Nine Days edition by Toni Jordan Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : Nine Days edition by Toni Jordan Literature Fiction eBooks 
One family. Nine momentous days. An unforgettable novel of love and folly and heartbreak.
Winner, Independent Booksellers of Australia Award for Best Fiction, 2013.
Kirkus Reviews, Best Historical Fiction list, 2013.
It is 1939 and although Australia is about to go to war, it doesn't quite realise yet that the situation is serious. Deep in the working-class Melbourne suburb of Richmond it is business - your own and everyone else's - as usual. And young Kip Westaway, failed scholar and stablehand, is living the most important day of his life.
Kip's momentous day is one of nine that will set the course for each member of the Westaway clan in the years that follow. At the heart of all their stories is Kip, and at the centre of Kip's fifteen-year-old heart is his adored sister Connie. They hold the threads that will weave a family.
In Nine Days Toni Jordan has harnessed all the spiky wit, compassion and lust for life that drew readers in droves to Addition and Fall Girl. Ambitious in scope and structure, triumphantly realised, this is a novel about one family and every family. It is about dreams and fights and sacrifices. And finally, of course, it is - as it must be - about love.
Toni Jordan was born in Brisbane and graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Science. She has worked as a sales assistant, molecular biologist, quality control chemist and marketing manager. Her debut novel, Addition, was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award and longlisted for the Miles Franklin in 2009, and has been published in sixteen countries. Her second novel, Fall Girl, was published in 2010 and her latest, Nine Days, in 2012. Toni lives in Melbourne.
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'Spanning World War II to 9/11, Australian novelist Jordan delivers a witty and wise family saga...A small treasure, from the author of the wonderful romantic comedy Addition (2009).' starred review, Kirkus Reviews
'Jordan elegantly captures the hopes and despairs of three generations of a troubled family, offering a diverting read that will appeal to fans of sophisticated historical fiction and book club members.' Library Journal US
'The suspense is frequently nail-biting, and there's a strong undertow of unspecified doom, but the book is far from gloomy because Jordan has a fine line in wit too, not to mention the natural storyteller's ability to keep us guessing about where it's all going...beautifully constructed...' Daily Mail UK
'This novel is a triumph.' Australian
'Toni Jordan has written a beautiful novel which captures the loves and fears of an ordinary Australian family through hard times and better times. It reminded me of Elizabeth Stead's books.' Australian Bookseller and Publisher
'Reading Nine Days, you will laugh, even cry, but you will be in no doubt that Toni Jordan uses the modern novel to reflect those tensions that exist for many of us between duty and desire.' Australian Book Review
'More serious than her previous work but with the same astute observations, brightness and wit, its a sensitive and beautiful novel, a slice of Australia's working-class history, that is a joy to read.' Herald on Sunday NZ
'A brilliant piece of writing...compelling, engaging and will bring tears to the eyes...' Sunday Star Times NZ
Nine Days edition by Toni Jordan Literature Fiction eBooks
I don't do a lot of reading these days. I don't know why. I really hate it. I've got a stack of books on my bedside table that I've started but haven't finished. More than once recently I've had to return borrowed books without having read them. How embarrassment.Anyway, that was meant to segue somehow into the next bit. I'm really enjoying Nine Days. In fact, I don't want to read the last chapter, because then it'll be over. When I saw who the last chapter was about I had to stop, like, not yet, not yet, make it last longer.
So I am. I'm writing this to hang on, work out what's happening here.
Jordan's first novel, Addition, showed us how creative she is. Her second, Fall Girl, showed us how competent she is. Addition was rough but it had a lot of spark, a bit of risk, some sassy verbage and best of all (for me) it had numbers in it. And Tesla. Two of my favourite things. Oh, and sex.
