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Cooee
Exploring personal responsibility and love in its various forms, this clever novel of suspense and comedy reveals the fascinating reflections of an unusual and memorable woman. A daughter, a sister, a mother, and an ex-wife, Isabel Weaving reflects on motherhood and family as she recalls escaping her first unhappy marriage—and the fallout it caused for her children. Now grieving the absence of her second husband, Max, Isabel's only joys are the visits from her beloved granddaughter. Gradually and unwittingly Isabel discloses more about herself, her family, and the enigmatic Max in this dark and elegant literary mystery that culminates in one very unexpected revelation.
- GenresBook Club
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 27, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 25, 2017
“Sometimes I think our family is as dysfunctional as families get; other times I marvel, startled into unwilling admiration, at how well we manage, all of us, how we scrub up for the big occasion. We’ve improved, no doubt about it. This is partly because of Sophie, as I’ve said, but it’s also because we ourselves try so damned hard. Assiduously we paper over the cracks, snip off the dangling threads; and we front up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to the big occasion”
Cooee is the first novel by Australian author, Vivienne Kelly. Isabel Weaver, architect, daughter, sister of Zoe, mother of Kate and Dominic, ex-wife of Steve, wife (or is it widow?) of Max, friend of Bea, grandmother of Sophie and Liam. Prompted by her granddaughter’s interest, Isabel examines her past and the choices she has made in negotiating the difficult landscape that is life and love and family.
It is soon apparent that this is no character to warm to: Isabel is self-centred, self-indulgent and well-versed in the art of self-justification. Surely she can’t be oblivious? Zoe has told her: “Izzie, just living your own life isn’t possible. You know that. Everything we do touches on other people, on other people’s lives. You know that”. Perhaps she’s in denial?
She professes to love her children but: “Children are the centre of one’s emotional existence, the fuel for all one’s hopes, the source of one’s most profound joys; they are also bothersome and inconvenient and exasperating. This is the ambiguity no one is prepared for before actually becoming a parent; it is also the tiresome truth not enough people admit to after becoming one”
She bemoans the state of her relationship with Dominic: “I know women who are entirely unremarkable but who nevertheless manage to retain cordial relations with their children, their sons. Of course we all adopt party manners for the world’s scrutiny, and I imagine there are rough patches in such relationships, dropped stitches, torn pages, dark vicious corners of psyches that never see the light of day or face exposure to outside observations. Still, such people manage a reasonable façade”
Of encountering Steve at family gatherings: “We have surfed together on a surging sea of bile and bitterness, leaving in our single wake a foul detritus, a jetsam of anger and shame and guilt and betrayal. It is obscene, really obscene, to expect us to maintain civilities”
Kelly has cleverly constructed her tale so that, just when the reader may be getting exasperated with Isabel’s attitudes, her reactions and her (almost) petulance, a major twist adds intrigue. Kelly treats the reader to some beautiful prose: “… I felt as if I’d never understood the word ‘magnetic’ before. It was as if my entire body were composed of iron filings that had snapped to attention: every skerrick of me was drawn to him, yearning at him, screaming for him” and there is plenty of subtle humour, of the very dark variety. This is a brilliant debut novel.
Cooee is the first novel by Australian author, Vivienne Kelly. Isabel Weaver, architect, daughter, sister of Zoe, mother of Kate and Dominic, ex-wife of Steve, wife (or is it widow?) of Max, friend of Bea, grandmother of Sophie and Liam. Prompted by her granddaughter’s interest, Isabel examines her past and the choices she has made in negotiating the difficult landscape that is life and love and family.
It is soon apparent that this is no character to warm to: Isabel is self-centred, self-indulgent and well-versed in the art of self-justification. Surely she can’t be oblivious? Zoe has told her: “Izzie, just living your own life isn’t possible. You know that. Everything we do touches on other people, on other people’s lives. You know that”. Perhaps she’s in denial?
