Malarky: The GoodReads Giveaway

Yes, it's a brave new world out there, and digitally-speaking we at Biblioasis are occasionally behind the 8-Ball.  So we're trying something new to support the just-released launch of Anakana Schofield's Malarky.  We're giving away ten copies over at GoodReads, in the hopes that a few more people pick it up and help us spread the word about just how wonderful this book is.   Follow this link for a chance to win.

In other Malarky news, Claudia Caspar had this to say about Malarky on Twitter (and this ranks as my favourite reader response so far...): 

Reading Anakana Schofield's new book Malarky - if James Joyce was a woman, and much funnier - so yeah, it's brilliant.

... and a US reader/writer has posted a half-review of Malarky on his blog:

This is what’s I’m calling a mid-book review.  It might be particularly helpful to readers who don’t want me to reveal the end. 

Schofield’s from Vancouver, but this book’s set in rural Ireland, circa now or maybe a few years ago.  Our Woman (that’s all the name the protagonist gets; it’s a spin on the classic Everyman) discovers her husband’s cheating and plots revenge.  It’s an old template, to be sure, complete with the requisite character development.  The passive female awakens.   I usually hate this sort of book, but where the classics in this model typically involve dainty, prim, proper heroines, Our Woman’s a rawer sort.  So’s Schofield.  Her sex scenes are packed with fun and raunch.  The fun is important, necessary.  A woman’s plight is an old problem.  For many readers, it’s worn.  We know already that women have been misued and continue to be misused.  It’s patriarchy.  But the problem is aged, not solved.  Perhaps it can never be solved.  Schofield recognizes that if it cannot be solved it must continue to be plumbed, perhaps with new instruments.  We’ve seen the serious works featuring serious moments of serious drama.  You can’t teach “The Awakening” or “The Yellow Wallpaper” without hearing groans–often from women.  By turning Our Woman’s plight into comedy, she can let us view and enjoy the old problem from a new-feeling angle.  This sounds essayistic because it is essayistic.  Let me just say that Our Woman’s misadventure with the salesman’s not to be missed.  

So: don't miss it.