Review: Holier Than Thou by Laura Buzo

Holier Than Thou by Laura Buzo

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication date: 1st May 2012

My rating: 4.5 stars

Holly Yarkov has a boyfriend who is a gift from the universe. She has a job that fulfils her even as it wears her down. She has a core group of friends from high school. And she has a layer of steel around her heart that is beginning to tarnish. Just as she is reaching for a future she can't quite see, Holly is borne back into the past by memories of her beloved father, and of the boy-who-might-have-been...

Grief and longing run like veins of quicksilver through this beautiful novel, at once gloriously funny and achingly sad.

Laura's confident, astute and witty voice has already been recognised with the success of Good Oil, with North American English rights sold to Knopf and German language rights sold to Arena. It was also shortlisted for the Prime Minister's
Literary Awards. Her second novel is extraordinary and bittersweet – and shows us exactly what it is like to be a young person today – navigating the complexities of work, love, family and how to pay the rent.

There is definitely something across the water in Australia, last year when I first discovered my love for Aussie authors, I felt like a little kid at Christmas getting my hands on an Aussie book. With Aussie books by greats such as Marchetta and Eagar so hard to come by, I’d save my pennies so that I could splurge on some beautiful Aussie books. I’m pleased to say my pennies were definitely worth it with Buzo’s latest gem Holier Than Thou.

Buzo manages to create such a realistic portrayal in the life of Holly. I felt as if I was right there following her through in her life full of heartache, beautiful friendships, what could have beens, frighteningly looking around the corner of what could be lingering and what could be left behind. Holly was such an incredible character that I could connect with, having experienced a similar situation of leaving university and going our separate ways, not knowing who we would be keeping in touch with and walking by ourselves into the big scary world of work. I too was like Holly always trying to re-connect with my friends, arranging meet ups and not wanting them to slip away between my fingers. So this honest depiction that Buzo created of Holly’s life was so heartfelt to watch. I was enthralled in seeing which way it would unravel.

Holly’s voice was so honest and raw, and just got under my skin. I didn’t want to part from her life, I’d become so tangled in it. I thoroughly wanted her to get the ending she truly deserved. I was put through a whirl wind of emotions, as I wished she would finally be able to re-connect the rest of the gang together and have her chance with the guy who slipped through her fingers. But the unexpected road blocks in the road I didn’t see coming. I didn’t see the tangled romance developing and I think this was because I didn’t want the story to move into that direction, don’t get me wrong he was such a nice guy, but I thought Holly’s relationship with Tim even though far from perfect I didn’t want to come to an end. I thought the book would go a certain way and hoped some things would be resolved, but the last couple of chapters and that ending! Haaaahh! completely threw me. It definitely left me wanting a lot more!

Overall I absolutely loved Holier Than Thou; it was a bittersweet and nostalgic read and just goes to show we need more of these Aussie greats being published over here!

Thank you to Keertana for reading this with me. You can read her wonderful review here.