My Brilliant Career (Penguin Classics) (original: 1901; edição: 2007)

Like its main character, this book has very few redeeming qualities. A dull, constant stream of laments and fretful bellyaching, with little plot and nastily executed stereotypical characters. ( )

As a piece of history that tells the story of a unique place, at a pivotal time, from an uncommon perspective this novel has value. Yet, the casual racism of the narrator (the blacks, the mad red Indians, the Chinamen and their smelly food) is grating on the contemporary reader. The amount of time the narrator spends bemoaning her ugliness also grows tiresome.

In sum, not much in the way of literature, but interesting if you want to see rural Australia from a young woman’s perspective around 1900. ( )

A classic of Australian literature yet, written by a 16-year-old focusing on autobiography, not actually an amazing read. Important without being brilliant, this is nevertheless something to put on the bucket list. ( )

I loved the book despite wanting to shake Sybylla at times! Franklin did a masterful job of evoking atmosphere. It was so easy to get lost in the book. Sybylla was one of the most complex characters I've ever read from that period. There was nothing cliche with the plot or the characters and I was left to wonder what direction the novel would take through the very last page. The only downside was that the main character was so down on herself for being "ugly." But the dichotomy of that brutal self-appraisal and the fierce pride and independence of spirit placed her among the most interesting and memorable female characters that I've ever had the pleasure to meet. ( )

Written at the end of the 19th century, Sybylla is a sixteen year old girl who struggles to be happy with the drudgery of her family home. She loves Australia and is proud to be a hard working Australian peasant but also craves culture. She feels the constraints of being a woman very strongly. Her life and the novel is transformed when she goes to Caddagat to stay with her grandmother and aunt and uncle. It is here that she flourishes. She meets the rich, tall and handsome Harry Beecham but constantly concerns herself with her own small size and what she considers her lack of beauty. Sybylla has dreams to be an author and sees marriage as a cage she does not wish to enter. The section when Sybylla is sent to the M'Swat family to teach the children is entertaining and horrifying. She is horrified by the grime that the family live in, despite having money, but most of all she is frustrated at the boredom of their lives, with nothing to read, a piano that they see no point in tuning and only visits from working men. Her breakdown was only a matter of time. The ending is interesting and readers might be willing her to make a different decision. This is an interesting novel because of the time it was written and the way of life and landscapes that it depicts. ( )