On Quiet

Personal essay about the concept and power of quiet

After having read Leigh Sales’ contribution “On Doubt” to the “Little Books on Big Themes” series, I saw this one in Dymocks for $12.99 and thought I’d give it a try. I remember reading this author back when her novel “The Bride Stripped Bare” was published anonymously so was eager to read her take on this theme. It was also the perfect size for my Short Stack Reading Challenge.

“On Quiet” by Nikki Gemmell is a personal essay about the theme of quiet with a particular focus on a modern, urban world and how difficult it is to find. Gemmell explores scientific, philosophical, geographic and social ideas of quiet and ruminates on quietude, quiet as an absence of sound and quiet as being fleeting moments rather than any permanent state of being. She concludes that in quiet there is solace.

This is a well-researched and considered essay that draws on a range of sources, ideas and experts to explore a theme that is very relevant to a contemporary society where we are bombarded with noise physical, metaphorical and digital. Underpinning Gemmell’s essay is the observation that for mothers, quiet is especially elusive.

I’m not quite sure what exactly it was about this book that didn’t quite resonate with me. Perhaps it’s the inherent self-centredness of Gemmell’s feminism; concerned more with the various inconveniences of being a mother rather than structural inequality. I read this book when I was nearly 9 months pregnant, and am now reviewing it having had a baby, but Gemmell’s take on themes of motherhood (I really don’t like that word; being a mum feels more like a verb than a noun to me) are difficult for me to relate to. There was also something about the way she writes about Aboriginal people that is a bit jarring, for example:

…I realised it’s not only Aboriginal people who hold a monopoly on a profound and spiritual connection to the land-the craving can addle any of us”

A thoughtful, complex and well-researched essay that perhaps at times reflected some generational differences.