Take a photo of a barcode or cover
erinreadstheworld 's review for:
Friends & Dark Shapes
by Kavita Bedford
I didn't expect to love Friends and Dark Shapes as much as I did. I really enjoyed it and would easily call it my favourite millennial novel.
It accurately portrays life for millennials in Sydney without leaving me absolutely frustrated at the characters like other millennial books I've read (ahem *Normal People*).
The writing is stunning. It's lyrical and evocative. It's often simple but still hard-hitting. Told through short vignettes Friends and Dark Shapes is a musing on youth and grief and finding your place in a world full of instability.
It's very much a character driven novel. The story takes place over one year and while not a lot happens, I feel like it's an accurate representation of life for many people in their late twenties. Most of us have pretty mundane lives with an average year spent working, hanging out with friends, paying bills and dealing with our families.
The city of Sydney is a pivotal character in the book. We're shown the pretty parts and the gritty parts. Friends and Dark Shapes is a love letter to Sydney and is probably the main reason why I loved it so much.
The narrator remains unnamed throughout the book but her memories dance from the pages (I feel like Kavita Bedford infused the book with her own experiences). I've lived in Sydney my whole life and I'm just a few years younger than Kavita, and so many things the narrator did in her teens and early twenties are things I did too.
So many of the experiences explored in the book felt achingly familiar. Reading about her memories of early adulthood in Sydney made so many of my own memories come flooding back. Drinking in Bicentennial Park, meeting strangers at Mardi Gras, driving to Botany Bay just for something to do. Pool parties in early high school when you're torn between playing mermaids and talking about boys.
It's a really interesting look into how much of our identity and our memories are tied up in the city we live. And how we define the city we live in through our experiences and our interactions with it.
I loved this book because it echoes so much of my own life. In saying that, I do think that people who aren't as familiar with Sydney will still be able to resonate with the book. It explores so many universal experiences, including finding your feet in adulthood, the changing nature of friendships, grief and dealing with the loss of a loved one.
It accurately portrays life for millennials in Sydney without leaving me absolutely frustrated at the characters like other millennial books I've read (ahem *Normal People*).
The writing is stunning. It's lyrical and evocative. It's often simple but still hard-hitting. Told through short vignettes Friends and Dark Shapes is a musing on youth and grief and finding your place in a world full of instability.
It's very much a character driven novel. The story takes place over one year and while not a lot happens, I feel like it's an accurate representation of life for many people in their late twenties. Most of us have pretty mundane lives with an average year spent working, hanging out with friends, paying bills and dealing with our families.
The city of Sydney is a pivotal character in the book. We're shown the pretty parts and the gritty parts. Friends and Dark Shapes is a love letter to Sydney and is probably the main reason why I loved it so much.
The narrator remains unnamed throughout the book but her memories dance from the pages (I feel like Kavita Bedford infused the book with her own experiences). I've lived in Sydney my whole life and I'm just a few years younger than Kavita, and so many things the narrator did in her teens and early twenties are things I did too.
So many of the experiences explored in the book felt achingly familiar. Reading about her memories of early adulthood in Sydney made so many of my own memories come flooding back. Drinking in Bicentennial Park, meeting strangers at Mardi Gras, driving to Botany Bay just for something to do. Pool parties in early high school when you're torn between playing mermaids and talking about boys.
It's a really interesting look into how much of our identity and our memories are tied up in the city we live. And how we define the city we live in through our experiences and our interactions with it.
I loved this book because it echoes so much of my own life. In saying that, I do think that people who aren't as familiar with Sydney will still be able to resonate with the book. It explores so many universal experiences, including finding your feet in adulthood, the changing nature of friendships, grief and dealing with the loss of a loved one.