Δίπλα στη λίμνη

by Susan Johnson

Ο Τζόναθαν Λοτ είναι πολύ μπερδεμένος. Είναι αλήθεια ότι ένας άνδρας που βρίσκεται πλέον στα πρόθυρα διαζυγίου και έχει μια καλή οικονομική κατάσταση χρειάζεται μια νέα σύζυγο; Ή μήπως χρειάζεται άλλη μία ερωμένη; Κι εκείνη η απογοητευμένη και διαζευγμένη επίσης Πέννυ, έχει κι αυτή ανάγκη από έναν νέο σύζυγο; Ή ο γάμος είναι χαμένη υπόθεση τελικά;
Και τί γίνεται με την όμορφη ʼννα, που ήρθε ένας Θεός ξέρει από πού, σέρνοντας πίσω της μια ολόκληρη ουρά από αποτυχημένους γάμους;
Προδοσίες, μεγάλες και μικρές συμμαχίες, απογοητεύσεις και χαρές… όλα ανθρώπινα και καθημερινά...
Συμβαίνουν πολλά παράξενα στην μικρή επαρχιακή πόλη δίπλα στη λίμνη, ένα ήσυχο θέρετρο όπου ο Τζόναθαν έχει το εξοχικό του σπίτι, όπως και αρκετοί άλλοι ευκατάστατοι μεσήλικες.
Το ζήτημα είναι αν θα μάθει τελικά το μάθημά του… Αν θα μάθει πόσο μεγάλη σημασία έχει η αγάπη.

Genres: Fiction, Australia, Book Club

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Susan Johnson was shortlisted for the 1991 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for her novel Flying Lessons, shortlisted for the 1994 National Book Council's Banjo Award for the novel A Big Life and shortlisted for the National Biography Award 2000 for her memoir A Better Woman. Her other books include Hungry Ghosts, Messages from Chaos, Women Love Sex (editor and contributor) and Life in Seven Mistakes. The Broken Book was shortlisted for the 2005 Nita B Kibble Award; the Best Fiction Book section of the Queensland Premier's Literary Award; the Westfield/Waverley Library Literary Award, and the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal Award for an Outstanding Australian Literary Work. Her last novel, My Hundred Lovers, was published in 2012 to critical acclaim.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This author is entered with 2 spaces.

Reviews

[Veronica ⭐️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from the publisher some time ago. I looked at the cover, the title and neither really did much for me so I put it aside. What a mistake that was! I loved this book!

Johnson’s writing is poetic, witty and perceptive. The reader gets a look at human nature on a personal level as Johnson delves into the characters’ innermost thoughts and fears with underlying themes of love, life, family, relationships, regrets, self doubts, ageing and new beginnings.
I felt a part of the story, a oneness. I understood the people, the places, what they were saying and why.

I recently read a book that was very American and I found that I became lost at times, not by the story itself but by the location and the language. The landing may be similar for non Australians.

This is a slow paced book but there is nothing boring about it. Every sentence seeps into your being.

I can see “The Landing” securing a place in my top 10 reads for 2016.

With my thanks to the publisher for my proof copy to read and review.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I am guessing that the marketing department at Allen & Unwin have chosen this cliché cover design to appeal to a wider audience than Susan Johnson’s readership who like her literary fiction, the problem is that by focussing our attention on a (headless) woman on a pier, (#GettyImagesSearch = landing/pier (n) +woman) the image deflects from the wider meaning of the word ‘landing’. The landings that Susan Johnson explores in this witty and intelligent novel are those that people make when they find themselves landed in places where they didn’t expect to be. Metaphorically speaking, that is. (I don’t think marketing departments like metaphorical much.)

After a long period of being married, Jonathon Lott has landed on the perilous rocky shore of marital separation. He’s wealthy, good-looking, only 55, still able to attract the attention of hopefuls within and outside his age bracket. But it’s not what he wants. He doesn’t want to start again, he wants the ease of a comfortable old marriage. Perhaps this contributed to Sarah’s departure… readers will make up their own minds about that.

That very ambiguity is what lifts the novel out of the predictable romance genre. It goes nowhere near Relationships #101 because the author brings original insights to bear on the story. It’s narrated from several points of view besides Jonathan’s, ranging across the generations with Penny Collins in the middle, sandwiched between the demands of her difficult old mother Marie and her impulsive daughter Scarlet.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2015/09/08/th...

[Lee at ReadWriteWish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book weeks ago. And yet… I’m still struggling with the review.

