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Friends & Dark Shapes
A group of housemates in Sydney’s inner city contend with gentrification, divisive politics, stalled careers, their own complicated privilege as second-generation Australians, and the evolving world of dating in this moving, funny, and stylish debut novel.
Sydney’s inner city is very much its own place, yet also a stand in for gentrifying inner-city suburbs the world over. Here, four young housemates struggle to untangle their complicated relationships while a poignant story of loss, grieving, and recovery unfolds.
The nameless narrator of this story has recently lost her father and now her existence is split in two: she conjures the past in which he was alive and yet lives in the present, where he is not. To others, she appears to have it all together, but the grief she still feels creates an insurmountable barrier between herself and others, between the life she had and the one she leads.
Wry, relatable, lyrical, and beautifully told, a book about politics, desire, youth, relationships and friends, Friends and Dark Shapes introduces a bold new Australian voice to American readers.
Sydney’s inner city is very much its own place, yet also a stand in for gentrifying inner-city suburbs the world over. Here, four young housemates struggle to untangle their complicated relationships while a poignant story of loss, grieving, and recovery unfolds.
The nameless narrator of this story has recently lost her father and now her existence is split in two: she conjures the past in which he was alive and yet lives in the present, where he is not. To others, she appears to have it all together, but the grief she still feels creates an insurmountable barrier between herself and others, between the life she had and the one she leads.
Wry, relatable, lyrical, and beautifully told, a book about politics, desire, youth, relationships and friends, Friends and Dark Shapes introduces a bold new Australian voice to American readers.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 2, 2021
34 people are currently reading
3606 people want to read
About the author
Kavita Bedford
5 books16 followersKavita Bedford is a writer and journalist. She is the creative producer of a multimedia storytelling project in Western Sydney, and the former editor of The Point Magazine. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Guernica, YouTube’s Creators for Change and Women’s International Perspective, among others. She is a 2018 recipient of the Churchill Fellowship.
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October 16, 2025
IL TEMPO FINISCE
Fred Williams: The Pilbara. Pittore australiano del Novecento citato nel romanzo – così come l’altro, Brett Whiteley – l’io narrante racconta della sua visita alla Art Gallery del New South Wales dove scopre l’arte di Fred Williams per la prima volta: “Le solitarie pennellate che ardono nel vivido deserto. Un paesaggio senza storia, non sentimentale, che però cattura la forma di un’emozione.”
L’anno dopo che è morto mio padre ho preso una stanza in una casa condivisa.
Nel senso che divide la casa con altri affittuari, non mariti, fidanzati, famiglia. Esperienza che tutti gli studenti italiani fuori sede conoscono bene. Magari senza essere passati attraverso il casting del nuovo coinquilino. Pratica che invece a Sidney è comune e offre i suoi aspetti divertenti (il potere… nuovi incontri… la curiosità…). E magari a qualcuno, tipo me, evoca quel divertente film intitolato Shallow Grave – Piccoli omicidi tra amici.
Gente che viene dalla Cambogia, dalla Palestina, dal Libano, dal Vietnam, dalla ex Jugoslavia, dalla Siria…
Oppure, come l’io narrante - che rimane senza nome ed è una giovane donna quasi trentenne - è nata in Australia da madre indiana e la scambiano per spagnola.
Fred Williams (1927 – 1982)
La morte del padre le richiederà almeno tutto l’arco di tempo in cui si svolge il romanzo – un anno circa – per raggiungere una qualche forma di metabolizzazione:
Fra un anno, mi ha risposto la terapista all’ospedale, quando le ho chiesto quando starò meglio. Fra un annetto, ha ripetuto, sarà diverso. La verità è che per certi versi un anno dopo è perfino peggio. Quasi nessuno ormai ti chiede più nella. Ma il dolore è sempre lì, vivo, un macigno sullo stomaco. Il dolore trasuda dai pori e si irradia all’esterno, chi ti sta intorno sente l’odore. Ti scansano per strada; alle feste se la danno a gambe.
Un anno circa che il romanzo racconta per stagioni: primavera, estate, autunno, inverno e ancora primavera. Proprio come il film del mai troppo rimpianto Kim Ki-duk.
E pur sapendolo, si rimane colpiti che siano stagioni opposte alle nostre, che si festeggi il natale d’estate…
Brett Whiteley (1939 – 1992).
Valeria Parrella scrive:
Nella bella traduzione di Leonardo Gandi, arriva in Italia un romanzo che ha fatto molto parlare di sé in Australia. È la storia di un gruppo di ragazzi alla soglia dei trent'anni che si trasferisce in un appartamento nel centro di Sydney. Raccontata da una di loro, mostra i limiti di una società fatta per adulti già affermati, o figli di, e i limiti di una metropoli che ha poco da offrire e molto da togliere. Come tutte le opere prime ha qualcosa di vulcanico e assieme imperfetto. Bello.
Sono d’accordo: qualcosa di vulcanico e assieme imperfetto. Bello.
Questa Australia, continente nuovissimo, scoperto e inizialmente popolato di galeotti inglesi e irlandesi, la feccia umana del regno Unito, oggi è oltre il melting pot, ha raccolto tutto il mondo. E Kavita Bedford lo racconta con piacevole ed emozionante approccio quasi antropologico.
Infatti, più che di vera trama, la storia si nutre di incontri, micro storie, singoli episodi, lo scorrere del tempo: e molti di questi momenti sono contati, più o meno occasionali, con stranieri arrivati in Australia per cominciare una nuova vita, che almeno finché la speranza si mantiene tale e non sconfina in illusione, sarà sicuramente meglio di quella lasciata dietro.
Michael Nelson Jagamara: Five Stories (1984)
La protagonista è una sorta di spettatrice della propria vita, in bilico tra l’approssimarsi dei 30 anni, età che segna un passaggio esistenziale - si chiude l’età verde - e i ricordi del suo passato con il padre sempre ben presente e centrale. L’uomo è figura centrale, ricorrente, che emerge da svariate madeleine.
Durante i ricordi, la fedeltà alla narrazione al tempo presente del romanzo - ci sediamo, fissiamo, diciamo - scompare, sostituita dal (più familiare) tempo passato. È interessante notare che, a parte i suoi coinquilini, tutte le sue relazioni e le sue intimità sembrano esistere lì, nel passato, dove la cadenza delle emozioni e del sentimento incarnano una specie di paradiso che il suo presente non può ripetere.
Wingu Tingima (1920 – 2010): Wallawuru Tjukurra (2007 - 2009).
Ultimamente mi sono chiesta perché c’è sempre questo bisogno di storie, di impacchettare la complessità della vita in narrazioni facili e ben congegnate, meglio se dall’epilogo trionfale. Tutto – pubblicità, profili e missioni aziendali, etichette dei succhi di frutta – è ormai “storytelling”, ma è un raccontare appiattito, lontanissimo dalla realtà della vita che fa i conti con la perdita e la sconfitta. E anche mi chiedo se in questo mondo c’è posto per la fragilità, per la parte silente, contradditoria, incasinata dell’essere.
Tiger Palpatja (1920 – 2012): Warnumpi Tjukurpa (2009).
Fred Williams: The Pilbara. Pittore australiano del Novecento citato nel romanzo – così come l’altro, Brett Whiteley – l’io narrante racconta della sua visita alla Art Gallery del New South Wales dove scopre l’arte di Fred Williams per la prima volta: “Le solitarie pennellate che ardono nel vivido deserto. Un paesaggio senza storia, non sentimentale, che però cattura la forma di un’emozione.”
L’anno dopo che è morto mio padre ho preso una stanza in una casa condivisa.
Nel senso che divide la casa con altri affittuari, non mariti, fidanzati, famiglia. Esperienza che tutti gli studenti italiani fuori sede conoscono bene. Magari senza essere passati attraverso il casting del nuovo coinquilino. Pratica che invece a Sidney è comune e offre i suoi aspetti divertenti (il potere… nuovi incontri… la curiosità…). E magari a qualcuno, tipo me, evoca quel divertente film intitolato Shallow Grave – Piccoli omicidi tra amici.
Gente che viene dalla Cambogia, dalla Palestina, dal Libano, dal Vietnam, dalla ex Jugoslavia, dalla Siria…
Oppure, come l’io narrante - che rimane senza nome ed è una giovane donna quasi trentenne - è nata in Australia da madre indiana e la scambiano per spagnola.
