{"id":49163,"date":"2022-03-30T11:12:07","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T15:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?p=49163"},"modified":"2022-03-29T10:40:51","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T14:40:51","slug":"scary-monsters-by-michelle-de-kretser-in-booklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/scary-monsters-by-michelle-de-kretser-in-booklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser [in Booklist]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-49167\" src=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/Scary-Monsters-Michelle-de-Kretser-BookDragon-538x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"538\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/Scary-Monsters-Michelle-de-Kretser-BookDragon-538x800.jpg 538w, https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2022\/03\/Scary-Monsters-Michelle-de-Kretser-BookDragon.jpg 602w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 538px) 100vw, 538px\" \/><strong>*STARRED REVIEW<\/strong><br \/>\nThe monsters here are, of course, people, made terrifying by what Michelle de Kretser labels \u201cthree scary monsters \u2013 racism, misogyny, and ageism.\u201d Subtitled \u201cA Novel in Two Parts,\u201d the notable Sri Lankan-born Australian de Kretser\u2019s (<em>The Life to Come<\/em>, 2018) latest is indeed a dual narrative presented in a flippable binding: open it one way to read Lili\u2019s early-1980s adventures as an Asian Australian twentysomething assistant language teacher in Montpellier, France; flip and open it the other way to witness Lyle\u2019s assimilations, adaptations, and compromises to survive as an Asian immigrant in a post-pandemic, on-the-verge-of-another, dystopian Australia of the near future.<\/p>\n<p>The two parts aren\u2019t overtly ordered; both halves open and close with the exact same front and back matter \u2013 including epigraphs, acknowledgements, author bio \u2013 with the exception of an introductory note which reverses the order of references to Lili and Lyle. Close reading is required to find the four-word sentence linking the two halves.<\/p>\n<p>Time becomes arbitrary in de Kretser\u2019s remarkable presentation of past and future \u2013 \u201cWhich comes first, the future or the past?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As contrasting as the details of their lives are, both Lili and Lyle must relentlessly navigate the challenges of being perpetual outsiders who are judged, overlooked, dismissed, targeted, used, and abused. Wrenchingly poignant, brilliantly biting, de Kretser provides an indelible, ageless examination of the migrant experience.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Review<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.booklistonline.com\/Scary-Monsters-\/pid=9756205\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;Fiction,&#8221; <em>Booklist<\/em>, March 15, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n<p><strong>Published<\/strong>: 2021 (Australia), 2022 (United States)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*STARRED REVIEW The monsters here are, of course, people, made terrifying by what Michelle de Kretser labels \u201cthree scary monsters \u2013 racism, misogyny, and ageism.\u201d Subtitled \u201cA Novel in Two Parts,\u201d the notable Sri Lankan-born Australian de Kretser\u2019s (The Life to Come, 2018) latest is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,225,10205,6,6535],"tags":[83,84,6608,6668,49,10,68,51,25,10207,39,10206,173],"class_list":["post-49163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-australian","category-australian-asian","category-fiction","category-repost","tag-assimilation","tag-betrayal","tag-bookdragon","tag-booklist","tag-dystopia","tag-family","tag-haves-vs-have-nots","tag-identity","tag-immigration","tag-michelle-de-kretser","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-scary-monsters","tag-travel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - 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