A review by jaclyncrupi
How to End a Story: Diaries: 1995–1998 by Helen Garner

5.0

This is without doubt the most powerful and moving installment of Garner’s diaries. Kicking off with the publication of The First Stone and ending with Bail’s publication of Eucalyptus, Garner writes of literary success, controversy and a marriage falling completely apart. You feel and see her struggling within her complicated marriage and trying to find room and space for herself, her very soul and of course her writing. I’ve read so many books that chronicle the breakdown of a marriage and this is one of the best. Her desire for truth, for honesty, for respect – for a literal room of one’s own. Murray Bail comes across as a gaslighting jerk and a terrible husband which I know from the previous installment but was well and truly brought home here. That he predicted back in the mid-90s that people like me would be reading these diaries and passing judgment on him shows his foresight; and his desire for Garner to stop writing about him in her diaries his narcissism. Knowing what comes next for Garner is some vindication for the time and love and energy wasted with Bail. This is also a beautiful portrait of Sydney. This is a book to treasure, to revisit. Thank all the literary gods for Helen Garner!