An interesting collection of short stories. Like many short story collections, some are better then others, some are confusing and some I found tiresome. I did enjoy Malouf's ability to set a scene and nail a certain nostalgic time in Australian history.

This is a collection of (very) short stories and is David Malouf at his best. Just in the style of The great World, this collection captures a bunch of ordinary singular aussies (with their global and local, and social and familial heritage) living and dealing with their everyday and unspectacular suburban or rural lives, in their social, physical and temporal contexts. On top of that, the characters are subtley but purposfully drawn to be the "you and me" in the stuff that goes on in the social, familial and environmental everyday life. One could say perceptive and descriptive in the way it captures the everydayness of our lives, and again in a vernacular and description of images that is applicable to New Zealand despite its Australia context.

I've only read Closer for my CEL class and I really liked it. It's a nice story with many secret meanings and with an insigh on how many families function today, not only the 'crazy Pentacostals'.

Really nice writing style and enjoyed a lot of the stories.

Too much navel gazing

Malouf deserves the Nobel.

Not sure what the hype is about these short stories. 3 were brilliant but most i found a drag.

I really admire David Malouf. He's a fellow Brisbanite, so his writing reflects the places I know from when I grew up. He's got a poetic, lyrical writing style that immerses you in the complex worlds of his characters, and you start to forget that you're actually reading. I haven't read much by him, but what I have has always left me with a sense of lurid breathlessness. So I was very much looking forward to this collection. It started well, with solid stories of times long past, acrid disappointments, the sudden violence that can destroy a life, confusions and reminiscences. But about half-way through, I became bored. I no longer cared about the characters whose lives were dissected across the pages. And the family birthday celebrations of the long, final story, "Great Day", left me cold; missing any real Australianisms, it could have been anywhere, and peopled by its inane characters, with their petty worries and blithe wanderings, it took me several days to finish, and I started to wonder why I liked this writer in the first place. Like all creative people, I suppose he can't always produce good work. I'll try another Malouf soon and see.

I really don't like David Malouf. I thought it was just youthful naivety, but no, I actually dislike his writing strongly. I don't understand why he is so acclaimed.

A guest left this behind in our house when he returned to England. And I'm so glad he did - what a gem of a book. There is so much to admire in Malouf's writing - the restrained way he interrogates the interior lives of his characters; the sense of searing empathy for children and the betrayals of the adult world; the way he conjures landscapes; the harrowing account of the repercussions of the expulsion of a gay son from his dour religious family. Malouf is interested in pointless brutalities (Night Training, Lone Pine) and in the ways in which we kid ourselves - about romance (Sally's Story) or our family solidarity (Great Day). There's a sense of deep sadness woven through each of these exquisitely crafted short stories. I loved it.

Boring not even worth that one star

As an observer of life , there is none better than David Malouf