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  • Joe Cinque's Consolation

  • By: Helen Garner
  • Narrated by: Helen Garner
  • Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (94 ratings)

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Joe Cinque's Consolation

By: Helen Garner
Narrated by: Helen Garner
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Publisher's Summary

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

A true story of death, grief and the law from the 2019 winner of the Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature.

In October 1997 a clever young law student at ANU made a bizarre plan to murder her devoted boyfriend after a dinner party at their house. Some of the dinner guests-most of them university students-had heard rumours of the plan. Nobody warned Joe Cinque. He died one Sunday, in his own bed, of a massive dose of rohypnol and heroin. His girlfriend and her best friend were charged with murder.

Helen Garner followed the trials in the ACT Supreme Court. Compassionate but unflinching, this is a book about how and why Joe Cinque died. It probes the gap between ethics and the law; examines the helplessness of the courts in the face of what we think of as 'evil'; and explores conscience, culpability, and the battered ideal of duty of care.

It is a masterwork from one of Australia's greatest writers.

Winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime 2005
Winner of the ABIA Book of the Year 2004

©2019 Helen Garner (P)2019 Macmillan Australia Audio

Critic Reviews

"Garner's book is a writer's profound response to a tragedy and to questions about human responsibility over time as well as at precise moments." (The Age)

"This is a work of great passion and of countervailing humanity - a book of witness..." (Australian Book Review)

What listeners say about Joe Cinque's Consolation

Average Customer Ratings
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Masterpiece

Piercing and thoughtful. Beautifully observed. Should be read and re-read, especially by anyone interested in courts and the criminal justice system.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Heartbreaking. So touched.

Whoever could forget Joe Cinque after reading this? No justice for him and his family. Thank you for your courage.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Extraordinary coverage of a devestating case

Helen provides a very well rounded insight and retelling of a horrific murder case, very complex in detail, two very different families and two very different people, bound forever due to the devestating murder. Helen’s comforting grandmotherly voice and personal insights and tidbits help soften and bring comfort to an otherwise extremely traumatising tale. Highly recommend.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not a lawyer’s book

I read this as a lawyer and found the trial descriptions lacking in legal detail relevant to the decisions, as opposed to the emotional reactions of the author. Interesting all the same to see a lay person’s reaction to the clinic trial process we can all become addicted to. Glad I listened to it.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Not what I thought it would be

Was a little disappointed in this book, thought it would have been a bit more insight to Joe and the actual crime, investigations,etc. Instead it was more a story about the author her own issues at the time of the court proceedings and her interactions with the families.

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