The House of Breathing

by Gail Jones

This finely crafted collection of fourteen short stories, the second by Australian writer Gail Jones to appear in the United States, confirms her as a sophisticated writer of profound and distinctive vision. Traversing a broad range of subjects--cultural imperialism, sexuality, politics, the visionary power of language--Jones explores the often painful intersections between these issues and the personal lives of her characters.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Ebooks

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Gail Jones is the author of two short-story collections, a critical monograph, and the novels BLACK MIRROR, SIXTY LIGHTS, DREAMS OF SPEAKING, SORRY and FIVE BELLS.

Three times shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, her prizes include the WA Premier's Award for Fiction, the Nita B. Kibble Award, the Steele Rudd Award, the Age Book of the Year Award, the Adelaide Festival Award for Fiction and the ASAL Gold Medal. She has also been shortlisted for international awards, including the IMPAC and the Prix Femina.

Her fiction has been translated into nine languages. Gail has recently taken up a Professorship at UWS.

Reviews

[richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written short stories, if occasionally over-written in the sense that the choice of words is inconsistent with the voice of the narrator, a little too academic. I'm curious to know if these are published in the order in which they were written - either she settled into a more successful form, or I settled into reading her prose. Either way, some superb writing, particularly, I thought, in the penultimate story, 'These Eyes', when the narrator tells of the recollections she has upon observing someone wholly absorbed in reading Shakespeare on the train.

[Jmolentin]

Read this while I was in OZ, don't remember it. But loved a later book by the same author "Five Bells"