6 Degrees of Separation: Notes on a Scandal to Caravan Like a Canary
Welcome back to 6 Degrees of Separation, where we all start with the same book and link it to six other titles in whatever curious way our mind chooses to make connections.
This month’s starting book, thanks as always to Kate from booksaremyfavouriteandbest, is What Was She Thinking [Notes on a Scandal] by Zoe Heller.
Apparently, this book was adapted into the film Notes on a Scandal, starring the fabulous Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. I haven’t read the book or seen the film, but I do know it was shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize in 2003, the year it was published.
Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake was also shortlisted the same year. Atwood has such an uncanny, albeit terrifying, way of imagining the future that is a little closer to home than most of us would like.
She has previously said about one of her other famous titles, that “there’s nothing in the The Handmaid’s Tale that didn’t happen somewhere.”
Pandemic novels have been considered part of the dystopian fiction genre—until it became a world-wide reality over the past few years. Fire, Flood, Plague, edited by Sophie Cunningham was published in 2020 after Australia had endured fires, floods and the still-emerging pandemic. Fire, Flood, Plague is a collection of personal essays about these experiences.
Another collection of essays I have read recently is Women of a Certain Rage, edited by Liz Byrski. I had mixed thoughts about reading an anthology about anger and rage, but it surpassed my expectations with a varied and nuanced exploration of the theme, with the inclusion of some very moving personal experiences and reflections.
Liz Byrski is also the author of fiction, with a focus on fabulous older women as her main characters. Her most recent one is At the End of the Day, which revolves around Mim Squires and Mathias Vander who become friends while stranded together during a disrupted flight (also rather close to reality for anyone who has attempted travel in recent months, especially within Australia).
I’ve always loved immersing myself in the lives of fictional characters as a form of escape, and another title that allowed me to do that, while also dealing with some serious issues such as childhood trauma, is A Caravan Like a Canary by Sasha Wasley. This story features a road trip when Tara’s dying mother demands her to drive their bright yellow caravan from one side of the state to the other.
This month, I began with a scandal in a story that is almost two decades old, traveled into the dystopian future, which has scarily morphed with our real-life present before finally escaping into some Australian fiction with a side of travel.
Over to You
Where will six degrees take you?
Head over to booksaremyfavouriteandbest to see where it led other bookish people.
Great chain with quite a few links that intrigue me, Melinda. I am particularly interested in the two essay collections – partly because their subject matter appeals and partly because essays, I think, would better suit my current frame of mind which is very distracted, making concentration on longer works a challenge.
Of your books, though, I have only actually read The handmaid’s tale.
I don’t think you are alone in feeling distracted. Do you think it’s related to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, or something else? I can highly recommend either collection.
Interesting choices! I wonder if I could get my book group to read the essays about rage. Several years ago we read The Handmaid’s Tale (some had read it but I had not), then went to the world premiere opera at Harvard (oddly, it was held at the basketball arena which was strange for me as a season ticket holder). Both Margaret Atwood and Mikhail Baryshnikov were there which had the entire audience awestruck and sometimes staring at the audience instead of the performers!
I really enjoyed almost all of the essays (mostly focused on personal experiences) in Women of a Certain Rage. It far exceeded my expectations. It is an Australian title.
Such an interesting chain! I just love Six Degrees to see where everyone will end up. I was standing with Women of a certain rage in my hands just the other day, but I didn’t take it. Now I’m actually interested.
Have a wonderful October!
Elza Reads
There were a couple of essays in the collection where I felt I was being lectured at, but the vast majority were such interesting and nuanced explorations of anger and rage through some very personal stories. It exceeded my expectations when I read it as a collection. And as a writer, it was fascinating to see such a diverse response in both content and style when all writers were given the same brief.
Such an interesting chain. I’m not big on dystopian fiction, but am most intrigued by the Liz Byrski in your listing. All worth a second look, I think!
I have enjoyed Dystopian fiction at different times (though I’m not sure whether enjoy is the right word – fascinated perhaps?), but a lot of them a feeling a little close to real life at the moment (and in some places in the world, they’ve been real life for a long time). I hope you do enjoy Liz Byrski’s books though.
Enjoyed your chain. A Caravan Like a Canary sounds rather lovely; I like the idea of caravan trips whether its in Enid Blyton or Parnassus on Wheels!
I really enjoyed A Caravan Like a Canary. It does deal with some serious issues, such as substance abuse and childhood trauma, but in a way that draws you into the characters’ lives and their relationships (familial and otherwise).
Fascinating chain here. Aside from Atwood, I don’t know any of these.
What a great title: Women of a Certain Rage! Tempted to seek out that book purely for that reason.
It’s a clever title isn’t it!! And the collection contains quite diverse stories and expressions of anger/rage. I was impressed overall with the quality and nuance of the writing.