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Foreign Soil
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
19 posts | 17 read | 42 to read
In Melbourne's western suburbs, in a dilapidated block of flats overhanging the rattling Footscray train lines, a young black mother is working on a collection of stories.The book is called Foreign Soil. Inside its covers, a desperate asylum seeker is pacing the hallways of Sydney's notorious Villawood detention centre, a seven-year-old Sudanese boy has found solace in a patchwork bike, an enraged black militant is on the warpath through the rebel squats of 1960s Brixton, a Mississippi housewife decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her son from small-town ignorance, a young woman leaves rural Jamaica in search of her destiny, and a Sydney schoolgirl loses her way.The young mother keeps writing, the rejection letters keep arriving . . .'Maxine Beneba Clarke is the real deal, and will, if we're lucky, be an essential voice in world literature for years to come.' Dave Eggers
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GatheringBooks
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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#SpringSentiments Day 2: Being #Inundated with way too many great books to read during the spring break is a lovely problem to have.

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CampbellTaraL
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Pickpick

An unsanitized account of real humans from different places in the world. Not survivor tales, washed down to a palatable level for privileged audiences. The stories don't resolve neatly, many leave you desperate to go do something so no one else ever suffers that way again. And that's the point. The author knows humans and it shows in every line written of this book.

Gaps in the Hickory was my favorite story in this collection.

40 likes2 stack adds
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MariettaSG
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
Pickpick

A wonderful collection of short stories, each one unique and thought provoking. Variations on the Australian migrant experience, often the only connecting, but intensely strong factor being the peculiarity of those experiences. Highly recommended.

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ladycarliblack
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Pickpick

I loved this short story collection. Moving and beautiful and the local connection was great too. Maxine Beneba Clarke is a beautiful writer and the stories were incisive and moving.

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mspixieears
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Pickpick

What is not to love about a book that has a story about being a writer, and parts where it‘s written in different, melodic varieties of English? Personally, it was like different parts of home.

13 likes1 stack add
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Sue
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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#riotgram catch-up - here's some of the poetry on my TBR

MayJasper I would love to own all of those. I really must buy some poetry 7y
79 likes1 comment
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Sue
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Thanks for the tag @Marchpane - here are some of my #fivestarpredictions . Apologies to Charlatan by Catherine Jinks which didn't make it in to the photo!

@amckiereads @Izai.Amorim @MandaChittles - I'm not sure if you guys have joined the fun yet but I'd love to see your picks if you haven't 😊

batsy Really interesting picks! Want to read Oreo and October too, and recently heard about The Bone People. 7y
ClairesReads October yes! I should have included that in mine! 7y
Marchpane Love your picks! The Maxine Beneba Clarke collection is wonderful 💕her poetry is very accessible. 7y
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Sue @batsy @ClairesReads @Marchpane Thank you! Maxine Beneba Clarke is amazing - I mildly stalk her on twitter. 7y
ClairesReads @Sue no hate! I not so mildly stalk her on Instagram 😂👌🏻 7y
Sue @ClairesReads Did you catch the poem she wrote and recorded for allies a little while ago? 💔😭 7y
ClairesReads @Sue yes! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😩 7y
MandaChittles The Bone People is definitely 5 Stars! One of my all time faves. 7y
Izai.Amorim Thanks so much for tagging me, Sue. I need some time to accomplish this. 7y
Sue No worries @Izai.Amorim ! Looking forward to your post 7y
91 likes1 stack add10 comments
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Hooked_on_books
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Pickpick

A top-rate short story collection from a woman of color who shies away from nothing. Clarke tackles race, religion, spousal abuse and more with a focus on immigrant stories. Some stories are written in dialect, which slows the read a bit but adds interest. Highly recommend to all readers in our globalized world.

shawnmooney Sounds so great! 8y
Cinfhen Nice review 😊 8y
75 likes5 stack adds3 comments
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Gillyreads
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Pickpick

Read this on the plane. Highly recommend, Maxine Beneba Clarke is an amazing writer.

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Marchpane
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Giving #spinepoetry a go 😊

📚📚📚📚📚📚

The group: independent people, special.