She professes to love her children but: “Children are the centre of one’s emotional existence, the fuel for all one’s hopes, the source of one’s most profound joys; they are also bothersome and inconvenient and exasperating. This is the ambiguity no one is prepared for before actually becoming a parent; it is also the tiresome truth not enough people admit to after becoming one”
She bemoans the state of her relationship with Dominic: “I know women who are entirely unremarkable but who nevertheless manage to retain cordial relations with their children, their sons. Of course we all adopt party manners for the world’s scrutiny, and I imagine there are rough patches in such relationships, dropped stitches, torn pages, dark vicious corners of psyches that never see the light of day or face exposure to outside observations. Still, such people manage a reasonable façade”
Of encountering Steve at family gatherings: “We have surfed together on a surging sea of bile and bitterness, leaving in our single wake a foul detritus, a jetsam of anger and shame and guilt and betrayal. It is obscene, really obscene, to expect us to maintain civilities”
Kelly has cleverly constructed her tale so that, just when the reader may be getting exasperated with Isabel’s attitudes, her reactions and her (almost) petulance, a major twist adds intrigue. Kelly treats the reader to some beautiful prose: “… I felt as if I’d never understood the word ‘magnetic’ before. It was as if my entire body were composed of iron filings that had snapped to attention: every skerrick of me was drawn to him, yearning at him, screaming for him” and there is plenty of subtle humour, of the very dark variety. This is a brilliant debut novel.
March 16, 2021
This book had a bit of a slow start, and my first thoughts were that it was just another middle-class-woman-having-mid-life-crisis book. But I'm glad I perservered. The narrator, Isabel, is completely lacking in self awareness. As her long suffering family point out, her most common phrase is 'it wasn't my fault'. I wanted to hate her. But the author has done a great job of instilling this self absorbed woman with a darkly comic streak that you enjoy going along for the ride. As Isobel's story unfolds, every revelation both shocks and leaves you gobsmacked about how she can justify her actions with such blithe disregard for the trail of damage she leaves behind. I wanted to hate this woman, but ended up loving her, thanks to the consumate skill of the writer. This is a first novel by Kelly, and I'm hoping it is the first of many. A great read. Highly recommended.
January 20, 2015
Did I like it, yes I did - quite a lot. A dark tale that took a while to get going. Great character development, marvellous use of language, questioned the reader right throughout, felt myself constatnly saying really? surely no? could that happen? Recommend readers persevere, parts 3 and 4 are the best, slight whimpering of a finish. Family relationships with a sting in the tail and definitely some interesting secrets.
January 31, 2015
Very interesting
Really got into it
Really got into it
May 18, 2011
Cooee is an echoing cry used to communicate in Australian bushland, particularly when in danger of becoming lost. When I first started to read the book I found it difficult to connect with the narrator or the story. The narrator - Isabel - is quite selfish and angry, and never loses her "woe is me" attitude. I wanted to hate her but at the same time, I was drawn to how she didn't realize how evil she was and how this affected her family/life - not the other way around as she would have the reader believe. The book is divided into parts, not chapters, which made for interesting plot development, and I didn't expect for this mystery to appeal to me as much as it did.
October 11, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyed the story, the writing wasn't that great, but liked the way the character gradually revealed herself. The first flaw was when she describes herself as a warm, loving person, and you think hang on, absolutely nothing she has done so far substantiates this. Of course as you read further you know she has absolutely no self-insight, or capacity for self-examination at all, and that is I suppose what makes me vote this book a three and no higher. For myself, I really value honesty in a character and I find a book is diminished without it. I suppose because I'm not so perceptive, tend to take people (including characters) at face value!
April 3, 2017
‘I absolutely loved Cooee by Vivienne Kelly, who writes so incredibly well. It’s sort of a dark and elegant literary mystery.’
Wendy Harmer
‘Cooee is an unexpected delight.’
Herald Sun
‘How masterfully Vivienne Kelly turns the screws in this drolly gothic morality tale…Cooee is a tantalising story of denial, delusion and suspense by a wonderfully fresh and confident new voice.’
