Gail Jones (1) (1955–)
Author of Five Bells
For other authors named Gail Jones, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Gail Jones was born in 1955 in Harvey, Australia. She was educated at the University of Western Australia. She is Professor of Writing in the Writing and Society Research School at the University of Western Australia. She is the author of two short-story collections, and a critical monograph. Her show more novels include Black Mirror, Sixty Lights, Dreams of Speaking, Sorry, and A Guide to Berlin, which won the 2016 Colin Roderick Award and the HT Priestley Medal. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Gail Jones
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1955-06-17
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Australia
- Birthplace
- Harvey, Western Australia, Australia
- Places of residence
- Western Australia, Australia
New South Wales, Australia - Education
- University of Western Australia
- Occupations
- novelist
professor (Writing)
short-story writer - Organizations
- University of Western Sydney (Writing and Society Research School)
University of Western Australia
Members
Reviews
There was some lyrical writing (which usually seduces me) here but I did not care about the characters and no plot seemed to be forthcoming so I gladly relinquished it after about 40 pages. The next book on my stack was [b:You Deserve Nothing|9777374|You Deserve Nothing|Alexander Maksik|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298922349s/9777374.jpg|14667081] which is just humming along!
Winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award in 2019, Gail Jones' The Death of Noah Glass is a sumptuous, sensual work of fiction. It is not, as some might assume from the title or the blurb, a crime novel; it is — amongst other things — about the enduring power of art to make sense of our lives and the yearning for connection in the wake of bereavement.
'Intergenerational trauma' is a term that gets bandied about a bit these days, but this novel brings us the story of a man profoundly damaged by his experience as a POW of the Japanese, and how this impacted on his son Noah and thus his grandchildren Martin and Evie. On his postwar return to Australia, Joshua Glass took his family with him to a remote leprosarium in Western Australia where he ministered to the sick in the days when Hansen's disease meant desolate isolation and disfigurement. A doctor missionary working off some undisclosed debt of secret thanksgiving, he believed that faith and antibiotic breakthrough would keep his family beyond all harm.
It didn't protect his son Noah from psychological harm. Noah was traumatised by what he saw and his father's disconnect from his family.
Noah's sole consolation was a book:
Which it does. Noah welcomed escape to a boarding school where he excelled in maths and physics, but took Arts at university and became an art historian. When as a student on a visit to the National Gallery in London, he sees Piero della Francesca's The Nativity and interprets it as having a rare distinction because of the ordinariness and simplicity of its elements, (p.70) it is a catalyst for him to become a scholar of Piero's work, and later, when viewing The Baptism of Christ to formulate his theory about the instability of time in the Tuscan artist's work. (The figure awkwardly undressing on the RHS might be Christ preparing for his baptism.)
Noah is especially fascinated by the Prussian blue of Mary's robe under the infant Jesus, which becomes in turn the catalyst for him to teach his daughter Evie all the gradations of the colour blue. Because categories of things could be apprehended, she recites these into lists as a sort of talisman against the confusion and emotional pain of believing that Martin is the favourite child. For Evie, these lists are a repertoire of consoling images:
(My father, who was a research scientist specialising in surface coatings i.e. paint, more prosaically taught me the names of the colours using house-paint sample cards! That was back in the days when they actually had the names of the colours e.g. cerise or cobalt, not silly names like 'Poor Knights' and 'Big Lagoon'.)
But Evie is wrong about her father's preference for Martin.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/03/11/the-death-of-noah-glass-2018-by-gail-jones/… (more)
'Intergenerational trauma' is a term that gets bandied about a bit these days, but this novel brings us the story of a man profoundly damaged by his experience as a POW of the Japanese, and how this impacted on his son Noah and thus his grandchildren Martin and Evie. On his postwar return to Australia, Joshua Glass took his family with him to a remote leprosarium in Western Australia where he ministered to the sick in the days when Hansen's disease meant desolate isolation and disfigurement. A doctor missionary working off some undisclosed debt of secret thanksgiving, he believed that faith and antibiotic breakthrough would keep his family beyond all harm.
It didn't protect his son Noah from psychological harm. Noah was traumatised by what he saw and his father's disconnect from his family.
Noah's sole consolation was a book:
In a dusty pile of books Noah found Great Art Museums of the World. It bore the fuzzy stamp of a library in suburban Melbourne, but ended up in his own hands and before his own astonished eyes, and lived under his pillow, a treasure, and a night window to elsewhere. This single book marked the arrival of exotic visions. Other worlds and times blazed as portents from the pages, drifting into focus, contained and set apart in a shiny strangeness. He stroked the glossy paper and studied the legends to the paintings as if his future life depended on it. (p.45)
Which it does. Noah welcomed escape to a boarding school where he excelled in maths and physics, but took Arts at university and became an art historian. When as a student on a visit to the National Gallery in London, he sees Piero della Francesca's The Nativity and interprets it as having a rare distinction because of the ordinariness and simplicity of its elements, (p.70) it is a catalyst for him to become a scholar of Piero's work, and later, when viewing The Baptism of Christ to formulate his theory about the instability of time in the Tuscan artist's work. (The figure awkwardly undressing on the RHS might be Christ preparing for his baptism.)
Noah is especially fascinated by the Prussian blue of Mary's robe under the infant Jesus, which becomes in turn the catalyst for him to teach his daughter Evie all the gradations of the colour blue. Because categories of things could be apprehended, she recites these into lists as a sort of talisman against the confusion and emotional pain of believing that Martin is the favourite child. For Evie, these lists are a repertoire of consoling images:
No real job, no prospects. But the afternoon by the harbour was magnificently colourful. Another kind of prospect. Evie set up a list: azurite, carmine, cerrusite [sic], cinnabar, cobalt, galena, graphite, gypsum, haematite, indigo, lapis lazuli, limonite, malachite, Naples yellow, orpiment, realgar, smalt, ultramarine, umber, vermilion, zincite... these were the fifteenth century pigments her father had taught her. (p.220)
(My father, who was a research scientist specialising in surface coatings i.e. paint, more prosaically taught me the names of the colours using house-paint sample cards! That was back in the days when they actually had the names of the colours e.g. cerise or cobalt, not silly names like 'Poor Knights' and 'Big Lagoon'.)
But Evie is wrong about her father's preference for Martin.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/03/11/the-death-of-noah-glass-2018-by-gail-jones/… (more)
Sorry by Gail Jones
Sorry is a quiet novel about dramatic events. I love when an author can accomplish this juxtaposition. The events circle around the consequences of a disastrous marriage between Nicholas and Stella. The two meet in England and quickly marry, moving, at Nicholas's insistence, to Australia. Nicholas becomes abusive and Stella shuts down. Their daughter, Perdita, finds friendship with a deaf and mute boy, Billy, and a young girl, Mary, who is Aboriginal Australian. Nicholas's actions reach to these friends with dramatic and traumatic results.
The backdrop of this novel is the two world wars, the setting in outback Australia, and the theme of saying "sorry" and what that truly means and also who it impacts. I found this theme was dealt with in a powerful and sensitive way.
I really enjoyed this novel and would like to read more by Gail Jones. Thanks for the intro to this author, Club Read!… (more)
The backdrop of this novel is the two world wars, the setting in outback Australia, and the theme of saying "sorry" and what that truly means and also who it impacts. I found this theme was dealt with in a powerful and sensitive way.
I really enjoyed this novel and would like to read more by Gail Jones. Thanks for the intro to this author, Club Read!… (more)
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japaul22 | 18 other reviews | Nov 24, 2023 |
japaul22 | 18 other reviews | Nov 24, 2023 | Lists
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3.25 stars