I came to this book having heard high praise for it from my Australian friends. And I am happy to report that they did not let me down (they never do). This book was excellent, a genre-bending exploration of feminism and academia that kept me engaged from the beginning.

Theory and Practice follows a young Sri Lankan woman as she arrives to start grad school in Melbourne. The Melbourne scene is quite different than what she was used to in Sydney where she did much of her schooling. She is shocked by her mentor's focus on Theory and just wants to dive into the words of Virginia Woolf for her thesis. At the same time, she surrounds herself with a bohemian group and ends up in an affair--tumultuous at times-- with a man named Kit. Theory pervades even this relationship as Kit claims to believe in deconstructed love. Things spiral from there as our narrator's personal life derails her academic one.

I loved the way this was written, in choppy vignettes that alternate between her personal and academic lives. She muses on Virginia Woolf, she frets about her relationship with Kit, and she dissolves into an obsession with his girlfriend. At the same time, she is having erudite conversations with her friends. It was interesting hopping from one subject to the next with her. There are similarities between de Kretser's past and her narrator, further blurring lines between fact and fiction.

Overall, loved this one. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but it was certainly mine.

Satisfying to read. Enjoyed the commentary on colonialism and matrilineal legacy & impact. Thought provoking & intelligent.

Michelle de Kretser’s Theory & Practice is an exploration of the intersections of art, love, theory and self-discovery threaded together by the works of Virginia Woolf. Set in 1986 Melbourne, the novel follows a young woman from Sri Lanka as she navigates the intellectual and emotional feelings in her new Masters program in Melbourne. De Kretser’s hybrid approach to storytelling—blending fiction, memoir, and essay—creates a multifaceted narrative that is both thought-provoking as the story begins with fiction, and includes other facets including letters, and a meta approach that vears into autobiography.

The narrator arrives in Melbourne to pursue graduate studies on Virginia Woolf, a literary idol whose feminist ideals inspire and shape much of her worldview. Her relationship with a man named Kit, however, forces her to confront that her feminism clashes with the jealousy and vulnerability that arise. Meanwhile, revelations from Woolf’s own diaries shake the narrator’s faith in the very ideals she has built her identity around, exposing Woolf’s troubling views shaped by class and colonialism.

De Kretser’s prose is spare yet layered, capturing the protagonist’s inner conflict and cultural dissonance with striking precision. Through the lens of the narrator’s postmodern feminist ideals, the novel critiques not only the exploitative nature of colonialism but also the illusions of freedom and equality that such systems perpetuate. This is especially poignant as the narrator reflects on her own privilege and the limitations of the ideologies she holds dear.

Theory & Practice is as much a meditation on art as it is on life. De Kretser explores how the stories we tell ourselves—whether through literature or ideology—shape and sometimes betray us. The novel is unapologetically intellectual, yet it wears its intelligence lightly, inviting readers into a world of ideas without alienation.

For readers who relish fiction that interrogates the complexities of identity, morality, and cultural inheritance, Theory & Practice is an essential read. De Kretser has crafted a deeply human story about the imperfect ways we navigate our relationships—with others, with our beliefs, and with ourselves. #theoryandpractice #counterpoint #softskull #michelledekrester

The year is 1986. Our narrator, a young, Sri Lankan woman in Melbourne for graduate school, is enmeshed in radically shifting gender, social, and economic mores.
For example, is she less a feminist if she desired more contact with her lover, Kit, despite his claims of a "deconstructed relationship" with his primary girlfriend?

While researching Virginia Woolf our narrator unearths details about Woolf's life that change her conception of her idol and the potential direction of her own academic journey and life's work.

A hybrid novel, memoir, and essay "Theory & Practice" might break your brain if you delve too deeply into the minutea (like I first did!). But if you can let go of preconceived notions of what a novel should be or who the narrator could be, de Kretser takes you on an exquisite, contemplative journey.

Thank you kindly to Michelle de Kretser, Catapult, and NetGalley for the eARC.