Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (2007), Paperback, 288 pages
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: Miles Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career as a romance to entertain her friends. It depicts the poor, intelligent Sybylla who cannot accustom herself to her family's reduced circumstances. She is given a reprieve and sent to her Grandmother's grand house, where she mingles with the best rural society, including the handsome Harry Beecham. She is faced with the choice of material improvement through marriage, or personal improvement through working for her dreams..
User reviews
LibraryThing member charbutton
Written by Franklin at the tender age of 16 (16 for goodness' sake!), My Brilliant Career is the story of Sybylla Melvyn, a young woman growing up in the Australian bush. Her father, once a successful horse breeder, makes bad business decisions and ends up a drunk; her mother is struggling to cope
Sybylla is a very unsympathetic heroine. She's self-absorbed, snobbish and melodramatic. She can be full of self-pity and is obsessed with her ugliness (as she perceives her appearance) and is a bit prone to martyrdom. Sybylla's life is full of the dramatic ups and downs of adolescence but she has very clear opinions about marriage and the role of women in Australian society. I think it is these characteristics that draw the reader in and make you want to find out what happens to her.
As might be expected from a novel written by a 16 year old, the writing style is much like Sybylla herself - often melodramatic and overblown - but I think this makes the first person narrative feel entirely authentic
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with her husband and eight children. Sybylla dreams of a better life, one full of culture and intellectual conversation, and rejoices when she is invited to live with her more wealthy grandmother where she can read and play the piano.Sybylla is a very unsympathetic heroine. She's self-absorbed, snobbish and melodramatic. She can be full of self-pity and is obsessed with her ugliness (as she perceives her appearance) and is a bit prone to martyrdom. Sybylla's life is full of the dramatic ups and downs of adolescence but she has very clear opinions about marriage and the role of women in Australian society. I think it is these characteristics that draw the reader in and make you want to find out what happens to her.
As might be expected from a novel written by a 16 year old, the writing style is much like Sybylla herself - often melodramatic and overblown - but I think this makes the first person narrative feel entirely authentic
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LibraryThing member Renz0808
This is the classic Australian story of Sybylla Melvyn a young and passionate 16 year old girl living on her parent’s farm, Possum Gully. She longs to escape the hard live and hates the physical burdens farm life imposes. She wants to read, write, and play music more than anything else in the
Miles Franklin was sixteen years old when she wrote this novel which is pretty amazing considering that at times the writing of this book sounded much older, especially when she talks about things like Australian independence, women’s rights and the struggles of the poor. The only times in the book that I felt like I could really tell this book had been written by a sixteen year old are when she repeatedly talks about how ugly she is and also when she describes falling in love. But I don’t really look at these things as negatives because they make the book read so accurately and it brought me back in time to when I was sixteen and felt the same way as Sybylla. This is a wonderful book and it is filled which such wonderful descriptions of Australian life in the early 20th century. I am so glad that I read this book and I enjoyed all of the honest youthful descriptions in the book.
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world and she feels so very confined on the farm. When her mother decides to send her to stay with her grandmother at Caddagat, Sybylla finally gets to lead the life she has always dreamed about. When she meets and falls under the spell of the handsome bushman Harold Beecham she realizes she might have to choose between a conventional life for a woman and having a brilliant career. Miles Franklin was sixteen years old when she wrote this novel which is pretty amazing considering that at times the writing of this book sounded much older, especially when she talks about things like Australian independence, women’s rights and the struggles of the poor. The only times in the book that I felt like I could really tell this book had been written by a sixteen year old are when she repeatedly talks about how ugly she is and also when she describes falling in love. But I don’t really look at these things as negatives because they make the book read so accurately and it brought me back in time to when I was sixteen and felt the same way as Sybylla. This is a wonderful book and it is filled which such wonderful descriptions of Australian life in the early 20th century. I am so glad that I read this book and I enjoyed all of the honest youthful descriptions in the book.
