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''I chose the jagged rocks, the broken bones, the spattered brains. I chose beauty. I'd choose it again.'
'Luna Lewis is white. But her friends aren't, nor are her brothers, nor her one-time Princess of Indonesia-finalist stepmother. After transforming from pudgy preteen to 'exotic' beauty, Luna reinvents herself as 'Luna Lu' and takes her ticket out of the most isolated city on earth. However, as her international modelling career approaches its expiry date, Luna must grapple with what she's sacrificed - and who she's become - in her mission to conquer the world.
'Featuring an intersecting cast of glamour-hungry public schoolgirls, WAGs, mining heiresses, backpacker-barmaids, and cosmetic nurses, West Girls examines beauty, race, class divisions, and social mobility in Australia's richest state. It's also a devastating catalogue of the myriad, inventive ways in which women love and hurt one another.'(Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
Polyphony : Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s Unsentimental New Novel
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 458 2023; (p. 53)
— Review of West Girls 2023 single work novel'Laura Elizabeth Woollett demonstrates her mastery of the polyphonic novel in West Girls. The book, Woollett’s fourth, comprises eleven nimbly interwoven chapters that explore origin, agency, and delusion in a patriarchal society.' (Introduction)
-
Girlhood Misery, Bullying and Beauty Combine for Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s ‘unlikeable’ West-coast Girls
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 11 September 2023;
— Review of West Girls 2023 single work novel'With the post-menopausal generation reappraising what it means to be an older woman, the sheen of youth has become exposed. Women are told to fear the ageing process, but the truth is, I would not return to my teenage years, nor would any of the women I know. The worst part of growing older is watching the next generation go through it all again.' (Introduction)
-
Laura Woollett
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 5-11 August 2023; -
West Girls by Laura Elizabeth Woollett Review – Sexism, Schoolgirls and Supermodels
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 August 2023;
— Review of West Girls 2023 single work novel 'These cleverly interconnected stories explore the power and price of beauty, following an ethnically ambiguous girl who pretends to be part-Asian to become a model'
-
West Girls by Laura Elizabeth Woollett Review – Sexism, Schoolgirls and Supermodels
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 August 2023;
— Review of West Girls 2023 single work novel 'These cleverly interconnected stories explore the power and price of beauty, following an ethnically ambiguous girl who pretends to be part-Asian to become a model' -
Girlhood Misery, Bullying and Beauty Combine for Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s ‘unlikeable’ West-coast Girls
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 11 September 2023;
— Review of West Girls 2023 single work novel'With the post-menopausal generation reappraising what it means to be an older woman, the sheen of youth has become exposed. Women are told to fear the ageing process, but the truth is, I would not return to my teenage years, nor would any of the women I know. The worst part of growing older is watching the next generation go through it all again.' (Introduction)
-
Polyphony : Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s Unsentimental New Novel
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 458 2023; (p. 53)
— Review of West Girls 2023 single work novel'Laura Elizabeth Woollett demonstrates her mastery of the polyphonic novel in West Girls. The book, Woollett’s fourth, comprises eleven nimbly interwoven chapters that explore origin, agency, and delusion in a patriarchal society.' (Introduction)
-
Laura Woollett
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 5-11 August 2023;
Awards
- 2024 longlisted The Stella Prize