Alice Bishop

Alice Bishop reviews 'Summertime: Reflections on a vanishing future' by Danielle Celermajer

March 2021, no. 429 • 22 February 2021

It’s an achievement to write about the climate crisis – and the resulting increase in Australian firestorms – without having people turn away to avoid their mounting ecological unease. Despite experiencing the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 directly, I too am guilty of looking away. It’s easier that way. Danielle Celermajer, however, excels at both holding our attention and holding us to ... (read more)

Alice Bishop reviews 'Fine' by Michelle Wright

October 2016, no. 385 • 26 September 2016

All thirty-three short stories in Michelle Wright's Fine echo the powdery residue and hairline fractures printed on the cover. Silt and grit and cinders: Wright writes of people navigating worlds often on the brink of crumbling. From the blurry aftermath of the Sri Lankan tsunami to the static shock following a hurried phone call revealing betrayal, Wright's characters stay quietly strong as certa ... (read more)

Alice Bishop reviews 'Lost & Found' by Brooke Davis

September 2014, no. 364 • 01 September 2014

Certain catchwords – ‘quirky’, ‘heartwarming’, ‘uplifting’ – mark the media coverage surrounding the release of Western Australian Brooke Davis’s first novel, Lost & Found. Perhaps foreseeing this, Davis presents her twee characters in a slightly laboured, albeit fashionable, manner: the elderly Karl in colourful braces; the agoraphobic widow Agatha; and Millie Bird, a Disney ... (read more)

Alice Bishop reviews 'White Light' by Mark O'Flynn

February 2014, no. 358 • 19 January 2014

White Light pieces together fragments of a colourful Australian suburbia: a bat-featured baby born to secretive neighbours; a young girl tipping over a bulldozer while playing on dormant construction equipment; and gold bullion appearing outside a rundown rooming house. The characters, like the book’s kaleidoscopic cover, are splintered. O’Flynn often creates original plotlines to emphasise th ... (read more)

Alice Bishop reviews 'Holiday in Cambodia' by Laura Jean McKay

October 2013, no. 355 • 27 September 2013

Seamlessly extending from the French occupation of Cambodia to the horrors of the Khmer Rouge and the current tourism industry, Laura Jean McKay’s début short story collection, Holiday in Cambodia, is a powerful portrait of a country long-affected by war and poverty. McKay’s knowledge of the Cambodian landscape underpins the collection. She evokes peak-hour from a motorbike, where ‘everythi ... (read more)