I really should have loved this book. And yet...

Firstly, it had a local setting, South East Queensland and Brisbane. I’m from Queensland and I lived in Brisbane for several years and the descriptions of it are spot on. I even got a little sentimental about the city at times.

The Landing itself is a fictional seaside (or lakeside actually) town supposedly a couple of hours north of Brisbane. It could be any number of real life places though. Small communities where affluent city folk search for their tree/sea change.

Even without the setting, the age of the main characters should have popped this book on my favourites list immediately. I love older characters and this book is chock full of them, mostly in crisis. And yet...

Most of the focus is on Penny and Jonathan. Both are in middle aged, with marital issues and children issues and aging parent issues and career issues.

I did like Penny a lot. I got a little weepy several times when reading about her and her life. And yet, in the end, I was severely underwhelmed by Penny's outcome. I came away thinking I had all this lovely background and some conflict with Penny's plot but no resolution.

Jonathan, however… I thought for a while I was close to liking him, but his ending, again, felt wrong.

I need to mention the cover too in this review. The cover is just shockingly unsuitable for the book. This is definitely feminine literature. The cover to me screams romantic fluff. (I love romantic fluff, so I’m not bashing that at all. In fact, I requested this book because of the pretty cover, and that might be why I’ve struggled since finishing. There is no romantic fluff.)

So… After several weeks, I’m still undecided as to whether or not I even liked the book. I think I’ll give it 3 ½ stars.

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δείτε επίσης και στο Chill and read

Το Λάντινγκ ήταν θέρετρο στις αρχές του εικοστού αιώνα εκατόν πενήντα χιλιόμετρα βόρεια του Μπρίσμπεϊν. Από τότε, έχει περάσει πολύ νερό στο αυλάκι και παραμένει μια επαρχιακή πόλη, γύρω από μια λίμνη που προσελκύει ιστιοπλόους, σέρφερ και επισκέπτες του Σαββατοκύριακου στα εξοχικά τους. Στο Λάντινγκ έχει χτίσει εξοχικό ο Τζόναθαν Λοτ, ένας άνθρωπος στα πρόθυρα του διαζυγίου. Είναι μπερδεμένος. Δεν ξέρει πως να συνεχίσει τη ζωή του τώρα που η γυναίκα του τον άφησε για μια άλλη γυναίκα. Η Πέννυ είναι επίσης διαζευγμένη κι έχει κι αυτή τα προβλήματά της. Μια κόρη που το έσκασε με έναν πολύ μεγαλύτερο άντρα, αυτόν της γειτόνισσας. Και μια μητέρα που γερνάει ομορφαίνοντας κι ας είναι πολύ δύσκολος χαρακτήρας. Έπειτα είναι κι αυτή η Άννα που έρχεται ξαφνικά από το Λονδίνο και σέρνει πίσω της τέσσερις συζύγους και μερικά διαζύγια.

Αυτοί και αρκετοί ακόμη είναι οι χαρακτήρες του βιβλίου που θα έρθουν και θα δημιουργήσουν μια υπέροχη συντροφιά δίπλα στη λίμνη. Ο αναγνώστης θα μπει κι αυτός στην παρέα και θα συμμετάσχει στα κουτσομπολιά τους. Θα δει τις εκφράσεις τους. Θα νιώσει τα συναισθήματά τους. Και θα ακούσει τις κρυφές σκέψεις τους, αυτές που κάνουν όλοι όταν δεν μπορεί κανείς να τους ακούσει. Θα απαντήσει στα ερωτήματά τους και θα στηρίξει τις αποφάσεις τους.

Η Susan Johnson έχει τον τρόπο της να σε κάνει μέρος της ιστορίας κι αυτό είναι εκπληκτικό! Δεν είσαι παρατηρητής στις ζωές των άλλων αλλά συμμετέχεις ενεργά!

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★ Loved the setting of this - somewhere up on the Sunshine Coast - perhaps around North Shore…? Not too far from Noosaville (my favourite getaway at the moment) and Tewantin, anyway. I found the characters a bit hard to keep track of - not helped by the fact that I was reading an ebook, so couldn’t flip back and forth easily. A list of characters might have been helpful. I didn’t really like the main character - I felt he was a bit pathetic, and in fact, as I think about it, most of the characters weren’t ones I could empathise with, because they all irritated me to some extent. It wasn’t the easiest of books to read (perhaps partly because I didn’t like the characters), but I’m glad I read it and will be interested to try more of the author’s works.