Fred Williams (1927 – 1982)
La morte del padre le richiederà almeno tutto l’arco di tempo in cui si svolge il romanzo – un anno circa – per raggiungere una qualche forma di metabolizzazione:
Fra un anno, mi ha risposto la terapista all’ospedale, quando le ho chiesto quando starò meglio. Fra un annetto, ha ripetuto, sarà diverso. La verità è che per certi versi un anno dopo è perfino peggio. Quasi nessuno ormai ti chiede più nella. Ma il dolore è sempre lì, vivo, un macigno sullo stomaco. Il dolore trasuda dai pori e si irradia all’esterno, chi ti sta intorno sente l’odore. Ti scansano per strada; alle feste se la danno a gambe.
Un anno circa che il romanzo racconta per stagioni: primavera, estate, autunno, inverno e ancora primavera. Proprio come il film del mai troppo rimpianto Kim Ki-duk.
E pur sapendolo, si rimane colpiti che siano stagioni opposte alle nostre, che si festeggi il natale d’estate…
Brett Whiteley (1939 – 1992).
Valeria Parrella scrive:
Nella bella traduzione di Leonardo Gandi, arriva in Italia un romanzo che ha fatto molto parlare di sé in Australia. È la storia di un gruppo di ragazzi alla soglia dei trent'anni che si trasferisce in un appartamento nel centro di Sydney. Raccontata da una di loro, mostra i limiti di una società fatta per adulti già affermati, o figli di, e i limiti di una metropoli che ha poco da offrire e molto da togliere. Come tutte le opere prime ha qualcosa di vulcanico e assieme imperfetto. Bello.
Sono d’accordo: qualcosa di vulcanico e assieme imperfetto. Bello.
Questa Australia, continente nuovissimo, scoperto e inizialmente popolato di galeotti inglesi e irlandesi, la feccia umana del regno Unito, oggi è oltre il melting pot, ha raccolto tutto il mondo. E Kavita Bedford lo racconta con piacevole ed emozionante approccio quasi antropologico.
Infatti, più che di vera trama, la storia si nutre di incontri, micro storie, singoli episodi, lo scorrere del tempo: e molti di questi momenti sono contati, più o meno occasionali, con stranieri arrivati in Australia per cominciare una nuova vita, che almeno finché la speranza si mantiene tale e non sconfina in illusione, sarà sicuramente meglio di quella lasciata dietro.
Michael Nelson Jagamara: Five Stories (1984)
La protagonista è una sorta di spettatrice della propria vita, in bilico tra l’approssimarsi dei 30 anni, età che segna un passaggio esistenziale - si chiude l’età verde - e i ricordi del suo passato con il padre sempre ben presente e centrale. L’uomo è figura centrale, ricorrente, che emerge da svariate madeleine.
Durante i ricordi, la fedeltà alla narrazione al tempo presente del romanzo - ci sediamo, fissiamo, diciamo - scompare, sostituita dal (più familiare) tempo passato. È interessante notare che, a parte i suoi coinquilini, tutte le sue relazioni e le sue intimità sembrano esistere lì, nel passato, dove la cadenza delle emozioni e del sentimento incarnano una specie di paradiso che il suo presente non può ripetere.
Wingu Tingima (1920 – 2010): Wallawuru Tjukurra (2007 - 2009).
Ultimamente mi sono chiesta perché c’è sempre questo bisogno di storie, di impacchettare la complessità della vita in narrazioni facili e ben congegnate, meglio se dall’epilogo trionfale. Tutto – pubblicità, profili e missioni aziendali, etichette dei succhi di frutta – è ormai “storytelling”, ma è un raccontare appiattito, lontanissimo dalla realtà della vita che fa i conti con la perdita e la sconfitta. E anche mi chiedo se in questo mondo c’è posto per la fragilità, per la parte silente, contradditoria, incasinata dell’essere.
Tiger Palpatja (1920 – 2012): Warnumpi Tjukurpa (2009).
February 22, 2021
“We take solace in whatever small thing we can, because at our core, we are all scared of losing the things we have”.
I literally weeped when this novel ended. Its the first book in a long time....that I wanted to immediately, begin at the beginning and start reading a second time.
It’s the type of book that keeps you up late at night. The writing is strong, delicate, thought provoking, relatable, and beautiful.
I don’t think I can fully articulate how this novel emotionally resonated with me.
It explores many issues: how life shapes us...
...... through politics, religion, aging, wars, magnolia trees, friends, fears, loneliness, unbearable unspeakable‘s, shame, grief, memories of old friends/families and times lived instead in the past, busy lives, work, obligations, parties, cooking, eating, drinking, talking, discussing, connecting, celebrating small or insignificant moments, dating, temporary living experiences, sipping tea, Sunday night dinners, orphan Christmases, mocking people, traveling, trappings of modernity, technology and progress, things we have control over and don’t, medias sensationalism, the government, shark mitigation, superstitions, dreams, secrets, worries of the unknown future, racism, etc.
BUT....it wasn’t exactly the above issues - [explored through young adults becoming more independent - or letting go of expectations from both within and external society’s pressures].....it was SOMETHING ELSE ....that I loved so very much: Things harder to put in words.
The characters grappled with who they were - who they were becoming - what they missed - what they desired ....and how to become their true selves.
Personally, I think some of the hardest years in a person’s life is the *twenties*. Even if having completed college...have landed secure jobs...I’m not sure 20- and even most 30 years old yet...feel anchored in our fast changing world.
For me, my twenties were painful - lonely years. No matter how many meals I shared with friends, ‘loss’ and ‘loneliness’ was a shadow that never left me.
The characters in “Friends and Dark Shapes” created a type-of-family with each other...’shared-housing’ .... They had Sunday dinners together... and genuinely respected one another.
Yet....
they each had individual struggles navigating their lives. Mum’s and Dad’s were not nearby security nets.
The housemates were Niki, Sami, Bowerbird, and .....we never learn the name of the narrator.
They had their sets of friends, jobs, and hobbies. They all liked art.
Niki painted, Sami ( ha), paid to appreciate everyone else art, Bowerbird played guitar, and our narrator did some writing.
They each dealt with ( a certain amount), of loss, fears, grief, loneliness, shame, values, and desires. Their feelings of their temporary transitory lives, created an aching yearning for connections.
The main characters were almost thirty years of age — educated —
‘housemates’ in Redfern.... an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia.
I absolutely loved the setting.
A few of my favorite people on Goodreads live in Australia. I’d love to visit one day.
I smiled big time when I read this sentence...( thinking me, me, me)
“I would love to see Sydney as a stranger, for the first time. Be like a tourist and drive down from the city and see that magical dip of the ocean, and the frangipani trees hugging the coastline, and the surfers riding waves as smooth as oil, and think, maybe here my life could change”.
I enjoyed getting to know the characters in “Friends & Dark Shapes”.
*Sami* wanted to quit his job in law, but he didn’t know how to tell his parents, who came from Palestine. His parents already didn’t understand his living situation.
“Try explaining a ‘share house’ to Palestinian parents, he says, and how I live with women that I cook with, and share a bathroom with, but who I am not married to”.
*Niki* came from a Cambodian family. Her dad escaped the Khmer Rouge. He was always so silent when she was growing up and she never understood why.
When Niki grew up, she wanted to be around noise.
When she was sixteen, she was picked as a model. It was her ticket out of a small backward coastal town in South Australia. She traveled to Tokyo, and Milan, and London .
There were young girls from all over the world who all started to look alike with their tiny waif starved bodies.
Nikki left that world of glamour—had enough— but she had nothing to show for it and had to start all over. She said she was one of the lucky ones because she had parents who were able to support her.
I ‘do’ wish the narrator ( whom I liked), was given a name ... not that it was a problem for me while reading...but when I want to talk about a book with a friend, it’s easier if I could just give her a name.
We meet several supporting characters - too - friends of friends.
There are so many gorgeous sentences...stimulating, provocative, rousing, and refreshing.
“I wake up each morning, he says, and it’s feminism, and porn, and one night stands, and Tinder, and rape culture, and politicians who hate abortions, and my girlfriend who had one and said it felt like a vacuum cleaner inside her, and shit, man, I feel dizzy, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to act anymore, you know. I feel like a schizo. I love hanging out with boys at Jubilee Park, and popping pills, and half my friends are girls, and we get high together, and that one night my friend asked for my help, because she trusted me, so I hugged her, and we were both drunk and I touched her hair, and it turned into more, and she sort of said no, but she also kept going, and then afterwards when she cried, I wondered if I was wrong.
But I have to shake away the site or I will go insane . . .”
Sami wanted to quit his job in law, but he didn’t know how to tell his parents, who came from Palestine. His parents already didn’t understand his living situation.
“Try explaining a ‘share house’ to Palestinian parents, he says, and how I live with women that I cook with, and share a bathroom with, but who I am not married to”.
