A Little Life update #13
What am I reading/watching/listening to/wearing/going?
Reading
When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-yi Lee
In this fierce, glamorous adult fantasy debut, Silvia Moreno-Garcia meets Fonda Lee, with the feverish intensity of R.F. Kuang's Poppy War trilogy.
Singapore, 1972: Newly independent and grappling for power in a fast-modernizing world. Here, gangsters in Chinese secret societies are the last conduits of their ancestors' migrant gods, and the back alleys where they fight are the last place magic has not been assimilated and legislated away.
Loner schoolgirl Adeline Siow has never needed more company than the flame she can summon at her fingertips. But when her mother dies in a house fire with a butterfly seared onto her skin and Adeline hunts down a girl she saw in a back-alley barfight—a girl with a butterfly tattoo—she discovers she’s far from alone.
Ang Tian is a Red Butterfly: one of a gang of girls who came from nothing, sworn to a fire goddess and empowered to wreak vengeance on the men that abuse and underestimate them. Adeline’s mother led a double life as their elusive patron, Madam Butterfly. Now that she’s dead, Adeline’s bloodline is the sole thing sustaining the goddess. Between her search for her mother’s killer and the gang’s succession crisis, Adeline becomes quickly entangled with the girls’ dangerous world, and even more so with the charismatic Tian.
But no home lasts long around here. Ambitious and paranoid neighbor gangs hunt at the edges of Butterfly territory, and bodies are turning up in the red light district suffused with a strange new magic. Adeline may have found her place for once, but with the streets changing by the day, it may take everything she is to keep it.
I got this from Amplify Bookstore - just browsing their shelves. I knew absolutely nothing about this book or author, but I trust that blurb so much - and the head-nod to Silvia Moreno-Garcia and R.F. Kuang.
Watching
Mussolini: Son of the Century on SBS on Demand
A portrait of Benito Mussolini and his political rise, from the foundation of the Italian Fasci to the imposition of the most ferocious dictatorship Italy has ever known.
An absolutely fabulous mini-series, based on the book by Antonio Scurati, and directed by Joe Wright (yes, of 2005 Pride & Prejudice fame!). The series is in Italian, and I know that may sound like a “duh?!” but apparently British director Joe Wright was at one point considering doing it with no accents in English, similar to Chernobyl. But I think he was wise to nix that idea, because there is something very powerful about hearing Mussolini’s various speeches and fascist slogans in original Italian, and actor Luca Marinelli (from The Old Guard!) as Duce is spine-chillingly good, and I can’t imagine this not being performed by an expressive Italian actor.
I have subsequently enjoyed delving into the behind-the-scenes of this impressive role, to find just how much Marinelli really didn’t want to take it on (purely because his family is staunchly anti-fascist);
But I think there’s such power in the honesty of this series, which works to especially highlight the absolutely unhinged loser-dom of Mussolini and his fascist thugs;
And this isn’t the creators making anything up either, they’re portraying the history accurately - even if there are occasional to-camera asides from Mussolini, breaking the fourth wall only to share his most two-faced nature with the audience (who can also take gleeful solace in the fact that his end will come - eventually! - and it will be bloody … as the saying goes; “There’s always room at Piazzale Loreto.”)
Still, it’s a brutal and confronting series - even as it has dark-humour sprinkled in too. The parallels to the here and now - Trump, Netanyahu, and Putin - are there in abundance, and more frightening than ever. I also found myself thinking a series like Son of the Century was prescient viewing, for how it meticulously details the rise in far-right thuggery and anti-democratic manipulations, all in the prelude to war which is very much where we are now;
I also tip my cap to director Joe Wright who has delivered this brutalist tale with pizazz - and heavy doses of homage to Italian cinema. I’m even more impressed since confirming Wright does not speak Italian, and directed his actors by listening for the musicality of their impassioned performances, as he explained to Vulture;
You made an entire TV show in Italian. So, how is your Italian?
Pathetic. My Italian is pathetic, it’s dreadful, but luckily, Italian actors are so expressive that you can kind of understand what they’re saying and whether they’re telling the truth just by the melody of their voice and the actions of their hands. If I didn’t speak English and I was trying to do this with British actors, who are so text-based and far less expressive, it might not have worked. Or with American actors, who are so psychoanalysis-based.
With the Italians, their roots going all the way back to Commedia dell’arte and this very performative sense physically and musically, it felt possible. I obviously had the English translation and the Italian script side-by-side. But I remembered Danny Boyle doing Slumdog Millionaire and much of that being in Hindi. I thought, If he can do that in Hindi, I think I can do this in Italian.
