A review by lolabrigita
The World Was Whole by Fiona Wright
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this memoir, to the point where I COULDN’T finish it in one sitting. I had to have a few breaks while reading, give myself time to reflect and think about each essay before I could come back and continue on with the next.
Wright writes about a vast array of topics - mental health, chronic illness, the woes and frustrations of the Sydney rental market, travel and dog ownership/companionship, to name a few. Her delicate prose is alternatively funny and moving. Her musings about food and the way we unthinkingly treat people with eating disorders left me with much to mull over and mentally munch upon, particularly having friends with food allergies who often have similarly frustrating stories to tell.
I particularly enjoyed her essays on life in Newtown, Sydney. Having spent a few years living in the suburb, it was nice to trace well-known paths, walk down the road of King Street with her, through an area of Sydney that each time I visit, I find to be both familiar and alien, all at once. Such is the transience of big cities, I suppose. Through Wright’s words, it somehow felt like the home it once was and will never physically be again.
Wright writes about a vast array of topics - mental health, chronic illness, the woes and frustrations of the Sydney rental market, travel and dog ownership/companionship, to name a few. Her delicate prose is alternatively funny and moving. Her musings about food and the way we unthinkingly treat people with eating disorders left me with much to mull over and mentally munch upon, particularly having friends with food allergies who often have similarly frustrating stories to tell.
I particularly enjoyed her essays on life in Newtown, Sydney. Having spent a few years living in the suburb, it was nice to trace well-known paths, walk down the road of King Street with her, through an area of Sydney that each time I visit, I find to be both familiar and alien, all at once. Such is the transience of big cities, I suppose. Through Wright’s words, it somehow felt like the home it once was and will never physically be again.