Australian Women's Book Review Volume 14.1 - School of English ...

KJ
Oh, I've been given a dog and I couldn't be more sentimental about this little dog. I allow myself to be
completely silly about the dog, but no, I am not a very sentimental person. I think, overall, I'd say that
life is full of hard choices. We do the best we can, and sometimes we don't.
JM
And the character closes, Kate, by railing about the ideas of learning lessons and self improvement so
deep in the American culture. And also railing against closure, which I enjoyed immensely. But there's
these remarks:
Actually I did learn something,...
and this is from the experience in Wall Street but I guess I'm wondering in relation to your experience
with your husband,
Is that you again?
... the dailyness of life, that's what gets you through at times, putting on your
pantyhose, eating breakfast, catching the subway, that's what stops your heart
from breaking.
KJ
That's absolutely true too.
JM
Tell me more, what is this `dailyness of life?'
KJ
You know after my husband died you would have though that it would have been a relief not to have
the nursing home and the burden and to be watching him and everything that goes with it, but I was
absolutely devastated after he died because I didn't have anything to do. I didn't have bits, the practical
things I could occupy myself with and I was just left with me and the grief. Yes, and I think that
anybody who is a caregiver out there, anybody who is going through a similar sort of thing, it's daily
life that saves you. Thank goodness.
Kate Jennings book is called Moral Hazard and is published by Picador Australia.
[Text prepared by Carole Ferrier and Drew Whitehead]
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