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LibraryThing member Intemerata
A very engaging, lively style of writing - especially considering it was written by a 16-year-old girl - but it was marred for me simply by the fact that I found the protagonist rather unsympathetic. She is a believable depiction of a headstrong teenage girl living in difficult circumstances, but I
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just didn't like her very much. Show Less
LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini
Franklin's narrator Sybylla Melvyn promises right at the start that she's not gonna spend a lot of time mooning over sunsets--a promise that she spectacularly fails to fulfill, and indeed she ends the novel on a sunset. It's a major clue that all is not as simple as it seems with her romantic
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longing, protofeminist righteousness, and disgusting class snobbery--or more specifically, that while Franklin herself probably agrees with all those things, she also recognizes that they are poison to the soul when combined with the anger of the frustrated solipsist--in other words, that the confines of 19th-century Australian bush society don't do Sybylla's chances in--she does it to herself. An important early book in Aussie lit, as I understand it, affecting in parts and maddening in others, and a good conventional frustrated-young-woman realist buldungsroman only with larrikins and jackeroos and dingos and suchlike. Show Less
LibraryThing member thesmellofbooks
This really is an amazing book. Very sophisticated look at the mind and heart of a young Australian dirt farmer in the late 1800s (written by a teenager who lived a similar life). Not without its imperfections, these take nothing away from the book. A very satisfying and indeed invigorating read.
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Nothing predictable about it, especially for its time, but even published now it would be unique. Loved it. Show Less
LibraryThing member DieFledermaus
This coming-of-age story is distinguished by a number of factors – the setting in Australia, the often shallow, capricious and blithe narrator and the author’s refreshing voice. Sybylla Melvyn is the high-spirited, intelligent, pleasure-loving daughter of a cultured mother and a well-loved
Things look up when Sybylla goes to live with her grandmother, aunt and uncle. Finally, she has likeminded and kind people to talk to and none of the drudgery at home. Sybylla can be annoying in a selfish, overdramatic kind of way, but she is just a teenager and one who has lived in soul-crushing circumstances. The book created a scandal when it came out in 1901 and there was much speculation about the autobiographical elements. Multiple characters fall in love with Sybylla, which can be clichéd or too much of a wish-fulfillment plot element, but the narrative finally ends up following only one quite unconventional romance. There’s also not the predicted blissful wedding at the end.
Probably the best thing about the book is Sybylla’s first person voice – it’s fresh and funny and immediate which makes it all the more impressive that Franklin wrote it when she was 16. The setting, in the Australian backwoods, also provides a nice contrast to the usual coming-of-age, genteel romance plots – the backbreaking work at Possum Gully is given a vivid and depressing life, transients regularly stop by even the nicest homes and the dusty open country is palpable. Sybylla, though, can still find romance in the countryside, even at Possum Gully.
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father. However, when they sell their acres and move to Possum Gully, things take a turn for the worse as the farming is poor, the weather intolerable and the intellectual environment nonexistent. Sybylla’s father takes to drinking and the family is soon mired in poverty.Things look up when Sybylla goes to live with her grandmother, aunt and uncle. Finally, she has likeminded and kind people to talk to and none of the drudgery at home. Sybylla can be annoying in a selfish, overdramatic kind of way, but she is just a teenager and one who has lived in soul-crushing circumstances. The book created a scandal when it came out in 1901 and there was much speculation about the autobiographical elements. Multiple characters fall in love with Sybylla, which can be clichéd or too much of a wish-fulfillment plot element, but the narrative finally ends up following only one quite unconventional romance. There’s also not the predicted blissful wedding at the end.
Probably the best thing about the book is Sybylla’s first person voice – it’s fresh and funny and immediate which makes it all the more impressive that Franklin wrote it when she was 16. The setting, in the Australian backwoods, also provides a nice contrast to the usual coming-of-age, genteel romance plots – the backbreaking work at Possum Gully is given a vivid and depressing life, transients regularly stop by even the nicest homes and the dusty open country is palpable. Sybylla, though, can still find romance in the countryside, even at Possum Gully.
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LibraryThing member Kasthu
My Brilliant Career was written when Miles Franklin was only 16, and it shows all the imperfections of youth. Based on Franklin’s experiences, the novel is the story of Sybylla Melvyn, a young girl who proves to be too much for her parents to handle, is sent to her grandmother’s in the
Sybylla is headstrong and opinionated, but as with youth she is naive and defiant. I liked her at first for being different from the usual housewife aspirant, and for wanting something more from life than the obvious. Our heroine is, nonetheless, a product of her environment, and she is, accordingly, naïve. But the more I read, the less I really liked Syblla. As I’ve said the book is autobiographical, so I don’t think that Miles Franklin had much of a chance to fully disengage herself from her material. There is also a reliance on melodramatic plot elements that the author might easily have gotten from the romance novels of the period (eg, the “ugly duckling” theme, the struggle between Sybylla and her mother, or the romance). It is a little bit juvenile and speaks of someone who doesn’t have much experience of the world.
