Reviewed By Toni Whitmont, Booktopia Buzz Editor
To read more reviews by Toni Whitmont,
click here to visit the Booktopia Newsletter Archive.
is a particular pleasure. The story revolves around two women in their early 70s, both of whom used to be members of the Sydney Push, who grew up as activists and collectivists, and who are now wondering how to channel their enormous energies and experiences as they age. But it is their relationships that hold the most interest - with former lovers and sparring partners, with their daughters, with younger women who are facing feminism's latest onslaught - the sexualisation of children.
Liz Bryrski has long been fascinated with relationships between women.
"A profoundly important book was Marilyn French's
The Women's Room, which I read in 1978. It was hugely successful and it proved to me what I had always thought - that women can connect with each other in ways that transcend the boundaries of class, education and frequently of race", she said in an interview with
Booktopia recently. (
Read the rest of the interview here).
Last Chance Café explores those connections, particularly those between women who are largely deemed invisible by wider society by virtue of their age. What was touched on in say,
Gang of Four, is developed in the most nuanced of ways in this latest book. Just one example - Emma, the cosmetically enhanced publicist for the local shopping centre, doesn't notice the incongruity between the images of the women in the boutiques and the actual women who frequent them, searching in vain for clothes that are practical, attractive, comfortable and affordable.
While the book may be about feminism on one level, on a broader level, it is about the challenges and dare I say it, the joys, of ageing.
"(My novel is really about) mid-life and old age as opportunities for change, and about the pleasures of experiencing ageing and valuing it rather than trying to fight it", she said to us recently.
Read more about Liz and the book here.
I thoroughly enjoyed
Last Chance Café, and having had the opportunity to spend some time with Liz lately, I can only wish for more of her books, and more of her company. I am delighted to choose
Last Chance Café as my book of the month.