Cate Kennedy
‘Kelly has cleverly constructed her tale so that, just when the reader may be getting exasperated with Isabel’s attitudes, her reactions and her (almost) petulance, a major twist adds intrigue…This is a brilliant debut novel.’
BookMooch
Wendy Harmer
‘Cooee is an unexpected delight.’
Herald Sun
‘How masterfully Vivienne Kelly turns the screws in this drolly gothic morality tale…Cooee is a tantalising story of denial, delusion and suspense by a wonderfully fresh and confident new voice.’
Cate Kennedy
‘Kelly has cleverly constructed her tale so that, just when the reader may be getting exasperated with Isabel’s attitudes, her reactions and her (almost) petulance, a major twist adds intrigue…This is a brilliant debut novel.’
BookMooch
September 28, 2011
Vivienne Kelly is so clever. She has pulled off a very tricky technique whereby Every time Isabel, the dominant character and narrator, speaks she convicts herself ever more damningly of being a totally self centered, selfish superficial bitch instead of the poor little hard done by person she thinks she is. What fun to read! Her Max, an absolute dream lover and husband caused lots of laughter too as we compared him with life and lovers and husbands as we know them! The twist in the tale finished it up. Nicely. Lots of food for thought, a breezy read and book club choice.
April 9, 2014
This book started off very slowly but I so pleased I persisted! I enjoyed the book, quite entertaining although I felt like slapping a few of the characters! The main character Isobel was entertaining and I struggled to find a picture of her in my mind - a stately, refined woman? Or a meek and vulnerable woman? I enjoyed the twists although I did foresee them before reading them! Overall, a good light read.
January 18, 2019
Isabel's life and her memories are pried open by her 12 year old granddaughter Sofie. Her relationships with the rest of her family are toxic and as Sophie begins to ask about her past, bringing out old wedding albums, prizing the scab off the past Isabel is forced to face the results of her actions.
Sophie is the neutral observer. She is not burdened by old animosities.
"One of the things Sophie has achieved by the very fact of her existence is to inject a little normality into her extended family. Split as we are by old histories, replete with enmities matured like ripened cheese, we gather at family occasions with an inbuilt propensity to eyeball each other across the room as if battlelines were about to be declared.
Sophie overcomes these divisions; she traverses the sharp and jagged crevices in our family landscape; she presents to us an image of ourselves as harmonious and ordinary. A regular family, a commonplace and unremarkable group of related people who don’t bicker and simmer, who don’t harbour fetid suspicions or implacable hostilities about each other. It isn’t a bit true, of course: we’re so lost in our dysfunction, so crabbed and twisted by it, that we’ll never emerge from it. It’s like an indelible dye: it’s imbued the fibre and substance of our relationships with its telltale stain.
So we’re a dysfunctional family: but then again, what’s dysfunction? Show me a functional family and I’ll show you a pack of poseurs and fibbers. Our dysfunction is at any rate remedied, if not completely repaired, by Sophie: it’s partly why she’s so important, so necessary."
Told entirely from Isabel's perspective, our perception of he and her family are coloured by Isabel's idea that non of this is her fault. She is self centered. Other people do not understand her. She is bewildered by the implacable hostility of her young son. She doesn't understand her daughter. Her older sister constantly criticises her. Her husband suffocates her with his constant need to look after her.
"Cooee, I cry, and again, in accelerating desperation. Cooee. No one answers; no one is there to answer; I am alone in the world. Fear possesses me utterly. I wake, weeping."
Into this bewildering world comes Max and that is where everything changes.
Sophie's questions and Isobel's inability to deal with the past honestly have dire consequences and nothing is as is seems.
Excellent book, I had to stay up late to finish it, just a bit more; what, she said what, where or how can this end?
Sophie is the neutral observer. She is not burdened by old animosities.
"One of the things Sophie has achieved by the very fact of her existence is to inject a little normality into her extended family. Split as we are by old histories, replete with enmities matured like ripened cheese, we gather at family occasions with an inbuilt propensity to eyeball each other across the room as if battlelines were about to be declared.
