Nicole Abadee

Nicole Abadee reviews 'Frankissstein: A love story' by Jeanette Winterson

June–July 2019, no. 412 • 03 June 2019

What distinguishes man from machines? What is artificial life, death, progress? These are just some of the questions Jeanette Winterson explores in her brilliant new novel, Frankissstein, a modern take on Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, Frankenstein. Two warnings: first, the structure is complex, as the narrative segues (at times, unclearly) between the early 1800s and the present; second, readers u ... (read more)

Nicole Abadee reviews 'Unsheltered' by Barbara Kingsolver

December 2018, no. 407 • 01 November 2018

American novelist Barbara Kingsolver is renowned for her ability to infuse her fiction with her politics, in particular a passionate concern for nature and the environment. Prodigal Summer, published in 2000, is a celebration of the relationship between humans and nature; Flight Behaviour, published in 2012, is about climate change. No surprise then that her latest novel, Unsheltered, is set durin ... (read more)

Nicole Abadee reviews 'Bridge of Clay' by Markus Zusak

October 2018, no. 405 • 25 September 2018

Most writers seek to better their previous books, but in Markus Zusak’s case this goal was particularly difficult, given that his last book was The Book Thief. Published in 2005, it has sold sixteen million copies worldwide and spent ten years on the New York Times bestseller list. It is thus no surprise that Zusak has taken ten years to write Bridge of Clay, his sixth book. ... (read more)

Nicole Abadee reviews 'Home Fire' by Kamila Shamsie

October 2017, no. 395 • 27 September 2017

‘No man who is his country’s enemy shall call himself my friend. Of this I am sure.’ Creon, Antigone ‘I did not think your edicts strong enough to overrule the unwritten unalterable laws of God and heaven, you being only a man.’ Antigone, Antigone Sophocles might not have foreseen when he wrote his tragedy Antigone in 441 BCE that the issues he explored would remain topical in 2017. ... (read more)

Nicole Abadee reviews 'Woolloomooloo: A biography' by Louis Nowra

May 2017, no. 391 • 27 April 2017

In his most recent book, Woolloomooloo: A biography, author and playwright Louis Nowra sets out to discover why the word ‘Woolloomooloo’ is still ‘a shorthand for notoriety, social despair and criminality’. Eschewing conventional historical method, he undertakes his research from the ground up, walking the sixty-three streets of that much-maligned suburb just east of the Sydney CBD. With a ... (read more)