Kavita Bedford

An exquisite examination of the contours of grief and contemporary life, from a fresh new Australian-Indian voice

Friends & Dark Shapes

“Bedford beautifully portrays the life of an Australian Indian writer struggling with grief a year after the death of her father.” —Publishers Weekly Sydney’s inner city is very much its own place, yet also a stand in for gentrifying inner-city suburbs the world over. Here, four young housemates struggle to untangle their complicated relationships while a poignant story of loss, grieving, and recovery unfolds. The nameless narrator of this story has recently lost her father and now her existence is split in two: she conjures the past in which he was alive and yet lives in the present, where he is not. To others, she appears to have it all together, but the grief she still feels creates an insurmountable barrier between herself and others, between the life she had and the one she leads. Wry, relatable, lyrical, and beautifully told, a book about politics, desire, youth, relationships and friends, Friends and Dark Shapes introduces a bold new Australian voice to American readers. Praise for Friends and Dark Shapes Shortlisted for the 2021 Queensland Literary Awards “An unflinching novel that captures the isolation and emotional overload of modern life.” —ForeWord Reviews “An intimate portrait of an individual in an ever-changing city and a searching meditation on the madness of grief . . . Bedford brilliantly maps the city and examines the narrator’s “dysfunctional relationship” with it. She also explores issues of race, identity and belonging through her heroine’s journalistic assignments and encounters with immigrants and refugees. However, the novel is at its most powerful when it centers upon a world caving in and the aftershocks: what it is like to “lose a parent and lose your base.”“—The Star Tribune

A Novel

Friends and Dark Shapes

Amici e ombre, il sorprendente esordio della scrittrice indoaustraliana Kavita Bedford, è insieme un commovente ritratto dell’amicizia e una meditazione sulla perdita. Nel centro di Sydney un gruppo di giovani coinquilini si ritrova a fare i conti con la gentrificazione, le politiche divisive, le carriere in stallo, con i loro complicati privilegi in quanto australiani di seconda generazione e con l’evolversi di incontri e frequentazioni in questo commovente, divertente e raffinato romanzo d’esordio. «Profondamente emozionante». The New York Times Book Review «Intimo e rivelatorio, un ritratto della vita urbana dei millennial». The Guardian Un gruppo di amici estremamente diversi tra loro si trasferisce in un appartamento nel centro di Sydney. Alla soglia dei trent’anni, sono ognuno alle prese con la propria identità, il lavoro, l’amore e le speranze per il futuro, ciascuno punta al successo a modo suo. La narratrice anonima, in lutto per la perdita del padre, si ritrova divisa tra un’esistenza passata, quando suo padre era ancora con lei, e il presente in cui lui non c’è più. Amici e ombre è una commovente storia sulla lotta per la carriera, gli appuntamenti, la gentrificazione, l’amicizia, le ambizioni, la politica, la famiglia e la ricerca del proprio posto nel mondo. Ambientato in una Sydney che è tanto unica quanto specchio dei sobborghi di tutto il mondo, è un romanzo coinvolgente ed emozionante, scritto con convinzione. Racconta la storia di una donna alla ricerca di pace e connessione nel mezzo di un paesaggio urbano esteso e variegato.

Amici e ombre

Grief is universal and eternal, yet how we deal with it--or how it deals with us--depends on who is grieving, when, and with whom. Losing a father isn't easy. Neither is the split existence you live afterwards when you can still conjure up the past where he was alive and still having to live in the present where he is not. On the outside, she's a functioning member of society, but what is a life divided between the day-to-day reality of what she's experiencing with people her age, this life that she's leading, and a feeling of estrangement, grief, and need? Friends & Dark Shapes follows a group of young housemates in Sydney's inner city as they contend with gentrification and divisive politics, their own complicated privilege as second-generation Australians, the evolving world of dating, struggling to find a career, wondering why everything is so expensive. In other words, rent is nuts, nobody is getting young, and everyone remains unsatisfied, always wanting something more. The world these characters inhabit, the emotions they struggle to understand (and even feel), their ambivalence and confusion about the future, work, the political issues of the day, relationships, and each other all weave together to create the background for a poignant story about loss. Friends & Dark Shapes is funny but substantial, tight and well-written. From the tautness of each individual vignette to the full power of the whole, Friends & Dark Shapes brings forth a bold, new voice that needs to be heard.

Kavita Bedford

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