'The dazzlingly accomplished stories in this collection range from a vivid moment of a young girl counting the 'water hours', to a scorching tale of schoolyard bullying; a sleep-deprived mother; grandparents of a child at risk deciding where their loyalties lie; a young boy searching for his parents after the Sri Lanka tsunami; a widow walking the beach, and a woman secretly listening to the weather reports on radio: all trying with courage and fragility to present a face to the world that is 'fine'. By shining her light on these quiet moments in ordinary lives, Michelle follows in a tradition which includes Olga Masters, Amy Witting and Alice Munro. It is exciting to read a contemporary collection of such breadth. Fine is an astonishing fiction debut from a future star of Australian Literature.' (Publication summary)
Dedication: For my father, David Wright
'Whereas much scholarship still associates migrant fiction in Australia with social or documentary realism, this chapter emphasizes its playful, iconoclastic, and experimental qualities. It questions the conventional long form as a closed, stable narration that relies on summation and style. Instead it turns to short fiction, examining writers such as Tom Cho, Nicholas Jose, and Melanie Cheng who operate as transnational, experimental, and decolonial forces in Australian writing.' (Publication abstract)
'Whereas much scholarship still associates migrant fiction in Australia with social or documentary realism, this chapter emphasizes its playful, iconoclastic, and experimental qualities. It questions the conventional long form as a closed, stable narration that relies on summation and style. Instead it turns to short fiction, examining writers such as Tom Cho, Nicholas Jose, and Melanie Cheng who operate as transnational, experimental, and decolonial forces in Australian writing.' (Publication abstract)
