Phil Brown

Phil Brown reviews ‘A Month of Sundays’ by James O’Loghlin

May 2005, no. 271 • 01 May 2005

A good travel book is usually more than the mere chronicle of a journey, and a journey is often, but not always, a metaphor for something else altogether. Meanwhile, the act of departure can be read as an affirmation of life, an act of faith or, as is the case with James O’Loghlin, one of utter desperation. The voyages of discovery around their home city of Sydney undertaken by O’Loghlin, his ... (read more)

Phil Brown reviews 'Gotland' by Fiona Capp

November 2013, no. 356 • 31 October 2013

While I was reading this compelling but occasionally problematic novel, I started thinking about Oscar Wilde. Pretentious? Moi? The thing is, when I’m torn between opposing views of the same thing, I tend to think of Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol … ‘two men looked out from prison bars, one saw mud, the other stars’. So I found myself in two minds about this book, mainly because, two ... (read more)

Phil Brown reviews 'Belomor' by Nicolas Rothwell

March 2013, no. 349 • 04 March 2013

I am surprised this book doesn’t come in plain packaging. Its title was inspired, after all, by a cigarette – Belomorkanal, also known as Belomor, a Russian brand the author describes as ‘strong, mood-altering cigarettes’. This cigarette motif suggests the lost world of Europe, when the Iron Curtain still hung. ... (read more)

Phil Brown reviews 'The Daughters of Mars' by Thomas Keneally

June 2012, no. 342 • 23 May 2012

Balancing the big picture with the intimate details that engage us when reading a novel is not easy. This latest book from veteran Australian author Tom Keneally is epic in scope, but takes us into the intimate worlds of particular people. This is the way to tell a story about an event as mammoth as World War I. Keneally, the author of Schindler’s Ark (1982) and many other fine works of fiction ... (read more)

Phil Brown reviews 'Poor Man's Wealth' by Rod Usher

February 2012, no. 338 • 20 January 2012

Small towns, as anyone who has lived in one can attest, abound in colourful characters. Or is it just that people’s peccadilloes are magnified without the distractions of the madding crowd? Rod Usher knows a thing or two about small towns; he happens to live in one: the village of Barcarrota in Extremadura, Spain. After a long career in journalism – including stints as literary editor of The A ... (read more)