Still, the novel is revolutionary for the narrator’s outlook on life and her interest in and love for her native country. The author’s affection for the Australian bush country is palpable; the author was apparently a skilled horsewoman, for example, and it shows clearly in the novel. Although people in her area took the novel as fact, Miles Franklin insisted that the novel wasn’t completed based on her experiences, and it is interesting that for a period of 60 years, she banned the republication of My Brilliant Career—despite its popularity upon publication in 1901.
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Australian bushland, where she quickly becomes enamored of that way of life—and of pursuing a career as a writer.Sybylla is headstrong and opinionated, but as with youth she is naive and defiant. I liked her at first for being different from the usual housewife aspirant, and for wanting something more from life than the obvious. Our heroine is, nonetheless, a product of her environment, and she is, accordingly, naïve. But the more I read, the less I really liked Syblla. As I’ve said the book is autobiographical, so I don’t think that Miles Franklin had much of a chance to fully disengage herself from her material. There is also a reliance on melodramatic plot elements that the author might easily have gotten from the romance novels of the period (eg, the “ugly duckling” theme, the struggle between Sybylla and her mother, or the romance). It is a little bit juvenile and speaks of someone who doesn’t have much experience of the world.
Still, the novel is revolutionary for the narrator’s outlook on life and her interest in and love for her native country. The author’s affection for the Australian bush country is palpable; the author was apparently a skilled horsewoman, for example, and it shows clearly in the novel. Although people in her area took the novel as fact, Miles Franklin insisted that the novel wasn’t completed based on her experiences, and it is interesting that for a period of 60 years, she banned the republication of My Brilliant Career—despite its popularity upon publication in 1901.
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LibraryThing member Dani12
Amazing characters with a fantastic and unexpected ending. I read this in about 2 days as I just couldn't put it down. So wonderfully engaging and beautifully written.
LibraryThing member wendyrey
A growing up story, a bit melodramatic and some of the characters are a bit of a caricature but it was written by a sixteen year old (wish I could write that well)
LibraryThing member kmstock
I had known about this book as an Australian classic for many years, and Miles Franklin is namesake of a literature prize, but have only know got around to reading it. I was not disappointed. It is the story of a teenaged girl growing up in rural Australia, and her changing fortunes. I think the
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mastery is in the descriptions, and the ability of the book to really conjure up a picture in the reader's mind of the places and situations. The main character is herself very entertaining and real as a person, and wrestles with her own frustration at her own nature (although at such a young age, manages to do a pretty good job of accepting this). Excellent! Show Less
LibraryThing member dylkit
Not a book for romantics - nothing is romanticised, not the past, rural life, love or marriage. The protagonist is prickly and contrary and at times you want to slap her, but she sticks to her principles and I really liked her.
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
An Australian friend says this book is an Aussie version of Jane Austen I will have to concur because I haven't lived in Australia and she has. It is much grittier than Jane Austen's work though and I suspect Jane would have collapsed into a dead faint if she had been forced to governess the M'Swat
I was rather miffed with Sybylla though for not trying to help her family who desperately needed assistance. Being a governess to the M'Swats was forced upon her by her mother but she surely could have found another situation if she had really wanted to. And her treatment of Harry Beecham was quite awful. She agreed to become engaged and wear his ring and then she threw it in his face when he got angry with her for flirting and then she decided she would become secretly engaged but not marry until she was 21. Then when he lost his fortune she promised she would wait for him and it didn't matter that he was poor but when he regained his fortune she said she didn't want to marry him. No wonder Harry left Australia and went travelling over the world! It's a wonder he didn't take up strong drink and gambling as well.
However, it does have "loads of Australian scenery" and makes me long (again) to visit Australia even if it doesn't look the way Miles Franklin described it. Someday, I'll get there.
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children. I suspect that Sybylla and Susanna Moodie (who wrote Roughing it in the Bush about pioneering in Canada) would have had a lot in common though. I was rather miffed with Sybylla though for not trying to help her family who desperately needed assistance. Being a governess to the M'Swats was forced upon her by her mother but she surely could have found another situation if she had really wanted to. And her treatment of Harry Beecham was quite awful. She agreed to become engaged and wear his ring and then she threw it in his face when he got angry with her for flirting and then she decided she would become secretly engaged but not marry until she was 21. Then when he lost his fortune she promised she would wait for him and it didn't matter that he was poor but when he regained his fortune she said she didn't want to marry him. No wonder Harry left Australia and went travelling over the world! It's a wonder he didn't take up strong drink and gambling as well.
