Matthews renders Jordi’s fate and the culture behind it with sharp urgency and a surprisingly delicate hand…. It’s an acute take on the toxic culture of macho celebrity, and pulls no punches on the sexual violence it can enable, but also a story illuminated by resilience and unexpected kindness.
Cameron Woodhead, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age
A gritty and honest novel in its depiction of sexual violence against young women. This is an important work.
Tony Birch
The circumstances surrounding Jordi’s sexploitation, the jock culture and the politics of victim-blaming form the crux of this book but Matthews is also interested in exploring dispossession, generational poverty, substance abuse and gambling. Siren is starkly written, though studded with tender details that mark its sensitivity to trauma and despair: the fake Prada heels worn by Jordi to impress merely highlight her youth (“but now her shoes were like everything else. They were hurting, they were letting her down”). Like George, Matthews’ sense of compassion for her characters informs and overlays her narrative.
Thuy On, The Australian 05/08/17
Matthews renders Jordi’s fate and the culture behind it with sharp urgency and a surprisingly delicate hand. Ageing footballer Max tries to stop his colleague, a meathead named Dirk, from assaulting Jordi, but is king-hit for his trouble. The rape is just the beginning of Jordi’s ordeal, and the novel elucidates her predicament, with the familiar victim blaming as the football world closes ranks. Siren is far from unrelentingly bleak. It’s an acute take on the toxic culture of macho celebrity, and pulls no punches on the sexual violence it can enable, but also a story illuminated by resilience and unexpected kindness.
Cameron Woodhead, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times, Canberra Times 02/09/17
This is a book that must be read; its message is so important. Each of its characters are voiceless in different ways, and Matthews isn’t didactic in her depictions of how they came to be that way. This is simultaneously the most disturbing and compelling aspect of the novel – nobody is poor because they deserve it – they are poor because they were poor to begin with. This is an aspect of our lived reality that is sometimes difficult to even think about. This is not a book for reading at times of emotional vulnerability, but it is a book that must be read and learned from.
Ellen Cregan, Readings Monthly 25/07/17
