{"id":151574,"date":"2021-09-20T17:59:49","date_gmt":"2021-09-20T06:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=151574"},"modified":"2021-10-05T15:16:56","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T04:16:56","slug":"review-love-virtue-by-diana-reid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2021\/09\/20\/review-love-virtue-by-diana-reid\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Love & Virtue by Diana Reid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Love<\/a>
TW: Readers should be advised that this review mentions sexual assault.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to its author, Love & Virtue<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is a novel that apparently wouldn\u2019t have been written without the pandemic-induced lockdown. If we\u2019re about to be inundated with a wave of novels written during this time, let them all be as good as this one. The debut novel of Sydney author Diana Reid and the second to come from Ultimo Press, Love & Virtue<\/em> is a ruthlessly perceptive campus novel that actually lives up to its premise.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Diana<\/a>

Diana Reid<\/p><\/div>\n

Our heroine is Michaela Burns, a first year university student from Canberra who initially struggles to find her place amongst her much wealthier peers at a residential college within a prestigious Sydney university. Overcompensating with alcohol, Michaela eventually crosses paths with the enigmatic Eve Herbert-Shaw, her neighbour and classmate, and the two girls form a passionate friendship. But when the true nature of a drunken O-Week sexual encounter is revealed to her, however, Michaela feels her world and perspective shift violently beneath her, particularly as Eve starts to take ownership of Michaela\u2019s story in the pursuit of personal and feminist acclaim.<\/p>\n\n\n

With its fascinating cast of characters and astute ruminations on human nature, Love & Virtue<\/em> is a novel that won’t leave you easily. Much has and will be made of Diana Reid\u2019s compassionate handling of the sexual assault and consent storyline, and rightfully so. This novel illuminates the complex emotional experience of one assault survivor, much like Kate Elizabeth Russell\u2019s My Dark Vanessa<\/em>, and frames it within a larger story of gender relations and structural complicity. Michaela\u2019s experience of sexual assault is not invoked as a mere plot point, but as the trigger for a thoughtful exploration of morality and human behaviour. The moment of its revelation is a gut punch, masterfully handled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of the novel\u2019s rather depressing cultural relevance, however, lies another compelling aspect which I hope readers won\u2019t overlook. To me, the strength of Reid\u2019s debut lies in her handling of the complexities of certain female friendships \u2014 the intensity, the passion, the blurring of personal boundaries, and the competitiveness \u2014 and how these things calcify when put under the pressure of academia. Michaela and Eve are similarly intelligent, but their confidence wavers almost in direct relation to their wealth, despite both being attractive young white women. As the novel\u2019s narrator, we are witness to Michaela\u2019s desire for love, power, and knowledge, and how this makes her emotionally vulnerable to someone like Eve. In contrast, Reid imbues Eve\u2019s character with reckless audacity, of a kind which makes her an unpredictable and endlessly interesting literary creation. Reading the interactions between the two girls might make you queasy with dread (or recognition \u2026), but you\u2019ll find yourself rewarded with the book\u2019s brilliant epilogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a novel about the endlessly relevant themes of sex, love, and consent, but also just as a novel in its own right, Love & Virtue<\/em> succeeds and should be lauded. I\u2019m eagerly looking forward to talking about it when everyone else gets the chance to read it come this time next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Love & Virtue<\/a><\/em> by Diana Reid (Ultimo Press) is out on the 29th of September.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you need help with any of the issues raised in this review, call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) any time for confidential information, counselling and support in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence or abuse. Visit the website<\/a><\/strong> to chat online and find services in your area.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 24\/7 support, call Sexual Assault Counselling Australia on 1800 211 028.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Booktoberfest<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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