‘I Want Everything is a book about literature that feels like a bank heist. It's salacious and funny and fun, and has a stay-up-all-night, can't-look-away energy that I adore. I loved it!’
Rita Bullwinkel, Booker Prize-longlisted author of Headshot
‘Composed with stylistic brilliance and structural ingenuity, I Want Everything is that rare thing, a great contemporary novel. While it is first and foremost a hilarious, complex, and profound reflection on the relationship between life and writing, it is also fun to read, entertaining and populated by rich, real characters. Dominic Amerena is a fantastic writer. (Seriously.)’
Lauren Oyler, author of Fake Accounts and No Judgement
‘This novel is that most exquisite rarity: a brilliant concept, brilliantly executed. Amerena has so precisely rendered and skewered Australian literary culture that I was shrieking with delight while I squirmed in recognition. The tease of a mystery plot had me turning the pages non-stop, but there were real gem-like sentences in here too. And on top of that, he can write women. And on top of that, he can write writing! This book is a rollicking laugh through the ego until the bill of the id comes due. I adored it. I wish I could go back and savour it again for the first time. I'll read anything and everything Amerena does next.’
Bri Lee, author of Eggshell Skull and The Work
‘A twisty-turny, deliciously sneaky and bitingly insightful literary mystery. I laughed, cringed, squirmed, clapped and cheered.’
Emily Maguire, author of Rapture
‘I Want Everything is a Russian doll of a novel set largely in an Australian city. It is a layered mystery. It is an enigma wrapped inside an enigma possibly wrapped inside an enigma. It is a book about the complexities of storytelling and idiosyncrasies of writers. I Want Everything is also a debut novel by Dominic Amerena, a writer of such talent we can only hope he doesn't vanish on us.’
Tony Birch, author of Women and Children
‘How I loved this novel about books, writing, and the literary life – in all its corrupted glory. Seamlessly crafted, confident and original, I Want Everything took my breath away.’
Sofie Laguna, Miles Franklin-winning author of The Eye of the Sheep
‘A fun, engaging novel about the disastrous consequences of riding a deception to its fateful end, and of one man’s ruthless hunger for literary fame. I loved the reflections on writing, the nature of it, the difficulty, the mystery of it. Amerena has written an engrossing take on the precarity of the writing life, while exploring the ethical dilemmas faced by a novelist.’
Jessie Tu, author of A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing
‘A delightful literary puzzle, posed to the reader in vibrant and clear-cut prose. “Authenticity”, the demonic past and the treacherous body come under wry examination. It's rare for a writer to be this good both at crafting a sentence and at making you want to read the next one.’
Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times and The Happy Couple
‘An ensnaring literary debut that reads like a thriller. It’s rare to come across a novel as dedicated to the craft as it is to the reader, to literature and literary heritage. Amerena writes like his life depends on it. Here is a novel about how we tell stories, whose stories we tell, who to and what for, and how we fool ourselves and others. Reading it is like a participating in a heist. Bravo.’
Katerina Gibson, author of Women I Know and The Temperature
‘I Want Everything, the tantalising debut novel by Dominic Amerena, is told through the disingenuous perspective of the male narrator, combined with revealing interviews with Brenda and other text modes that include a book review and foreword. By playing with these forms and points of view, Amerena builds tension and enhances the complexity of the plot. Foreboding permeates the narrative through themes of secrets and shame, exploring the tangled connections between storytellers, fabulists and liars. The novel also delves into the ethical complexities of gathering and using source material, questioning the fine line between inspiration and exploitation. Delectably deceptive and metafictive, I Want Everything is a tightly composed satirical and psychological literary mystery for those who relished R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface and Peter Carey’s My Life as a Fake.’ Books+Publishing
‘ I Want Everything is exceptional … even the most savvy readers will be in for a shock as Amerena unspools the facts, slices through the web of lies, and builds his story to an incredible and astute crescendo. Audacious and mesmerising. Read it.’ Simon McDonald, reviewer
‘I haven’t loved hating such an empty soulless protagonist in ages. I could kiss this book … It was the emptiness and depravity of the very nature of storytelling that pinned me to the page … Amerena clearly has talent to burn and has my full attention. Damn.’ Jaclyn Crupi, bookseller, author and reviewer