να γράψει κάτι τόσο δυνατό, ως προς αυτό είναι ειλικρινής, αλλά δεν διστάζει να εκμεταλλευτεί την ηλικία της Μπρέντα, προσπαθώντας να ιδιοποιηθεί τη συγγραφική της δεινότητα.

Οι εγκιβωτισμένες ιστορίες μου φάνηκαν περισσότερο ενδιαφέρουσες από την αρχική ιστορία - η γραφή και η υπόθεση μου έδωσε μια αίσθηση του «στημένου». Σαν ο συγγραφέας να προσπαθεί να πείσει ότι μπορεί να γράψει το νέο μεγάλο βιβλίο, ακριβώς όπως κι ο ήρωας του ή μήπως το alter ego του;

[Annette Chidzey]

This book was gifted to me recently for my 70th birthday- the gift was unexpected but proved to be most enthralling given my avid commitment to reading especially literary styles and writers new to me.
I was definitely engaged from the outset and not just because I knew of the author from familial connections.

The narrative itself was compelling and the premise upon which that narrative was based both clever and intriguing. The writing was refreshing and it contained considerable humour and irony as well as unexpected twists as the account unfolded.
The geographic setting was very familiar to me and that made the storyline locations quite intimate.
Thank you, Dom, for the opportunity to read this debut novel and to be so thoroughly entertained by its adopted perspective on writers and writing. A really impressive and I trust introductory novel to what should be an illustrious writing career.

[Zali]

I can’t talk about this one because I’ll spoil it. WHAT A RIDE.

[Belle]

I devoured this book in three sittings - when I wasn’t reading it, I was telling people to read it or trying to decipher what would happen next… I Want Everything is simply brilliant! 👏🏼

[Gayle]

4.5 stars. Longlisted for the Miles Franklin, and I hope it makes the short list. Very clever writing about writing, stories, and their authors. I ripped through it, not wanting to put it down (although admittedly I didn’t think this would be the case in the first 20 or so pages).

I read a great piece written by Amerena here: https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/a... and can understand what he’s saying here when reading this book. I’ve read some of his short stories and there is no denying that he is a great writer, if at times in this work, trying to be a little too clever.

I heard someone saying that they saw Helen Garner as Brenda and another writer I admire as Ruth. I therefore struggled to get their faces out of my head (even though Garner is mentioned separately in the book 😅) so that was in equal parts annoying/fun.

A relationship between a writer and his hero/muse based on a lie, and like all lies it begins to eat away at his home life (but of course there’s more to it than that). He sets his future success on Brenda and her story, but is she a reliable narrator? Is anyone reliable here?

The interviews with Brenda were the absolute highlights of the book and the final twist I did not expect. The ending conclusive and clever, but not definitive as to where things would go from there - with his relationship, with Brenda or with his book. I loved that.

Hopefully Amerena produces another novel quicker than this debut, as I look forward to reading it!

[Kym Jackson]

An enjoyable literary detective novel—I Want Everything would reward a re-read with a highlighter looking for every allusion and reference to Australian literature contained within. This really is a love letter of sorts to Australian literature and certainly has echoes of Helen Demidenko and the Ern Malley Affair, as well as perhaps more mundane Australian literature such as Chopper Read’s memoirs (ie total fiction…or not?).

That being said, the narrator is—apart from his one action of pursuing Brenda Shales for her story—fairly apathetic. He is a failing short story writer, some previous but no recent success, submissive both sexually and romantically (as well as perhaps financially) to his girlfriend Ruth, a successful essayist whose career waxes as his wanes. He uncritically Hoovers up what Brenda tells him—despite some warnings in the text, ie at one point he wonders about verifying the details of Brenda’s story before deciding that would be too much work—and finds himself falling into a series of cascading lies with both Brenda and Ruth that threaten to unravel the project and his personal life.

