A Room Called Earth

June 15, 2020
Australian writer Ryan’s evocative debut features an autistic narrator negotiating her social obligations on Christmas Eve in Melbourne. As the unnamed, self-possessed woman, who finds “connection with my own species has been difficult,” prepares to attend a party, her mind takes her through a series of digressions. Should she put chopsticks in her hair, or paint the chopsticks to match her outfit, or leave them in the drawer to serve their purpose as utensils? She considers the identities of the partygoers, whom she envisions as “Futuristic Shadow Beasts Without Faces,” observes the foliage, and plays with her cat. Among people, she struggles to bridge the gulf between the hive of her mind and polite conversation, which she finds suffocating, whether dealing with a clingy ex-boyfriend or weathering the labels and words that she refuses to define her (“Sometimes... I fear that change is impossible, and that persecution is inevitable for us all”). Eventually, she leaves with a man and contends with the languages of love and sex in an extended scene that begins awkwardly but turns into romance. While the dialogue is often long-winded, the interior monologues are vibrant and revealing. Ryan succeeds in capturing neurodiversity on the page. Agent: Barbara Zitwer, Barbara J. Zitwer Agency.

January 13, 2021
In the light of a full moon on a sweltering December night—Christmas Eve eve—a nameless young woman drapes herself in a silk kimono and goes to a party, alone. Singularly attuned to the rhythms and complexities of the night, of other people, of the energy of the world around her, her unwavering perspective carries the reader through the events of the evening: the places she inhabits, the experiences she has and the people she meets. When a man spills a drink on her shoes, a connection deep and profound is born. The dynamic of first attraction, both intellectual and sexual, is nicely rendered in all its awkward grace as the narrator takes the man back to her home. A Room Called Earth is intoxicating: a heady rush of sensuality and passion. The novel is challenging at first: the reader must acclimatise to spending so much time entirely in the head and perspective of this unique and dynamic narrator. But as the narrative and prose find their rhythm, A Room Called Earth becomes a rich pleasure: lyrical, sumptuous and saturated with insight. As a debut novel, A Room Called Earth is enigmatic and entirely refreshing. Madeleine Ryan is a writer to watch. Georgia Brough is a bookseller, critic and writer based in Melbourne.