Our unnamed narrator and his girlfriend are both writers. He has been published, won prizes, but is struggling to write his first book. He is in a rut, defining that writing now feels like passing a kidney stone. Therefore, it seems like serendipity when he stumbles across Brenda Shales at the local pool.
Fifty years ago, Brenda Shales wrote two highly controversial and popular novels that caused a sensation when published. Shales never gave interviews, a recluse even before the books. The jacket on the cover of her first novel is the single image of her in existence. She disappeared from the public eye quickly after a plagiarism case against her was settled out of court.
When the narrator is mistaken for Brenda’s grandson, he uses the mistake to ask Brenda if he can write her biography knowing that the book will make a seismic splash in the literary world.
This white lie leads to multiple lies as the narrator finds it increasingly difficult to maintain the deception. Then he catches Shales lying. Just who is deceiving whom here?
The book is divided into the present and the interviews the narrator has with Shale that reveal Shales’ life and history. A hellish life that inspired the books. They also reveal a world that was changing, particularly for women.
The character writing and dialogue are brilliant. Brenda Shales is such an enjoyable character to read. The twists and turns at the end of the book lead to an ending I didn’t see coming. A superb debut.
Reviewed by Neale Lucas
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am an Australian writer, and my debut novel is I Want Everything.
My fiction, essays and criticism have been published widely. New writing is appearing in The Los Angeles Review of Books and New Australian Fiction 2024.
I’ve won numerous prizes, grants and fellowships, most recently: the Vil La Joana Residency, Hawthornden Fellowship, the Speculate Prize, an Australia Council New Work Grant, and the Alan Marshall Short Story Award.
(4/5)
One should never tell a lie, and in the book I Want Everything, this statement proves true. A young author recognises a well-known reclusive author, Brenda Shales, at a Melbourne pool, and he thinks that if he can get to speak to her and find out why she vanished, he might be able to write up her story and become a famous author.
The author must pretend to be Brenda’s grandson to be able to see and speak to her where she lives in a retirement facility, Mercy House. The author visits Brenda, and he then manages to get Brenda to tell her story about her books, although he is not always sure whether Brenda is telling the truth or making her story up.
This book is intriguing as there are many twists and turns. I Want Everything is not the kind of book which I usually read but I enjoyed it and couldn’t wait to get to the end to find out if the author who had written Brenda’s story became famous.
(4/5)
This is a novel about identity and literary ambitions, but in many ways, it reads like a thriller, leaving readers breathlessly wondering if and when the central character will be exposed. The result is a highly readable, thoughtful, and complex novel with a pace and structure that feels suspenseful.
You’d think a literary mystery might be low stakes, but the absolute absorption of the characters makes you feel that it matters very, very much. I really enjoyed finding such a thoughtful premise wrapped up in a thriller cover: I got the exciting read and then was left with a great deal to think about.
Ethical questions are central to the novel, and I found them presented in a digestible and thought-provoking way.
Despite the complex ideas, this is very easy to read. The writing style is relatively direct and paced to draw you through the story quite quickly. Characterisation is interesting, with some characters deliberately shadowy while others are sharply drawn.
This should suit readers who want both a fast-paced and interesting story and substantial ideas to think about in the aftermath. It’s a really good novel, and I’m still thinking about the issues it raises.
(4/5)
The unnamed protagonist, who sees himself as an emerging author in a writing rut, is suddenly lucky. As his lover puts it, “You recognise a noted recluse, whom no-one has heard boo from in fifty years. You ambush her at her place of residence, and she invites you in for tea and bickies, decides to spill the full, unabridged beans. The great mystery of Australian letters falls right into your lap.” Except it’s under false pretences.
He’s writing something that’s not a straight-out biography but includes himself as the writer. He admits, “What I was concocting was not literature, but the story of a parasite and his perfect host.” He’d confessed his desire to be the next great Australian writer, but he will strike many as lazy, lacking integrity, with occasional feelings of guilt that are quickly dismissed for the sake of getting his name on the cover. Watching him desperately trying to cover his lies is entertaining, but by the time he’s doing a deep self-analysis, it’s hard to muster any sympathy for him.