Niki, came from a Cambodian family. Her dad escaped the Khmer Rouge. He was always so silent when she was growing up and she never understood why.
When Niki grew up, she wanted to be around noise.
When she was sixteen, she was picked as a model. It was her ticket out of a small backward coastal town in South Australia. She traveled to Tokyo, and Milan, and London .
There were young girls from all over the world who all started to look alike with their tiny waif starved bodies.
Nikki left that world of glamour—had enough— but she had nothing to show for it and had to start all over. She said she was one of the lucky ones because she had parents who were able to support her.
Our narrator remembers words from her father... contemplates....
“It has never been that clear to me, my dad went on, who the real enemy is in any war. During the Second World War people at least felt they were defending their own country, standing up for Australia, which I can understand. But this is so different. Young people from our own country want to join foreign wars to fight against the west. At some point, we have to turn inwards and look at ourselves, and our own country, and ask how we got to this point. How is it we have young people here who want to fight against us? And that’s something no one wants to think about”.
“It feels like everyone is screaming at each other these days, so certain of their position, and I am not sure that what we need is another opinion”.
Beautiful...honest...real people...resonates....
....an outstanding debut by Kavita Bedford, an award-winning Australian-Indian writer.
Thank You, Netgalley, Kavita Bedford, and Europa Editions
I literally weeped when this novel ended. Its the first book in a long time....that I wanted to immediately, begin at the beginning and start reading a second time.
It’s the type of book that keeps you up late at night. The writing is strong, delicate, thought provoking, relatable, and beautiful.
I don’t think I can fully articulate how this novel emotionally resonated with me.
It explores many issues: how life shapes us...
...... through politics, religion, aging, wars, magnolia trees, friends, fears, loneliness, unbearable unspeakable‘s, shame, grief, memories of old friends/families and times lived instead in the past, busy lives, work, obligations, parties, cooking, eating, drinking, talking, discussing, connecting, celebrating small or insignificant moments, dating, temporary living experiences, sipping tea, Sunday night dinners, orphan Christmases, mocking people, traveling, trappings of modernity, technology and progress, things we have control over and don’t, medias sensationalism, the government, shark mitigation, superstitions, dreams, secrets, worries of the unknown future, racism, etc.
BUT....it wasn’t exactly the above issues - [explored through young adults becoming more independent - or letting go of expectations from both within and external society’s pressures].....it was SOMETHING ELSE ....that I loved so very much: Things harder to put in words.
The characters grappled with who they were - who they were becoming - what they missed - what they desired ....and how to become their true selves.
Personally, I think some of the hardest years in a person’s life is the *twenties*. Even if having completed college...have landed secure jobs...I’m not sure 20- and even most 30 years old yet...feel anchored in our fast changing world.
For me, my twenties were painful - lonely years. No matter how many meals I shared with friends, ‘loss’ and ‘loneliness’ was a shadow that never left me.
The characters in “Friends and Dark Shapes” created a type-of-family with each other...’shared-housing’ .... They had Sunday dinners together... and genuinely respected one another.
Yet....
they each had individual struggles navigating their lives. Mum’s and Dad’s were not nearby security nets.
The housemates were Niki, Sami, Bowerbird, and .....we never learn the name of the narrator.
They had their sets of friends, jobs, and hobbies. They all liked art.
Niki painted, Sami ( ha), paid to appreciate everyone else art, Bowerbird played guitar, and our narrator did some writing.
They each dealt with ( a certain amount), of loss, fears, grief, loneliness, shame, values, and desires. Their feelings of their temporary transitory lives, created an aching yearning for connections.
The main characters were almost thirty years of age — educated —
‘housemates’ in Redfern.... an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia.
I absolutely loved the setting.
A few of my favorite people on Goodreads live in Australia. I’d love to visit one day.
I smiled big time when I read this sentence...( thinking me, me, me)
“I would love to see Sydney as a stranger, for the first time. Be like a tourist and drive down from the city and see that magical dip of the ocean, and the frangipani trees hugging the coastline, and the surfers riding waves as smooth as oil, and think, maybe here my life could change”.
I enjoyed getting to know the characters in “Friends & Dark Shapes”.
*Sami* wanted to quit his job in law, but he didn’t know how to tell his parents, who came from Palestine. His parents already didn’t understand his living situation.
“Try explaining a ‘share house’ to Palestinian parents, he says, and how I live with women that I cook with, and share a bathroom with, but who I am not married to”.
*Niki* came from a Cambodian family. Her dad escaped the Khmer Rouge. He was always so silent when she was growing up and she never understood why.
When Niki grew up, she wanted to be around noise.
When she was sixteen, she was picked as a model. It was her ticket out of a small backward coastal town in South Australia. She traveled to Tokyo, and Milan, and London .
There were young girls from all over the world who all started to look alike with their tiny waif starved bodies.
Nikki left that world of glamour—had enough— but she had nothing to show for it and had to start all over. She said she was one of the lucky ones because she had parents who were able to support her.
I ‘do’ wish the narrator ( whom I liked), was given a name ... not that it was a problem for me while reading...but when I want to talk about a book with a friend, it’s easier if I could just give her a name.
We meet several supporting characters - too - friends of friends.
There are so many gorgeous sentences...stimulating, provocative, rousing, and refreshing.
“I wake up each morning, he says, and it’s feminism, and porn, and one night stands, and Tinder, and rape culture, and politicians who hate abortions, and my girlfriend who had one and said it felt like a vacuum cleaner inside her, and shit, man, I feel dizzy, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to act anymore, you know. I feel like a schizo. I love hanging out with boys at Jubilee Park, and popping pills, and half my friends are girls, and we get high together, and that one night my friend asked for my help, because she trusted me, so I hugged her, and we were both drunk and I touched her hair, and it turned into more, and she sort of said no, but she also kept going, and then afterwards when she cried, I wondered if I was wrong.
But I have to shake away the site or I will go insane . . .”
Sami wanted to quit his job in law, but he didn’t know how to tell his parents, who came from Palestine. His parents already didn’t understand his living situation.
“Try explaining a ‘share house’ to Palestinian parents, he says, and how I live with women that I cook with, and share a bathroom with, but who I am not married to”.
Niki, came from a Cambodian family. Her dad escaped the Khmer Rouge. He was always so silent when she was growing up and she never understood why.
When Niki grew up, she wanted to be around noise.
When she was sixteen, she was picked as a model. It was her ticket out of a small backward coastal town in South Australia. She traveled to Tokyo, and Milan, and London .
There were young girls from all over the world who all started to look alike with their tiny waif starved bodies.
Nikki left that world of glamour—had enough— but she had nothing to show for it and had to start all over. She said she was one of the lucky ones because she had parents who were able to support her.
Our narrator remembers words from her father... contemplates....
“It has never been that clear to me, my dad went on, who the real enemy is in any war. During the Second World War people at least felt they were defending their own country, standing up for Australia, which I can understand. But this is so different. Young people from our own country want to join foreign wars to fight against the west. At some point, we have to turn inwards and look at ourselves, and our own country, and ask how we got to this point. How is it we have young people here who want to fight against us? And that’s something no one wants to think about”.
“It feels like everyone is screaming at each other these days, so certain of their position, and I am not sure that what we need is another opinion”.
Beautiful...honest...real people...resonates....
....an outstanding debut by Kavita Bedford, an award-winning Australian-Indian writer.
Thank You, Netgalley, Kavita Bedford, and Europa Editions
May 8, 2021
A must-read for Sydneysiders, millennials, and everyone
Friends and Dark Shapes is the most authentic, true-to-life millennial novel I have come across. It’s grounded, and it has recognisable characters who are actually struggling to get by, closing in on 30 without home ownership or any of the other trappings of adulthood in sight. But this novel deserves a wide readership, not one limited by an arbitrary generational designation.
The blurb is a bit misleading, as it makes too much of the sharehouse setting—the housemates are mostly in the background; this is not an ensemble piece. It follows the nameless protagonist over 15 months, divided into 5 seasons, as she mourns the death of her father. Memories of him are interspersed with present day action—traversing the city for freelance jobs, socialising, sharehouse life—all related in short, poignant vignettes.
The blurb also describes the setting as: “a stand in for gentrifying inner-city suburbs the world over”. Clearly they are keen to promote this book internationally, but make no mistake, this book IS Sydney. I’ve never read a more Sydney book. The just-over-a-calendar-year timeframe takes in major events like Vivid & Mardi Gras; for work, the narrator interviews locals in Bankstown, Homebush, & Villawood; the housemates living in Redfern challenge each other to name all the ocean baths they can think of. Don’t tell me this could be any world city:
‘Christmas has always been salty hair and swimming costumes, hot chips and Golden Gaytime ice creams against the backdrop of the ocean and the cricket on the radio, as the days stretched out longer and hotter.’
