I'm reading: Swallow the Air - Tara June Winch

In all the creative writing courses and workshops I've attended, the one piece of advice I hear over and over is - read to become a better writer. So, when I want to understand a writing convention or form I scour my book collection for an old favourite - one that I know does it well. This time 'round Tara June Winch's Swallow the Air fulfilled that promise.

This is the third time I've read her book and each time I love that I discover new things hidden beneath her layered text. She delivers crisp, original descriptions and metaphors through the eyes of her central character; May, a teenager searching for her identity. Descriptions such as: 'The house wheezed.'

Swallow the Air is a collection of short stories and it's this form that enhances the story. Each story is self-contained but also works within the text to further the narrative. One of the stories; Cloud Busting was also published in Best Australian Stories 2005.

I love the raw honesty of Winch's writing and the way she wields the power of things unsaid, particularly in My Bleeding Palm. But most of all I love the feeling that stays long after reading Swallow the Air, where I gentle mull over inside May's journey, the characters May meets along the way, my own journey and what it means to belong. It's such a universal theme that stretches far beyond the pages of her book. In fact there is a very real sense of the distance between places - from 'the Block' in Sydney to memories of Thursday Island and the stark contrast between the real and the imagined that Winch portrays so beautifully.

I could keep going on about how she can define a character in a single line of dialogue and much more. Winch employs a number of writing devices to tell a very rich story that earned her the 2006 David Unaipon Award. This will not be the last time I read Swallow the Air.

Comments

[Business Electricity Australia]

Thanks for the great content and information. I am always browsing the internet looking for good content to get ideas for my easy home based business blogs and articles. You have some real good content here so just keep on doing what you are doing as good stuff like this is always hard to find.

[Susan Bonaci]

Thank you for your kind comment. There are some amazing writers and bloggers out there who too inspire my creative writing. Tara June Winch is certainly one of them!