I
would read a bus timetable written by Helen Garner. This is why I raced to buy
her latest release ‘This House of Grief’, despite knowing the content of the
criminal case the book recounts, having read excerpts of the text in various
newspapers, and having watched her recent interview with Jennifer Byrne for the
ABC Book Club. Certainly, there was much discussion about the challenging
material within the book before its release, and I noticed many friends and
fellow readers on social media were hesitant to read about the deaths of the three
Farquharson children. It was a truly tragic case: I’ll make no other comment here
on the details of the case. Instead, my comments are about Garner’s story
telling alone.
The
usual commentary about Garner’s style is her observance of small details, and her
insightful interpretation of human idiosyncrasies and traits. Garner often
speaks of her curiosity of what makes people ‘tick’, and her search for meaning
in events and actions of people fuel much of her work. This case is no
exception: Garner was compelled to follow the case out of curiosity on the ‘why’
rather than the ‘how’ and she soon realised that she wanted to write an
extended piece on the case. Her previous account of a true crime in ‘Joe
Cinque’s Consolation’ was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful
book: the mother of the victim in that case became close with Garner and was a
wonderful ‘voice’ in the account. Her involvement with the writing of the book
gave vital insight into Joe’s character and really made it an exceptional piece
of non-fiction. Garner did not have access to either party in this case, bar
limited access to the maternal grandparents of the boys, and some minor
interaction with the representing lawyers. As Garner noted in her interview
with Jennifer Byrne, this is the gamble one pays with recounting a true crime; access
to the Farquharson parents was always going to be tricky and ultimately did not
come to fruition. Like Anna Krien’s ‘Night Games’ which I reviewed here last
year, I didn’t think the lack of direct material from the affected parties left
either book lacking, which is a testimony to the quality of writing from both Krien
and Garner.
In
fact, I was hugely engaged in the retelling of the case and for someone who has
never been on a jury or had any need to be involved with lawyers or a trial, it
was educative and informative. The law is indeed a complex beast. The
personalities in this case, including the legal counsel, the jury members and
the media court reporters provided ample interest in the narrative, and Garner’s
ability to draw out interesting conversation from those around her enriches the
text. A serendipitous element of the book is Garner’s tag-along gap year
student Louise, ‘a close friend’s daughter, a pale and quiet sixteen year old
with white blonde hair and braces on her teeth’. Louise says some wonderful
things of the case, as only a savvy teenager can, and provided Garner with some
moments of levity within the book.
Garner
maintains a clear and succinct style as befitting the retelling of a court
case, but weaves occasional moments of absolutely moving imagery: she
writes of the children’s graves, ‘In the mown grass sprouted hundreds of tiny
pink flowers. We picked handfuls and laid them on the grave, but the breeze
kept blowing them away. Every twig, every pebble we tried to weigh them with
was too light to resist the steady rushing of the spring wind’. And every so
often her signature brutal honesty makes a welcome appearance: ‘My head was
full of a very loud clanging. Nothing expert, nothing trained or intellectual.
Just a shit detector going off, that was all. The alarm bells of a woman who
had been in the world for more than sixty years, knowing men, sometimes hearing
them say true things, sometimes being told lies.’
I
won’t say this is a great read, because I feel uncomfortable when people
lightly celebrate works on such grave matters. I will say this is a very important
read, and urge readers to engage in this content for the very reason that by
ignoring domestic violence out of an unwillingness to imagine such horror we
make no progress in addressing the issue. Garner wanted to understand the ‘why’,
and I can empathise in that quest, as hard as it is to enter the mindset behind
it. Thank goodness the conversation here has been furthered by such an intelligent
and compassionate mind.
*This review is part of the Australian Womens Writers Challenge 2014
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