However, it does have "loads of Australian scenery" and makes me long (again) to visit Australia even if it doesn't look the way Miles Franklin described it. Someday, I'll get there.
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LibraryThing member madepercy
Why do movies insist on a happy ending? Thankfully the book does not need to do so. I felt this was a combination of YA fiction, period drama, Australiana, and tragedy all in one. There are numerous references to Australiana that I must now investigate, and it was pleasant to read about fictitious
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towns based around Goulburn (which is 25 minutes up the Hume from where I now live. I am glad to have read this book, and Miles Franklin (albeit her pen name!) is surely one of Australia's great authors. While the who have seen the movie first (like me) will have had their imagination compromised, reading the book is still a worthy pursuit. Show Less
LibraryThing member Rosemarie.Herbert
This review has been crossposted from my blog Review from Rose's Book Reviews Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me.
Sybylla is going to have a brilliant career... in doing nothing. Out in the Australian Bush, and even in town, it's obvious that Sybylla doesn't belong. This is a prime
For years I didn't know that Miles Franklin was a woman. Upon now reading it, it's obvious that it is! She says it's not romantic, but in a way it is. Sybylla is lovable, in an irritating sort of way. The foreword by Henry Lawson is rather masculine, and I"m not sure it's really in keeping with the book, but it does display the attitudes of men towards women's writing at the time.
Before I started reading, I knew the ending because I had already read some references on the topic (hello essay topic of mateship). So I knew it was doomed from the start! I still persevered though, and in the end I was reading past my bed time because I wanted to see what the stupid Sybylla would do! There is a sequel to this book ('My Career Goes Bung'), which I don't think I'll bother reading (although I am somewhat curious).
Australian fiction doesn't do anything for me. Certainly not Australian fiction from the literary period of the 1890s. I'm sure there are better examples of Australian fiction, and I do enjoy some Australian fantasy, but novels of mateship and the hardships of the Bush don't seem to do anything for me. UnAustralian of me, I know, I know.
I can understand why I am set to study it, because it is a relatively good example of its kind. And it is extremely well known. This is rather reminicent of the writings of Jane Austin, which I also didn't enjoy. However, if you enjoy fiction in the style of Austin, and don't mind a bit of Australian slang, this is a good book to get right into it. The language isn't particularly hard, as long as you understand the Australianisms.
I feel like I've given you a list of reasons not to read it, and very little on the good aspects of the book. For a first novel by an early Australian writer, it's not that bad. The settings are well described, and you can understand the relationships of Sybylla with her family nicely. There is little action, but what there is is quite good. Sybylla seems to get into trouble over everything! And there is certainly no 'Brilliant Career' to speak of.
My copy was from the library, and the version of it had a surprising number of typos. Not unreadable, just that the editors seemed not to take any care. Or perhaps it was left over from the original manuscript - whatever, it was just a shame. That was reflected in the boring cover you see in the above image. The book is obviously riding on its reputation as a classic, not looking to pull readers on the basis of looks or story line alone.
Sybylla is going to have a brilliant career... in doing nothing. Out in the Australian Bush, and even in town, it's obvious that Sybylla doesn't belong. This is a prime
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example of early Australian literature, and it's worth a read if you like that type of thing, or the poetry of the 1890s isn't for you.For years I didn't know that Miles Franklin was a woman. Upon now reading it, it's obvious that it is! She says it's not romantic, but in a way it is. Sybylla is lovable, in an irritating sort of way. The foreword by Henry Lawson is rather masculine, and I"m not sure it's really in keeping with the book, but it does display the attitudes of men towards women's writing at the time.
Before I started reading, I knew the ending because I had already read some references on the topic (hello essay topic of mateship). So I knew it was doomed from the start! I still persevered though, and in the end I was reading past my bed time because I wanted to see what the stupid Sybylla would do! There is a sequel to this book ('My Career Goes Bung'), which I don't think I'll bother reading (although I am somewhat curious).
Australian fiction doesn't do anything for me. Certainly not Australian fiction from the literary period of the 1890s. I'm sure there are better examples of Australian fiction, and I do enjoy some Australian fantasy, but novels of mateship and the hardships of the Bush don't seem to do anything for me. UnAustralian of me, I know, I know.
I can understand why I am set to study it, because it is a relatively good example of its kind. And it is extremely well known. This is rather reminicent of the writings of Jane Austin, which I also didn't enjoy. However, if you enjoy fiction in the style of Austin, and don't mind a bit of Australian slang, this is a good book to get right into it. The language isn't particularly hard, as long as you understand the Australianisms.
