Finola Moorhead

A big, enjoyable novel about a group of lesbians, a murder mystery being investigated by one of them, and much more.

Darkness More Visible was fun, but for me the book lacked the greatness of Moorhead’s Remembering the Tarantella. As in Tarantella, Moorhead focuses her story on a group of lesbians around Sydney and in their own Lesbianland community nearby in the Dividing Range. Again her writing is experimental with lots of jumping around between characters and subplots. This time Moorhead focuses more on the dynamics of couples coming together and breaking up. One of her characters is an ex-cop investigating several suspicious events, including a murder, and interacting with men in the police department. Drugs, the internet, environmental destruction, international capitalists, crooks and vicious misogynists are all part of the story. The book is also full of arguments over the nature of feminism and lesbianism.

See the rest of my review on my blog. http://tinyurl.com/7846afs… (more)

A wonderful, swirling dance of a novel about a community of lesbian women exploring their inner and outer worlds, and finding ways to live both as individuals and as part of a larger caring community.

Australian author Finola Moorhead set out to write a different kind of novel, one that would reflect a how a group of lesbian women were creating a new style of living that encompassed global travel and the establishment of a home community in the Blue Mountains of Australia. In her book, she presents a “feminist aesthetic,” grounded in a nonlinear, rooted web of connections rather than conflicts. Instead of experimenting with a female language or use extensive stream-of-consciousness. Instead, writing in powerful, but traditional prose, she has structured her book to allow a variety of women’s voices to circle and interact. She does not provide a plot about a handful of characters, but writes a “we” book, featuring a whole group of sharply different women interacting across global boundaries.

Read more at my blog:
http://mdbrady.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/remember-the-tarantella-by-fiola-moorhea...… (more)