Lest you think this is Tourism Board-sponsored, Bedford can be incisive too:
‘People smile a lot here. But it is not a city where you can easily make a friend. We are friendly. Not curious. We will ask how you are, but turn before you have finished explaining. Travellers say how beautiful it is. And how hard it can be to become close to people.’
It's less city-as-character, more city-as-symbiont; the narrator cannot be meaningfully separated from the place she inhabits. Nor can her grief, with so many corners and pockets conjuring her father’s memory. This deep engagement with place is what made this a stand-out read for me. 4.5 stars.
Friends and Dark Shapes is the most authentic, true-to-life millennial novel I have come across. It’s grounded, and it has recognisable characters who are actually struggling to get by, closing in on 30 without home ownership or any of the other trappings of adulthood in sight. But this novel deserves a wide readership, not one limited by an arbitrary generational designation.
The blurb is a bit misleading, as it makes too much of the sharehouse setting—the housemates are mostly in the background; this is not an ensemble piece. It follows the nameless protagonist over 15 months, divided into 5 seasons, as she mourns the death of her father. Memories of him are interspersed with present day action—traversing the city for freelance jobs, socialising, sharehouse life—all related in short, poignant vignettes.
The blurb also describes the setting as: “a stand in for gentrifying inner-city suburbs the world over”. Clearly they are keen to promote this book internationally, but make no mistake, this book IS Sydney. I’ve never read a more Sydney book. The just-over-a-calendar-year timeframe takes in major events like Vivid & Mardi Gras; for work, the narrator interviews locals in Bankstown, Homebush, & Villawood; the housemates living in Redfern challenge each other to name all the ocean baths they can think of. Don’t tell me this could be any world city:
‘Christmas has always been salty hair and swimming costumes, hot chips and Golden Gaytime ice creams against the backdrop of the ocean and the cricket on the radio, as the days stretched out longer and hotter.’
Lest you think this is Tourism Board-sponsored, Bedford can be incisive too:
‘People smile a lot here. But it is not a city where you can easily make a friend. We are friendly. Not curious. We will ask how you are, but turn before you have finished explaining. Travellers say how beautiful it is. And how hard it can be to become close to people.’
It's less city-as-character, more city-as-symbiont; the narrator cannot be meaningfully separated from the place she inhabits. Nor can her grief, with so many corners and pockets conjuring her father’s memory. This deep engagement with place is what made this a stand-out read for me. 4.5 stars.
June 1, 2022
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3 ¼ stars
Kavita Bedford’s Friends & Dark Shapes is an exceedingly millennial novel. We have a directionless and nameless narrator, a modern flâneur who is afflicted by a vague sense of ennui. There are no quotation marks because apparently, they are passé, and a meandering story that consists of a series of 'relatable' vignettes portraying disagreements between housemates, commutes, get-togethers, conversations with strangers.
Our Indian-Australian narrator is approaching thirty and she works as a freelance journalist. She lives with three other people who are around her age. The narrative strings together snapshots of her everyday life in Sydney, capturing certain moments or conversations that our narrator has indoors and when she’s out and about. While the manner in which she observes those around her is somewhat anthropological, the people populating this novel never come truly in focus. They are hazy renditions of a certain type of person, and they never struck me as particularly fleshed out our multidimensional. The narrator too is exceedingly generic. Her voice, if anything, is far too mild and forgettable compared to other millennial narrators. Her housemates functioned as comedic relief, either giving witty spiels about the state of the world today or ‘relatable’ lines about their love lives or jobs. For some reason when they voiced their concerns over their future (especially when they talked about mortgages) I just felt really disconnected from them. Maybe because in my eyes most of them were already doing the kind of careers they wanted to (*ahem* i am stuck in customer service hell), well, their worries frustrated me somewhat. Maybe those who are closer to them in age will be able to get them in a way I couldn’t…
The narrator often thinks about her father, who died sometime before the beginning of the novel. Childhood episodes pepper her narrative and these don’t really give us a clear image of this man nor of his relationship with her.
Still, I did like Bedford’s vibrant portrayal of Sydney. She renders its rhythms, giving us some vivid descriptions of its streets and neighbourhoods. The dialogues too, if repetitive, had this mumblecore quality that I appreciated and it suited the naturalistic tone of the novel. The narrator often slips into a collective 'we' to describe certain events/situations or when making 'relatable' millennial statements. I can't say that I was a fan of this technique as it succeeded in blurring different characters and their voices together.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
3 ¼ stars
That is the truth of someone’s character: how a person makes you feel after you walk away from spending time with them.”
Kavita Bedford’s Friends & Dark Shapes is an exceedingly millennial novel. We have a directionless and nameless narrator, a modern flâneur who is afflicted by a vague sense of ennui. There are no quotation marks because apparently, they are passé, and a meandering story that consists of a series of 'relatable' vignettes portraying disagreements between housemates, commutes, get-togethers, conversations with strangers.
Our Indian-Australian narrator is approaching thirty and she works as a freelance journalist. She lives with three other people who are around her age. The narrative strings together snapshots of her everyday life in Sydney, capturing certain moments or conversations that our narrator has indoors and when she’s out and about. While the manner in which she observes those around her is somewhat anthropological, the people populating this novel never come truly in focus. They are hazy renditions of a certain type of person, and they never struck me as particularly fleshed out our multidimensional. The narrator too is exceedingly generic. Her voice, if anything, is far too mild and forgettable compared to other millennial narrators. Her housemates functioned as comedic relief, either giving witty spiels about the state of the world today or ‘relatable’ lines about their love lives or jobs. For some reason when they voiced their concerns over their future (especially when they talked about mortgages) I just felt really disconnected from them. Maybe because in my eyes most of them were already doing the kind of careers they wanted to (*ahem* i am stuck in customer service hell), well, their worries frustrated me somewhat. Maybe those who are closer to them in age will be able to get them in a way I couldn’t…
The narrator often thinks about her father, who died sometime before the beginning of the novel. Childhood episodes pepper her narrative and these don’t really give us a clear image of this man nor of his relationship with her.
Still, I did like Bedford’s vibrant portrayal of Sydney. She renders its rhythms, giving us some vivid descriptions of its streets and neighbourhoods. The dialogues too, if repetitive, had this mumblecore quality that I appreciated and it suited the naturalistic tone of the novel. The narrator often slips into a collective 'we' to describe certain events/situations or when making 'relatable' millennial statements. I can't say that I was a fan of this technique as it succeeded in blurring different characters and their voices together.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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December 9, 2022The following book reviews have been shared by Text Publishing – publisher of Friends & Dark Shapes
'Such a vivid geography: this is a work of smart intensities, witty sorrow and wise coming-to-terms with grief. Astute, wry and beautifully tender.’
Gail Jones
‘Kavita Bedford gives the gift of brighter eyes. Her prose is sparse yet jewelled, a desert of out-of-the-blue opals and oases.’
Vivian Pham
'Friends & Dark Shapes is an achingly relatable, thought-provoking and compelling debut, full of gorgeous sentences that stopped me in my tracks...I loved every minute of it.’
Ewa Ramsey
‘Friends & Dark Shapes smells and feels and tastes like Sydney, like grief, like the limbo and the lucidity of your twenties. Bedford’s poetic yet sparse, fearless yet gentle prose makes this a book to be savoured.’
Laura McPhee-Browne
'An astonishingly assured debut, full of razor-sharp observations about what it means to live precariously in a changing city. It's hard to believe this is Bedford's first novel. Her voice is already fully formed.’
Jenny Offill
'Friends & Dark Shapes is a tender look at the myriad ways that a body can hold grief. Kavita Bedford writes lyrically and longingly, imbuing sweetness and darkness throughout. It was a genuine pleasure to read this book; I felt as though I were sitting with a close friend, whispering to each other, sharing close-kept secrets. It made me rethink how loneliness can manifest; how we sometimes hurt ourselves and each other. Friends & Dark Shapes is a real delight and Kavita Bedford is a true talent.’
Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things
'Where Bedford shines is in detailing intimate human connection...Bedford subtly explores, too, the vulnerabilities and dangers, the uncertain desires, of being a young woman. Seeking “pleasure with abandon”—or never being boring, as the Pet Shop Boys’ post-party mantra had it—is a queasy, bittersweet comedown that Bedford, filtering her Didionesque prose (and her protagonist’s Didionesque generational cataloguing) through a wider emotional lens, excels at...Like Helen Garner and Christos Tsiolkas’ own debuts, Bedford’s is more concerned with taking the pulse of young, artistically-minded people alive and struggling through the city’s struggle, slipping and sinking through the every-nothing days of urban anomie and insecure work and relationships.’
