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The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories by Jana Wendt. Image: Text.<\/p>\nThe Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories: quick links<\/p>\n
Jana Wendt\u2019s collection of short stories, The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories offers quietly offbeat pockets of human life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A standout story is The Stamp of History in which two characters separately reflect on a shared memory of a young man whose life is derailed by the East German Stasi because of his father\u2019s interest in English stamps. It is a musing on the lasting impacts of injury and treachery and how the past continues to distress and disturb.<\/p>\n
The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories: draws on Wendt\u2019s resume as a famous journalist<\/p>\n
Another standout is Fame and Nothingness, in which a one-time \u2018queen of current affairs\u2019, Lena, is gardening and listening to the radio. Coincidentally, the radio hosts begin talking about her. Lena feels disconnected to her past, as though her professional accomplishments had simply occurred to someone who looked like her and had the same name. <\/p>\n
But she nonetheless calls into the show and chats about her career. The piece reads as wryly autobiographical, drawing on Wendt\u2019s own resume as a famous and highly regarded journalist.<\/p>\n
The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories by Jana Wendt. Image: Text.<\/p>\n
The titular story, The Far Side of the Moon (and its companion piece, Lucky Squirts) is also a highlight, offering a portrait of \u2018a cantankerous bastard\u2019, Jim, going through his day in distain of everyone. Jim is both insulted at the start of the day by a young woman entering the lift of their building without acknowledging his existence and insulted at the end of the day by a man in the same lift trying to make small talk with him. <\/p>\n
Promised to be a genius on the verge of great things, Jim is disappointed in his life as a collectable coin salesman and the world cannot win with him.<\/p>\n
The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories: themes of ageing<\/p>\n
One of the throughlines is the theme of ageing and the ability to see your life from the vantage point of experience. While this can be a vantage point of wisdom, it can also be the point of surprise, devotion, resentment, regret, even suicidality. Because of this reflective motif, the collection features characters who reckon more with their interior life than many stark plot points.<\/p>\n
This is a solid collection of 12 stories that are assuredly written. The character studies seem an apt choice for Wendt as a journalist and student of human intention. It is unrushed and demanding of the reader\u2019s care and attention. But the payoff is an ultimately moving read, a set of insights into others\u2019 lives after most of the action has played out.<\/p>\n
Read: The Visitor review: Rebecca Starford\u2019s novel is Queensland gothic<\/a><\/p>\n The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories<\/a> by Jana Wendt is published by Text Publishing.<\/p>\n Also on ArtsHub:<\/p>\n History\u2019s Strangest Deaths review: Riley Knight\u2019s book is a deadpan romp through history\u00a0<\/p>\n No matter how much we humans might research and theorise, some of the most entertaining stories throughout history remain disputed or tenuous at best. But in\u00a0Half-Arsed History\u00a0podcast host Riley Knight\u2019s debut book\u00a0History\u2019s Strangest Deaths, this flaw of history is instead an asset. After all, as Knight often reminds the reader, who are we to let historical accuracy get in the way of a good story?<\/p>\n And this book\u2019s account of 50 unusual, ironic and one-of-a-kind deaths are, indeed, good stories. The book traverses ancient China, Greece, and Rome, the Byzantine empire, medieval France, and more, stretching all the way to 1990s Toronto by the very final chapter. Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n Discover more screen, games & arts news and reviews on\u00a0ScreenHub<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ArtsHub<\/a>. Sign up for our free\u00a0ArtsHub<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ScreenHub<\/a>\u00a0newsletters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Far Side of the Moon and Other Stories: quick links Jana Wendt\u2019s collection of short stories, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,96,27536,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-49521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-text-publishing","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}