Leila McKinnonREVIEWS
Leila McKinnon is a journalist with the Nine Network.176 AWW.COM.AUAUGUST 2017
I’LL EAT WHEN
I’M DEAD
by Barbara Bourland,
riverrun.
If the title of this book
grabs your attention,
the first paragraph will
surely seal the deal and
is worth quoting in full:
“It was not impossible
for a thirty-seven-year-old woman to starve
to death in Manhattan, less than a mile from
the nearest Whole Foods, though it was
unusual.” Hillary Whitney is dead, and her
friends and colleagues at RAGE Fashion Book
are told it’s down to the right combination of
stress and a diet of alkaline-only green juices.
But these women don’t just know how to rock
an outfit and sell magazines, they’re whip-
smart and they, and a rather attractive male
NYPD detective, are soon on the trail of a
killer of rare taste and discretion.I’ll Eat When
I’m Deadis such a sharply sardonic frolic
through the world of fashion that it makes
The Devil Wears Prada look so last season.ELEANOR OLIPHANT
ISCOMPLETELY FINE
by Gail Honeyman,
HarperCollins.
It’s no spoiler to reveal
thatshe’s not in fact
completely fine. Eleanor
is a bit bonkers; she’s
socially inept, and
lonely and damaged in
a way that somehow manages to be both
heartbreaking and hilarious. And when
Eleanor finally finds a little compassion,
she ventures into a world she’s never
encountered. The first time she dances,
to that party perennialY. M .C. A ., she quickly
catches on – “Freeform jigging, communal
shapes in the air; freeform jigging, communal
shapes in the air. Dancing was easy.” But why
people would sing about a “gender and faith-
based youth organisation” does give her
pause. There are many laughs on Eleanor’s
journey, and you are left with a reinvigorated
faith in the power of kindnesses.UNCLE
DYSFUNCTIONAL
by A.A. Gill,
Allen & Unwin.
Advice columnist Uncle
Dysfunctional is the
alter ego of the brilliant
writer A.A. Gill. He’s
devastatingly articulate
and gobsmackingly
Rabelaisian. To the woman who’s turned
off in bed by her boyfriend’s posh accent, he
sympathises that while usefulfor, “ordering
thousands of oiks to certain death”, it is “the
most preposterous voice when naked”, and
advises her to shove a pillow in his mouth –
“It will remind him of school”. To the chap
who writes, “Nobody understands me”, he
replies, “What?”. This collection from British
Esquiremagazine is a trove of great humour.
He cites the women’s movement as the best
thing that’s happened to men, and his fashion
advice states: “the worst-dressed man in any
room is the one who won’t order spaghetti
because he’s got an Hermès tie on”.THE SECRETS
OF MY LIFE
by Caitlyn Jenner,
Trapeze.
You may think you
know a lot about Caitlyn
Jenner. She was once
one of the world’s
greatest athletes, and
went on to become the
hen-pecked patriarch of the mega-famous
Kardashian clan. But so much of what you’ve
heard or assumed is not only wrong, it’s so
wrong that the complete reverse is true. To
start with, Bruce Jenner didn’t create Caitlyn- Caitlyn created Bruce. If it were not for the
fact that Bruce identified as female, he would
never have buried himself in his “great
distraction”, training to become the decathlon
Olympic champion. Here she shares her
failures, her furtive forays into the world as
a woman and extensive surgeries.The
Secrets of My Lifeis authentic, touching,
and chock-full of riveting revelations.
The Attachment: Letters
From A Most Unlikely
Friendship
by Ailsa Piper and Tony
Doherty, Allen & Unwin.
When Australian actress Sandy
Gore sent her pal, Monsignor
Tony Doherty, a copy of her
friend Ailsa Piper’s book,Sinning
Across Spain, it was the spark
to an email embrace which
would grow into a friendship.
Researching a play, Ailsa had
discovered that in medieval
times, a person was paid to
carry the sins of another to a
holy place where the sinner
received absolution. The witty
playwright’s post went viral:
“Pilgrim seeks sinners for
mutually beneficial
arrangement.” She walked
a pilgrimage in Spain and wrote
her book. Tony wrote to Ailsa,
confessing he had read it
non-stop from Good Friday until
Easter Monday. “I had to nail
my feet to the ground to stop
myself getting on a plane.” He
now raised “simony” (buying
of ecclesiastical privileges) at
dinner parties. “Beware these
don’t turn into a last supper,”
Ailsa wrote back. They did
meet, and Tony introduced
Ailsa to BalmoralPudding,
while they both wrote of deep
loss. Death may be a “big full
stop”, but a new connection can
be an ellipsis to “happy days”.