Guardian
'With its slow build of emotion, sparse yet precise prose, and astute insights into modern-day adulthood, Friends and Dark Shapes is a thrilling debut for fans of Victoria Hannan’s Kokomo and Jennifer Down’s Our Magic Hour. It will imprint its shape onto your brain, leaving you thinking long after the final page.’
Readings
‘Poignant and immersive.’
Writing NSW
'Bedford’s writing is compelling, lyrical and often nostalgic. Her characters, diverse in background, live complex lives with all the nuances and intricacies that are shared among second-generation immigrants. It is a beautiful and tender ode to Sydney.’
Kill Your Darlings
‘This stunning book has lit up my life.’
Final Draft
'Bedford beautifully portrays the life of an Australian Indian writer struggling with grief a year after the death of her father…An insightful view of a city in flux.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Stunning…I’m really excited to discover a new Australian writer who’s doing something special...Highly recommended, definitely check it out.’
Six Minutes For Me
'This is a book steeped in the hedonism and the angst of youth…Bedford is clearly talented.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘Bedford’s writing is spare, yet it has more than enough power.’
Herald Sun
‘Friends & Dark Shapes turns its lens onto diverse views of Sydney and reveals a compellingly complex place.’
Australian Book Review
‘Reminiscent of Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy… An intricately observed mosaic that comes together to represent a multi-faceted story of a Sydney that is forever evolving, in ways both positive and destructive.’
InDaily
'Bedford writes extraordinarily moving sentences and it's exciting to see this level of talent in a first novel.’
Australian
‘Bedford has perfectly rendered the mind of a new millennial adult.’
Big Issue
'Bedford is a talented writer with a wonderful eye for detail, and her crisp, measured sentences are genuinely impressive. After grief, alienation and loneliness suffuse the novel, the story earns its way toward a sense of hope.’
New York Times
'An astonishingly assured debut.’
Europa Editions
'The novel asks a question that is rarer than it should be in fiction, if infinitely common in life: not how should we handle our lives, but how should we handle our work.'
The Nation
'An exceptionally gifted storyteller shares an intimate account of her experience as a foster parent and reflects on the majestic interconnectedness of our natural world.'
Shelf Awareness
'The excellent writing elevates this into a powerful personal journey.'
Good Reading
'A timely and thoughtful novel.'
Cass Moriarty
'Bedford brilliantly maps the city and examines the narrator's "dysfunctional relationship" with it. She also explores issues of race, identity and belonging through her heroine's journalistic assignments and encounters with immigrants and refugees. However, the novel is at its most powerful when it centers upon a world caving in and the aftershocks: what it is like to "lose a parent and lose your base.’
Star Tribune
'Dealing with grief, Millennial angst, racism and being an outsider in your own city, it is also an insightful portrait of the NSW capital, capturing its natural beauty as well as its darker side.’
Nicole Abadee, Good Weekend
‘A standout in its tender exploration of both a city and a daughter’s grief.’
Suzy Garcia, Kill Your Darlings
‘Beautiful, tender and heart wrenching…The prose flows with a poignant tone, filled with wit and warmth that made me feel like I was catching up with a good friend…Moments of everyday life are captured with a sharp sense of observation, wit and humour. A truly unforgettable, raw and emotionally charged piece of Australian fiction that stayed with me long after the final page.’
Good Reading
'Such a vivid geography: this is a work of smart intensities, witty sorrow and wise coming-to-terms with grief. Astute, wry and beautifully tender.’
Gail Jones
‘Kavita Bedford gives the gift of brighter eyes. Her prose is sparse yet jewelled, a desert of out-of-the-blue opals and oases.’
Vivian Pham
'Friends & Dark Shapes is an achingly relatable, thought-provoking and compelling debut, full of gorgeous sentences that stopped me in my tracks...I loved every minute of it.’
Ewa Ramsey
‘Friends & Dark Shapes smells and feels and tastes like Sydney, like grief, like the limbo and the lucidity of your twenties. Bedford’s poetic yet sparse, fearless yet gentle prose makes this a book to be savoured.’
Laura McPhee-Browne
'An astonishingly assured debut, full of razor-sharp observations about what it means to live precariously in a changing city. It's hard to believe this is Bedford's first novel. Her voice is already fully formed.’
Jenny Offill
'Friends & Dark Shapes is a tender look at the myriad ways that a body can hold grief. Kavita Bedford writes lyrically and longingly, imbuing sweetness and darkness throughout. It was a genuine pleasure to read this book; I felt as though I were sitting with a close friend, whispering to each other, sharing close-kept secrets. It made me rethink how loneliness can manifest; how we sometimes hurt ourselves and each other. Friends & Dark Shapes is a real delight and Kavita Bedford is a true talent.’
Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things
'Where Bedford shines is in detailing intimate human connection...Bedford subtly explores, too, the vulnerabilities and dangers, the uncertain desires, of being a young woman. Seeking “pleasure with abandon”—or never being boring, as the Pet Shop Boys’ post-party mantra had it—is a queasy, bittersweet comedown that Bedford, filtering her Didionesque prose (and her protagonist’s Didionesque generational cataloguing) through a wider emotional lens, excels at...Like Helen Garner and Christos Tsiolkas’ own debuts, Bedford’s is more concerned with taking the pulse of young, artistically-minded people alive and struggling through the city’s struggle, slipping and sinking through the every-nothing days of urban anomie and insecure work and relationships.’
Guardian
'With its slow build of emotion, sparse yet precise prose, and astute insights into modern-day adulthood, Friends and Dark Shapes is a thrilling debut for fans of Victoria Hannan’s Kokomo and Jennifer Down’s Our Magic Hour. It will imprint its shape onto your brain, leaving you thinking long after the final page.’
Readings
‘Poignant and immersive.’
Writing NSW
'Bedford’s writing is compelling, lyrical and often nostalgic. Her characters, diverse in background, live complex lives with all the nuances and intricacies that are shared among second-generation immigrants. It is a beautiful and tender ode to Sydney.’
Kill Your Darlings
‘This stunning book has lit up my life.’
Final Draft
'Bedford beautifully portrays the life of an Australian Indian writer struggling with grief a year after the death of her father…An insightful view of a city in flux.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Stunning…I’m really excited to discover a new Australian writer who’s doing something special...Highly recommended, definitely check it out.’
Six Minutes For Me
'This is a book steeped in the hedonism and the angst of youth…Bedford is clearly talented.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘Bedford’s writing is spare, yet it has more than enough power.’
Herald Sun
‘Friends & Dark Shapes turns its lens onto diverse views of Sydney and reveals a compellingly complex place.’
Australian Book Review
‘Reminiscent of Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy… An intricately observed mosaic that comes together to represent a multi-faceted story of a Sydney that is forever evolving, in ways both positive and destructive.’
InDaily
'Bedford writes extraordinarily moving sentences and it's exciting to see this level of talent in a first novel.’
Australian
‘Bedford has perfectly rendered the mind of a new millennial adult.’
Big Issue
'Bedford is a talented writer with a wonderful eye for detail, and her crisp, measured sentences are genuinely impressive. After grief, alienation and loneliness suffuse the novel, the story earns its way toward a sense of hope.’
New York Times
'An astonishingly assured debut.’
Europa Editions
'The novel asks a question that is rarer than it should be in fiction, if infinitely common in life: not how should we handle our lives, but how should we handle our work.'
The Nation
'An exceptionally gifted storyteller shares an intimate account of her experience as a foster parent and reflects on the majestic interconnectedness of our natural world.'
Shelf Awareness
'The excellent writing elevates this into a powerful personal journey.'
Good Reading
'A timely and thoughtful novel.'
Cass Moriarty
'Bedford brilliantly maps the city and examines the narrator's "dysfunctional relationship" with it. She also explores issues of race, identity and belonging through her heroine's journalistic assignments and encounters with immigrants and refugees. However, the novel is at its most powerful when it centers upon a world caving in and the aftershocks: what it is like to "lose a parent and lose your base.’
Star Tribune
'Dealing with grief, Millennial angst, racism and being an outsider in your own city, it is also an insightful portrait of the NSW capital, capturing its natural beauty as well as its darker side.’
Nicole Abadee, Good Weekend
‘A standout in its tender exploration of both a city and a daughter’s grief.’