[Debbie Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is extremely difficult to review a book that is not comparable to any other book that I have read in the last few years. So please bear with me. The Landing by Susan Johnson is intelligent and perceptive writing at its best. If you want a lot to happen in the books you read, this probably isn’t for you but if enjoy a book that digs deep into each character’s psyche then put this on your must read list.
After Jonathan’s wife leaves him for another woman he retreats to his beach house at The Landing, a beautiful, relatively pristine location about two hours north of Brisbane. Some readers might find Jonathan annoying but for me he is a typical male, maybe a bit mean with his money as another character thinks but overall a nice guy and let’s face it there are a lot of horrible men out there. Because I escaped marriage with a control freak, I personally think his wife Sarah was mad, but other’s might disagree. Then there is Penny, a frustrated artist with her dreadful French mother Marie and her hapless but beautiful daughter Scarlett, who has run off with an older married man and had two children with impossible names.
There is also the local GP Gordie retired now and his fascinating daughter Anna who turns up suddenly at The Landing. A few other locals appear now and then as well: a strange motherless child called Giselle, a local shopkeeper Sylv and Jonathan’s neighbours Glen and Celia.
Johnson’s attention to details is so close I actually felt I was at The Landing myself, walking down the street to go to the BBQ. Personally, I didn’t find Johnson head hopped too much. The points of view are mainly from Jonathan’s, Penny’s, Marie’s (but generally in the past when she first arrives in Australia) and occasionally Scarlett’s.
For me the strength of this book is how the reader is a witness to the things each character realises and comes to terms with (or doesn’t). I am in awe of how Johnson achieves this. Here is Penny in one of those moments, thinking about her daughter:
“She had thought she had accommodated herself to it as best as she could, given that Scarlett was alive, breathing, not dead from drugs or a car accident or any of the many dreadful things young people died from. She was not a junkie or an alcoholic, she was a healthy young woman who could still make something worthwhile of her life. How was Penny to know if Scarlett hadn’t already made something worthwhile, if those two babies weren’t equal - or even worth more - than all the other supposedly worthwhile worldly things? How do you weigh a baby? How do you measure value, or success? She walked on, hoping that if she walked far enough or long enough or hard enough she might walk out of the anger that even she knew was a substitute for something else; as if she might walk her way out of the painful riddle of being alive.” An excellent, challenging read.

[Kali Napier · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very Brisbane book -- one of the main families is called the MacAlisters and appear to be based on the McWhirters of department store fame. Expo 88 gets a mention, the Greek families that settled Brisbane, the floods, and the very Brisbane occupation of spending weekends in holiday homes in the hinterlands of Noosa and GC. The Landing is a small community set around a lake somewhere west of Noosa. The story follows the ins and outs of their relationships, and, in the case of the MacAlisters, their past. It is a story of their hearts, how love grows and dies, enmeshing the characters in a web that stretches around The Landing. With such a cast of characters it was a challenge, at times, to remember who's who, especially when there is a Penny, Pete, Paul, Phil (and a mention of another Phillip once), and someone is referred to as PP -- which one are they? This is a book of a very particular point in time, and I found many of the characters' worldviews jarring. There is a railing against political correctness throughout, which made it difficult for me to empathise with any of the characters.

[Lesley Moseley · Rating 3 out of 5]

maybe 3 1/2 as I was a bit disappointed that it was finished. Sequel coming? Very real characters , and an almost hasty chronicling of their next moves. Lovely nature images.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

To many characters, didn’t seem to flow, hopped from one character’s story line to the next.

