Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Karenlee Thompson, Hybrid Publishers, $21.95
Bushfires are an ever-present element of the Australian landscape that cannot be ignored.
When writing about utter devastation, Karenlee conjures up disquieting images. This slim compilation is in homage to the beautiful down-under island state of Tasmania and to its people. It’s a collection of short fictions that also explores different realisms and intuitions arising from the day of tragedy. It brings home confronting images of the Tasmanian Black Tuesday bushfires of 1967.
As February 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of these bushfires, Flame Tip will ‘resonate with Australians, fire being elemental in our consciousness, and with Tasmanians in particular who may recognise themselves and their surroundings within the lines of fiction’.
Hs stories explore the different realities and perceptions arising from the Tasmanian bushfires. Despite the horror of one day of infernal terror, these stories reveal gradations of character and place through suppleness, compassion, candour and wit.
Not only does the subject matter vary (infidelity, love, suicide), but same can be said of the length.
The stories present a version of truth ‘under the mask of fiction’, revealing nuances of character and place, as well as, repercussions that are often difficult to expose through non-fiction.
While fleeting backdrops such as the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) and the Hartz Mountains National Park provide for a quintessentially Tasmanian experience, these stories will resonate Australia-wide.
This book is designed to be dipped into at random and re-read as the mood dictates because bushfires form an elemental part of our national consciousness.