I feel like I've given you a list of reasons not to read it, and very little on the good aspects of the book. For a first novel by an early Australian writer, it's not that bad. The settings are well described, and you can understand the relationships of Sybylla with her family nicely. There is little action, but what there is is quite good. Sybylla seems to get into trouble over everything! And there is certainly no 'Brilliant Career' to speak of.
My copy was from the library, and the version of it had a surprising number of typos. Not unreadable, just that the editors seemed not to take any care. Or perhaps it was left over from the original manuscript - whatever, it was just a shame. That was reflected in the boring cover you see in the above image. The book is obviously riding on its reputation as a classic, not looking to pull readers on the basis of looks or story line alone.
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LibraryThing member AliceAnna
I loved the book despite wanting to shake Sybylla at times! Franklin did a masterful job of evoking atmosphere. It was so easy to get lost in the book. Sybylla was one of the most complex characters I've ever read from that period. There was nothing cliche with the plot or the characters and I was
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left to wonder what direction the novel would take through the very last page. The only downside was that the main character was so down on herself for being "ugly." But the dichotomy of that brutal self-appraisal and the fierce pride and independence of spirit placed her among the most interesting and memorable female characters that I've ever had the pleasure to meet. Show Less
LibraryThing member lydia1879
My Brilliant Career is sort of what would happen if Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and the Australian outback and first-wave feminism had a baby.
Miles Franklin, though. Stella Marie Sarah Miles Franklin. She struggled for so long to get this book published - it was a success of sorts in the
I wasn't ready to warm to this book - it's quite thick, and I had to read it for a course. But I loved it. It grew on me. Sybylla is a headstrong heroine who can be a little bit irritating, but after a while, I had only absolute affection towards her.
This book, written when Franklin was only a teenager, is a beautiful masterpiece. It's full of early feminist thought and ideas, and although I don't like all the parts of the book, together, as a whole, I love it.
I love the descriptions of the landscape, the stark sunrises, the ring-barked trees.
This book, in all its humble existence, is one of the unsung heroes of early Australian literature and feminism. I'll continue to be its champion till the day I die.
Doesn't matter if you don't love this book, Stella Marie Miles Franklin, because I do.
Miles Franklin, though. Stella Marie Sarah Miles Franklin. She struggled for so long to get this book published - it was a success of sorts in the
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end, but she was so sick of it, she took it off the market and wanted it published again only after she died.I wasn't ready to warm to this book - it's quite thick, and I had to read it for a course. But I loved it. It grew on me. Sybylla is a headstrong heroine who can be a little bit irritating, but after a while, I had only absolute affection towards her.
This book, written when Franklin was only a teenager, is a beautiful masterpiece. It's full of early feminist thought and ideas, and although I don't like all the parts of the book, together, as a whole, I love it.
I love the descriptions of the landscape, the stark sunrises, the ring-barked trees.
This book, in all its humble existence, is one of the unsung heroes of early Australian literature and feminism. I'll continue to be its champion till the day I die.
Doesn't matter if you don't love this book, Stella Marie Miles Franklin, because I do.
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LibraryThing member ProfH
As a piece of history that tells the story of a unique place, at a pivotal time, from an uncommon perspective this novel has great value. Yet, the casual racism of the narrator (the blacks, the mad red Indians, the Chinamen and their smelly food) is grating on the contemporary reader. The amount of
In sum, not much in the way of literature, but interesting if you want to see rural Australia from a young woman’s perspective around 1900.
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time the narrator spends bemoaning her ugliness grows tiresome. In sum, not much in the way of literature, but interesting if you want to see rural Australia from a young woman’s perspective around 1900.
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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
I don't understand this cover at all. The cover of my copy is apparently a movie still, with the girl looking pensive. And I don't know how to review this story. It did get easier to read as the girl matured, but I still don't agree with her final decision re marriage. It sure was interesting
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learning about old Australia, though. Show Less
LibraryThing member caddaye
Wonderful tale of a girl trying to get by in a world of poverty and rules. Learning that beauty is everything and with self doubt she travels through the story finding her way and self along the way.
LibraryThing member therebelprince
A classic of Australian literature yet, written by a 16-year-old focusing on autobiography, not actually an amazing read. Important without being brilliant, this is nevertheless something to put on the bucket list.
Subjects
Awards
Australia's Greatest Books (1901)
Language
Original publication date
1901
Physical description
288 p.; 7.8 inches
ISBN
0143105051 / 9780143105053