[Χ. ΚΟΥΡΟΥΠΑΚΗ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Το μυθιστόρημα ξεκινάει με τον Τζόναθαν έναν άντρα που μετά από κάποιες δεκαετίες τον εγκαταλείπει η γυναίκα του για χάρη μιας άλλης γυναίκας, και τον συντροφεύουμε στο ταξίδι του καθώς επιστρέφει στο Λάντινγκ , ένα θέρετρο νοτιοανατολικά του Κουήνσλαντ και του Μπρίσμπεϊν, περιτριγυρισμένο από μια λίμνη, καθώς εκεί βρίσκεται το εξοχικό του. Καθώς επιστρέφει εκεί, συναντά διάφορους εκκεντρικούς ανθρώπους, που οι ζωές τους είναι αλληλένδετες μεταξύ τους. Οι άνθρωποι αυτοί, είναι όλοι διαφορετικοί μεταξύ τους, ιδιόμορφοι και ενδιαφέρονται να γνωρίζουν τα πάντα γύρω από την ζωή των άλλων.
Η συγγραφέας προβάλει με έντονη ματιά τις σχέσεις των ανθρώπων και τα οικογενειακά δράματα, και καταφέρνει να γοητεύσει τον αναγνώστη με τις περιπέτειες μιας ομάδας εκκεντρικών ανθρώπων μιας μικρής πόλης και της φαινομενικά ήσυχης και συνηθισμένης ιδιωτικής τους ζωής.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished Susan Johnson's new novel, The Landing. Wow, this woman can write. I felt so completely engrossed in this story. I felt like I was sitting in somebody's lounge room, listening to small town gossip and family squabbles. I felt completely inside the heads of the characters - their dreams, their desires, their fears and uncertainties. The Landing is a small coastal town somewhere on the Sunshine Coast, made up of aging hippies, retirees and wealthy weekend beach house owners. As with Susan's other novels, the characters feel like people I know - relatives or acquaintances. There is French Marie, aging gracefully, intolerant of everyone and everything around her. Her daughter Penny, divorced, her only child having ruined her chances at life by running off with a much older man, her grandchildren wild and untamed. There is Johnathon Lott, whose wife has left him for another woman. (Oh, the shame!) How is he now to be happy? There is unconventional Anna, with a string of broken marriages and husbands behind her. There is the retired physician, the gossiping shop owners, the neglected child. The whole microcosm of life is contained in The Landing and Susan exploits the foibles and failings of its residents with humour, wit and sensitive observation.
Penny recalls her ex-husband thus:
"Somehow Penny had intuited her way to the bleakest man in Australia; some suffering in her led straight to the suffering in him...her ex-husband was a zealot stripped of a cause..."
Marie's view on life:
"...in distress, a miserable, cracked family becomes only more miserable; in an earthquake more china is broken than when the earth is still. Even now, all these years later, Marie could list her mother's cruelties, large and small, her floundering jealousies, her limited emotional repertoire. There was no benefit to suffering, no purpose, no meaning. Suffering did not ennoble; grief did not bind people together but only cast them out into separate spheres of sorrow."
Penny's angst:
"How do you measure value, or success? She walked on, hoping that if she walked far enough or long enough or hard enough she might walk out of the anger that even she knew was a substitute for something else; as if she might walk her way out of the painful riddle of being alive."
Susan's descriptions of landscape are particularly familiar and evocative:
"On the far eastern bank, opposite the settlement known as The Landing, the world's oldest sand dunes separate the immense lake from the ocean. Laced and tethered to the earth by fleshy-leaved, purple-flowered pigface, goat's foot vine and spinifex, held safe from the wind, the dunes rise up from the clean sweep of beach facing ocean. Behind them runs a heath, scrubby with low-lying pandanus and other hardy plants, which in turn becomes a scribbled forest of melaleuca trees, wrinkled, grey, ghostly. Sprinkled throughout are spiny, needle-like grass trees and sweet-nectared yellow banksias, bursting and round as pompoms, and native fungi, brilliant red, curled like sea anemone or bright orange, leaping like frozen licks of flame."
Susan's writing makes you wonder how she came to know your own family, or when she inhabited your house and your life without you realising it. She has an enviable talent for depicting the banal, minutiae of life combined with the broad brushstrokes of the great existential questions of life - why are we here? what do we matter? how do we make a difference? how do we be happy?
Susan's writing is assured, intelligent, considered and entertaining.

[Deborah (debbishdotcom) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Landing very much reminded me of a cross between two books I read last year (which I compared at the time: Indian Summer and There Must Be Some Mistake) in which nothing really happened.

Interestingly, I enjoyed the former and disliked the latter. Both were well-written but with a limited plot arc it very much came down to the characters. Those in Indian Summer interested me and those in There Must Be Some Mistake managed to simultaneously annoy the crap out of me and bore me to tears.

The Landing falls somewhere in between. Much of the pace was a tad slow for me although I didn't necessarily mind the meandering style of storytelling.

But I felt we head-hopped a little too much and I struggled to find any of the characters (other than Giselle - whose purpose I never understood) particularly endearing. Johnson did a good job of communicating her characters' introspection so I probably would have liked to have seen more of this from fewer people.

The Landing’s well-written however and Johnson’s wry tone and (occasionally sarcastic) observations were the most enjoyable part of the novel for me.

