Jim SchembriBesprekingen

Title relates to the 15 minutes of fame that everyone is supposed to experience in their life. Amira has been famous for 4 years; first as a commercial girl and now on the nightly soap –“Here and Always”. But there is a new girl on the set, and when Amira’s contract is up, it is not renewed. Amira decides she’ll do anything to extend her 15 minutes – even betray and lie to those she loves the most. A novel where you don’t like the main character.
p.50-52 When Sachelle starts on the soap and Amira is fooled into being friends. From “It felt …to such a mistake again.”

Sandra and Simone get caught up in the war between two brothers who own rival Chinese restaurants when they make a connection between some burglaries and takeaway deliveries from either of the two shops. After witnessing two delivery boys in a secret meeting ( all employees are sworn not to talk to those from the rival restaurant) the girls know they are on to something.p.45 –50. The girls witness the meeting between the 2 rival delivery boys.

While I've been familiar with Jim Schembri's film reviews in The Age newspaper, I never knew that he had also written several books until I was walking past a book stall the other day and this brightly-coloured book literally jumped out at me, grabbed me by the neck and screamed "Buy me! Buy me!" And with a discounted price tag of $3.95, who could resist?

I was not disappointed. I have always been a lover of fables, of parables, of stories with morals, of stories which speak to us about some aspect of our humanity. These modern fables have much to tell us about the world in which we live, and about ourselves, especially the inherent nature of humans to destroy everything of true value, and not to realise until it is too late. The stories are short and concise, but they are also witty and often poignant as well. There is a lot of wisdom contained within the pages of this small book.

My favourite fables in this are probably "The Editing Suite", "Seven Short Naked Men", "Revaluing the Contents of Robbie's Head" and "The Philosopher Who Was Full of It". Mind you, out of 52 short stories, there are many favourites to choose from.

Anyhow, the moral of this story is that if you ever have a book leap out at you and scream "Buy me!", you should probably sit up and pay attention. And if it's this book, you won't be disappointed.