Jane Campion's biggest accomplishment here is not her incisive commentary on toxic masculinity or repressed homosexuality, but her ability to turn an instrument as jovial and innocent as the banjo into a weapon of massive emotional devastation.
"Dear old world," she murmured, "you are very lovely and I'm lucky to be alive in you."
What a charming, spirited, and wholly restorative this treasure of a book is.
And how lucky I am to be alive to read it.
