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A review by henrymarlene
7 1/2 by Christos Tsiolkas
3.0
"I am not ashamed to love the beautiful."
This is a different kind of book. It is, in its purest form, about an author - the author of this book - who has left his partner and life in the city to write without distraction within a beautiful seaside retreat. He recollects his life, his childhood and years gone by as he starts to put together a story he has always wanted to write. An author, writing about an author who is writing the book he always wanted to write (very meta, awareness on many other levels). The author, in his writing, wanted to focus on beauty, love, and what he finds beautiful and what he loves. The sensual world, a world of touch, the physical, what he loves about the world. It is a mix of observation, experience, voyeurism and imagination. We see beauty through Tsiolkas' eyes, in expected and unexpected places. The use of nature is powerful. The sounds, the smells, the feel of the sand under the author's feet, the chill of the water. I could feel all the elements as I read, like the rain falling as the author ran from the beach to his car. This book is more a series of smaller stories, vignettes that intersect each other and complement each other. This style of writing may take more time to process, so many layers to manoeuvre.
" I am aware of the world beauty. And like Paul I will wear my shame till my end: For we know there are no worlds without love, neither filial nor compassionate."
This is a different kind of book. It is, in its purest form, about an author - the author of this book - who has left his partner and life in the city to write without distraction within a beautiful seaside retreat. He recollects his life, his childhood and years gone by as he starts to put together a story he has always wanted to write. An author, writing about an author who is writing the book he always wanted to write (very meta, awareness on many other levels). The author, in his writing, wanted to focus on beauty, love, and what he finds beautiful and what he loves. The sensual world, a world of touch, the physical, what he loves about the world. It is a mix of observation, experience, voyeurism and imagination. We see beauty through Tsiolkas' eyes, in expected and unexpected places. The use of nature is powerful. The sounds, the smells, the feel of the sand under the author's feet, the chill of the water. I could feel all the elements as I read, like the rain falling as the author ran from the beach to his car. This book is more a series of smaller stories, vignettes that intersect each other and complement each other. This style of writing may take more time to process, so many layers to manoeuvre.
" I am aware of the world beauty. And like Paul I will wear my shame till my end: For we know there are no worlds without love, neither filial nor compassionate."