Laura Elizabeth Woollett

West Girls is a read that delves into the minds of a group of women from high school to motherhood. It’s unflinching in what these women do and why, set against the backdrop of my home town Perth, Western Australia. For locals and those who know the place well, there are a lot of familiar places mentioned, some lost to nostalgia, some still present.

The story centres around Luna Lewis, an uncool high school girl who will never make it into the cool girl group, the Blondes. Luna’s friends aren’t cool on the surface either, but they have their own ways and means of getting revenge on the cool kids. But then Luna grows into her beauty, and is determined to become a model, reinventing herself as mixed-race Luna Lu. She throws away university for the opportunity (although in one way, massive points for the way she did it which included my favourite band, The Killers) and for some time it’s good. Then it’s not and her star begins to fade, made worse by a book that gains cult status even in Perth. When Luna returns home, it’s a different life – child in tow, working at Miss Maud (no late nights and safe shopping centre environment at Westfield) and of course, getting free Princess Cake. She’s back in Caitlyn’s life, one of the Blondes who she became entangled with. But what does Caitlyn want? She’s the perfect Perthonality, until she isn’t under trial by media. It’s messy, dark and brutally honest.

Although Luna is the central figure of the novel, multiple chapters are devoted to others. Some are friends of Luna’s, others friends of Caitlyn’s and still others linked only by several degrees of separation. I didn’t care that it took some time to figure out how these people all related because it was all fascinating and in some ways, so Perth. We’re all connected loosely by school, university or a mate of a mate. The topics explored are authentic from race and class to sexuality and fame. I loved it all, from the subtle (former footballer washing windscreens at Canning Highway) to the fictional players from my favourite football team, the West Coast Eagles. (But judging by some of their behaviours, I felt I knew exactly the period in which the early part of the book was set). I also liked how Woollett didn’t feel the need to expand and define every moment and action of her characters, leaving the reader to fill in the gaps (and in my case, nostalgia and trying to pinpoint the exact locations). It’s a very clever book in the way it loosely links everything together and provides commentary of the peculiarities of the most isolated city on earth. Also who knew that Perth could provide such a fascinating group of characters?

Like Woollett’s other novels, West Girls is fantastically written with every word carefully chosen for maximum impact. Even if you aren’t from Perth, it’s an excellent story that delves the depths of the complexity of being a woman.

Thank you to Scribe for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (mehr)

This isn't a poorly written book, and it's not inaccurate. It's a fairly factual, straightforward, fictionalized recounting of the events leading up to and surrounding the Jonestown Massacre. I think my disappointment was simply in that I expected the book to be more emotionally evocative and thought-provoking, and perhaps more creative in its approach. I would recommend it to someone who wasn't familiar with the topic, particularly as an accessible primer, but as a reader, I didn't feel as though it taught me anything new.… (mehr)

Loosely inspired by the 2002 murder of a woman on Norfolk Island, The Newcomer is a provocative literary crime novel by Laura Elizabeth Woollett.

Paulina Novak, even at 28, is a wild child. Reckless, self absorbed and brazen, with an eating disorder and a drinking problem, she ditched her life in Sydney for a fresh start on the tiny island of Fairfolk, off the eastern coast of Australia. Fairfolk doesn’t take kindly to ‘mainie’s’, especially to someone like Paulina who is wilfully disruptive and openly contemptuous of the insular community, so when two years later, on the day before Paulina’s thirtieth birthday, her body is found under a sheet of black plastic in a field, few are surprised.

Her mother, Judy, waiting in a hotel room to share lunch with her daughter, however is heartbroken, and determined that Paulina’s killer be bought to justice. Given the size of the island community, despite the plethora of possible suspects, Judy expects that the case will be solved quickly, but she it’s two long years before she gets answers.

Moving between Paulina’s past and Judy’s present, the narrative is as much a character study as it is a novel about a crime. Woollett explores interesting questions about mental health, trauma, misogyny, belonging, and victimhood.

Woollett doesn’t present a flattering portrayal of the victim. Paulina is a character that really doesn’t invite sympathy, and I found myself in the uncomfortable position of thinking to myself that her murder seemed almost inevitable given her behaviours. I think that in large part this is the point of The Newcomer, to have the reader confront their unconscious bias with regards to victimhood, because of course it’s not Paulina’s behaviour that is responsible for her death, it is the behaviour of her killer.

Judy too is a complex character, with her own history of trauma, though she is far more sympathetic. A caring mother who has done her best to support her mercurial adult daughter, she’s devastated by Paulina’s death. Woollett portrays her grief in what I felt was a realistic, if sometimes uncomfortable, manner.

Challenging, bold, and poignant, The Newcomer is not an easy read, but it is definitely thought-provoking.… (mehr)