Read the full review on my blog: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...

[Caraline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won an advanced reading copy of this novel from the publisher Allen & Unwin and I am very glad I did.

Initially I was worried I wouldn't like this book. There are a few impossibly long sentences in the first chapter or so. There are also a few very obvious statements. These will doubtless be absent in the final edition, because the rest of the book didn't share those problems.

I loved several of the characters and cared slightly less for several more. Marie, Penny and Scarlett interested me most of all. Although the final chapter resolved many characters' immediate situations, it is feasible that other novels could revisit some of them, and I would like to see more of Penny and Scarlett in the future. And indeed Jonathan, what of him in the future?

This book is not a riveting, can't put down, life changing read. It is more like an extended novella, sharing a short glimpse of The Landing and some of the inhabitants. Possibly the synopsis oversold it to me, but not so much that I was disappointed with it. It is not a seething saga of sex, love and life. Yet it is an enjoyable sojourn.

[Phil Princey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't remember what led me to choose this book but I was on the lookout for a good Australian novel and Susan Johnson came up as someone's top pick from somewhere.

Looking at the cover and blurb on the back I'm surprised that I took this one from the shelf but nevertheless (it was available), I got through this domestic dramady without many bruises to the brain.

Praise for the author's ability to capture frighteningly realistically so many personalities with depth (and brevity for some) from child to octogenarian. For this the book is worth five-plus stars although I have given four stars because I was not too enthralled in the story as much as I was in feeling the characters; and it brought back some sentimentality of the time I lived in QLD, though it was short (I ended up in divorce there).

I enjoyed her humour, and the clever insights to people's lives in the small community of The Landing (somewhere near Noosa, Sunshine Coast). It could be you. It could be me. I reckon one or two hours with Susan Johnson (the author) and she would have my character in a nutshell, ready for spice or sugar or side dish in her next novel, and I'd probably learn more about myself than I ever could have before. She's wonderfully gifted.

I think the star of the story is octogenarian Marie who I thought at first was a sub character but turns out to be the subject of many of the chapters. We get glimpses of her early years as well as the present as she is temporarily living with her divorced daughter (a bit of a challenge as she plans not to move out) having yet been thrown out of another age care facility- so funny. In my opinion she is the stand-out character, and most lovable, forgivable, and endearing character in the book.

Another is Giselle, the little girl who pops up every now and then like an adjunction to the ongoing narrative. For me she posed a reminder of what it was like to be a child again, a child who can imagine a better world to escape into. It's like she became the symbol of innocence and freedom from all the complexity of life and getting old. Unrelated to the three generational mothers, she parallels another story of life perhaps we all wish we could go back to sometimes. I could say more about her situation and her mother, but the point is made.

I think the book is more for a women's taste (Arrrg that sounds sexist!), but I still related in many ways. No regrets. Will check out another one of her books sometime. She writes very well.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars. This was the least impressive Susan Johnson book I have read. Like the other novels of hers I have read, the main theme was love. My experience of her work prior to this was of gorgeous, sublime, literary prose. This, on the other hand, read like a piece of fast fiction. While I was mildly engaged with the lives of the characters living in The Landing, and engaged enough to keep reading, I found that in many instances Johnson overstated facts ( a literary technique quite popular in fast fiction) and it was not a literary piece of work. Having said that there was some some very astute observations about people and some lovely phrasing. Given I was engaged enough to finish reading it, I have rated it 2.5 stars.

[Karen Lamb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy reading this book, and about halfway through I started underlining the most sexist things done (sometimes inexplicably) by the Jonathan character - including him evaluating and rating various women, and inexplicably touching the face of a sleeping woman that he had only recently met - yuk.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite sure what was the point of this book. Liked the setting but didn’t really connect with the characters. Didn’t really go anywhere.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fine writing, however, the characters were hard to connect with while the stories seemed incomplete. I was unclear about what the reader was supposed to take away from the effort.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I received a copy of The Landing from Allen & Unwin. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Landing is a wonderfully written book that explores the different sides of love and humanity, the idea of home and belonging, and appearances vs reality. It is a light and mostly happy novel that delves into some deep and heavy themes.

The book is set in a small coastal town called The Landing, near Brisbane in Australia. Our main character, Jonathan Lott, a 55 year old and almost-divorced construction lawyer, escapes to The Landing for the weekend to get away from his left-over feelings for his estranged wife. But The Landing is anything but relaxing. It’s a place full of gossipers and people who know everything about everybody who reside there. We soon come to realise though, that everybody has something to hide and that we only show a fraction of our true selves to the world.

