Literary Tirra Lirra by the River by Jessica Anderson

[sun surfer]

This is the MR Literary Club selection for August 2015. Whether you've already read it or would like to, feel free to start or join in the conversation at any time! Guests are also always welcome.


Goodreads • Amazon CA • Amazon UK • Amazon US • Kobo


So, what are your thoughts on it?

[Bookworm_Girl]

I've started the book and am enjoying it so far. This post is really an aside. The US ebook that I purchased at Amazon was published by Melville House Books in the Neversink Library series. I was curious what that meant so I thought I would share my research.

According to their website:

The Neversink Library champions books from around the world that have been overlooked, under appreciated, looked askance at, or foolishly ignored.

Many of the books look interesting to me so here's a link to the whole series for the curious:
http://www.mhpbooks.com/series/the-neversink-library/

I also thought that the cover was interesting. Here is a blog-post that explains why they selected the concept of silhouettes for the series.
http://www.mhpbooks.com/making-the-c...rsink-library/

[bfisher]

Thanks for posting that. Simenon's The Train looks very interesting.

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I've started the book and am enjoying it so far. This post is really an aside. The US ebook that I purchased at Amazon was published by Melville House Books in the Neversink Library series. I was curious what that meant so I thought I would share my research.

According to their website:


Many of the books look interesting to me so here's a link to the whole series for the curious:
http://www.mhpbooks.com/series/the-neversink-library/

I also thought that the cover was interesting. Here is a blog-post that explains why they selected the concept of silhouettes for the series.
http://www.mhpbooks.com/making-the-c...rsink-library/

Yes thank you a great find. Just a spot check of comparing a few of the books to Kindle pricing at Amazon suggests that as individual books at Melville House are a little high, but some of the packages look like good deals.

[Bookpossum]

Thanks Bookworm_Girl - great to know there's someone out there rescuing deserving books from obscurity!

[Bookpossum]

I finished reading the book last night. I thought it was beautifully and delicately done, though very sad to read. From the very beginning, we know Nora has very low self-esteem. One instance, when there is talk of embroidered wall hangings she had made as a young woman:

I thought they were marvellous, so it follows that they will be sad bungles. (page 22)

I shall have more to say when others have read the book as I don't want to spoil it for those yet to get into it.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I've started the book and am enjoying it so far. This post is really an aside. The US ebook that I purchased at Amazon was published by Melville House Books in the Neversink Library series. I was curious what that meant so I thought I would share my research.

According to their website:


Many of the books look interesting to me so here's a link to the whole series for the curious:
http://www.mhpbooks.com/series/the-neversink-library/

I also thought that the cover was interesting. Here is a blog-post that explains why they selected the concept of silhouettes for the series.
http://www.mhpbooks.com/making-the-c...rsink-library/

Some of the books they've chosen to champion are interesting.

I personally wouldn't have thought Tirra Lirra by the River was that under-appreciated, but then again, I live in the country where it's considered a classic.

To give an example of this. It exists on the 2015 HSC reading list for one of the advanced English modules.

I always say that a book that is still being pushed as a high school reading text after almost 40 years is a book that's doing OK. I didn't get to study it when I was in high school, so I'm glad of the opportunity to finally read it.

[fantasyfan]

There are many things to admire in this book including the excellent analysis of gender stereotyping as Nora tries to escape the shackles of life as a trophy wife displayed in a "Doll's House". The writing quality is always first class and frequently memorable. Characterization is realistic and effective. Nora's husband is perfectly portrayed as a control freak who sees his wife as just another mirror of his desirability. When Nora attempts to take a job she is met with outraged anger because she is perceived as a woman who should be grateful for being taken care of by a husband--not taking the job of someone who needs to work. Nora is castigated as being "frigid" and barren by her husband. I was delighted when the true cause of Nora's "barren" childlessness is revealed.
Nora herself I found rather unappealing and bland as a character. I was interested in her problems and the themes of the book which impinged upon her, but I found her personally unsympathetic.
The general tone of the novel is realistic but muted and gentle. For that reason I feel that the tone is ripped apart by the horror of Dorothy Rainbow. Certainly, it effectively dramatizes the theme of gender entrapment but violently disrupts the texture.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by caleb72

I personally wouldn't have thought Tirra Lirra by the River was that under-appreciated, but then again, I live in the country where it's considered a classic.

To give an example of this. It exists on the 2015 HSC reading list for one of the advanced English modules.

Thanks! I wondered if this book is considered an Australian classic that is popular on school lists. I'm sure the under-appreciated perception is from the perspective of the US publisher. It was only just recently printed by Melville in late 2014. My research indicates it was last published in the US 30 years ago in 1984 by Penguin. It doesn't appear that any of her other books are currently in-print in the US. I'm happy this book also exposed me to the Miles Franklin Award, annually awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases." I looked at the list of past winners and many look very interesting!

