Review of ‘Miniatures’ by Susan Midalia

Midalia, Susan. Miniatures. Perth: Night Parrot Press, 2022. RRP: $24.99, 192pp, ISBN: 9780648706342.

Jen Bowden

It’s no secret that acclaimed Western Australian writer Susan Midalia is a master of short fiction. Though the author has turned her hand to novels in the last few years—publishing The Art of Persuasion (2018) and Everyday Madness (2021) with Fremantle Press—she’s now returned to the short form in this new collection from Night Parrot Press. However, Miniatures is a short story collection with a difference: Midalia has turned to micro-fiction in this latest book, with each story spanning no more than two pages in length. What may have started out as a creative challenge has emerged as a delightful pick ‘n’ mix of tales that are funny, engaging and entertaining.

Miniatures is 110 stories that offer snapshots into the lives of ordinary people facing the highs and lows of life. Midalia doesn’t shy away from the harder topics, tackling love, gender bias, climate change and the female body to name a few of the themes that come to the fore.

There is beauty in the simplicity of Midalia’s prose. Her economy with language enhances depictions of settings or characterisations to create rich scenes in few words:

The sky was pierced by stabs of lightning, sheet lightning, the kind that didn’t strike the ground or buildings or people. But still, she drove slowly, mindfully, wondering if there would be rain to moisten the dry evening air. (3)

Here, the reader is immediately drawn into the scene, put there in the car with the character, her emotions, the current weather, with the way the weather has been and with her state of mind—and all this in just two sentences!

One of the most endearing things about these stories is the way that Midalia plays with the form, not only to provide laugh-out-loud moments, but also to subvert the reader’s expectation of where a narrative is going. The figure of the writer is a prevalent one, and often becomes the punchline for the dry humour and wry wit Midalia is known for:

Police later told reporters they’d found the man in a darkened room, slumped over his desk and moaning. After a series of probing questions, they’d charged him for allegedly attempting to write a novel. (10)

Writing about writers could come across as self-indulgent for the author and off-putting for those outside that particular community. But Midalia uses the unexpected, the humorous and the uncanny to explore these strange creatures, and gives the real sense that she’s having enormous fun while doing so.

Among the snapshots of ordinary folk are a number of stories that take a close look at politics and politicians. Midalia is brutally scathing of the Australian government and politics in general, and the messages that underlie these miniature tales are unashamedly unsubtle. In one story, titled ‘How many conservative Australian politicians does it take to change a light bulb?’, Midalia lets rip at the wastefulness and entitlement of government bureaucracy:

Seven cabinet ministers to fly to New York to discuss the latest developments in light bulb changing with a team of light bulb changing experts. (Business class flights to be booked by a company owned by one of the cabinet minister’s sons, and hotel bookings to be made by a company owned by one of the cabinet minister’s nieces.) (34)

Fiction—even micro-fiction it would seem—is there to unearth what those in power don’t want us to see, and to challenge and to question what we are fed. Midalia does this in droves, pulling apart ideas on climate change, sexism and media spin to turn them on their heads and thus reveal the manipulation hiding beneath the surface.

Though micro-fiction may seem like something for only seasoned literature buffs to enjoy, it’s far from the case with Miniatures. Midalia has created a book that pulls at the emotions and gets the mind working. These stories are beautiful, thought-provoking, entertaining and funny, and each one deserves to be savoured.

Jen is a writer and journalist based in Perth. She lived and worked in Edinburgh, Scotland for ten years and has written for a number of UK newspapers and magazines including The List, The Guardian and The Scotsman. She previously worked for Scoop Events and in the marketing team at Fremantle Press, and is now a freelance writer and editor.

Share Article →