Blueberries

Local Description

Review by Kat;

'An intellectually and emotionally resonate essay collection that blends true crime personal essay, fragmented memoir, and poetry. Savage has made a book like an object to observe and play with—it requires and demands your full attention, like an intellectual precious toddler it’s playful and demanding, then suddenly serious, requiring your diligence as a curious reader. in “yellow’ City the opening essay, she writes about returning to the city of her sexual assault years later to follow up a police report. Her cognizant prose is a refreshing claim of art and artistry from Australian writers; yes she says: there are intellectuals still among us living off the scraps of arts funding, in precarious jobs, making a red-hot go of it—here she is. Ellena is a gifted writer who I suspect will continue to produce world-class writing.'

- Kat, Bookseller at Collins Moonee ponds

Description

Blueberries could be described as a collection of essays, the closest term available for a book that resists classification; a blend of personal essay, polemic, prose poetry, true-crime journalism and confession that considers a fragmented life, reflecting on what it means to be a woman, a body, an artist. It is both a memoir and an interrogation of memoir. It is a new horizon in storytelling. In crystalline prose, Savage explores the essential questions of the examined life: what is it to desire? What is it to accommodate oneself to the world? And at what cost?

Awards

2021 Stella Prize Longlist

Shortlisted for the VIC Premier’s Award for Non-Fiction 2021