Fall Girl was good, but there was too much exposition for my liking. I went through a Michael Crichton binge a while back, and I remember after I'd read Airframe thinking, gee, I know a lot about the aircraft industry now. Not a serious problem, but I like being inside the main character's head, and people generally don't pontificate on their vocation that much, so it makes the story less immediate. Fall Girl still had lots of sassy verbage though, including my favourite Jordanism, and was still plenty enjoyable, enough to recommend it. Not enough sex, but.
OK, I was planning another segue here, something about how with Nine Days Jordan has given us something that is both creative and competent, but then I'd give the impression that Nine Days is some kind of mash-up of her first two books.
It's not. It goes way beyond that. It's like Jordan decided she'd done enough practising and now it's time to actually explore the boundaries. I'm no expert, but I get the sense that Nine Days is doing stuff that has only rarely been done this well elsewhere. The blurb on the back says it really well: ambitious in scope and structure.
I reckon Jordan is bringing together a few things that hardly ever appear in the same book: humour, a light touch, good prose, and a story that focuses on how wonderful life can be. I read the first page of Wolf Hall and took it back to the library. I enjoy good writing, but I don't want to battle through hellish experiences like that. Eck. Same with Tim Winton. Beautiful, inspiring prose, but Christ, I have enough angst in my real life.
So what is it Jordan is exploring the boundaries of? Here's what I'd call it: light literature. And I'm so happy Jordan is putting this stuff out because there's not a lot else of it. Mermaids by Patty Dann, possibly.
Also structure. The story jumps all over the place and once or twice Jordan inserts some quite obvious guideposts for us so we can orient ourselves, but mostly the orientation emerges from the richly-described relationship between the characters and their place in time. The nine stories are not just held together by threads built around objects and events. The threads are the story, a story that lives within the medium of the nine chapters, like sound travels through air, or thoughts exist in the mind.
My heart leapt when it was revealed there were two shillings - one that belongs to Kip and the other to Jack. I have no idea whether that matters, and I won't until I read the final chapter, but I'm guessing it's one of those threads, taking the nine chapters and making sense of them, turning still air into music.
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Nine Days edition by Toni Jordan Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
I had loved all of Toni Jordan's books. I found them funny, poignant and precious. I had read a review that said 9 days had a more somber tone, so I thought I was ready for it. However, I wasn't! The structure of the book is confusing, moving back and forth in time. The author tries to make each era distinctive with idioms and colloquialisms but they sound false and forced in the earlier sections. I didn't understand the significance of the title. Also, it seemed to finish abruptly without a satisfying conclusion to the story of several characters. Overall a bit of a hard slog.
Nine days is an absorbing story told in 9 chapters by 9 different members of the extended Westaway family. It is set in Richmond, a Working Class suburb of Melbourne, where life is not easy and poverty, racism and prejudice are rife. In struggle street life’s emotions such as coming of age, a mother’s love and romantic love seem to stand out more.
The writer uses a number of techniques such as stream of consciousness, jumping in time and generations and letting the reader fill in details. These techniques worked with me in bringing the characters to life. I felt the suffering of Jean and the joy of Connie.
The core idea of the book is that our lives can change direction as a result of sudden unplanned events beyond our control. Each chapter had such an event and the life of the narrator and even their descendants was put on a different path as a result.
In the background many telling aspects of Australian life are revealed. I particularly liked Jack’s description of how his family were flocking to overcrowded Protestant St Stephens to pray for victory over Germany in response to a request by the King. The Catholic youths saw the war differently.
In the end it seemed like a Greek Tragedy where Jean does for Connie what she thinks is the right thing to do, what others in her society did only to end in the worst possible disaster. Connie’s experience shows that life can be gone in an instant so that one should make the most of every moment.