Some great characters, many of whom might not be quite who they claim, a clever plot with some delicious twists, and dialogue laced with plenty of black humour. An impressive debut.
(5/5)
An ambitious young author comes across the scoop of a lifetime when he chances upon the reclusive cult author Brenda Shales at a Melbourne pool. What became of her is one of Australia’s last unsolved literary mysteries. Her story could make him the next great Australian writer, but the only way to get her story is to pretend to be someone else.
What follows is a story of obsession and ownership, desire and deception – a story filled with delicious dark humour, terrific twists, and razor-sharp insights about the writer’s world. It had me chuckling out loud and grinning like a maniac at the many brilliant one-liners. I can’t believe it’s a debut. Think Yellowface but with a Melbournian spin. I Want Everything is distinctly Australian, contemporary, and clever, a riveting read that I couldn’t put down.
(4/5)
This book has a quite unique plot that keeps you intrigued and entertained. It talks about pain and love, family and friends, society’s expectations, and the desire for control. The love for literature is palpable throughout the book, together with a welcome sense of humour. The complications of life bring you in deeper contact with the main characters, giving you further insight into their feelings and the way they want to present themselves to the world and leave a mark. You become empathetic to the struggles and the dreams of the aspiring writer. You become curious about the story Brenda now wants to tell. You keep reading, sometimes with a sense of foreboding, sometimes with the hope that finishing writing the book will bring them the much needed catharsis. You will come across some surprises that will add complexity to the whole book. An Australian novel worth reading.
(4/5)
This book was so incredibly intriguing and mysterious that it had me hooked from the very first moment of opening it. I loved the characters, especially the incorporation of Brenda Shales. Would recommend it to anyone with a passion for mystery or looking for a book that you simply won’t be able to put down for a few hours.
(3/5)
“I want everything,” says the unnamed but ambitious author, who has been looking for the scoop of a lifetime.
Recognising a face at the pool, he eventually locates his subject, Brenda Shales, a reclusive writer. A fleeting comment lets him gain access to his subject, who has a mysterious plagiarism case in her past. After several visits, an opportune moment opens up, and Brenda says, “Now, what do you want to know?” And everything he wants to know opens up to him.
It is an intriguing and twisty story as he gets involved in Brenda’s story “just as she was in mine, and I could make her do and say what I wanted.”
But is she telling the truth?
It is exciting for an author to see his first book in print, and I wish him every success.
I found it a difficult read and hard to understand. The style was not easy for me, an “older” reader! His relationship with Ruth, his hospital visits, and the chapters about Brenda’s books were a little confusing. I confess to not reading the whole book, for which I apologise.
It is a contemporary novel of great complexity!
(5/5)
I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena was truly a fun and refreshing read. This book portrays how one small teeny tiny lie can snowball into numerous lies to the point that even the person lying becomes trapped. We delve into the life and mystery of reclusive cult author Brenda Shales through the eyes of an ambitious young writer who stumbles across Brenda at a Melbourne pool. This young author is left confused about Brenda’s past and is left questioning her revelations – are they fact or, indeed, fiction? What will this young author sacrifice to become Australia’s next best thing?
(4/5)
For this struggling writer, a chance sighting of mysterious author Brenda Shales is the big break he needs. If only she’ll agree to speak with him. I Want Everything explores the idiom ‘the end justifies the means’ using relatable characters who could be your family or your neighbours.
This novel didn’t grab my attention instantly as some books do, but I gave it 70 pages to get me interested, and it was about that point that I began to enjoy it. Some aspects of the story were a bit confusing at the start, but all became clear, eventually.
The story is set in Melbourne, and Amerena doesn’t fail to point out how well acquainted he is with it. That might be nice for readers familiar with the city, but it felt to me like he was trying hard to convince me it was real.
I’m glad I pushed past the reticence I had when I started because the closer I got to the finish, the more I wanted to know how it ended, fearing that everything would come crashing down like a house of cards. An interesting look at ordinary people and the consequences of deceit.