Sophie overcomes these divisions; she traverses the sharp and jagged crevices in our family landscape; she presents to us an image of ourselves as harmonious and ordinary. A regular family, a commonplace and unremarkable group of related people who don’t bicker and simmer, who don’t harbour fetid suspicions or implacable hostilities about each other. It isn’t a bit true, of course: we’re so lost in our dysfunction, so crabbed and twisted by it, that we’ll never emerge from it. It’s like an indelible dye: it’s imbued the fibre and substance of our relationships with its telltale stain.
So we’re a dysfunctional family: but then again, what’s dysfunction? Show me a functional family and I’ll show you a pack of poseurs and fibbers. Our dysfunction is at any rate remedied, if not completely repaired, by Sophie: it’s partly why she’s so important, so necessary."
Told entirely from Isabel's perspective, our perception of he and her family are coloured by Isabel's idea that non of this is her fault. She is self centered. Other people do not understand her. She is bewildered by the implacable hostility of her young son. She doesn't understand her daughter. Her older sister constantly criticises her. Her husband suffocates her with his constant need to look after her.
"Cooee, I cry, and again, in accelerating desperation. Cooee. No one answers; no one is there to answer; I am alone in the world. Fear possesses me utterly. I wake, weeping."
Into this bewildering world comes Max and that is where everything changes.
Sophie's questions and Isobel's inability to deal with the past honestly have dire consequences and nothing is as is seems.
Excellent book, I had to stay up late to finish it, just a bit more; what, she said what, where or how can this end?
November 16, 2022
This book was boring until over half way through and then it became interesting. I found the main character Isabel Weaving to be self centered and self absorbed, so I really did not like her. Isabel is an architect, she married young and had 2 children, Kate and Dominic, and she does not have a great relationship with either of them. She escapes her marriage to Steve and marries the handsome and enigmatic Max. She does not know how Max makes his money or what he actually does for a living but she does not care. She develops a close relationship with her grand daughter, Sophie and begins to disclose things about her life and Max.
February 25, 2024
Isabel is self centred and completely unable to take personal responsibility for anything. She is also the narrator of the book, which gives it such a unique perspective as she reports the reactions of her family and friends with the outrage she believes they so richly deserve. It appeared the book was going to be one long monologue of the slights and injustices Isabel suffers, until something totally unexpected happens (not her fault though, of course). The monologue continues, but with added spice.
June 16, 2017
I approached this book with high expectations, having loved The Starlings. This one wasn't quite as funny, and it took quite a while to get into. The protagonist, Isabel, was quite unlikable. The middle of the novel came to life with the introduction of Max, but the ending was somewhat unsatisfying. A book with an unreliable narrator.
July 23, 2019
Soap opera meets high literature with an unlikeable MC, dysfunctional family dynamics and a great twist. Highly compelling throughout though the ending, while nicely reflecting the motif of being lost, seemed to fizzle out. A great read though.
August 17, 2024
A disfunctional, delusional, unreliable POV makes for an interesting read!
October 25, 2020
Loved the unreliable & delusional narrator - nothing was ever her fault. She is certainly very funny, witty & wry, which made her more appealing than she probably deserved. And I loved that it all got a little darker as the story progressed, rather than just melt into sweetness & light. Almost 5 stars.
June 3, 2011
Loved the christening/celebration idea but other than that didn't find the book filled with darkly comical wit - more a self righteous, smug, completely deluded main character who can't see anything beyond h ehrself.
October 16, 2009
I'm enjoying this book. Not usually into the novel about families but these characters draw you in and the book takes a bit of a turn about 3/4 way through...
August 2, 2011
I liked this book because there was quite a twist.
September 5, 2011
Although it was a little depressing in parts, I really enjoyed the story.
April 23, 2013
Nicely-written main character, whose skewed view of the world and her relationships reminded me of someone I know.
July 30, 2016
Fascinating read, enjoyed the twists throughout. Hope this author has more books to come.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews