The Rest is Weight, by Jennifer Mills, is a restless collection of short stories. Its settings include Russia, remote parts of Australia, Mexico, and China. The stories are densely packed; there are no ‘snapshots’ or ‘sketches’, only well-made narratives populated by plausible, complicated characters. Nor is there any decorative writing; no showy turns of phrase, only tough, efficient prose, always working in service of a narrative. Style is subordinate to substance for Mills, and the result is a book that will draw in new readers, as well as pleasing those who have already enjoyed her previous two novels.
The Rest is Weight by Jennifer Mills
University of Queensland Press, $19.95 pb, 241 pp, 9780702249402
Tarcutta Wake by Josephine Rowe
University of Queensland Press, $19.95 pb, 104 pp, 9780702249303
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