This unravelling reminded me of the structure of an Ian McEwen novel (for example, Solar), where the narrator finds himself in a series of self made problems which increasingly come together into a looming crisis—but with this I just didn’t feel the tension rising the way it would in a McEwen novel. The twist is fairly easy to see coming—indeed the blurb of the novel tells us that Brenda is an unreliable narrator (I wonder if it would have been better not to mention this and leave the reader to figure it out themselves?) so we know there will be a twist and there are only realistically two options for what that twist will be (mentioned below for those interested).

The ending felt fairly unclimactic in that respect. But, maybe that’s not the point.

The novel is fairly easy to read (apart from another author who uses em dashes instead of quotation marks) and enjoyable—the narrator is pretentious and annoying and very much of the Melbourne arts scene, as are his friends and associates, and it’s all good fun. As said, if you are an Australian literature nerd this is peppered with allusions and references some of which I picked up and I am sure there would more if I were minded to go back and look—this would make a good book for a university course on Australian literature for that reason.

Overall—recommended.

Spoilers ahead—

…

…

…


…


…


…


The plot twist really only can be that Brenda is either just totally making everything up; or that Brenda/Maria have switched roles.

I just felt the novel was a let down in the sense that it tells us that Brenda is making everything up on the blurb but there are few in text clues as to her unreliability (aside from the obvious) and I just wonder if it would have been better not to tell us up front about this but let it seep out from the text itself and slowly become apparent that the narrator should not accept this story at face value.

Though maybe the author wanted to explore issues more related to who has the right to tell a story than the truth/fiction of the story itself…?

[Nicola (Storyofmyshelf)]

*3.5
Reminiscent of Yellowface, but with more pretentious purple prose. The sentences felt a little too bloated at times, however the twists and turns were pretty well done and so ironic. I wish this book had been longer to dig into the mystery & certain characters more. Good potential from a debut aussie author.

[Mirna]

4.5. those last 10 pages actually had me gasping but you aren’t cool for not using quotation marks.

[Kim]

2026 Miles Franklin Longlist
One of the great things about the MF longlist is coming across gems like this one.
Compelling and captivating. An old lady author tells of her life experiences that she put's into writing to a young male writer that a nurse mistook for her grandson. While he agonises over this deception, he doesn't reveal who he is during the sessions when she bares all about her past life, or does she...
Loved the style, loved the flawed main characters, I even loved the tropes. The combination of tropes felt fresh despite having seen them used before, I was still caught off guard by the end.
I listened to the audiobook at 1.25 speed which might have given the story more urgency, but it was a fabulous narration by experienced actors, Helen Mitchell and Blake Erikson. Dominic Amerena is an Australian writer to look out for.

[Ash]

Damn. I don't think you'd classify this as a thriller per se, but the way everything spirals out of control there's so much tension you could cut it with an analogy. I hate every one of these characters, but they're each brilliant in their myriad of flaws. And there's multiple layers of story, I find myself wanting to know what happens and dreading the inevitable conclusion at the same time. I liked it.

[aimee]

pathetic literary ego in the best way - i adore this & the dense prose. sorry if u complain about getting a thesaurus. challenge ur reading.

[Sarah Hooper]

I understand this is probably a good book but I really couldn’t be bothered with it at any point

[Sarah Christie]

Brenda’s interviews are the highlight of this book. I found the first part before we meet her a bit of a slog, but once we do, I was excited to get back to her. Such a firm grip on the Australian literary landscape and the way he draws Brenda to be a Shirley Hazzard/ Helen Garner/ any female Miles Franklin winner, was gold.

Funny I didn’t even think of the Yellowface comparisons until I read others reviews just now, but of course!

[Melinda Nankivell]

Very much enjoyed ‘I Want Everything’, a debut novel by Dominic Amerena. When our narrator has spent his adult life dreaming of become the next great Australian writer, what lines won’t he cross to get the story to bring him success? A chance encounter with a recluse writer he’s admired his whole life brings the ethics of story telling into focus, as well as postmodern notions of truth.

