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I‘ve just finished this and I don‘t know how to review it. At times I thought a pick, then a so so and almost a bail.
It‘s certainly different. I fast read the last third. Something caught my attention and I slowed down towards the end and wondered does he have second sight. There is beauty in his writing . A very different and sometimes difficult read for me.

Tsiolkas is an important Australian writer & he influenced me to make a start on reading Patrick White‘s considerable body of work, but I sometimes find him a bit whiny & pretentious. This autofiction is his latest offering; about a solitary writing retreat. We hear how his fictional characters are formed by real people in his past & present life. There‘s a lot of dick & balls & stinky armpits (😬) & a lot of writing about the beauty of Australia.

This book seems to be a mix of memoir & fiction; a writer talking about the writing process ✍️. Interesting 🤔. #currentlyreading

Bumped this up my list because a good friend just finished it and pleaded with me to read it so we can talk about it.
Took this, as it turns out, prescient photo yesterday. Now that I am 50 pages in I am struck by the unintended (and yet appropriate) phallic imagery of my veggies and hummus snack 🍆😬🤭. #currentlyreading #lifeimitatingart #ozfiction

I‘m quite skeptical of writers writing about writers, and I must say this hasn‘t done much to change my mind. I wanted to be generous in my reading, and Tsiolkas is undeniably a talented writer, but 7 1/2 at its heart is one long lament about The Modern World. It‘s more masterfully written than a forwarded chain email that‘s been scanned by Norton Anti-Virus, but the vibe is the same. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/new-releases/

I loved this. A man goes to a house on the coast to write a novel. He rejects the trend of writing about big issues & wants to write about (escape to?) the idea of beauty. What follows is a masterful blend of memoir & fiction as we see the author at work & the birth of a story. Wonderful, strong prose, honest & original, it made me think about what a novel can do & look afresh at nature. Exquisite blend of memory & fiction, resisting ‘safe Art‘.