She knew life was counterfeit and her new self was counterfeit, too. She sometimes felt breathless with an inner recklessness at what she, or anyone, could do. Why, everyone was fake; their public faces put on, every single day.

In this book, we see characters idealise and romanticise love, only to realise that reality is anything but ideal. We see characters dream about greatness and ambition, only to realise that they are no closer to their dreams than they were the day before. We see characters put on masks and acts of confidence in order to hide their own self-doubt. This book explores how each of us are trying to find our own place in the world where we can find a balance between reality and our dreams/appearances, a landing if you will.

There isn’t very much that happens in this novel. It’s an in depth exploration of the character’s lives and the different sides of human nature. There’s not much of a plot, which made me a little bit bored at times. I also had a little bit of a hard time getting into the book. The first 20 or so pages were very slow and I didn’t think I would enjoy the book at all. Thankfully, I really warmed up to the characters and started to enjoy all their stories and disappointments. This book also jumps back and forth in time, as we revisit past events, and I really enjoyed that it was written this way. There were scenes that felt very nostalgic and heartwarming.

The writing in this book was beautiful. Susan Johnson has such a way with words. I ate up every single word. The only problem I had with the writing were the lengthy paragraphs of descriptions of nature and the wind blowing and the flowers blooming and the birds calling. There were so many of these long-winded descriptions in the first 30 pages that I could not engage with the book. As we started to see more of the characters, these descriptions dropped off.

Despite what the blurb of the book may suggest, this is not a book about Jonathan Lott. While he’s one of the key characters in the novel, we see many other characters too. There’s Penny, who was once the most beautiful woman in The Landing, but now a divorced high school art teacher, whose daughter ran away (and then came back) with a man older than her own father. There’s Marie, Penny’s disagreeable mother, who was a refugee from France. There’s little Giselle, who’s neglected by her mother and has to take care of herself. The book is written from the perspectives of all of these characters and more. This was perhaps one of the biggest problems I had with the book. It jumped from one perspective to another too much for my liking. I would have much preferred to read from only two or three perspectives.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book but there were times when it felt a little bit draggy. I would probably have enjoyed it more if there was a little bit more action. I did love the pace and the tone of the book, and I really appreciated how much The Landing made me introspect and think about where I stand in the world.

[Steve lovell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an adage as old as time, isn't it - that sometimes less is more? Had I read the two books under review in reverse order I may not have completed the first and more substantial tome - and as it turned out that would have been somewhat of a pity.

I purchased and consumed Susan Johnson's 'The Landing' on the basis of my enjoyment of her previous issue, 'My Hundred Lovers'. Both her new novel and Funder's short story/novella deal with mid-life crises, with the latter's possessing a more sparse prose in the telling of her tale. Johnson's is at variance with this and has been described in a review as Austenesque. In 'The Landing' she presents a range of characters who are either permanent residents of the eponymous location or frequent visitors to their weekenders there in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. All, it seems, are coming out the other side of their crises - some with new partners, some bereft, yearning for their old ones and some seeking new starts. In their introduction, by the writer, they are bookended by Jonathan Lott - a lawyer whose wife has deserted him for one of her own gender. She leaves him in a place alternating between bemusement and trauma. He retires to this place far from the busyness of Brissy to take stock and cast around for a woman from the hamlet who may offer some sort of succour. There are some more than willing. There's disappointed-in-life, wannabe artist Penny and serial wife, the exotic blow-in Anna. Eventually one wins out, but he suspects there must be an alternate motive to just having him - and there is.

Penny's story is the meat in the sandwich. Is all that remains for her an existence shared with her mother? Marie is a woman who fights valiantly to prevent the ravishes caused through the encroachments of time, but who is finally seeming to be defeated by them. Or is she?

Throughout this was not a book I looked forward to returning to and it wasn't really until the final pages were approaching that I had, nonetheless, become quite intrigued by how it would all pan out for these people. I wanted their lives all tidied up before I left them - but that is not necessarily life and 'The Landing' reflects that. One couple emerges to begin a life together. Were they really the twosome the reader least expected to do so? The others are left hanging with no guarantee of happy-ever-afters. It won't happen I suspect, but one almost wishes for another instalment - or at least the type of epilogue that afflicts some Hollywood offerings with a snapshot of character's lives further down the track as the final credits roll.

