The Honeyeater by Jessie Tu
a brilliantly complex story about the art of paying attention: mothers & daughters, the world of translation, and academia
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Jessie Tu’s second novel, The Honeyeater, takes us deep into the world of literary translation, academia, and tangled personal relationships. It follows Fay, a young Taiwanese-Australian translator, as she juggles career ambitions, power struggles, and the ghosts of past relationships. It’s a novel about betrayal, ambition, and the quiet, unseen art of translation.
Fay, who lives with her mother, takes her on a holiday to Paris. But rather than a romantic escape, their time is shadowed by her mother’s anxieties – fear of germs, strangers and being taken advantage of. Meanwhile, Fay is distracted by memories of and longing for her ex-lover, her too-involved boss, and the demands of a translation project that could change her career pathway. A call from her boss cuts the trip short, pulling her back to Sydney.
There’s a mystery at the heart of The Honeyeater that lingers throughout, only fully revealing itself at the end, which kept me reading until late in the night. Fay tries to untangle the truth about her ex-lover, understand the motives of her boss, and navigate the subtle power plays that come with being a translator where meaning can shift with a single word choice.
It’s a sharp, layered read, and as a bonus, Tu includes a list of things she read and watched that informed The Honeyeater. One that stood out was In the Flow of Words, a New Yorker documentary about the interpreters, the people who gave voice to both victims and perpetrators, at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. After finishing the book, M and I watched it. It’s tough but powerful, especially for anyone fascinated by language. It made me think about the weight of words, the responsibility of translation, and the power dynamics in who gets to speak and be understood.
The Honeyeater is compelling and thought-provoking.
What am I reading next?
I have some catching up to do with two other books I’ve finished: On Identity (Stan Grant) and The Mother-in-Law (Sally Hepworth). Watch this space…
Current book on audio is The Stranger at the Door (Jo Dixon) and read is The ReWilding (Donna M Cameron). And I have a long list of books to read after that!
What are you reading?
Book events
Stan Grant
Last week I attended Stan Grant’s event in the Conversation Quarter at the State Library of Victoria. I attended with
and bumped into my sister and brother-in-law there. It was a well attended event where Grant talked about his new book Murriyang: Song of Time, and so much more. In my notes, I have written: What if we all began speaking the truth? It was a question he posed that evening and has sat with me this week.
Tonight, I’m off to help Irma Gold celebrate the launch of Shift at Readings which means I’m missing out on Marion Taffe’s launch of her debut By Her Hand (which looks amazing!) at the State Library Readings store. So many books to read and so many authors to celebrate!
Til next time, happy reading!
x M
Thanks for the link to that doco, Meg. It looks fascinating. I've bookmarked it.