Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner

Yum. Another book by Helen Garner. I have been a fan of hers since she first published Monkey Grip. There are times when I think it’s me talking, not her. She and I view the world through the same eyes. I love her to pieces. This is a fabulous collection of bits: articles, observations, snippets, journal entries. I doled them out, one, perhaps two, definitely no more than three at a time, so I wouldn’t swallow them all up in one gulp without properly appreciating them. I loved the piece about the ballet rehearsals, something she wrote as a magazine article I think because she’s accompanied by a publicist. It’s observant and poetic. And I loved her observations on getting old and invisible and the sudden, irresistible need to sort people out. I’ve been trying to think what it is about her that is so wonderful and I think it comes down to one word: honesty. She says it like it is. And that applies both to the story concept and to her words. I love the colloquialisms that pepper her writing too, her use of words that remind me of my childhood like ‘chewy’ – how long since I asked my brother for a piece of chewy? Do people today even know what that means? Mmmm, she’s my hero.