Strange pilgrims to the bright edge of the world.

Seeing the broken shore, the fatal shore.

Foreign soil, fear, and trembling wind. Sand and stars.

Staying alive. Living to tell the tale.

📚📚📚📚📚📚

#marchintoreading

JanuarieTimewalker13 Fantastic!!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🎼 to my eyes! 8y
TheWordJar Love this!! 8y
LauraBeth ❤❤ 8y
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Cinfhen Brilliant 8y
Lindy Well done! 8y
Marchpane @JanuarieTimewalker13 @TheWordJar @LauraBeth @Cinfhen @Lindy ☺️thank you all! This was fun to put together. 8y
Hollie You have superior stacking skills! 8y
ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled I think I need a print of this 8y
KarenUK 🙌🙌🙌💕 8y
Kalalalatja 👌👌 perfection! 8y
LeahBergen Awesome! 8y
Oryx Excellent 8y
136 likes13 comments
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Gillyreads
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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12 likes1 stack add
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MrBook
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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#TBRtemptation post! An award-winning collection of short stories from a prize-winning Afro-Caribbean Australian author. A young black mother in Melbourne writes a short story collection titled "Foreign Soil" about the marginalized, & accrues rejection slips. Stories involve: an asylum seeker, a 7-year old Sudanese boy, an enraged black militant, a Mississippi housewife, a young Jamaican woman, & a Sydney schoolgirl. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook ?

Michelle_mck Maxine has also written a great memoir on growing up in Australia - it's a great read 8y
whatthelog This sounds brilliant, thanks! I love short stories so much 😍 8y
MrBook @Michelle_mck Ooh, excellent 😁👏🏻! @whatthelog My job here is done 😎🙌🏻! 8y
LitsyGoesPostal 😊👍🏻 8y
84 likes6 stack adds4 comments
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AnythingCanBe
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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6 likes2 stack adds
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BookishFeminist
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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First new book release day of the year!!

Pt 1 #NewReleases I'm hyped about & out today. Difficult Women is worth the hype. Roxane Gay is an incredible writer & this is no exception. Foreign Soil and Other Stories is a debut that I haven't gotten to yet but it sounds great! History of Wolves has been really buzzed. Enigma Variations & Letters to a Young Muslim sound interesting, & Douglas Preston always writes fascinating nonfic. 📖#tbrtuesday

Gillyreads Is it the new edition of Foreign Soil with the extra story? Because that story is 👌 8y
BookishFeminist @Gillyreads I don't know. I'll have to check my arc. What extra story? Are you in Australia? I think this is the first time it's being released in the US. 8y
readinginthedark Foreign Soil sounds so good! (edited) 8y
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maximoffs I just got approved for a paper ARC of Letters to a Young Muslim!!! Can't waiiiiit 8y
[DELETED] 3323341091 ooo...thanks! 8y
ReadingEnvy I liked the Aciman a lot. 8y
Gillyreads @BookishFeminist yeah I'm in Australia, the bformat paperback has an extra story and I thought it might be in the US edition too. It's called Aviation 8y
Suetara Picked up Difficult Women and History of Wolves at the library today! 8y
139 likes4 stack adds8 comments
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Marchpane
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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98 likes3 stack adds
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BookishBron
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Pickpick

Just finished this. Beautiful writing, heartbreaking (mostly) stories. Read it.

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Marchpane
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Back into this short story collection while I decide what novel to read next. These stories are so good that I feel the need to ration them, absorb one at a time.

Drink of choice is strong black tea in a cup the size of a bucket. ☕️

#bookanddrink #septphotochallenge #somethingforsept #shortstories

Cinfhen Your photo is so editorial 😍 8y
Marchpane @Cinfhen aw, thank you that made my day! 😊 8y
Hobbinol I do that too-- ration stories, and authors too. 8y
RealLifeReading Cute teapot 8y
77 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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Marchpane
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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Excited to have finally gotten my hands on this. #shortstories #aussie

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aoife
Foreign Soil | Maxine Beneba Clarke
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this week's library haul 😊