Ben’s review of The Childrens Bach > Likes and Comments

Thank you for your thoughtful and succinct review, Ben. I have almost finished reading this book for the second time and couldn’t agree with you more on both the good and the bad counts.

Hey Gisela, thanks a lot for your comment. So glad you could relate. I’m curious what you thought of the book on first reading.

Great review, Ben. Would be interested in your thoughts on Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish if you’ve read it...

Thanks Jeremy. I haven’t read any Flanagan, but I guess Book of Fish might be the one that interests me most. That said, while he writes a nice incendiary piece in The Guardian on occasion, my impression is I’m not going to love him.

Since you're discussing Australian fiction, don't forget to check out Arthur W. Upfield if you get the chance! He was essentially ostracised by the entire "literary scene" in Australia during his lifetime, or so I've read (they considered him "only" a writer of genre-fiction, and hence not worthy of their respect, apparently). For my money, he was easily in the same class as Rex Stout, Dashiell Hammett or Agatha Christie, perhaps even better...

Hey Ben, I must move to totally disagree with you on this book. You need to put some respect on Helen Garners name.

She's one of Australia's greatest writers.

Contrary to your feelings, I was overwhelmingly moved by the universal nature of the book.

Now in the thick of family life, so much of what she deals with would not have registered if I had read this when I was childless and single. Or 20, in your case of first reading.

She has pulled off an incredible accomplishment of allowing us into the internal world of 5 very different human beings without passing judgement on any of them.

There's nothing "cottage industry" about this world class, universally respected, beautifully written novel.

I'll finish by posting the final paragraph of Anne Enrights article written about Helen Garner and for the London Review of Books :

"In the spring of 2024, I went into a beautiful antiquarian bookshop in Melbourne not far from the courthouse featured in This House of Grief and the library where she wrote Monkey Grip and I did not find her work on the shelves. Eight different books by Bail, none by his more famous, more celebrated, more loved and justly admired ex-wife. How could she be so excluded, I thought, even now? And so close to home? Had she annoyed the bookseller in some way? Knowing Garner, the way her readers think they do, I wouldn’t be surprised. Slowly, it occurred to me that her work had sold out."

Hi Shane, my apologies for replying to your comment 11 months late. I don’t feel I was disrespectful to Helen Garner, and I have read several of her books and enjoyed much of her writing. (Strangely, I actually enjoyed her journals more than any of her fiction, I’m not sure why.) I do think “universally acclaimed” is an exaggeration in this case. “Acclaimed” is good enough, surely. I also think the beauty of Goodreads is that I and others can respond to acclaimed works without placing them on pedestals. To me, this is an early work showing promise, impressive creativity, and some mawkishness. I think that’s a fair assessment, and I imagine Helen Garner might agree with me. I don’t think being precious about writers helps anyone, least if all them.

Least *of* all. Damn tiny phone keypad.

Calling Garner's work a part of a 'strange cottage industry' that needed to be encouraged is wild