Books: The Best Of 2024
As the end-of-year break approaches, the hunt is on for good holiday reads, and books to give as gifts. To help, DNA’s book reviewers Graeme Aitken and Hendri Yulius have each compiled their top five of the year with the DNA reader in mind…
Hendri’s Top Five
1. August Thompson – Anyone’s Ghost (Picador)
Emotionally gripping, this debut coming-of-age queer novel tells the story of two boys who lack the words to express their romantic feelings and embark on a journey of self-discovery through their unusual friendship.
2. Michael Cunningham – Day (4th Estate)
Cunningham’s trademark ability to interweave the lives of diverse characters, set against the backdrop of the pandemic, is on full display. The story centres on the fraught relationship between a troubled couple, Isabel and Dan, and Isabel’s younger gay brother, Robbie. Robbie’s departure from their home sets off a chain of events that unravels their deepest secret, bringing buried truths to light.
3. Sally Rooney – Intermezzo (Faber)
Intermezzo is Sally Rooney at her most compelling. The novel explores the strained relationship between two brothers, Ivan and Peter, as they grapple with their father’s death. Amid their grief, both must confront their past and the complex, sometimes fraught relationships with the women in their lives—challenges that continuously threaten to fracture their fragile bond.
4. Brontez Purnell – Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt (MCD x FSG)
Unapologetically raw, visceral, and honest, Purnell confronts inherited trauma, societal rejection, self-hatred, and loneliness with unflinching clarity. Rather than overdramatising the oppression he faces, Purnell channels these struggles into interconnected verses, pulsating with defiance and self-determination. These pieces capture his journey as a fearless queer, Black artist and poet, transforming pain into a testament to resilience and creative power.
5. Cheon Myeong-Kwan – Whale (Europa Editions)
A modern masterpiece and one of South Korea’s most beloved novels, Whale is an epic saga that traces the multi-generational struggles of two female protagonists navigating the country’s tumultuous transition from a traditional to a modern society. Shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize, the novel’s vibrant world is brought to life through a fast-paced plot populated by marginalised figures – sex workers, labourers, tricksters, and criminals.
Graeme’s Top Five
1. Alan Hollinghurst – Our Evenings (Picador)
The main character actor, Dave Win, is mixed race – half English, half Burmese – and in many ways the novel is more about Dave’s relationship with his mother, Avril, a dressmaker, than his love affairs with any men. Avril turns out to be a very unconventional woman in small-town England, and the slights and insults that this stoic mother and son must endure over race and sexuality are movingly unfolded.
2. Oisin McKenna – Evenings And Weekends (4th Estate)
This debut novel provides a sweeping panorama of 30-something Londoners, many of whom are queer, over one sweltering weekend in 2019. The main characters are Maggie and her best friend from school days Phil, and from there we meet their partners, lovers, siblings, parents, and friends. Several of these characters are harbouring major secrets from those close to them. Towards the climax of the novel, these begin to spill out…
3. Paul Murray – The Bee Sting (Hamish Hamilton)
This family saga was the popular favourite to scoop up the Booker Prize 2023 though few reviews have remarked much on the queer content, which becomes more prominent in the later stages of this book. The novel has a series of cleverly executed twists – there is even a twist to the title – but it will spoil the story to reveal too much. This is an absolute page-turner – funny, tragic, ingeniously plotted, and even has some very atmospheric Irish mysticism thrown in as well.
4. Yael van der Wouden – The Safekeep (Viking)
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024, this novel is best approached knowing nothing about it as there are a number of surprises in store for the reader.
But rest assured, the book has significant queer content – primarily lesbian but also gay male characters – and a fascinating historical setting, a provincial Dutch town, in the early 1960s, the after effects of the war still reverberating. But almost as important as these characters is the family home and the secrets that are gradually revealed about its history… This is an extraordinary debut novel.
5. Liam Pieper – Appreciation (Hamish Hamilton)
This novel is a very entertaining and a witty satire on the art world, although the publishing industry and the perils of celebrity also get a skewering. Acclaimed queer artist Oli Darling finds himself cancelled after he says the wrong thing on national television. Admittedly, he was high at the time! Appreciation is an absolute page-turner – extremely well written, cleverly constructed and distinguished by some very witty and astute dialogue.
The Bookshop Darlinghurst specialises in LGBTIQ books. Email: info@thebookshop.com.au. Go thebookshop.com.au or visit the shop front at 207 Oxford Street, Sydney.