A brilliant series, and I’m only sad there doesn’t seem to be plans for a second season covering the WWII period more in-depth.
Listening
The Dig Tree: A True Story of Bravery, Insanity, and the Race to Discover Australia’s Wild Frontier By Sarah Murgatroyd, Narrated by Catherine Milte
Back in December, I read this great Guardian article;
Burke and Wills died as Victorian heroes, but their expedition was a farce. Now Melbourne is rethinking their statue. Their quest captured the imagination of the colony and became part of Australia’s foundation narrative. But it was a debacle led by an eccentric man with a poor sense of direction
I got such a chuckle out of reading about the bumbling escapades of these buffoon explorers (no, that’s not fair - mostly Burke was the ridiculous one) and one paragraph really stood out to me;
In her celebrated 2002 book The Dig Tree, the late historian Sarah Murgatroyd wrote of Burke’s poor sense of direction.
She portrayed a man who “had never travelled beyond the settled districts of Australia, who had no experience of exploration and who was notorious for getting lost on his way home from the pub’’. He possessed little bushcraft. In its 1969 entry on Burke the Australian Dictionary of Biography (ADB) described him as “impulsive, quick-tempered, arbitrary, generous, tender-hearted and charming … recklessly brave, a daredevil with a thirst for distinction as yet unsatisfied’’.
That just absolutely tickled me, and I thought; “If this is a non-fiction book all about what an embarrassment of an explorer Burke was, then I’d be keen to read it!”
So I snapped up an audiobook from Libro.fm and got to listening … and my instincts were proven 100% correct. From the jump, it’s a rollicking and fascinating read and Sarah Murgatroyd manages to imbue this true history with such liveliness and create characters of all on the doomed expedition. I was only about 25% in when I got giddy, thinking of looking up Murgatroyd’s other books she has written since this Dig Tree published in 2002, only to be absolutely gutted when I read her biography on her publisher’s website;
Sarah Murgatroyd died of cancer in March 2002, a few weeks after The Dig Tree was published to universal acclaim.
It was a most strange sensation to read this magnificent non-fiction work about a doomer expedition, with its own inherent sense of tragedy attached. Still, I recommend it most highly - it’s been a long time since I had such an interactive audiobook listen too (while walking the dog I kept muttering “oh, come ON!” at many of the expedition’s wrong-headed stupidity.)
Wearing
Dorkus Designs necklaces
Dorkus Design is the brainchild of Melbourne-based designer and maker Stephanie Watt, specialising in jewellery and form play. Stephanie crafts her pieces primarily using laser-cut materials, which she meticulously finishes and assembles by hand. Her signature style is characterised by minimalistic yet eye-catching designs. Stephanie’s affectionate use of bold, hand-painted colours imbues each piece with its own unique mood.
I love my DD necklaces (I have the blood orange petal necklace - pictured above - and the red tulip necklace). I purchase mine from the coolest store in Melbourne, Pinky’s - in Preston. I love supporting small and indie Aussie creators, and Pinky’s is one of the best places to find them - like Dorkus Designs!
Going
Pinky’s Melbourne
With that in mind, it’d be remiss of me not to shout-out one of my favourite stores in my city!
They’re just the cutest store with the sweetest people and coolest shit. Even their ‘about us’ page is so epic;
You know that warm, fizzy feeling you get when things are exciting and overwhelming, in a good way? That’s what it’s like to visit Pinky’s – our happy little gift shop in Preston. A haven for colour, creativity and community, there is nothing we love more than sitting down together and selecting amazing things for our customers (and ourselves…) It really brings us the MOST joy! Pinky’s is a wonderland of curated wares we love from Australian and international designers. Pinky’s has something special for everyone, that you won’t find everywhere else.
Pinky’s was founded by us – stylist Beckie Littler and designer Emily Green – in 2018. We first met at playgroup when our daughters were a year old and, not long after, decided to take a leap into the unknown and start our dream shop together. We only sell what we really believe in: quality, ethically produced pieces we are proud to represent.
From 1st birthdays and 40th parties to engagements and anniversaries, we have an ever-changing selection of gifts for all occasions at a range of price points. Whatever or whoever you’re looking for, chances are you’ll find it at Pinky’s. And we’ll wrap it!
Pop in and visit the lovely team at our shop in Preston, or peruse online. And if you want to be the first to hear about all our coolest, newest stuff, sign up for our newsletter here – they’re really good/cute, promise!
I totally understand if you’re reading this and you’re not Vic-based or near Melbourne, so luckily you can follow them on Instagram and buy online too.
This books sounds like the perfect next read, thank you