Suzy Garcia, Kill Your Darlings
‘Beautiful, tender and heart wrenching…The prose flows with a poignant tone, filled with wit and warmth that made me feel like I was catching up with a good friend…Moments of everyday life are captured with a sharp sense of observation, wit and humour. A truly unforgettable, raw and emotionally charged piece of Australian fiction that stayed with me long after the final page.’
Good Reading
January 4, 2021
Friends & Dark Shapes is a novel about becoming. It’s about shifting shapes, ghostly shapes and dark shapes and it’s about accepting that change and growth is a constant in life.
But perhaps most of all, it’s a look into how you shape a city and how a city shapes you. The city in question is Sydney, where our narrator and three housemates live in a share space, a temporary dwelling as they figure out their lives. Sydney doesn’t lead to a lot of interiority, nor had it made the narrator feel settled in her bones. Nor has it been easy for her to separate the city from herself. At one point, she questions, she questions, “Are we all superimposing ourselves onto our backdrop, forcing the geography to come alive with our own loss and love?”
Indeed, in ways, the narrator is. Still young and not quite formed, she has lost her father to cancer in the city and she still smarts from her loss, reaching back to memories of him while trying to make sense of her life in the present. As a result, to others, she seems inscrutable as she hardens herself against the demand to feel all the time.
The novel is divided into four seasons and ends with spring, the metaphorical time of rebirth. Each season includes vignettes, many of which could function as short-short stories, which provide propulsive lyrical insights into the narrator and her friends, her dreams, her grief, her dabbling into taking her place as a multi-ethnic Australian. This is a promising debut from a young writer who beautifully captures a life in metamorphosis.
But perhaps most of all, it’s a look into how you shape a city and how a city shapes you. The city in question is Sydney, where our narrator and three housemates live in a share space, a temporary dwelling as they figure out their lives. Sydney doesn’t lead to a lot of interiority, nor had it made the narrator feel settled in her bones. Nor has it been easy for her to separate the city from herself. At one point, she questions, she questions, “Are we all superimposing ourselves onto our backdrop, forcing the geography to come alive with our own loss and love?”
Indeed, in ways, the narrator is. Still young and not quite formed, she has lost her father to cancer in the city and she still smarts from her loss, reaching back to memories of him while trying to make sense of her life in the present. As a result, to others, she seems inscrutable as she hardens herself against the demand to feel all the time.
The novel is divided into four seasons and ends with spring, the metaphorical time of rebirth. Each season includes vignettes, many of which could function as short-short stories, which provide propulsive lyrical insights into the narrator and her friends, her dreams, her grief, her dabbling into taking her place as a multi-ethnic Australian. This is a promising debut from a young writer who beautifully captures a life in metamorphosis.
February 13, 2021
I loved this book at the beginning, but then couldn't really get into it.
It is the story of four friends sharing a house. The beginning seemed very good and I was really interested in finding out what would happen in the house, but there isn't really a plot.
The starting point is the loss and grieve of one of the characters, but the story doesn't evolve a lot from that
The writing was really very good, but I couldn't relate to the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.
It is the story of four friends sharing a house. The beginning seemed very good and I was really interested in finding out what would happen in the house, but there isn't really a plot.
The starting point is the loss and grieve of one of the characters, but the story doesn't evolve a lot from that
The writing was really very good, but I couldn't relate to the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.
February 15, 2021
Kavita Bedford’s debut novel, Friends & Dark Shapes is an insightful exploration of contemporary life. The book features a nameless narrator, her friends, her housemates and their lucid lives.
Broken up into sections by seasons and told in vignettes for chapters, Friends & Dark Shapes is a lush examination of the truly transient and fleeting aspects of the lives of twenty-somethings. Each vignette is as introspective as the next and is written with precise and purposeful language. Bedford writes about themes of loss and friendship but she digs deeper with her characters’ surroundings and considers race, class, gender, nature, gentrification, immigration and the ultimate question of where one belongs. The narrator’s South Asian – Australian identity is also examined with memories of her two homes, her family and her parents.
The setting of Sydney, Australia is beautiful in its description and a true ode to the place these characters call home. I personally loved reading about a place entirely foreign to me.
I wish we got to know our narrator more. We know her friends and their behaviours but we don’t know how she feels about them. We know about her dark shapes but we don’t know her emotions. We know her present situation but not what she desires for herself. I wanted more exploration of the eureka moments and to dive further below the surface of my understanding.
Reminiscent of life, the book ebbs and flows and reassures the reader that we are all trying to find where and if we belong. Overall this is an enjoyable and thoughtful read!
Friends & Dark Shapes is out on March 2nd, 2021. Thank you to NetGalley, Text Publishing and Kavita Bedford for this advance review copy.
Broken up into sections by seasons and told in vignettes for chapters, Friends & Dark Shapes is a lush examination of the truly transient and fleeting aspects of the lives of twenty-somethings. Each vignette is as introspective as the next and is written with precise and purposeful language. Bedford writes about themes of loss and friendship but she digs deeper with her characters’ surroundings and considers race, class, gender, nature, gentrification, immigration and the ultimate question of where one belongs. The narrator’s South Asian – Australian identity is also examined with memories of her two homes, her family and her parents.
The setting of Sydney, Australia is beautiful in its description and a true ode to the place these characters call home. I personally loved reading about a place entirely foreign to me.
I wish we got to know our narrator more. We know her friends and their behaviours but we don’t know how she feels about them. We know about her dark shapes but we don’t know her emotions. We know her present situation but not what she desires for herself. I wanted more exploration of the eureka moments and to dive further below the surface of my understanding.
Reminiscent of life, the book ebbs and flows and reassures the reader that we are all trying to find where and if we belong. Overall this is an enjoyable and thoughtful read!
Friends & Dark Shapes is out on March 2nd, 2021. Thank you to NetGalley, Text Publishing and Kavita Bedford for this advance review copy.
January 26, 2021
A BIG THANK YOU to Text Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of Friends & Dark Shapes
by Kavita Bedford. Friends & Dark Shapes is a timely and tumultuous ride perfectly capturing the cusp of thirty and the challenges and triumphs of that age. As someone pushing thirty, with fond memories of Sydney, and a deceased father, these vignettes pack a wallop. Every bit of praise they receive is well-deserved for this moving meditation on love, loss, and life. ★★★★★
From the publisher: The city I grew up in was elastic and belonged to me and my friends as we stretched it through the nights. We knew its contours, and when something new arrived we were among the first to be a part of it. Everything was powder pink and bendy and shiny for us. We hadn’t had time to build a lasting memory around some fixture and then watch that time fall away from under us.
A group of friends moves into a share house in Redfern. They are all on the cusp of thirty and big life changes, navigating insecure employment and housing, second-generation identity, online dating and social alienation—and one of them, our narrator, has just lost her father. How do you inhabit a space where the landscape is shifting around you, when your sense of self is unravelling? What meaning does time have in the midst of grief? Through emotionally rich vignettes, tinged with humour, Friends & Dark Shapes sketches the contours of contemporary life. It is a novel of love and loss, of constancy and change. Most of all, it is about looking for connection in an estranged world.
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 2 Mar 2021
#Friends&DarkShapes #NetGalley
by Kavita Bedford. Friends & Dark Shapes is a timely and tumultuous ride perfectly capturing the cusp of thirty and the challenges and triumphs of that age. As someone pushing thirty, with fond memories of Sydney, and a deceased father, these vignettes pack a wallop. Every bit of praise they receive is well-deserved for this moving meditation on love, loss, and life. ★★★★★
From the publisher: The city I grew up in was elastic and belonged to me and my friends as we stretched it through the nights. We knew its contours, and when something new arrived we were among the first to be a part of it. Everything was powder pink and bendy and shiny for us. We hadn’t had time to build a lasting memory around some fixture and then watch that time fall away from under us.
A group of friends moves into a share house in Redfern. They are all on the cusp of thirty and big life changes, navigating insecure employment and housing, second-generation identity, online dating and social alienation—and one of them, our narrator, has just lost her father. How do you inhabit a space where the landscape is shifting around you, when your sense of self is unravelling? What meaning does time have in the midst of grief? Through emotionally rich vignettes, tinged with humour, Friends & Dark Shapes sketches the contours of contemporary life. It is a novel of love and loss, of constancy and change. Most of all, it is about looking for connection in an estranged world.
I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 2 Mar 2021
#Friends&DarkShapes #NetGalley
January 26, 2021
FRIENDS AND DARK SHAPES by Kavita Bedford started off strong for me but then fell flat. This book is about four friends living in a share house in Australia. The beginning seemed very evocative and it was intriguing to see what would happen in the house or just in these people’s lives but nothing happens. There were allusions to loss and although that was discussed it just wasn’t very in depth. I felt no connection to any of the characters. The writing was good and that kept me engaged to read but it was just little snippets of life with no plot. I don’t think this will be a book I will remember.
