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Wisdom Tree #1-5
Wisdom Tree: The Complete Collection
The 2017 Adult Fiction eBook of the Year
"Like an emotional time bomb. Everything is quiet at first, then comes a slow build of tension, and then comes a strange ticking sound, and then — BOOM — suddenly your heart blows up. You can't write better than this. It's simply perfect." - Elizabeth Gilbert (Big Magic, Eat Pray Love)
These five interconnected stories feature multiple characters -- some recurring -- but mostly they share the same world and the same concerns in ways that become more clear the more they are explored. Whether a character is spending the day with a Hip-Hop star whose brother is about to become a father himself or with a former football player turned professional giant aspiring to write like Hemingway, these are stories about art and family and distance -- be it physical or historical.
As you read you'll realize that, as usual, Nick Earls isn't writing about characters inhabiting the same world; he's writing about people and their lives and where they all touch each other, however briefly or however deeply. And when you climb the slide or discover long-forgotten family history with these characters, you'll share as well in their joy, in their pain, in their sadness and in their hope, in their inertia and in their catharsis.
"The five brilliant parts of Wisdom Tree are notable for how each concludes with a sense of possibilities yet to come, with a resounding and moving open-endedness. For all that the novella form is no longer as familiar as once it was, Earls has created a triumphant and extraordinary piece of fiction within an only apparently modest compass." – Sydney Morning Herald
Superbly written, Wisdom Tree is the accessible form for twenty-first century time poor, screen devoted readers. – Debbish.com
One of Earls’s strengths as a writer of fiction is his sharp observation of domestic detail; another is his keen awareness of how our cultural life intermingles with the quotidian reality of family routine. – The Australian
Somebody buy Australian writer Nick Earls a drink. Or better still, hand him another prize (although he already has a bunch), because he has written THE MOST PERFECT NOVELLA IN THE HISTORY OF THE FORMAT . . . Gotham is a literary gem of the highest grade. – North & South Magazine
"Like an emotional time bomb. Everything is quiet at first, then comes a slow build of tension, and then comes a strange ticking sound, and then — BOOM — suddenly your heart blows up. You can't write better than this. It's simply perfect." - Elizabeth Gilbert (Big Magic, Eat Pray Love)
These five interconnected stories feature multiple characters -- some recurring -- but mostly they share the same world and the same concerns in ways that become more clear the more they are explored. Whether a character is spending the day with a Hip-Hop star whose brother is about to become a father himself or with a former football player turned professional giant aspiring to write like Hemingway, these are stories about art and family and distance -- be it physical or historical.
As you read you'll realize that, as usual, Nick Earls isn't writing about characters inhabiting the same world; he's writing about people and their lives and where they all touch each other, however briefly or however deeply. And when you climb the slide or discover long-forgotten family history with these characters, you'll share as well in their joy, in their pain, in their sadness and in their hope, in their inertia and in their catharsis.
"The five brilliant parts of Wisdom Tree are notable for how each concludes with a sense of possibilities yet to come, with a resounding and moving open-endedness. For all that the novella form is no longer as familiar as once it was, Earls has created a triumphant and extraordinary piece of fiction within an only apparently modest compass." – Sydney Morning Herald
Superbly written, Wisdom Tree is the accessible form for twenty-first century time poor, screen devoted readers. – Debbish.com
One of Earls’s strengths as a writer of fiction is his sharp observation of domestic detail; another is his keen awareness of how our cultural life intermingles with the quotidian reality of family routine. – The Australian
Somebody buy Australian writer Nick Earls a drink. Or better still, hand him another prize (although he already has a bunch), because he has written THE MOST PERFECT NOVELLA IN THE HISTORY OF THE FORMAT . . . Gotham is a literary gem of the highest grade. – North & South Magazine
- GenresAudiobook
333 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2016
25 people want to read
About the author
Nick Earls
74 books172 followersNick Earls is the author of twelve books, including bestselling novels such as Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses, Perfect Skin and World of Chickens. His work has been published internationally in English and also in translation, and this led to him being a finalist in the Premier of Queensland’s Awards for Export Achievement in 1999.
Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.
He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.
After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.
Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.
His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.
He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.
Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.
He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.
After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.
Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.
His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.
He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 22, 2017
Wisdom Tree is a collection of five novellas, each originally released separately in a series with similar covers. Each novella is titled after a place:
• Gotham
• Venice
• Vancouver
• Juneau
• NoHo
Now, seeing them bound up into one eBook, a reader might assume that they were closely related. In reality, even though a theme from one novella might get a passing mention in another novella, they stand alone. And it would also be a mistake to assume that the place named in the title was of huge significance; although some are set in the location, Venice is quite pointedly not set in Venice.
There seems to be a common theme that each novella starts off with one relationship, and then moves on to another relationship that allows the reader to make some kind of comparison. So, for example, in Gotham a music journalist, Jeff Foster, gets to spend time with a young rap star Na$ti Boi, and afterwards gets to hang out with the Na$ti Boi’s cousin Smokey who is also his manager. This lets us compare the three lives; our Foster struggling to provide for a wife and sick child, Na$ti Boi as a rather unassuming teenager who has found himself famous and wealth almost by accident, and Smokey who is a down to earth, family guy despite his on-stage image as a gangsta. Each of the other novellas has a similar pivot half way through.
As individual novellas, each works well. The stand-put highlights were Gotham and NoHo – where a mother is willing to neglect her son for the prospect of making her daughter a Hollywood star. But read back to back, too much weight rests on their ability – or lack of ability – to cohere. In fairness, Nick Earls simply sought to publish five stand alone works. I’m guessing they sold badly in hard copy; sold at $20 a go, the set of five would add up to $100. That’s a lot for what you get. So bowing to popular demand, the five are published together in a single volume simply in order to be affordable.
There is certainly enough in these novellas to get me looking for more Nick Earls material – if only it were more readily available in affordable format. He is a great story-teller with an easy style but leaving plenty to think about. He captures a particular moment in time – the one we are living in – and preserves it for posterity. He deals in ephemeral values and behaviour, and turns them into something that will last. He is to 21st Century literature what Andy Warhol was to 1960s art.
• Gotham
• Venice
• Vancouver
• Juneau
• NoHo
Now, seeing them bound up into one eBook, a reader might assume that they were closely related. In reality, even though a theme from one novella might get a passing mention in another novella, they stand alone. And it would also be a mistake to assume that the place named in the title was of huge significance; although some are set in the location, Venice is quite pointedly not set in Venice.
There seems to be a common theme that each novella starts off with one relationship, and then moves on to another relationship that allows the reader to make some kind of comparison. So, for example, in Gotham a music journalist, Jeff Foster, gets to spend time with a young rap star Na$ti Boi, and afterwards gets to hang out with the Na$ti Boi’s cousin Smokey who is also his manager. This lets us compare the three lives; our Foster struggling to provide for a wife and sick child, Na$ti Boi as a rather unassuming teenager who has found himself famous and wealth almost by accident, and Smokey who is a down to earth, family guy despite his on-stage image as a gangsta. Each of the other novellas has a similar pivot half way through.
As individual novellas, each works well. The stand-put highlights were Gotham and NoHo – where a mother is willing to neglect her son for the prospect of making her daughter a Hollywood star. But read back to back, too much weight rests on their ability – or lack of ability – to cohere. In fairness, Nick Earls simply sought to publish five stand alone works. I’m guessing they sold badly in hard copy; sold at $20 a go, the set of five would add up to $100. That’s a lot for what you get. So bowing to popular demand, the five are published together in a single volume simply in order to be affordable.
There is certainly enough in these novellas to get me looking for more Nick Earls material – if only it were more readily available in affordable format. He is a great story-teller with an easy style but leaving plenty to think about. He captures a particular moment in time – the one we are living in – and preserves it for posterity. He deals in ephemeral values and behaviour, and turns them into something that will last. He is to 21st Century literature what Andy Warhol was to 1960s art.
December 1, 2018
disparate ratings for individual novellas: 2 stars, 3 stars, 4 stars, 5 stars, 2 stars (books 1-5 respectively)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews