All That & Everything is Karen Turners first book and is soon to be followed by another. Karen is the current Vice-President of the Society of Women Writers, Victoria, Australia. Complimented with illustrations by her late father, Robert, Karen has compiled a book of stories that takes the reader to places they never thought they would be taken. I was not sure what to expect when I first opened the cover of this petite looking book that intrigues but invites and inspires. I was hooked and left in awe by the end of the first story. Karen has a unique writing style, that could be seen as slightly immature and of old age yet it entwines and captivates. Her writing style is a breath of fresh air in a world where stories are often flat and dry leaving the reader little to imagine. Karen Turner puts your imagination on a magic carpet that flyʼs you up, down and around, causing your head to spin with delight and pleasure.
With some short story books it is possible to read more than one story in a sitting but with All That & Everything it is best to read one story at a time, allowing you to take a breath after having held tight in suspense. The emotion, visualisation and intensity of each story is best absorbed before moving on. In each story the strength of Karen Turners writing grabs you. I felt I rode a hurdy gurdy of wow! I know what is going to happen next, to wow! I didnʼt see that coming. Each story ended me on a high, some with amazement at the ending, some questioning why it ended when I wanted more and others just left me numb.
All That & Everything has a story for everyone. From love and family to animals, spooky ghosts and topics that teach and invoke thought. This is a well thought and professional book from beginning to end. The placement of each story seemed to fit well, with the last three stories befitting each other. In ʻIrises from yesterdayʼ Karen takes the reader on a journey of deep love for another and loss. It touches the delicate topic of death as Mavis awaits her calling in a nursing home where she is seen to be receiving Irises from her late husband Edmund, who has come to take Mavis with him ʻwhen the time is rightʼ. Is it Edmund who visitʼs Mavis at night and leaves an iris or Bert, an old man in the nursing home who loves to wonder?
In Kayʼs Cafe Karen Turner covers the delicate and touching topic of Alzheimers as Brenda, who lives interstate, calls her grandma regularly to find that over time Grandma is slipping away from her. Kayʼs Cafe is a short touching story of the relationship between the two generations and the coming to terms of old age and loss. It is also about finding each other and yourself. The Last Goodbye, rightfully titled and placed in the book as the last story, had me in awe of the creativity Karen has used to cover the topic of death. Karen takes the reader into the mind of the corpse within the coffin. Have you ever thought of what a funeral would look like from the view of the deceased if they could talk? Have you ever wondered it those lying in the coffin are yelling at those who have planned their funeral, are wanting to comfort those who cry and are frustrated wanting to relay a message that one may have missed. In The Last Goodbye Karen has also been able to touch on the topic of suicide. Comical yet touching and thought provoking, The Last Goodbye deals with death from another angle.
What does life look like from a catʼs point of view? What do the shoes of the regular commuters on the train each morning tell us about them? Are things really as they seem in a mirror? Do ghosts walk amongst us? These are just some of the questions All That & Everything will have the reader pondering in a few fictitious pages.
Karen Turner is a true artist. It is not easy to take three to four pages and turn them into an intense piece of writing that not only tells an inviting story but grabs the soul and compels, and this is what Karen Turner has done. She is a story teller in its true sense. In All That & Everything I rediscovered the magical moment that can be held in but a few brief words.
Available online at www.palmerhiggs.com.au
ISBN: 978-0-646-51976-0
review: Jennifer Deaves
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