Those things sound heavy but this was written so well - snappy dialogue, a good pace, and a great insight into human flaws, including the little justifications we make for our poor choices.

[tyler]

thank you mrs rappell!

[Adele Packer]

Love a plot twist!

[Natasha]

3-3.5 for this one. Absolutely insufferable main character (and actually most of the characters really). I only really liked the descriptions of the nurses at the hospital who made fun of him. Still an enjoyable, easy to read, light and twisty book with a good ending. I couldn’t give it any more because I just had no interest in the main man who I imagine has a “wet fish” handshake.

[til may]

When Leigh Sales recommends a book you must read it. A vivid Australiana read which I thoroughly enjoyed although the plot is hard to follow towards the end (or maybe I just read the ending sleep deprived on a night bus).

[Declan Fry]

Ern Malley. Helen Demidenko. Norma Khouri. Wanda Koolmatrie. Australia has a rich and storied tradition of fakers, forgers, frauds and fabricators.

For his debut, Greece-based Dominic Amerena offers us a worthy addition to this gallery of fiasco-mongers: an insecure, craven, sickly and mercifully unnamed narrator. Peddling his blood and body at a hospital while attempting to succeed as a writer, his existence is dreary. He envies his “Melbourne-famous” writer partner, Ruth, who has found acclaim selling a story about her mother. The family betrayal benefits her career and introduces a new term to the world: daughter-boarding – “hit pieces by young women against their mothers”.

Given the precarity of the artistic landscape, only a fool would not take an opportunity for advancement, and the narrator is no fool. Swimming at the Victoria University pools, he encounters Brenda Shales. A Whitlam-era luminary – part Thea Astley, part Helen Garner – she wrote two novels, won a cult following and promptly vanished into the only dignified position available to a self-respecting literary author: obscurity.

The work speaks, as they say, for itself. Only that’s not enough for an unnamed narrator looking to make his name. Who better to provide prestige than a recluse with some flesh to offer the biographical mill? It’s not quite spotting Christ on the boulevard, but it will do. He sets about writing a tell-all account of what happened to the celebrated author. He will be her witness, her confidante. The Boswell to her Johnson. He will bask in the secondhand shadow of her literary light. He will build his fame upon hers.

Coy, winking, spritzy, this is a scurrilously funny meditation on ambition and economic insecurity. It satirises the commercialised hellscape of contemporary literature, if not life in general: no pleasure, no heart, just product.

Take Shales’ reputation-solidifying second novel, The Widowers. Passed around Carlton share houses “like some graven object”, its publication results in courtroom wranglings and the advent of questionable legal precedent. It is, we are told, controversial in a way that Amerena calls “unimaginable now”.

It’s a telling detail. It suggests not only changing social mores, but a shift in how literature is received. What was once epoch-making is now merely content. Debase yourself for the algorithm or die trying. “The world is a vampire,” the Smashing Pumpkins sang. Even if it were untrue, you would have a hard time convincing Amerena’s narrator.

There is a sense throughout that, smarmy as the narrator is, his desire to be a writer is merely incidental. He is described as having little mercy – a quality that seems to be borne out, given his treatment of Shales. Could it be mercy for himself too, though, that he lacks? Caught in his Tantalus visions of literary fame, he regularly conflates literature with the satisfaction of other desires (legitimacy, likeability, self-worth). He believes or wants to believe himself to be Brenda’s confidante and confessor. He would be better served learning to act as his own.

“Fame is a form of incomprehension,” Borges observed, “perhaps the worst.” Cannily, Borges never bothered specifying whether this incomprehension belonged to the artist, their audience or both. There is an ironic edge to this aspect of the book. Amerena plays with questions of domination and subordination, both sexual and economic. (Regularly highlighting every abject and unseemly stitch of his characters, Amerena plays the dom.)

Read on: https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/...