Emma Barnes

Representation: N/A?
Trigger warnings: Death of a person by suicide, war themes, World War II, physical injury, hospitalisation, attempted murder of a person in the past
Score: Four points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

Man. This book wasn't it. I hoped that I would enjoy this historical novel but after seeing the low ratings I lowered my expectations but still it didn't enthral me at any point (except the beginning when it looked promising, but soon after that it all went downhill from there. I won't reread this story.) It starts with the main character Megan whose last name I forgot living in Britain a few years after World War II when her father returns from Germany. But here's the catch: Megan is the first person in her family to have an opportunity to either go to grammar school or move with the rest of them to Newcastle. Megan doesn't want any of those choices at first and she spends her time trying to convince everyone that she can decide on something else but that made me not want to read Megan as a character so I had to push myself to finish this book off otherwise I would've given it a DNF. I also couldn't relate to any other character in the narrative either considering one of them is an actual Communist (which I didn't like) nor did I like all the triggering content (Trust me. There is a lot.) The only reason why Megan didn't like grammar school at first is because she said the students are too posh and there are too many rules and she explained that she shouldn't go to Newcastle with her family because she'll miss her old home or something along those lines. At least the narrative ended swiftly. Ah well. On to the next one I suppose.… (mehr)

This is the second issue of this annual literary magazine. Edited by poet Emma Barnes who is based in Wellington, New Zealand, it contains an eclectic mix of short stories and poetry. The cover design is a colourful bird revealed by the scratching away of black crayon by nine-year-old Ngahere Koa von Bassewitz-Wafe.
The contents include an interesting array of work by Harvey Molloy; Jennifer Compton; Craig Cliff; Mariana Isara; Angeline King; Sally Houtman; Reihana MacDonald Robinson; Helen Heath; Tim Jones; Helen Rickerby; Susanna Gendall; Heather Elder; Debbie McCauley; Jenni Dowsett; Iain Britton; Vaughan Rapatahana and Sarah Jane Barnett. I have to admit that I do have a poem in here: ‘Vampire at Pak ‘n’ Save’ – obviously written after an odd visit to the supermarket! Overall a good read.… (mehr)