PublishedFinch Publishing, April 2015 |
ISBN9781925048377 |
FormatSoftcover, 224 pages |
Dimensions21.4cm × 15.2cm × 1.5cm |
In Home Truths, comedian and author Mandy Nolan explores the significance of place in relationship to self, specifically what it is about home that is so intrinsic to our sense of self and what is says about our place in the world and our emotional, mental and spiritual
wellbeing. This is a book about who we are in the place where we live, and why; It's about who we are when no-one is watching, when the doors are closed and the pants come off.
Mandy leaves no corner of our suburban psyches undisturbed in her clean-out of our comfort cobwebs, using her comedic talents to unearth insights buried behind closed doors, including:
Do share houses unleash the hidden and very messy inner monster hiding
within us all?
What does your rental property say about your approach to life?
What will the neighbours learn by perving through your windows or rummaging through the leftover detritus of past relationships that now grace your garage sale? and
Were people less troubled by obesity when their chairs and beds were more uncomfortable and pain forced them to get up earlier and rest less? Have plasma tVs and plush-cushioned comfort made us fat?
It was on her knees unpacking the dishwasher that Nolan had one of her most important epiphanies.
'Life is not all about choice. Sometimes it's about subjugating one's own desires and ego at the service of the mundane. My daily rituals, my chores, the endless grind, this is the anvil that anchors my ego to the ground, that stops me floating skywards, becoming puffed up and unbearable...there are many people who would benefit from laundry therapy. I wonder when James Packer last washed his own undies?'
In Home truths, Mandy explores the symptoms and the roots of this love of comfort, tracing our deluded nostalgia for the past and the disappointment that is the result of going back to revisit the buildings and landmarks of your past. Everything seems so much smaller, stiller and less impressive. Places that were magical in childhood are exposed as ordinary in adulthood