Funder's slight tome presents the same sort of conundrum for a woman of certain years not yet quite ready to let go of her past. This woman has made certain compromises to keep her marriage steady as she goes, but there's an itch from her more youthful self that needs scratching. Purportedly based on a Chekhov short story, the tale sees Tess travelling from Oz to Paris to find if there's still a spark between her and a figure from more carefree days. And if so, well, what then? Can she really, in her situation, finally recapture what may have been?

I guess, in answer to the opening query I posed in this piece, that, although Johnson's wordsmithery approaches perfection in painting a picture of sun-kissed lives in idyllic sub-tropical environs failing to counter more hollow interiors, her novel didn't fully engage this reader. That is, until it was almost over. With Funder's, I could have taken a whole lot more.

[Natalie S · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Susan Johnson’s latest novel, The Landing, the journalist and writer shows that she is very accomplished at her craft. Johnson has a way with words and the ability to observe and write about things that other people take for granted. The only problem is that this slow-burning, nuanced book could do with some improvements to the structure to ensure it is a tighter and more cohesive read overall.

The novel begins when we are introduced to Jonathan Lott, a man whose wife of decades has left him for another woman. The blurb even imitates Jane Austen by asking the following question: “Is it true that an about-to-be-divorced man in possession of a good fortune is in need of a new wife?” Lott has returned to the coastal Queensland town of The Landing, where a tight-knit community of eccentrics like to know everything about each other’s business.

The other characters in the book are Penny Collins, a divorced art teacher who is forced to care for her elderly French mother, Marie after the latter is kicked out of her umpteenth nursing home. Penny’s daughter, Scarlett is also causing problems because she ran off with an older man and is now a mother to two young children. There is also a neighbour named Gordie and his adult daughter, Anna who has returned home and leaves a trail of broken marriages in her wake. There is also a seven-year-old named Giselle who likes caring for young children even though she is quite young and innocent herself.

These characters are all quite different and quirky and some will resonate more with different readers than others. At times Johnson’s writing style is very reminiscent of the UK TV series, The Office in that it revels in everyday life situations and occasionally makes funny and pithy observations amidst monotony and tedium. This will be a joy for some readers while others will find the pacing a tad too slow and boring, while the large cast can also makes things feel rather disjointed, lightweight and incohesive at times.

Susan Johnson has a keen eye for writing about relationships and family dramas as well as adding in some interesting and wry observations. Her book is a quaint and easy read that feels rather honest and relatable in parts. While it is by no means perfect it does manage to charm readers with the adventures of a bunch of small-town eccentrics and their seemingly quiet and ordinary private lives.

[Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy my introduction to Susan Johnson’s lyrical writing in her latest book, The Landing. I am one for books that have a distinctly Australian setting and Johnson does just that in The Landing. It was the setting and the colourful cast of characters that had me hooked right in from the start. The Landing centres on the story of Jonathan Lott, a man at a confusing crossroad in his life. His wife has recently left him for another woman, leaving him baffled. Searching for some solace in his life and hoping for another chance at love, Jonathan finds himself at the landing, a beach house. There, he connects with two women, Penny, a divorcee and Anna, a free spirit and new to the landing. The book delves deep into the lives of Jonathan, Penny, Anna and those connected to them. The Landing is also a novel of secrets, family, love and ageing, interspersed with moments of disappointment and happiness.
Upon reflecting on my reading of The Landing, I immediately thought that Susan Johnson has a wonderful, engaging way with words, her writing definately has a strong literary quality. Johnson’s characters are all relatable, which I liked. Marie, the older character, really struck a chord for me. I saw shades of a person very close to me in this character, making the novel that bit more personable. Marie’s story thread, which involves a little history on French immigrants in Australia, was compelling to read. The plot, although not immensely heavy, had a nice meandering tone, which suited my reading mood just perfectly. The setting was painted perfectly by Johnsons descriptions, it was very Australian and gave the reader an excellent visualisation of the landing itself. After feeling completely satisfied once I finished the book, I was pleased to discover Susan Johnson has a healthy backlist of non-fiction and fiction books, which I aim to discover very soon. The Landing comes highly recommended by this reader.
I wish to thank The Reading Room and Allen & Unwin for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Bronwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive a free copy of the Landing through a Goodreads giveaway.

This is the first novel by Susan Johnson I have read, it wasn’t one that I normally would have picked up but I would recommend it as an enjoyable light read.