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I finished reading the book last night. I thought it was beautifully and delicately done, though very sad to read. From the very beginning, we know Nora has very low self-esteem. One instance, when there is talk of embroidered wall hangings she had made as a young woman:

I shall have more to say when others have read the book as I don't want to spoil it for those yet to get into it.

I agree with your thoughts. I don't want to say too much yet either. I loved Nora's wry sense of humor and it made me sad to see how stifled and passive she was through life events. Just referring to reflections of one's life as a chain of "periods of waiting" makes me sad. It was delicately portrayed though; Anderson did a nice job of not making it overly sentimental.

I think that the book's themes of memory, the passage of time and self-reflection fit very nicely into the suite of books that we've read this year! I also read Ishiguro's recently released book, The Buried Giant, which is also about memories shrouded by mist and contains elements of Arthurian legend. I do recommend it.

Originally Posted by fantasyfan

There are many things to admire in this book including the excellent analysis of gender stereotyping as Nora tries to escape the shackles of life as a trophy wife displayed in a "Doll's House". The writing quality is first class and very enjoyable.

There seemed to be two main themes of discovery in the book: one based on Nora's self-awareness and the other based on gender stereotyping. Does anyone know if Ibsen's play was the inspiration for the main character's name of Nora?

Before I started reading the book, I read Tennyson's poem, The Lady of Shalott, to which the title refers so I would understand the symbolic links between the poem and the book. I also enjoyed looking at the beautiful paintings by Waterhouse and Hunt that were inspired by the poem.
http://www.artble.com/artists/john_w...ady_of_shalott

Coincidentally I revisited The Once and Future King by T.H. White a few months ago since I have fond memories of it from childhood and intend to read Tennyson's Idylls of the King sometime in the near future. I've seen Farringford House on the Isle of Wight and also hiked the footpaths along the seaside cliffs from Freshwater Bay to Tennyson Monument (one of my most favorite areas of England!) so I keep meaning to read more of his poetry. I'm glad this book gave me a reason to divert a little down that path.

[ccowie]

I'm just over half-way through and I'm enjoying the book a lot. Can someone help me understand what it means to be a "pommiefied Aussie" or an "Aussie Pom"?

[Bookpossum]

Well, we refer to the English (and I mean that specifically, not the British) as Poms, though I'm unsure of where the name came from originally. Those terms aren't ones I have come across before, but would have referred to speaking with a more English accent, and therefore being a bit "posh". All the radio announcers used to cultivate very English sounding tones in the past, but nobody bothers now. Possibly a pommiefied Aussie was blending in so well in England that he or she had lost the Australian outlook on life.

A ten pound Pom was one who migrated to Australia when there was a drive to boost the population, and so an individual could come for that amount of money.

In a way I was probably an "Aussie Pom" as my parents were both English, and although I was born in Australia, I didn't speak with an Australian accent, but more like my mother.

These days we have migrants from all over the world and so nobody notices anybody's accent!

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by ccowie

I'm just over half-way through and I'm enjoying the book a lot. Can someone help me understand what it means to be a "pommiefied Aussie" or an "Aussie Pom"?

I'm not quite half way through the book and also enjoying it.

A 'pommified Aussie' and an 'Aussie pom' is an Aussie who has migrated to England and become one of them (a pom).

As to origins of the word 'pom' or 'pommie' I'm aware that it was used in WWI and can be construed as either descriptive or derogatory. Descriptive because it tells me that someone is a 'pom' - meaning they come from England. Derogatory because it can be said with nasty intent: - 'pommie bastard'.

NB I want to thank everyone who helped me as to where I could get the ebook from. I'm so very time tight at the moment that I'd rather use my limited time reading than on the pc.

Edit
Bookworm Girl - thank you for that link!! (The system is not letting me give you any K!!)

[fantasyfan]

I read the Kindle ebook. It has a very thorough analysis in an "Afterword" by Anna Funder. It is, in my opinion, almost essential reading if one would like to probe more deeply into this novel. While I think that Funder overstates some of her views, they are always worth consideration. She does an excellent job in developing the significance of "The Lady of Shalott" (one of my favourite poems) in terms of the novel.

[ccowie]

Thanks for the Pom lesson Bookpossum and Lynx!

I'm still really enjoying this book, but with limited reading time. Hopefully I can finish up today or tomorrow.

[BelleZora]

Thanks to Bookpossum and Lynx-lynx! How I love that this is an international group and we can explain things to each other.

All these comments are motivating and I'll begin reading Tirra Lirra today. Much appreciation to Book_worm Girl, also.