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Dark Roots

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

SHORTLISTED FOR 2007 PREMIER'S QUEENSLAND LITERARY AWARDS: AUSTRALIAN SHORT STORY COLLECTION

In these sublimely sophisticated tales, Cate Kennedy opens up worlds of finely observed detail. Her stories are populated by people at tipping points in their lives — moments that find them poised between a familiar past and an unfamiliar future. In 'The Testosterone Club', a neglected wife plans an unsavoury revenge on her boorish husband. In 'Resize', a married couple realise their too-tight wedding rings may symbolise wider aspects of their relationship. And in 'Cold Snap', a young boy senses that the newly arrived tree changer may have some sinister intents. Heartbreaking, evocative and richly comic, Dark Roots unveils the traumas that incite us to desperate measures, and the coincidences that drive our lives.

PRAISE FOR CATE KENNEDY

'Stunning ... Each story picks you up, takes you out of your life and smack bang into the middle of another place and time where the troubles and joys are laid bare and stripped back to their essence with incredibly spare and gifted writing. This collection is a joy to read.' The Sunday Age

'These are precisely observed pieces, deserving of a wide audience.' The Guardian

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 29, 2007
      Critically acclaimed in Australia, Kennedy made her first stateside splash last year in the New Yorker
      and now follows that up with this revelatory collection. Set mostly in unnamed Australian locales, the stories are particularly concerned with the plight of women in social arenas where they’re expected to be less than stellar, often for the sake of male egos. “Seizure” chronicles a woman realizing her live-in boyfriend’s emotional selfishness after she witnesses a kind stranger aid an epileptic man. “Wheelbarrow Thief” focuses on a beautiful, intelligent publicist who is reduced to a dinner party accessory by her professor boyfriend. And “The Testosterone Club” is a delicious revenge fantasy spearheaded by a wife who has had enough of her husband choosing his buddies over her. Other highlights include “Angel,” in which a Vietnamese refugee dissects alienation in Australia while striving to take care of a child. The title story is a vivid dissection of the inner turmoil of a 39-year-old woman dating a 26-year-old-man. And the pièce de résistance? That would be “Soundtrack,” an inspired, sublime take on family. Kennedy’s prose walks the line between sparse and lush, and she trusts that her readers welcome well-articulated ideas balanced with reassuring doses of mystery.

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Languages

  • English

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