The protagonist of the novel, Jonathan, is recently separated from his wife who has left him for another woman and we accompany him on his journey of recovery and love as he returns to The Landing and encounters a quirky cast of characters along the way.

Susan Johnson has a very evocative, lyrical writing style. I could easily picture myself walking around the Landing encountering the eccentric locals. She was able to convey deftly the undercurrent of the Landing and how small towns and seemingly average people hide their own secrets and battle troubles and it was interesting to scratch below the surface of the seemingly benign town and its inhabitants. There are a lot of characters in the book whose lives intertwined, some were endearing, some were annoying and some were just simply unlikeable for me. The story unfolds in a meandering pace, it was a nice way to while away a few hours.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Landing by Susan Johnstone was a book I wanted to love. Set in Australia near the Sunshine Coast, with many references to Brisbane, the setting was described perfectly. The characters were related or connected to each other in some intimate way, perhaps because of the close knit community of The Landing. Jonathon, a husband and father struggled to believe that his wife had left him for another woman. His emotions remained raw and his will to find other romantic companionship was unconvincing. Meet the other islanders, who also had been touched by marriage break ups of one kind or another, and the story takes shape.
I was patient while the drama and introductions took place, however the chapters seemed long and very philosophical. When the real action started, the chapters shortened and the narrative took hold. Much of the language was written with emotion and depth, rereading parts was a common occurrence. The conclusion won me over and left me satisfied, a fitting end.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Landing is a social comedy set in a small coastal community somewhere north of Brisbane. The population consists of the locals, with all their quirks and foibles, and the owners of holiday houses, most from Brisbane, who visit at the weekend when much of the action occurs.
The blowins are a disparate group of characters; Penny, the failed artist who now teaches at the high school; her mother, Marie, originally from France, who married a wealthy department store owner from Brisbane; her young granddaughter who has two children to a man older than her father; Jonathan, who has recently been deserted by his beloved wife who left him for another woman; and Anna, who has been ditched by husband number 4.
Each character is given the chance to tell their own story, which links into the stories of other characters and helps drive the plot. In every case, the characters are looking for love and acceptance, some with success, while others just learn to live and endure. A little gem.

[Ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book in a goodreads giveaway.

Being from Australia, I loved the setting of this book! I also enjoyed the characters who were real, though I would've liked to have seen the book from the point of view of characters other than Penny and Johnathon more often. I loved Giselle and just felt like giving her a big hug and seeing as her character plays an important role toward the end of the book, I'd like to have heard more from her throughout it.

Although many other readers on here didn't like the cover, I liked it, even if it did lend itself to more of a romantic type book.

However, I didn't like the ending of this book, with each main character just getting a summary paragraph.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

To begin with I found this novel rather ordinary but it drew me in as I continued. Johnson's cast of characters are all in search of love - with a wife, a husband, lover or mother. What lifts this beyond a standard romantic novel is the strength of the writing, particularly about the setting (The Landing is a small village on a lake north of Brisbane) and some of the characters. Penny and her mother Marie, and their backstory, are among the most interesting. This is a light read but offers an understanding of human needs and idiosyncrasies and a keen eye for the beauty of the natural world. There are also some nice, ironic vignettes of life in a small village where everyone knows everyone else's business (or wants to.)

[Belinda]

Do not be fooled by the cover. Two of the first three chapters of this book are about a middle-aged man finding himself after the breakdown of a marriage. Unfortunately, one of my most despised tropes is "middle-aged man finds himself after breakdown of a marriage". Add in a few long lyrical descriptions of birdsong and this book was sent straight back to the library.

As a disclaimer, lots of other people really loved this book, so if you have more patience than me for old well-off white man whining, it might be worth a look.

[Leanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started off loving this book, set in my local area. The description of the lake, its surroundings & the hotchpotch of characters who live there was very well done. And the premise on which the plot was based - happily married man is left bereft, confused & humiliated when his wife of many years leaves him for, not another man, but a woman - sounded interesting. But it largely descended into a rural/sub-tropical version of the TV soapie, “Neighbours”. Nicely written, but nothing too deep to ponder in the lives of these escapees from the Big Smoke.

[Jo Carey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I certainly expected more from this book when I read the synopsis/blurb. It's not a page turner and nothing exciting really happens through the book.
It kind of reminds me of a boring story your Gran would probably tell you about times past and her neighbours - you listen but don't really get into the story.
The characters can be quite real - maybe thats why they don't grab you and hold you and pull you into the story.