(4/5)
Dominic Amerena has spun the most exquisite tale, full of Australian culture that most people will recognise. There is also plenty of black humour within this crafty plot, with brilliant twists thrown in.
The unnamed protagonist pulls us along as the heartbreaking consequences of his deception come to light as he hungers for literary fame. Meanwhile, the subject of his biography and obsession, Brenda Shales, is down-to-earth, yet vigilant and insightful. She takes the protagonist and readers on an eye-opening journey of her renowned life in 1970s Melbourne.
Amerena does an amazing job at creating a story that leaves us questioning who is a more trustworthy storyteller.
Not only does Amerena write with a metafictional element and highlights the main essence of writing perfectly, he also draws us in with the unique style of not using quotation marks at all. Using a dash at the start of the sentence to show that someone was talking did take a bit to get used to, but halfway into the book, you are so drawn into this literary masterpiece that you hardly notice anymore.
This is an impressive debut, and I can’t wait to read more from Dominic Amerena in the future.
(2/5)
This book wasn’t for me. I looked forward to reading it as I was intrigued by the ‘blurb’ on the back cover but was overall disappointed with the structure of the story. I am not a fan of alternative grammar decisions and found it unnecessary to omit the quotation marks around conversations. The narrator is never named, and I am not a fan of the stream-of-consciousness form of narrating a story.
As an aspiring author, the narrator gave me the impression that he was waiting for success rather than striving for it. Hence, his decision to approach Brenda after he recognised her as a famous, yet reclusive author. His relationship with his flatmate and partner was uncomfortable, and his choice of job off off-putting. I became more engaged once Brenda began to tell her story and enjoyed some of the twists and turns, but the narrator continued to annoy me, and overall, despite the unexpected twist at the end, I did not enjoy the book.
(3/5)
A very unusual novel which, to my frustration, I was unable to finish. It started off well, and I felt really connected to it because of the descriptive writing and the familiarity of where the story is set. However, I very soon found myself lost in a maze, not quite sure where I was being led, feeling totally lost to the point that reading became a battle in which I was defeated.
I would recommend this book to readers much younger than me; I think readers younger than eighty would appreciate the puzzle of the writing and the story itself.
(4/5)
Dominic Amerena’s debut novel, I Want Everything, had me second-guessing from start to finish. Why was he at the hospital? Was the old lady he saw at the swimming pool really Brenda Shales, shock writer from the 1970s? Was she lying? Why was he lying? To himself? His girlfriend? Definitely to Brenda. Was his desire for fame enough of a reason for his deception? I spent the whole novel enjoying the writing and speculating.
I was swept along as Brenda voiced how her novels had come about, the events of her life that had influenced them. But the paranoia of a reader had me questioning everything she said.
No doubt, Dominic Amerena is a wonderful writer. He had me hooked even though I disliked both the main characters. I still needed to know what would happen. Who, if anyone, would get their comeuppance/be revealed for the liar?
I will think twice before approaching a writer from now on. Could I trust anything written/spoken by such a potentially unreliable narrator?
(3/5)
“What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
In the quest to unravel the mysterious exodus of the controversial author Brenda Shales, Dominic Amererena’s focal character Bradley unveils a series of unimaginable heartaches, fractured families, dirty dealings, betrayal, and enduring love. Although the story revolves primarily around Brenda, other characters enhance the plot with their unique personalities and conviction to the dominant social and political issues of the era.
The story is narrated through the eyes of Bradley, and whilst slow to engage with a sluggish introduction and a tinge of confusion as he constantly jumps between characters and scenarios, the plot thickens, energising the reader with a powerful climax, an unexpected twist, and a dilemma dealing with a moral and ethical choice.
I Want Everything may not entertain every reader, but it is laced with interesting and thought-provoking facts with a soul-searching ‘unanswered question.’
(4/5)
A stellar debut from an exciting Australian author. If you were a fan of RF Kuang’s Yellowface, you’re bound to get a kick out of I Want Everything. It’s got all the literary mystery and intrigue, but it is quintessentially Australian, specifically Melburnian. I always find it exciting to read a book with familiar locations and landmarks, and anyone who has lived in Melbourne will find it even easier to be absorbed into this tale.
