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essjay1's review
5.0
My favourite type of writing - concise, closely observed, the characters so clearly drawn. This is a book to leave next to your most comfy reading chair for dipping into when you need to remember why you read.
The stories took me back to Sydney in the 1980's & 90's. That awkward time when you are growing up and figuring stuff out, when you still think stuff can be figured out.
There are 10 short stories that can easily stand alone, however the nice thing about this collection is that 4 of the stories are about the same character, Tasha, at different stages of her life. It gives a cohesiveness to the book that I liked.
The final line of the story Together Alone, also the last story in the book, so perfectly describes the situation that it took my breath away.
The stories took me back to Sydney in the 1980's & 90's. That awkward time when you are growing up and figuring stuff out, when you still think stuff can be figured out.
There are 10 short stories that can easily stand alone, however the nice thing about this collection is that 4 of the stories are about the same character, Tasha, at different stages of her life. It gives a cohesiveness to the book that I liked.
The final line of the story Together Alone, also the last story in the book, so perfectly describes the situation that it took my breath away.
micahhortonhallett's review
4.0
Really beautiful, evocative writing. Reminiscent of Helen Garner's early short fiction collection 'Postcards from Surfers' in a few respects- in a really good way though. The stories collected here are a good antidote to a lot of the literary fiction that has been coming out of Australia in the last decade and then some. The is a sparse poetry to her work. There is actual imagery. There are humans being messily, relentlessly human. It brought some summer afternoon light into a grey mountains autumn.
owlbookhouse's review
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Moderate: Abandonment, Cancer, and Death of parent
Minor: Bullying
josephine_renee's review
2.0
I went into this wrong, thinking it would be a novel about 6 teens and the plot would overlap and come together and it would all make sense in the end. It's rather an anthology of short stories. Which don't overlap other than in it's uncomfortable theme, of which the book should be named after, something more like 6 stupid people, or what not to do in bedrooms, or 6 ways you shouldn't loose your virginity/6 obvious walking red flag men not to have sex with (example, your boyfriend's brother?). I think I disliked it because, although it has wonderful prose, the characters didn't change at all, and if they where realising anything, it didn't show it in action.
Perhaps it's supposed to show how 'kids acting like adults, and wanting to grow up faster' cannot be more stupid, or that dumb decisions can set the tone of the rest of your life.???
I absolutely adored The Details, so I don't think I should have read it expecting something like the collection of Tegan Bennett Daylights short personal essays either.
It just felt like I was left hanging with all of their stories, like it would tell me that Tasha's friends brother and father were both sleeping with the maid and that was her job (disgusting), then at the end just randomly say they hadn't been having sex with the maid and it wasn't her job. ????
I'm probably missing something. And it was an interesting read, but if you haven't, read The Details On Love, Death and Reading instead, absolutely masterful!
Perhaps it's supposed to show how 'kids acting like adults, and wanting to grow up faster' cannot be more stupid, or that dumb decisions can set the tone of the rest of your life.???
I absolutely adored The Details, so I don't think I should have read it expecting something like the collection of Tegan Bennett Daylights short personal essays either.
It just felt like I was left hanging with all of their stories, like it would tell me that Tasha's friends brother and father were both sleeping with the maid and that was her job (disgusting), then at the end just randomly say they hadn't been having sex with the maid and it wasn't her job. ????
I'm probably missing something. And it was an interesting read, but if you haven't, read The Details On Love, Death and Reading instead, absolutely masterful!
gardensong's review
3.0
I grew up in Canberra and I've moved out now, moved across the world, and I miss home. I don't relate to many of the experiences in this collection of short stories, but there's that feeling of longing of the suburbs here that made my heart pang. There's something so Australian about the way she describes all that desire, all that loss. It reminds me of hot summers sat inside, both bored and in love with your friends.
Some of the stories, I think, are misplaced in this collection, and those are the ones written in the third person or from an adult perspective. I think the short stories from the point of view of the young women in this collection work the best - but all in all it's a good collection made better by context. I found it very easy to connect because of the way I grew up, but that doesn't mean that no one else would find a lot of merit in these stories. The one about the sisters that move to London is particularly powerful, as is the title story.
Some of the stories, I think, are misplaced in this collection, and those are the ones written in the third person or from an adult perspective. I think the short stories from the point of view of the young women in this collection work the best - but all in all it's a good collection made better by context. I found it very easy to connect because of the way I grew up, but that doesn't mean that no one else would find a lot of merit in these stories. The one about the sisters that move to London is particularly powerful, as is the title story.
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
3.0
‘The house we lived in had three storeys and six bedrooms.’
In this collection of short stories, Tegan Bennett Daylight explores some of the hazards of moving from adolescence to adulthood. It’s an invitation, especially if you are female, to revisit your own transition to adulthood. Do you remember school ovals on hot afternoons? Did you ever sneak alcohol from home, or elsewhere? How sophisticated we thought we were, some of us with cigarettes, slaves to fashion, dreading and dreaming of sex. Wanting (usually) to be popular and one of the ‘in crowd’. And then moving from home, into hostel accommodation or share houses.
Some travel, others stay near home. The dramas of this period of life: all-encompassing at the time, usually less so with the passage of time. Oh yes, memories.
In these short stories, Tegan Bennett Daylight takes us back to that time. A time when most of us felt uncomfortable in bodies that were changing in ways we couldn’t control. A time when many of us had our first encounters with death, with sex, with learning to navigate in a world where we had to take responsibility. One young woman, Tasha, appears in several of these stories. This provides some structure to the snippets of life we observe, a degree of continuity in the shift to adulthood.
The stories are each short journeys, we don’t stay in the past for long. Just long enough to catch a glimpse, just long enough for memories to surface. Long enough to remember how awkward life was, how filled with anguish, despair and disappointment. And long enough, to realise that, if we are reading about it now, we survived.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In this collection of short stories, Tegan Bennett Daylight explores some of the hazards of moving from adolescence to adulthood. It’s an invitation, especially if you are female, to revisit your own transition to adulthood. Do you remember school ovals on hot afternoons? Did you ever sneak alcohol from home, or elsewhere? How sophisticated we thought we were, some of us with cigarettes, slaves to fashion, dreading and dreaming of sex. Wanting (usually) to be popular and one of the ‘in crowd’. And then moving from home, into hostel accommodation or share houses.
Some travel, others stay near home. The dramas of this period of life: all-encompassing at the time, usually less so with the passage of time. Oh yes, memories.
In these short stories, Tegan Bennett Daylight takes us back to that time. A time when most of us felt uncomfortable in bodies that were changing in ways we couldn’t control. A time when many of us had our first encounters with death, with sex, with learning to navigate in a world where we had to take responsibility. One young woman, Tasha, appears in several of these stories. This provides some structure to the snippets of life we observe, a degree of continuity in the shift to adulthood.
The stories are each short journeys, we don’t stay in the past for long. Just long enough to catch a glimpse, just long enough for memories to surface. Long enough to remember how awkward life was, how filled with anguish, despair and disappointment. And long enough, to realise that, if we are reading about it now, we survived.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
kaydee's review
4.0
A wonderful collection of coming of age stories that I devoured in an afternoon. As in her brilliant novel Safety, Bennett Daylight nails that awkward promise of teenage- and early adult-hood. The feeling of being uncomfortable in your skin but knowing, or hoping that 'something' is going to happen.