Almost a Mirror
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize
Like fireflies to the light, Mona, Benny and Jimmy are drawn into the elegantly wasted orbit of the Crystal Ballroom and the post-punk scene of 80s Melbourne, a world that includes Nick Cave and Dodge, a photographer pushing his art to the edge.
With precision and richness Kirsten Krauth hauntingly evokes the power of music to infuse our lives, while diving deep into loss, beauty, innocence and agency. Filled with unforgettable characters, the novel is above all about the shapes that love can take and the many ways we express tenderness throughout a lifetime.
As it moves between the Blue Mountains and Melbourne, Sydney and Castlemaine, Almost a Mirror reflects on the healing power of creativity and the everyday sacredness of family and friendship in the face of unexpected tragedy.
Customer Reviews
Mirror, mirror
Australian who has worked as freelance writer (The Saturday Paper, The Monthly, Good Weekend, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Peppermint Magazine, ABC Arts Online, Neighbourhood, Overland, Metro Magazine, Empire, yada yada), editor, and digital communications specialist for 20 years. PhD in creative writing. Her first novel 'just_a_girl' was published in 2013. This is her second.
Mona, Benny, Jimmy, and several others come of age hanging out at or near music venues in 1980s Melbourne (The Crystal Ballroom in St Kilda, and the ABC Countdown studio especially). Mona has a crush on Scott Carne, the lead singer of Kids in The Kitchen. (For the record, I was a big fan of Kids In The Kitchen. Make of that what you will.) Nick Cave and the Boys Next Door make an appearance too.
We meet the three main protagonists again in 20-25 years later in Sydney and elsewhere. The action moves back and forth at a reasonable pace, but the author carefully labels each chapter with place and year. She also uses song titles and lyrics from the period as chapter headings, aiming for, and largely achieving, a mixtape feel.
This is a book about music, grief, drugs, memories, art, finding your place in the world, and a particular era in Australia. It's intentionally disjointed but very readable despite that. There's a Spotify playlist too.
In case you were wondering, the title comes from 'Shivers,' a 1979 song by the Boys Next Door:
'She is almost a mirror
And the sound of her name
Send a permanent shiver
Down my spine'
The Boys Next Door, which later became The Birthday Party, featured Nick Cave on vocal, although he didn't write "Shivers." Guitarist Rowland S Howland did. He was only 16. I wasn't really into The Birthday party, although "Release The Bats" was great.