It was a little difficult to get excited about this at the start as I found the protagonist, a struggling author with a slew of mental, physical, and emotional challenges, unlikable at times, but as we delve further into the novel, this is where part of the fascination comes from. Does he get his comeuppance, does he find success? What does he actually deserve to get?
As luck would have it, he comes across reclusive but famous author, Brenda Shales, and sees a golden ticket to success in her life story, but how to get it out of her?
With a strong supporting cast to balance and guide our protagonist, we embark on a path of questionable ethics and even more questionable intentions from more than one character.
(4/5)
Although it’s necessary, I found the book to be a slow starter in setting the scene and making me wait. But with that done, I became curious to watch how everything evolved and the effect all around. The story picked up pace with twists and turns, angst and genuine concern. The range of emotions and suspense compelled me to keep reading to the end, which didn’t disappoint. Thoroughly enjoyed.
(4/5)
‘Unethical…but necessary. I hoped one day people would say the same about what I’d done.’
I Want Everything is Dominic Amerena’s debut novel, an engaging story of literary ambition. It’s easy to get sucked into this novel, and the protagonist is very intriguing. While I didn’t like him, I was fascinated by how he interacted with Brenda, attempting to coax her story out of her while balancing on a knife’s edge of deceit. The fear of being caught in a lie is almost palpable, through the irrational anger the protagonist feels towards other characters for a situation that is entirely of his own making – ‘Unfair as it was, I couldn’t forgive her for what I’d done to her.’
As for Brenda herself, I found her to be quite compelling. Her character has a distinct voice, speaking with a mixture of dark humour and frankness that is endearing. Amerena has vividly captured the social landscape of Brenda’s 1960s upbringing, making the interview sections of this novel my favourite parts to read.
This book kept me guessing, and at times I really struggled to put it down. I enjoyed this debut novel and look forward to reading more from this author.
(3/5)
The story gripped me and had me intrigued from the first few pages. Beginning with a mysterious discharge from the hospital, with no real explanation as to why the main character was there! As the character develops, there isn’t a whole lot to like about him. He has a whole community of writers and industry people around him, including his girlfriend, Ruth, who is also deep in her writing career and gaining success and opportunities. But instead of working hard for his own success, he is second-guessing his ability and is jealous of others’ success.
Then, out of the blue, his luck changes, and he snaps a picture of an elusive author who disappeared from the public writers’ scene after two highly publicised book releases. One small lie becomes multiple lies to cover up the deception and manipulation of a poor, defenceless old woman!
Well written novel outlining what could have been a fantastic story, but I would have liked a more rounded out character of someone I could get on side with. I found it difficult to like any of the characters, and I’m not sure if that was the intention.
However, I would definitely read more from this author.
(3/5)
Melbourne to its core! A pretentious writer’s world is set to shift sideways in a sliding doors moment.
This contemporary first person narrative has an expansive vocabulary. It is not a lazy read; you need to invest fully in living in the world portrayed. The high-brow language used is often but absolutely critical to show the artsy Melbourne writers vibe that permeates from the beginning. Dilapidated housing, a self absorbed protagonist, a chance meeting that borders on stalking and an uncorrected mistaken identity set the character as morally grey and broke enough to pursuit a career making story at all cost. The moral dilemma at this novels heart. Brenda his literary and possibly life muse is an interesting storyteller if she can be believed.
I think my main blocker with this book was how to like it when I wasn’t enamoured with any of the characters. It felt like treading water with a flurry of action and intrigue at the end.
It is a contemporary character driven read that questions the readers views on integrity. This first time Australian author clearly knows the subject matter and the world he creates. I wonder if his life imitates his art, I wonder if that is the point.
(4/5)
Set in Melbourne, this enticing drama of a writer had me glued to the pages with its many twists and turns. I found the story with its layers of time and characters very engrossing.
The descriptions of locations and their surroundings, as well as the atmosphere of places, provided great visualisations of the settings within the novel.
