Before she escaped in a bloody coup, MEPHISTO transformed Mariam Xi into a deadly voidwitch. I’m an unreliable narrator. She’s spent her life on the run, but the boogeymen from her past are catching up with her. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Though the contents were disturbing and shocking at times, it gave me an insight in to drug addiction and mental illness that I had never had. He is saved, by of all things, a phone call from a telemarketer, a fluke of a moment that leads him to unexpected clarity and a workable sense of healing that he admits isn’t perfect but has allowed him to move forward with life and approach the future considerable less encumbered by the hitherto looming presence of his abusive father (though he was a golden child spared his father’s wrath), drug-addicted mother, deeply-flawed and broken foster carers and a host of other people who took gaping chunks out of his battered soul at regular intervals. He is honest about the fact that he almost didn’t. Learn how your comment data is processed. Incredibly powerful, and so so beautifully written. I wish I were a liar. 7/10, rounded up. While my preference is always to see films on the big screen in the darkness and escape of a movie theatre, the reality is that even where cinemas are open and operating, getting Continue Reading, The best songs, the ones that really lodge themselves deep in the very heart of who we are, and to which we return whenever we need to feel something, really feel something again, are those that combine great music, meaningful lyrics and a sense of personal investment by the artist. To discover the truth and defeat her pursuers, she’ll have to stare into the abyss and find the secrets of her past, her future, and her terrifying potential.”. My father takes me to the pub where he drinks beers and bets on horse racing. If I'd read it this time last year I'm pretty sure there would be an extra star on that rating, but it has hit the shops just recently and probably that is just terrible timing for a memoir based on the terrible experiences of someone's early life. ), you will recall that the Smiling Dictator Virginia (Colby Minifie) had split up our merry band of survivors, casting everyone Continue Reading. I punch my mother in the stomach and call her a stupid slut. A second-hand jigsaw puzzle full of incompleteness. Poverty was a part of life, but it was Australian poverty. Granted, this tenacious sense of self-belief, which dropped beneath the waves and began drowning more often than it swam triumphantly for the shore, was one begun by his father who, in a weird twist of paternal devotion, spared Corey the kind of physical and emotional abuse that he regularly meted out to his wife and daughters. It was also funny, enlightening and hopeful. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Miriam is really my only choice here, we don’t have enough time with any of the other characters to really invest ourselves in liking them or hating them. ), Written with eviscerating honesty and a truthfulness that astonishes, The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory is a beautifully, oft-times searingly brutal recounting of a life that on the first half alone should not have any kind of happy ending. Liars know the truth. Copy provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review. Your email address will not be published. BOOK REVIEW: Killing Gravity by Corey J. White My Edition: Paperback, 216 pages 2018, Tor ISBN: 9781250195548. Highly recommend this to anyone working with children. Lots of people have seem to write about their horrific Australian childhoods, from Albert Facey's "A Fortunate Life" to Rosie Waterland's "The Anti-Cool Girl". If I leapt off the bridge, I’d probably land on a boat carrying mattresses.” (PP. Written by Rick Remender with artwork by Greg Tocchini, Low is one of those science fiction comics series that takes its impressively imaginative premise and runs it to every possible Continue Reading, MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD … AND A LOT SNARKY ANDORRANS AND ORIONS … AND POSSIBLE ICE CREAM CARGO Good lord but isn’t it good to have Star Trek: Discovery back on our screens of choice?! 4.5 ⭐️ To not only emerge from his childhood but to go on and achieve in various fields is remarkable and deserving of huge credit. Five Series to Start While You’re Waiting for Star Trek Discovery to come back. MEPHISTO learns of where Miriam is and since the full force of their shadowy cabal after her. