Shortlisted for the 2024 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in the NSW Premier’s Awards.
Buy The Crying Room here.
‘This is a marvellous exploration of family dynamics, and the possibilities that life may offer as children grow into adulthood from less than perfect upbringings. … The Crying Room is an original and utterly captivating study into the various manifestations of familial love, written with great passion and insight.’ ***** Good Reading Magazine
‘Shirm, a stunning writer, is also psychologically astute, particularly about the complexities of inheritance and the effort required to swim against the tide of how you were parented. But what’s most impressive is the way she uses her form to echo the book’s themes of self-creation.’ The Age/Sydney Morning Herald
‘Shirm’s writing is concise and at times very beautiful, qualities that help the reader move across these varied interior landscapes and feel empathy for each. The novel captures the magical fluidity and interrelation of time that exists between three generations and it’s in these understated moments that the novel offers us some real insights on the ways family work or don’t….This is a novel about when something essential is missing. I often found The Crying Room to be an unsettling reading experience. But Shirm does give us characters that can learn and change and images of transformation. An apple tree, planted as a seedling by Susie, eventually grows into a bountiful bearer of fruit in Bernie’s house. It is a beautifully redemptive image. This is a deeply probing and sensitive examination of family and how ways of feeling are passed between mothers and daughters.’ Joseph Cummins, The Guardian
‘We all have books we love, books we like and books we can take or leave. Then there’s that rarer book that feels as though it was written for you. Gretchen Shirm’s new novel, The Crying Room, ticks that box for this reader…Shirm’s use of language is brilliantly inventive…This is a bold work of Australian fiction. I may feel as though it was written for me, but I suspect I will not be the only reader who has that thrilling feeling.’ Stephen Romei, The Weekend Australian
‘That thing of love, and whether one can learn to love and having been deprived of love will that then condition your behaviour in other relationships is one of the things that’s being talked about here. And Shirm handles this with such particular delicacy…This is no easy thing she is aiming to pull off with this book, but she lands it rather nicely.’ Jonathan Green discussing The Crying Room on The Book Shelf on ABC’s Radio National, which you can listen to here.
‘Shirm’s writing is crisp and precise and will undoubtedly appeal to fans of Gwendoline Riley and Charlotte Wood.’ The Guardian
‘The use of Monica as the author of the more surreal parts of the book gives The Crying Room a complex, layered quality. The strategy allows Shirm to experiment with perspective and disrupt realist conventions while exploring the emotional lives of three generations of women….renovating the elegy for the current moment. ‘ The Conversation
‘Shirm writes in pensive prose, eking out past and present, citing formative moments which add up to a family gestalt…The reader comes to care for all the women. It is a sensitive and unusual work with stylistic suprises.’ Samela Harris, The Herald Sun, Courier Mail, and Adelaide Advertiser
‘Gretchen Shirm’s second novel is an outstanding literary achievement. The Crying Room follows in the footsteps of Australian literary icons such as Helen Garner and Gail Jones in its sharp and exquisite rendering of emotional experience….Ultimately, The Crying Room is a reflection on and celebration of love, a powerful and compelling novel that cements Shirm’s position as a writer to be reckoned with. It’s a must-read for fans of literary fiction…’ Arts Hub
‘Shirm is an author that knows how to create compelling characters, with real problems and real-life situations to solve them. You come to understand their feelings and dreams and it embraces the finest of human values. I found this book about all the essential elements that make up a family, touching on both the good and the terrible things that go on. I cried, I laughed, I smiled, I could not put this book down. It is a true to life fictional story of any family and the obstacles they face. Anyone who reads this may be able to identify with parts of the story, this is not just a novel; it is a real-life lesson and a gift that many would benefit from reading.’ ***** Beauty and Lace
‘Lyrical, literary, luminous prose evoked by sharp observation, The Crying Room by Gretchen Shirm is a fractured portrait of a fractured family that invites the reader to render their own conclusions as to truth and reality.’ Cass Moriarty, the Avid Reader
’Shirm’s book shares many recognisable moments in family relationships, and explores questions about how people are shaped and influenced by their upbringings. There is conflict and resentment, but ultimately a kind of comfort and understanding.’ Highly Recommended, Read Plus
Gretchen Shirm 