REVIEWS

“A haunting uncompromising collection, Wild, Fearless Chests – stylistically polished, often visceral in effect – offers a bold new voice in the Australian Literary Culture”

Australian Book Review (full review)

“This is thematically linked, manifestly feminist literature, showing madness, terror, sadness and the violence that is inflicted on and by women. The fierceness of the whole is utterly palpable, providing the potential for us to identify hope somewhere amid the trauma, and imagine the real possibility of escape.” 

The Australian (full review)

“The prose is powerfully rhythmic, disjointed, poetic and passionate, referencing such literary beacons as Hemingway, Frame, Kafka, Bukowski with a determined belief in the power of words, a possible escape from despair. Images tumble swiftly like hallucination, building across the whole collection, as one narrative bleeds into another.”

Sydney Morning Herald/The Age (full review)

“You can feel the universe expanding and exhaling with Beaumont’s beautifully calibrated prose…redolent of Bukowski, reminiscent of early Andrew McGahan, a tincture of Kafka and Hemingway, WILD FEARLESS CHESTS is a treasure chest of twenty-two unrelenting and unforgettable stories, shocking and shimmering on first read, rewarding in the re-reading.”

Sydney Arts Guide (full review)

“The tales pack a solid punch, both literal and metaphorical, and Beaumont’s voice…is resolute. By writing about women in an unashamedly feminist manner, by offering them a way to express their anger, confusion and pain, Wild, Fearless Chests is as validating as it is devastating.”

The Big Issue (full review)

“Mandy Beaumont’s Wild Fearless Chests is a visceral tour de force… It’s a devastatingly smart collection.”

The AU Review (full review)

“Drowning in Thick Air is shocking. It is also a powerful presentation of a totally marginalized girl and male cruelty (general cruelty of our species). It is not like anything I have read in recent years and takes me a place I have never been in my life or imagination or in fiction.” 

Frank Moorhouse

“For its brutal power, its physical presence and overall execution … This is the work of a genuine short story writer, someone who understands the internal balances and geometry of the form.”

Mike McCormack

“As in Charlotte Wood’s The Natural Way of Things, her characters are stroppy, empowered, smart, or they are oppressed, rendered helpless by circumstance. Beaumont’s dissection of societal constructs around abuse poses a central argument: the denigration of women and the vulnerable is rooted in our systems, and anyone may be the victim at any time. An important book.”

Overland Literary Journal (full review)

“Hitting close to home, Mandy Beaumont presents 21 depictions of loneliness, survival and self-discovery in her memorable debut.”

Murdoch Syndicated Press across Australia (Including The Herald Sun) full review

“…there is no denying the force of Beaumont’s writing – her ability to create simple images that stay with the reader for days, and to spin words in a way that is at once elegant and brutal in their emotional impact is a pleasure to behold.”

Australian Community Rural News Syndicate across Australia (full review)

“Mandy Beaumont has created a most powerful and disturbing collection of stories about women… often horrendous in its impact on the characters, and literally creating a response that is challenging, it would be impossible to read this collection and to go on with everyday life without wanting to change a society that is seriously almost beyond bearing.”

Read Plus (full review)