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Continue Reading, If aliens were to invade Earth, and let’s be honest, if popular culture is any guide they are queued all the way back to the Kuiper Belt waiting to do so, the first question we would need to ask ourselves is who do need saving from – them or ourselves? Book Review: Killing Gravity by Corey J. For a novella, this story covers a lot of space, introduces a cast of characters and concepts and gives us a real fun, if slightly unpolished, adventure. Phaw, it's been a while since I posted a review, hey. So sickening, yet so inspiring. Although a gut wrenching memoir, I still found myself lol-ing. Seeming himself so spared, White believed himself to be better than anyone else, breeding a suffocating sense of superiority that saw him sneer at education (his mother let him drop out of primary school; though he later excelled at a Catholic secondary college, driven as much by a love of learning as a desperate need to escape the sinking boat of his years of blighted foster care), social connection and basic humanity, believing himself, erroneously he now acknowledges, above the common concerns of ordinary men. There are so many issues within this one book that demonstrates how much we need to improve within society. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. No, I’m not a liar. White delivered a competently written space adventure with all the elements of a fantastic series, but it felt a little thin and a little rushed. There is nothing like reading a history or biography book and being so completely transported to another time and place that you find... A memoir of trauma, evil and resilience that will break your heart and then show you how to rebuild it, from one of Australia’s brightest young comedians. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. As hard as this was to read at times, I just couldn't put it down. Review. This novella starts with Miriam and Seven, her genetically engineered cat… thing, stranded on the wreck of the last ship she stole. Corey takes you on a journey where you cannot help but feel sad, angry, reflective, hopeful and so much more. I couldn’t catch a break. + Seven the weird space cat was a nice addition that really helped to humanize Miriam. Aussie comedian Corey White chats about his memoir 'The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory.' At times I found myself gasping at the horrors to which Corey was subjected to at the hands of the hopelessly broken and at times evil Australian foster care system, in tears during his darkest moments, or laughing out loud at the many absurd situations he encounters, all told with an unflinching and endearing honesty. I was utterly captivated from start to finish, and powered through the whole book in no time; I just had to see how he came out the other side of it all. Such an uncomfortable but important book to read. No, I'm not a liar. Liars know the truth.”, Wow, what a book. ( Log Out /  I was traipsing around my local library and stumbled across this not knowing what to expect. However, his belief in a bright and shiny future began, and however much it was corrupted over many horrifically traumatic years, it somehow persisted, the only constant in a life that gave him every evidence to drop it as a meaningful signpost to the future. I still think about them most days, I dream about them. Things need to change! In a book that runs more or less chronologically despite the author’s own admission that memories are always with you and the past, present and future bleed endlessly into each other, one of the final chapters deals with his abortive attempt to commit suicide by leaping off the Story Bridge in Brisbane. I wish I were a liar. The candour of The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory is profoundly liberating because it pushes you again and again to wonder what it is in your past that you might have glossed over or expected to be different. I bought this book on a random recommendation on the radio, having no idea what it was about. 1: The Delerium of Hope by Remender + Tocchini, Star Trek: Discovery – “That Hope is You, Pt. Emboldened by the idea that with examination and hopeful closure comes healing, and often unable to bear the pain of the scars of childhood any longer, we plunge into the fray of memories and past hurts, convinced by feel-good inspirational types that getting better is a smooth, trouble-free process from which only good can emerge. We’d love your help. Their training left her with terrifying capabilities, a fierce sense of independence, a deficit of trust, and an experimental pet named Seven. Mars has been on the warpath, exacting revenge against those who harmed her and the people she loves. (White was diagnosed with Complex-Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome at 27, a common condition for many people caught in persistent, destructive abuse.). November 21, 2018 November 12, 2018 Milliebot. “I howled and shrieked at the sheer bleakness of my life. The trauma he experienced as a child has had heartbreaking impacts on his adult life. The reality is there can be so much more going on behind the scenes than what we see a young person presenting- it is astounding. His fear of turning into his father became almost a self-fulfilling prophesy, but he has pulled himself through to a place of happiness. I recently was informed that I have Bipolar alongside the PTSD that was worked out late last year.