Toni Jordan's first novel, Addition, was an absolute delight. Her second, Fall Girl, didn't impress me as much but this novel, Nine Days, is simply an outstanding achievement. It comprises nine chapters, each told from the point-of-view of a member of four generations of the Westaway family, or someone at least very closely connected to them. It starts with Kip, just prior to the commencement of the second world war, skips to and fro to encompass a day on the life of his daughters, his grandson, his mother, neighbour, brother, etc ending finally, and unforgettably, with Connie, his sister. Each chapter is integral to another not just in terms of character but also as a result of isolated, seemingly random developments that connect, and impact upon, one life after another. As life does. My goodness this is good. This is very, very good. And all of this brilliant story-telling was inspired by a war-time photograph of a young soldier and his sweetheart stealing one last kiss as the troop train takes him off to an unknown fate. Each chapter is so compelling, so fizzing with emotion and event and momentum that you never want it to end because you simply don't want to leave that character...just...yet. But before long you are once again completely immersed in the next chapter, the next character, who takes you off on an equally irresistible journey that again seems to end leaving you wanting more. I couldn't put this book down and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Toni Jordan is a funny, funny woman and a truly talented writer. You will laugh and cry with this novel, and you will be very glad you read it. My only quibble is it was too short!! I could have read double the word-length and still yearned for more. Congratulations, Toni Jordan. This is quite an achievement.
I don't do a lot of reading these days. I don't know why. I really hate it. I've got a stack of books on my bedside table that I've started but haven't finished. More than once recently I've had to return borrowed books without having read them. How embarrassment.
Anyway, that was meant to segue somehow into the next bit. I'm really enjoying Nine Days. In fact, I don't want to read the last chapter, because then it'll be over. When I saw who the last chapter was about I had to stop, like, not yet, not yet, make it last longer.
So I am. I'm writing this to hang on, work out what's happening here.
Jordan's first novel, Addition, showed us how creative she is. Her second, Fall Girl, showed us how competent she is. Addition was rough but it had a lot of spark, a bit of risk, some sassy verbage and best of all (for me) it had numbers in it. And Tesla. Two of my favourite things. Oh, and sex.
Fall Girl was good, but there was too much exposition for my liking. I went through a Michael Crichton binge a while back, and I remember after I'd read Airframe thinking, gee, I know a lot about the aircraft industry now. Not a serious problem, but I like being inside the main character's head, and people generally don't pontificate on their vocation that much, so it makes the story less immediate. Fall Girl still had lots of sassy verbage though, including my favourite Jordanism, and was still plenty enjoyable, enough to recommend it. Not enough sex, but.
OK, I was planning another segue here, something about how with Nine Days Jordan has given us something that is both creative and competent, but then I'd give the impression that Nine Days is some kind of mash-up of her first two books.
It's not. It goes way beyond that. It's like Jordan decided she'd done enough practising and now it's time to actually explore the boundaries. I'm no expert, but I get the sense that Nine Days is doing stuff that has only rarely been done this well elsewhere. The blurb on the back says it really well ambitious in scope and structure.
I reckon Jordan is bringing together a few things that hardly ever appear in the same book humour, a light touch, good prose, and a story that focuses on how wonderful life can be. I read the first page of Wolf Hall and took it back to the library. I enjoy good writing, but I don't want to battle through hellish experiences like that. Eck. Same with Tim Winton. Beautiful, inspiring prose, but Christ, I have enough angst in my real life.
So what is it Jordan is exploring the boundaries of? Here's what I'd call it light literature. And I'm so happy Jordan is putting this stuff out because there's not a lot else of it. Mermaids by Patty Dann, possibly.
Also structure. The story jumps all over the place and once or twice Jordan inserts some quite obvious guideposts for us so we can orient ourselves, but mostly the orientation emerges from the richly-described relationship between the characters and their place in time. The nine stories are not just held together by threads built around objects and events. The threads are the story, a story that lives within the medium of the nine chapters, like sound travels through air, or thoughts exist in the mind.
My heart leapt when it was revealed there were two shillings - one that belongs to Kip and the other to Jack. I have no idea whether that matters, and I won't until I read the final chapter, but I'm guessing it's one of those threads, taking the nine chapters and making sense of them, turning still air into music.
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