.
Thank you to Text Publishing via NetGalley for my advance review copy!
.
Thank you to Text Publishing via NetGalley for my advance review copy!
February 18, 2021
I am loving reading these beautiful books reckoning with grief by young Australian women writers. At a certain point we must accept that life entails finding ways to keep going as we lose those who love us most and those we love most. It’s a bitch of a thing but writers like Bedford (and Hannan and Baxter) do a superb job of holding a light up to this pain and loss. This book is full of incredibly sophisticated ideas about cities (this is a perfect Sydney novel), urban Aboriginal land rights, art and market forces. This is a beautiful and tender book.
May 31, 2021
Beautiful exploration of grief, with gentle, carefully chosen prose. The descriptions of suburbs around Sydney are authentic and vibrant. Truly gorgeous book.
February 26, 2021
4.5 stars.
This book was an entire experience.
This book was an entire experience.
January 10, 2023
I breezed through this wonderful book. In love with it.
June 24, 2024
simply divine, in all the ways that matter. i've never felt more seen reading a novel
November 29, 2022
5💫
This book was incredible and nostalgic and so tender. If Looking For Alibrandi was written for readers in their twenties, it would look like this book.
This book was incredible and nostalgic and so tender. If Looking For Alibrandi was written for readers in their twenties, it would look like this book.
September 7, 2022
Grief is invisible. It is an ice-cold sliver of dread that wakes you up every morning, which no amount of clothes can warm up. It’s like a kid’s game of catch your shadow. A flicker of something, trying to capture it and pull it back into yourself, recognition: that is me! But the more you chase yourself the harder you can be to grasp.
Grief catches me at unsuspecting moments and times. On this street. In that shop. In a turn of phrase. In this memory. It seeps into the grooves and cracks of a place. It doesn’t obey a linear arc: it ducks and weaves. It dwells in the past, and as time moves forward, I find myself seeking refuge and solace, escaping into memories of growing up when the city felt familiar, like a friend, instead of this changing landscape with its new demands.
March 21, 2024
4.5 🌟 sad but ultimately hopeful, the first time I’ve read something and had to take photos to remember quotes later. A reflection on the difficulties of being at a particular stage of life when others might already be at the next, and how your perspective of a familiar place can change after significant life events. I found this deeply relatable and it’s only lost half a star for perhaps a couple too many references to social media websites, and also because I don’t know if it would impact me the same way if I read it again.
November 9, 2023
This book was easy to power through, the prose flowed and the descriptions were beautiful. In particular, the descriptions of Sydney put some feelings that have long sought expression into words. At times though I thought the story was a little disjointed. Some of the characters developed more evenly than others. I felt some things we learnt too slowly about the main character and there were things I would’ve wanted to know more about.
February 14, 2021
Friends & Dark shapes is a series of well-written vignettes about a group of almost-thirty friends sharing a house in Sydney. The main character is dealing with grief following the recent loss of the father, and this is somewhat explored in the story.
The story is told in short snapshots and does not follow any sort of plot. Sometimes the lack of structure made it confusing and difficult to really get into. As with most stories told in this way, some of the vignettes were powerful and engaging and some were less interesting to me.
A lot of the novel was relatable and delved into universal feelings and concepts. However, a lot of it needed a much stronger understanding of Australian culture and society than I have. So there were parts of the story and discussions among the characters that I didn’t really understand or relate to. I think there are a lot of readers who would connect more to these characters and stories than I did. This wasn’t really the book for me, but I am sure that for a lot of people it will be one that they really enjoy.
Thank you to Netgalley, Text Publishing, and Kavita Bedford for the early copy!
The story is told in short snapshots and does not follow any sort of plot. Sometimes the lack of structure made it confusing and difficult to really get into. As with most stories told in this way, some of the vignettes were powerful and engaging and some were less interesting to me.
A lot of the novel was relatable and delved into universal feelings and concepts. However, a lot of it needed a much stronger understanding of Australian culture and society than I have. So there were parts of the story and discussions among the characters that I didn’t really understand or relate to. I think there are a lot of readers who would connect more to these characters and stories than I did. This wasn’t really the book for me, but I am sure that for a lot of people it will be one that they really enjoy.
Thank you to Netgalley, Text Publishing, and Kavita Bedford for the early copy!
February 27, 2021
‘The year after my father died, I move into a share house.’
Three friends (Sami, Niki, and our unnamed narrator) move into a share house in Redfern in inner Sydney and select a fourth person to join them. A man is selected: gender balance is important. He is nicknamed Bowerbird.
What follows is a series of vignettes of life in this group house over the following year. The vignettes are both observations (of life in a share house, of life in Redfern) and reflections (on life approaching thirty, on connecting with others).
While my own experiences of living in a share house are confined to my teenage years, I recognised some of the tensions (house cleaning, anyone?), and the general angst of trying to find one’s own place in a world which seems to have a different focus. And what constitutes home?
‘The phrase ‘remember when…’ did not yet have a place in our conversations.’
This is a novel which invites an older reader to reflect on their own experiences and a younger reader to wonder about their own future. Time elapses, life experiences accrue, what once seems important might change. The novel ends, and I wonder what might happen next both in the lives of the people we meet and in the suburb of Redfern.
‘Is that true: is a feeling about a city also a feeling about oneself?’
I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Three friends (Sami, Niki, and our unnamed narrator) move into a share house in Redfern in inner Sydney and select a fourth person to join them. A man is selected: gender balance is important. He is nicknamed Bowerbird.
What follows is a series of vignettes of life in this group house over the following year. The vignettes are both observations (of life in a share house, of life in Redfern) and reflections (on life approaching thirty, on connecting with others).
While my own experiences of living in a share house are confined to my teenage years, I recognised some of the tensions (house cleaning, anyone?), and the general angst of trying to find one’s own place in a world which seems to have a different focus. And what constitutes home?
‘The phrase ‘remember when…’ did not yet have a place in our conversations.’
This is a novel which invites an older reader to reflect on their own experiences and a younger reader to wonder about their own future. Time elapses, life experiences accrue, what once seems important might change. The novel ends, and I wonder what might happen next both in the lives of the people we meet and in the suburb of Redfern.
‘Is that true: is a feeling about a city also a feeling about oneself?’
I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
March 17, 2021
“Lately I have been wondering about the constant demand for stories, for complex lives to be packaged into neatly crafted and comprehensible narratives, ideally with a triumphant overcoming. Everything... is personal narrative now, but flattened, far removed from the reality of living in the face of loss... When the inspirational story on the back of a cereal packet provokes tears, it’s difficult not to harden yourself against the demand to feel all the time.”
What an incredible debut. It’s an emotional read, but not in the ‘it broke me’ way, rather it moved me. Loss of a beloved father is at the heart of this, but it also explores growing up, identity, family and belonging in ways that felt very relevant and quintessentially Millennial. Heartbreaking and hopeful. Loved it.
What an incredible debut. It’s an emotional read, but not in the ‘it broke me’ way, rather it moved me. Loss of a beloved father is at the heart of this, but it also explores growing up, identity, family and belonging in ways that felt very relevant and quintessentially Millennial. Heartbreaking and hopeful. Loved it.
October 11, 2021
I really wanted to like this... and expected I would, as I share, and feel acutely, the specific millennial anxieties of the book's central character/s (even more specifically because I also live in the same area of Sydney and am around the same age as the narrator). Perhaps I was looking too intensely for this book to offer me a sense of resolution, hope or clarity about my own life, given its themes and setting, but sadly Friends & Dark Shapes just fell really flat for me. I found it repetitive, and the exploration of said themes pretty vague and hollow.
May 3, 2021
“Are we all superimposing ourselves onto our backdrop, forcing the geography to come alive with our own loss and love?”
I read some amazing books in April, this one is my personal favourite. For someone that has recently experienced my own loss of a parent, this book captured my heart & articulated thoughts & feelings that I never knew how to put into words myself.
However don’t be fooled, this story doesn’t just centre on grief - it is a novel about becoming. It’s about how everything around us shifts shape - your surroundings, your friends, your family, yourself & learning to accept these changes & the growth that follows is as constant in life as our morning coffees.
The story unfolds over a course of a year following the seasons, each bringing new lessons & revelations as we follow our narrator as she navigates life as a twenty something woman living in a house share. I loved the glimpse into the life in house shares, hiding your fancy knives least they become blunt by careless housemates - the simple cleaning sessions that turn into life debates, the spontaneous drinking sessions & enjoying the city amongst housemates that soon become life long friends. The exploration of our narrators relationship with her father, who recently lost his battle with cancer was one of the most beautiful & heart wrenching glimpses into a father/daughter relationship & I just found myself wanting to hug her so fiercely.
