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Camera Obscura

by
October 2008, no. 305

Camera Obscura by Kathryn Lomer

UQP, $24.95 pb, 252 pp

Camera Obscura

by
October 2008, no. 305

Kathryn Lomer’s collection of short stories is ‘show, don’t tell’ storytelling with an emphasis on atmosphere instead of rapid plot movement. The best stories don’t have twists but end with a shift in perspective, a small victory or a solemn realisation. The book’s title is fitting: like the pinhole camera used by artists to isolate a single scene, Lomer’s stories are narrow in both scope and perspective. The stories are imagistic, even cinematic. Descriptions of light feature constantly: sunlight is triangled, louvred; fairy lights hide in vines, candles among food. Answering machines blink red in the dark.

Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura

by Kathryn Lomer

UQP, $24.95 pb, 252 pp

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