Every Move You Make

by David Malouf

A young man going off to war tries to make sense of his place in the world he is leaving; a composer's life plays itself out as a complex domestic cantata; an accident on a hunting trip speaks volumes, which its inarticulate victim never could; and a down-to-earth woman stubbornly tries to keep her feet on the ground at Ayers Rock.

Malouf's men and women are together but curiously alone, looking for something they seem to have missed, or missed out on, in life. Powerfully rooted in the heat and the dust of the vast Australian continent, this is a heartbreakingly beautiful and richly satisfying collection by a master storyteller, one of the great writers of our time.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Australia

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

David Malouf is a celebrated Australian poet, novelist, librettist, playwright, and essayist whose work has garnered international acclaim. Known for his lyrical prose and explorations of identity, memory, and place, Malouf began his literary career in poetry before gaining recognition for his fiction. His 1990 novel The Great World won the Miles Franklin Award and several other major prizes, while Remembering Babylon (1993) earned a Booker Prize nomination and multiple international honors.
Malouf has taught at universities in Australia and the UK, delivered the prestigious Boyer Lectures, and written libretti for acclaimed operas. Born in Brisbane to a Lebanese father and a mother of Sephardi Jewish heritage, he draws on both Australian and European influences in his work. He is widely regarded as one of Australia's most important literary voices and has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.

Reviews

[Old Man JP · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sensational! I had already read most of these short stories but, really, they are so outstanding that they were even better the second time around. There, simply, are very few writers who can match David Malouf and his lyrical prose. Each of the stories was sensational but if I have to choose a favorite it would be the title story Every Move You Make. It's a love story between a man who is purposely living a hard knock life and a young woman. He is very set in his life style and unwilling to change but she is gradually making changes that he grudgingly accepts until fate steps in. The story was good but the writing was absolutely incredible. It read very much like poetry. David Malouf is one of those writers I've been determined to read everything from and, unfortunately, I've just about read all of his books now.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

His prose is poetry. Short stories to read and think about and read again.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant collection of diverse stories set in Australia.

[Holden Wall · Rating 2 out of 5]

characters were shallow and felt unknowable. their stream of consciousness moved too slowly to be believable or to feel as if they were worth following. no fun ! no intrigue !

[Giorgia · Rating 2 out of 5]

everyone praises malouf so i think I'm alone when I say this but the writing here felt so pretentious.... as if I was being explained similar concepts over and over again (the short stories somehow didn't feel short enough) through characters that despite being very intricately described I often felt little sympathy for or connection to...maybe it's because I had to read this for work that I couldn't fully immerse myself in it, maybe I prefer writing that's more concise and sharp, or maybe i am just not malouf-pilled enough to enjoy it. I'm sorry Mr Malouf :/

[Geraldine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It somehow lacked the poetic touch of the other books I read (Remembering Babylon and an Imaginary Life). The sheer power and breathtaking ability to rend your sould apart is just absent and, of course, when you take a book from the shelf with the expectation of deep moving tragedy told in a beautiful poetic prose, you're bound to be disappointed with the simple moment narration in plain language that this book offers. Maybe if I had started with this volume rather than the other two I would have loved it... Maybe

[Josephine Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such controlled and engrossing prose.

[Wendy Feltham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently learned of David Malouf from Barry Lopez's memoir. In the chapter about Australia in Barry Lopez's Horizon, he recommended him, so I started with this most recent collection of short stories. Each story gives insights into an Australian, often one living in a remote town, through stream of consciousness and analysis of that character. The landscape, including sometimes birds, sets the scene. David Malouf writes beautifully, eloquently, capturing complex times in modern Australia in a short story.

[Jon Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is interesting that the two stories I most remember from high school English classes more than 40 years ago (Faulkner's 'The Bear' and Hemingway's 'Soldier's Home') seem to have reemerged in this collection ('The Valley of Lagoons' and 'War Baby'). Or maybe it's my imagination. At any rate, I especially loved those two stories. The rest were fine.

[Anni Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great collection of stories by David Malouf. Vivid descriptions of Australia: the outback, city life, the suburbs, all brought together in wonderful language.

[ttttooo”””’mmmmmm · Rating 4 out of 5]

really liked all of these stories - some more than others. it didn’t feel like they were fuelled by plot which i love 🤗 + signed with newspaper excerpt of course i have to love it

[David Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good shorts yet some of them left me wanting - needed slighthly longer length.

[Gay Harding]

Short stories not my favourite genre. DNF because more interesting stories waiting to be read.

[Clive Parkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this, intermittently, in preparation for VCE exam marking. Some lovely moments here and I particularly liked The Valley of Lagoons as a longer reminiscence.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clash of characters emerge in these stories. 'War Baby' intrigued me most - the heavy story of Charlie Dowd's experience of PTSD on return from the Vietnam War:

"Ah, thoughts. Thoughts.
He saw himself as a man who, whole as he might look, in that he had no wound to show, had come back just the same with a limb missing, a phantom limb that continued to putrify.
Or with fragments of shrapnel in his flesh that sent metal detectors into electronic fits, whether others had ears for it or not.
[...]
It scared him at times that one of these ghostly selves who now sheltered in him might speak up and send a conversation skidding in some new and terrible direction. He would have to deal then with a look on the face of whatever companion he had found of startled incomprehension, as if with no warning a mask had slipped."

And the startling beginnings of finding a way out of it: "He did not know as yet that there was a change. Only that it was possible, and that the agents of it could be small. But that, for the moment, was enough."

Thanks Charlie.

[Andrea Tittarelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sette racconti compongono questo libro dello scrittore australiano, di cui finora non avevo mai letto nulla. Ha uno stile particolare, che si potrebbe definire minimalista, nel senso che vengono raccontati solo alcuni aspetti della storia, ma spesso ciò che succede prima (o anche dopo, con conclusioni piuttosto brusche) viene taciuto, o vengono forniti solo alcuni frammenti sparsi, che il lettore deve cercare di comporre. Non è quindi una lettura sempre facile, e in alcuni passaggi può risultare noiosa, soprattutto quando l’autore si sofferma sulla descrizioni di paesaggi o sull’evoluzione dei pensieri dei personaggi, saltando magari improvvisamente da uno all’altro. Ma alcuni racconti, soprattutto "La valle delle lagune", "Figlio della guerra" e "Da un’altra parte", valgono davvero la pena di essere letti, lasciandosi lentamente pervadere dalla loro atmosfera.

[Kirat Kaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short story is always difficult, but Malouf does it so well. He tells little tales in portions of people's lives in ways that are so poetically descriptive, the stories draw you in, make you wonder, and there's never any proper and final resolution, but it's done in such a way that you're not left wanting. You feel satisfied at the end of each story that you've had the luck of being let into these imaginary people's lives for a short while. Highly recommended.

[Ilyhana Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Malouf's stories in this collection shape a portrait of death from many angles.
I found the writing style quite dry and detached until I came to "Mrs Porter and the Rock". Both the land and the dementia came to life, even though on the way to death. Malouf captured the attitude of an older woman and dressed it with humour, a delightful story.

[Laura G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written stories that are more like character sketches - so rooted in place that Australia almost feels like one of the characters (Towards Midnight feeling like the exception to that - my least favourite probably). Elsewhere and Every Move You Make were the ones I liked best. I did feel some of his female characters weren’t as fully rendered but beautiful none the less.

[Jenny]

Returned after only reading a couple of stories.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some beautiful prose - Malouf is able to capture simple moments that often pass unnoticed.

[Velvetink · Rating 4 out of 5]

29/11/2013 1 0f 20 books for $10 the lot