Yet perhaps most of all this novel sheds light on how in your own way you shape a city & in turn how it shapes you. Bedford does an incredible job in truly bringing Sydney to life, such a remarkable sense of place - having visited Sydney numerous times, I felt like I was there & in turn now cannot wait to visit again. The aspect I loved most was that she didn’t focus on Sydney as seen through white Sydneysiders lens, yet through minorities scattered across the city, bringing to life vibrant cultures & the exploration of these neighbourhood’s history regarding race, class & cultural dynamics.
Needless to say that I truly loved this book so much & without a doubt I know I will find myself reaching for it for many a year to come when I seek that comfort & understanding of love & loss. I highly recommend this one, it will resonate with so many of us & Bedford is most definitely an author to watch out for, I cannot wait to read her future works. Huge thank you to one of my favourites @ for enjoying this one as a buddy read with me. Tell me friends does this sound like a novel you would enjoy?
I read some amazing books in April, this one is my personal favourite. For someone that has recently experienced my own loss of a parent, this book captured my heart & articulated thoughts & feelings that I never knew how to put into words myself.
However don’t be fooled, this story doesn’t just centre on grief - it is a novel about becoming. It’s about how everything around us shifts shape - your surroundings, your friends, your family, yourself & learning to accept these changes & the growth that follows is as constant in life as our morning coffees.
The story unfolds over a course of a year following the seasons, each bringing new lessons & revelations as we follow our narrator as she navigates life as a twenty something woman living in a house share. I loved the glimpse into the life in house shares, hiding your fancy knives least they become blunt by careless housemates - the simple cleaning sessions that turn into life debates, the spontaneous drinking sessions & enjoying the city amongst housemates that soon become life long friends. The exploration of our narrators relationship with her father, who recently lost his battle with cancer was one of the most beautiful & heart wrenching glimpses into a father/daughter relationship & I just found myself wanting to hug her so fiercely.
Yet perhaps most of all this novel sheds light on how in your own way you shape a city & in turn how it shapes you. Bedford does an incredible job in truly bringing Sydney to life, such a remarkable sense of place - having visited Sydney numerous times, I felt like I was there & in turn now cannot wait to visit again. The aspect I loved most was that she didn’t focus on Sydney as seen through white Sydneysiders lens, yet through minorities scattered across the city, bringing to life vibrant cultures & the exploration of these neighbourhood’s history regarding race, class & cultural dynamics.
Needless to say that I truly loved this book so much & without a doubt I know I will find myself reaching for it for many a year to come when I seek that comfort & understanding of love & loss. I highly recommend this one, it will resonate with so many of us & Bedford is most definitely an author to watch out for, I cannot wait to read her future works. Huge thank you to one of my favourites @ for enjoying this one as a buddy read with me. Tell me friends does this sound like a novel you would enjoy?
April 24, 2021
I was very excited to read this book. Bedford writes vividly about inner city Sydney and share house life. Whilst I enjoyed the familiar settings and descriptions of Sydney I found the protagonist lacked depth and substance beyond her age and grief. I struggled to find the common thread between the descriptions of daily life and kept hoping for more to happen. I am not sure if there was enough here for an entire novel and may have lent itself better to a short story.
April 11, 2022
Beautifully written book about grief, father and daughter relationship and growing up in Sydney. Incredibly insightful for such a young writer. Lots of passages to highlight. Highly recommend.
April 7, 2021
#paulinereviews FRIENDS & DARK SHAPES BY KAVITA BEDFORD is yet another gorgeously written Aussie debut that deserves to be on your radar. It’s been receiving some serious praises from a lot of my fellow Aussie readers and i can absolutely see why! Personally, I’ve lost count how many times this book’s been recommended to me because of the similarity of the writing style to CHERRY BEACH.
There is a distinct difference between the two titles though - while CB is largely character-driven, FRIENDS & DARK SHAPES’ focus seems to hover around the setting instead. Through a keenly perceptive lens, Bedford had created a world where our narrator muses over Sydney as a diverse and vibrant city that she’s known to love. Set over the course of a year, we see her move into an inner-city share house with three other housemates while grieving over her father’s death.
Using lyrical and effortless prose, the book explores race, class and cultural dynamics in different parts of Sydney with a focus amongst young people. You won’t see perspectives from affluent, white Sydneysiders here - Bedford had shifted the spotlight onto those who are often marginalised and are in the fringes of the mainstream communities instead. I’ll agree with all the other reviews and call out grief as another aspect that’s done beautifully by the author. The relationship between our MC and her father is both heart-wrenching and an absolute joy to read. My heart aches for her loss and there is no doubt many readers would resonate with this.
In the end though, i was hoping to connect with the characters and the story more than i did, but perhaps that was just the matter of setting expectations from my end. If you’re a fan of gentle writing and/or feel like the Sydney setting would speak to you, then this is one that’s definitely worth checking out.
There is a distinct difference between the two titles though - while CB is largely character-driven, FRIENDS & DARK SHAPES’ focus seems to hover around the setting instead. Through a keenly perceptive lens, Bedford had created a world where our narrator muses over Sydney as a diverse and vibrant city that she’s known to love. Set over the course of a year, we see her move into an inner-city share house with three other housemates while grieving over her father’s death.
Using lyrical and effortless prose, the book explores race, class and cultural dynamics in different parts of Sydney with a focus amongst young people. You won’t see perspectives from affluent, white Sydneysiders here - Bedford had shifted the spotlight onto those who are often marginalised and are in the fringes of the mainstream communities instead. I’ll agree with all the other reviews and call out grief as another aspect that’s done beautifully by the author. The relationship between our MC and her father is both heart-wrenching and an absolute joy to read. My heart aches for her loss and there is no doubt many readers would resonate with this.
In the end though, i was hoping to connect with the characters and the story more than i did, but perhaps that was just the matter of setting expectations from my end. If you’re a fan of gentle writing and/or feel like the Sydney setting would speak to you, then this is one that’s definitely worth checking out.
March 21, 2022
I read this book last year and was largely underwhelmed, giving it a 3-star rating. The writing was decent, and several passages really stood out to me, so I was unsure why I felt disappointed. However, certain snippets from the book are still playing on my mind a year later. Upon reflection, I can't fault the rich and meticulous sense of place, and some of the broader observations on gentrification and multiculturalism are quietly profound. Paging through F&DS in my local bookstore yesterday, I have arrived at the conclusion that I simply encountered it at the wrong point in my life. Rating altered to four stars.
June 24, 2022
“Grief catches me at unsuspecting moments and times. On this street. In that shop. In a turn of phrase. In this memory. It seeps into the grooves and cracks of a place. It doesn’t obey a linear arc: it ducks and weaves.
It dwells in the past, and as time moves forward, I find myself seeking refuge and solace, escaping into memories of growing up when the city felt familiar, like a friend, instead of this changing landscape with its new demands.”
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A book on grief, loss and life. Our unnamed protagonist tells her story of the challenges of living with 4 house mates in Sydney, whilst trying to navigate her life after losing her father. I absolutely adored the writing and the diverse characters. I feel that anyone who is trying to adapt to adulthood will appreciate this book as it touches on dreams, culture and standard of living. It's desolent, yet comforting.
This book was quite literally the right book at the right time. I highlighted so many lines, I think I might have found my second favourite book of 2022. I took my time reading it, I simply didn't want it to end, and when I finally did, I closed the book and stared at the wall. I was in a daze and so full of emotions, I curled into a ball and cried.
This book was so heartbreakingly beautiful, thinking about it makes me reminisce about the people in my life and the people that I've lost along the way.
It dwells in the past, and as time moves forward, I find myself seeking refuge and solace, escaping into memories of growing up when the city felt familiar, like a friend, instead of this changing landscape with its new demands.”
-
A book on grief, loss and life. Our unnamed protagonist tells her story of the challenges of living with 4 house mates in Sydney, whilst trying to navigate her life after losing her father. I absolutely adored the writing and the diverse characters. I feel that anyone who is trying to adapt to adulthood will appreciate this book as it touches on dreams, culture and standard of living. It's desolent, yet comforting.
This book was quite literally the right book at the right time. I highlighted so many lines, I think I might have found my second favourite book of 2022. I took my time reading it, I simply didn't want it to end, and when I finally did, I closed the book and stared at the wall. I was in a daze and so full of emotions, I curled into a ball and cried.
This book was so heartbreakingly beautiful, thinking about it makes me reminisce about the people in my life and the people that I've lost along the way.
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