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Absolutely Revolting
Fiction
by Gillian Dooley •
January–February 2017, no. 388

Extinctions by Josephine Wilson

UWA Publishing $29.99 pb, 286 pp, 9781742588988

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.

Extinctions takes its time giving up its secrets, and there are some we will never know. One of its most persistent enigmas is what kind of book it is. I wondered, during the first half, whether it was a powerful and perceptive example of the Bildungsroman for seniors: an elderly person (usually male) meets someone new who teaches him to be a better person, to pay attention to the important things in life, to treat those he loves properly, to reconcile himself to his past – in short, to grow up.

 


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Extinctions by Josephine Wilson

UWA Publishing $29.99 pb, 286 pp, 9781742588988

ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.

From the New Issue

‘Journey Beginning Things’, a poem by Charmaine Papertalk Green
Poem

‘Journey Beginning Things’

by Charmaine Papertalk Green
‘Inconsolable Poem’, a new poem by Toby Fitch
Poem

‘Inconsolable Poem’

by Toby Fitch
On Display: The story of Artbank, Australia’s most visible collection
Art

On Display: A story worth telling by Laura Couttie

by Julie Ewington
Fierceland
Fiction

Fierceland: A haunted second novel by Omar Musa

by Shannon Burns

Comments

Sandra Beck
Friday, 02 February 2018 14:48
Extinctions x Josephine Wilson
I loved this very-unusual book
-stream of consciousness writing
-fallibility of characters
-dry character building
-unpredictible, sometimes farcical turns of events
-magnificent descriptions eg p184 par c4…the walls…
p192 par c3 …Beche de mer…
p194-5 …Fred flushed…
p197 par 2…his voice was…
I loved it because it is about adoption (personal)
“ perceptive (some similarities to the Housewife and the Professor?)
“ because it is humane
“ so many characters are weak people
I got nothing from and could or would not engage with the photographs and thought them an expensive distraction (OCD author?)
I would recommend the book and will hope to read it again. I have posted this on fb

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