Summary
As a family therapist, Nina is the ultimate listener. Yet this is of little use with her latest clients, the Agostinos, who have been mandated to see her after stealing a car and disappearing into the outback. For support with the case, Nina meets with a supervising therapist, Erin. What they unearth in their sessions goes beyond the Agostino story into confronting personal territory for Nina. Meanwhile, despite her efforts, the Agostinos remain unwilling to speak—so how can Nina be sure that…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781922790118 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1922790117 |
| Author: | Jacinta Halloran |
| Publisher: | The Text Publishing Company |
| Imprint: | The Text Publishing Company |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 288 |
| Release Date: | 7 March 2023 |
| Weight: | 380g |
| Dimensions: | 234mm x 153mm |
You Can Find This Book In
What They're Saying
Critics Review
Michelle Atkins: Resistance is the fourth novel by the award-winning author of Dissection and Pilgrimage, Jacinta Halloran. Narrated by family therapist Nina, it follows the Agostino family, mandated to see Nina after stealing a car and disappearing into the outback with their two children. The unravelling of the Agostino story is set alongside intense vignettes of patients, colleagues and Ninas own therapist, who each share their deepest insecurities with her. Ninas tone is clinical, remote and sad. Spending her working days ‘prising open the lid on the sadness of the living’, its no surprise that Nina is ‘sad at heart’. Through her sessions with supervising therapist Erin, we discover the deeper layers of Ninas melancholy: the intergenerational pain, secrets and suffering that haunt both her professional and private life. (Some of the strongest scenes involve Erins persistent encouraging of Nina to respond as a person and not as a therapist to emotional content.) Stories within stories, the vignettes in Resistance (deployed as long character monologues, not unlike those in Rachel Cusks Outline series) provide meditative insight into the machinations of family therapy and the nuances of interpersonal relationships. However, while the characters are well drawn, their monologues can at times feel contrived and academic. Nonetheless, Resistance is thought-provoking on some big issuesmental health care, parenting, motherhood, aging, gender equality and First Nations historyand will appeal to anyone interested in the human condition with all its fascinating foibles. Michelle Atkins is a communications professional and published educational author. Books+Publishing is Australias number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
About The Author
Jacinta Halloran
Jacinta Halloran is the author of the novels Dissection, shortlisted for the 2007 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript; Pilgrimage, shortlisted for the 2014 Barbara Jefferis Award; and The Science of Appearances. Her new novel, Resistance, will be published in March 2023. She is a former board member of the Stella Prize, and was a GP for many years.
Returns
This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.