The characters pulled out lot’s of emotions within me as I was reading about their memories or situations they were either experiencing or remembering. Whether it were the lighter moments or the more tense situations, I was right there with them.
Not wanting to give the overall story away, there are plenty of twists that kept me reading, wanting to know what would occur next!
I really recommend this book to readers who love a dramatic story with lots of twists and turns, emotions, and time-layered sub-stories within the whole story. Make sure you stick with it, as the last few chapters really amp up the emotional rollercoaster. It’s well worth reading!
(3/5)
What an interesting novel about books, writing and literary life.
It follows the story of an author and how she finds her stories. It’s fun and interesting as there are many twists and turns making it a good read. The ending of the book is fun and intriguing.
I’m more of a romance reader, so I feel I can’t give this book the credit it deserves as I found it difficult to get into the rhythm of this story.
Overall, a good book with an interesting storyline.
(5/5)
This has been my first book in the literary fiction genre and it definitely didn’t disappoint!
We follow our protagonist through a chance encounter with Brenda Shales, an iconic Australian author who pulled a disappearing act during a scandalous time in her writing career. Both the aspiring author and Brenda develop a relationship laced with deception and a hint of ruthless ambition.
From the moment I picked up this book I was hooked. The writing style was excellent, giving raw and realistic encounters as well as very detailed recounts throughout the interview chapters. I truly felt as though I was sitting with our main characters as they had these in-depth conversations and interactions and felt anxiety bubbling as secrets got closer to the surface.
This has been such an intriguing story and I truly believe it is a great place to start for someone diving into the genre for the first time. Definitely a bonus that Dominic Amerena is an Australian author as he included real places in Australia throughout.
I highly recommend I Want Everything and am now eagerly awaiting more work from Dominic Amerena.
(2/5)
Brenda Shales is a reclusive cult author who’s books took the world by storm before she disappeared from the public eye. When a young writer stumbles across Brenda, he realises the scoop of a lifetime is right in front of him.
One innocent lie or misconception can change the way a story is told and this is certainly the case for Brenda as she starts to talk about the history of her stories and where the inspiration came from. But who is the story teller in this relationship and who’s story is it to tell?
I had very mixed feelings about this book. There are some parts that are well done, especially surrounding the importance of names and getting your story heard. Our forever unnamed narrator who is so conscious of writing the next great novel and getting his name out there spends more time talking about the people in his life and their successes and failures rather than focusing on his own.
I liked the idea of unlikable characters and this book definitely has many, I just found it a little forced at times. There were comments made to make the characters appear more unlikeable and some felt like unnecessary additions that didn’t quite fit in with the story.
(4/5)
An impressive debut from Dominic Amarena with a unique take on literary life and the writing journey. A struggling writer stumbles across an enigmatic writer who has vanished from public view and sees it as a way to reignite his career. Rivalries with his partner and friends compound his ‘innocent mistake’.
With echoes of the Helen Demidenko controversy and Stephen King’s Misery, I Want Everything is a literary puzzle with stories within stories. It felt like unpacking a Matryoshka doll. While none of the characters are particularly endearing, it is compelling reading, even if sometimes you want to turn away!
(3/5)
Dominic Amerena’s I Want Everything is a biting, self-aware debut that dives deep into the dark heart of literary ambition. What starts as a seemingly innocent encounter between a struggling writer and a reclusive author quickly spirals into a web of lies, performance, and unsettling truths about creativity and desire.
The narrator is deeply flawed, and yet disturbingly relatable. His obsession with success, his manipulation of those around him, and his slippery sense of morality all feel uncomfortably real. As someone who loves writing and storytelling, I expected to feel inspired; instead, I came away feeling conflicted about the industry and about human emotion itself.
Amerena doesn’t just satirise the literary world; he exposes something more personal: how much of our identity is constructed, and how easily we can lose our way in pursuit of validation. It’s a novel that made me question not just art, but authenticity. How do you tell the truth when you’re constantly performing?
Verbose, haunting, and occasionally very funny, I Want Everything left me admiring Amerena’s talent—and also wanting to take a long break from anything resembling a writing circle.