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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Beejay Silcox

Worry Doll by Laura McPhee-Browne review – a sensual, sinister novel about the horrors of desire

Composite for Australian book review featuring Laura McPhee-Browne and her novel
‘For readers who love the interpretive gameplay of books like Audition by Katie Kitamura’: Worry Doll by Laura McPhee-Browne. Composite: Scribe

I’ve been craving a sandwich: soft white roll, roast chicken, sharp cheese. A bright little cut of tomato. After I finish this review I’ll walk up to the supermarket and buy myself a hot chook. Sink my teeth in.

It wasn’t my idea. I caught the craving from Laura McPhee-Browne’s Worry Doll. One of her characters longs for the same sandwich, made just so: “there is a particular amount of cheese and chicken that she requires for it to feel the way she needs it to when she chews and swallows.” I know that feeling. There is nothing cheap about cheap pleasure. And Worry Doll understands pleasure.

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