AustLit

'Breathless. Walwicz’s poem reminds me of meeting someone whom you haven’t seen for a while and you’re catching up and they tell you a story that may have taken place over years but it comes out all in one breathless movement and you are literally feeling like you are trying to catch up, trying to run alongside them, keeping pace. Breathless. Child-like, in the way that a child will tell a story—they don’t stop for breath, they get caught up, caught in the story. Hear me out see what I mean listen.' (Introduction) 

'Fairy tales are a running motif in Alice Pung’s new novel, One Hundred Days. Fairy tales can operate on many levels — they can entertain children, warn of dangers, provide heroes or heroines who are able to overcome obstacles; for Jungian analysts, they can be an expression of the collective unconscious. Just as fairy tales can work on many levels, the references to them in One Hundred Days are also multi-layered, from the numerous invocations of the classic 80s modern fairy tale movie Labyrinth, to the plot itself, that draws on the story of Rapunzel, locked up in her tower.' (Introduction)