Enza Gandolfo
Autor von The Bridge
Werke von Enza Gandolfo
Getagged
Wissenswertes
- Geburtstag
- 1957
- Geschlecht
- female
- Nationalität
- Australia
- Geburtsort
- Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Ausbildung
- Victoria University (MA - Creative Writing, PhD - Creative Writing)
RMIT University
Deakin University
University of Melbourne (BA, DipEd) - Berufe
- novelist
associate professor (Creative Writing) - Organisationen
- Victoria University
Mitglieder
Rezensionen
What a great story this is! I heard the book discussed on Radio National's Bookshelf and Kate's enthusiasm convinced me to give it a try. I was a bit concerned, however, that it might be a sort of docu-drama, as might be written by a journalist, revealing the "full story" behind a major disaster. It turned out to be no such thing. The West Gate Bridge and its collapse during construction is really a minor player in this drama. It is not insignificant though, because one of the threads of this story is the way an accident can impact on the lives of people involved. The bridge collapse, like almost major accidents, involved multiple causes and many people connected with the bridge would have felt some amount of responsibility and therefore some level of feelings of guilt - even if it's only feeling the 'guilt' of being a survivor when others have died. And that's what this book is really all about, as far as I can see: how do you deal with feelings of guilt when a tragic accident occurs? Two intersecting stories are considered in this book; a man who survived the West Gate Bridge collapse, and a girl who survives a motor accident.
The story is really well put together, I reckon. The author avoids the temptation to give us an unrealistically bright outcome of forgiveness and reconciliation and instead leaves us with lots of deep thoughts and a genuine understanding of how the same situation can be seen so differently by different people. We get realistic pictures of people who feel sad, guilty, depressed, bereft, and angry. No one in this story is either 'good' or 'bad', and the reader can see that every emotion can be justified.
Having heaped praise on the story, I am not quite so enthusiastic about the writing. Sure, it's good - I'm not really being very critical and it's very hard to point to any specific deficits, I just somehow think a different writer could have made the same wonderful story into a brilliant novel.… (mehr)
The story is really well put together, I reckon. The author avoids the temptation to give us an unrealistically bright outcome of forgiveness and reconciliation and instead leaves us with lots of deep thoughts and a genuine understanding of how the same situation can be seen so differently by different people. We get realistic pictures of people who feel sad, guilty, depressed, bereft, and angry. No one in this story is either 'good' or 'bad', and the reader can see that every emotion can be justified.
Having heaped praise on the story, I am not quite so enthusiastic about the writing. Sure, it's good - I'm not really being very critical and it's very hard to point to any specific deficits, I just somehow think a different writer could have made the same wonderful story into a brilliant novel.… (mehr)
Resilience. Some people can recover enough from the most harrowing situations to live a good life, while other people suffer ongoing torment and their lives are destroyed.
Enza Gandolfo’s superb second novel ventures into this territory with a story that begins with the collapse of the West Gate Bridge in 1970 and the deaths of 35 workers in Australia’s worst industrial accident. I was there that day: my driving instructor used to take me down to Fisherman’s Bend to practise parking in the ferry’s carpark. We were turned back by police, but we could see what had happened. One of the spans that had been there had collapsed, hurling the workers on the span 50 metres to the ground, and crushing under 2000 tonnes of concrete others who were having lunch in the workers’ huts on the ground beneath the span.
Gandolfo’s depiction of this tragedy is horrifically vivid. Antonello, an Italian migrant who had swapped his morning shift that day, watches aghast from below:
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/05/14/the-bridge-by-enza-gandolfo-bookreview/… (mehr)
Enza Gandolfo’s superb second novel ventures into this territory with a story that begins with the collapse of the West Gate Bridge in 1970 and the deaths of 35 workers in Australia’s worst industrial accident. I was there that day: my driving instructor used to take me down to Fisherman’s Bend to practise parking in the ferry’s carpark. We were turned back by police, but we could see what had happened. One of the spans that had been there had collapsed, hurling the workers on the span 50 metres to the ground, and crushing under 2000 tonnes of concrete others who were having lunch in the workers’ huts on the ground beneath the span.
Gandolfo’s depiction of this tragedy is horrifically vivid. Antonello, an Italian migrant who had swapped his morning shift that day, watches aghast from below:
There was an agonising groan as the span the rigging team had spent the last five days hoisting up moved again. It was caving in the centre now, and the men were trapped midair. They stumbled, slid and slipped. They were bashed by the flying debris; their arms reached for the sides of the girder, for something, but there was nothing. Gas bottles, drums, pieces of timber, chains and bolts spun and rolled and fell over the edges, turning into airborne missiles.The impact and the explosion could be heard 20 kilometres away.
Another jolt; the span was almost vertical now. A stiff-legged derrick loosed from its mooring catapulted towards the river, its long metal arms flaying violently, a giant possessed. And now the men: the men were falling, falling off, falling through the air and into the river below. They were screaming, but their cries were muffled by the bridge’s own deathly groans. (p.15)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/05/14/the-bridge-by-enza-gandolfo-bookreview/… (mehr)
The novel is a psychological journey through Kate’s life, with a chance encounter with The Ex as catalyst. Kate’s retired, she’s had a satisfying career as a secondary teacher (about which Gandolfo has wisely chosen not to tell us too much), and she’s enjoying life post work with her lover George and a range of activities including her beloved swimming, desultory writing and her friends. When she bumps into Tom at Tess’s photography exhibition he wants to know if she’s happy, and would their marriage have survived if they’d had children. (Only an Ex could ask such an impertinent question!)
For more see http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/swimming-by-enza-gandolfo/… (mehr)
For more see http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/swimming-by-enza-gandolfo/… (mehr)
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The two events are linked through the characters. It is an uncompromising look at the impact of these events on survivors and grieving families.