review : our tragic universe

Our Tragic Universe, Scarlett Thomas

From the author of the brilliant, physics-inspired sci-fi-ish novel The End of Mr Y comes Our Tragic Universe. Looking at it one way, not a lot happens in this book. But if you look at it at a certain angle a whole mess of ideas (some unfinished and others half-realised) come spilling out. The protagonist, Meg, is struggling to write her ‘proper’ novel – instead distracted by the formulaic genre novels she churns out to pay for her rather meagre existence, which amounts to a damp flat in Devon with her unemployed (and quite frankly rather whingy) boyfriend Christopher and her dog B (who is very intelligent) and a cast of brilliantly curious characters (including a mysterious Beast). Lit up in lights, screaming at her for attention is the uncomfortable (but pleasurable oh please let it be pleasurable) truth about the kiss Meg shared with the handsome, older, curator of the local museum (and how she mostly wishes it would happen again). Thomas leads us down one-way streets, to dead ends, leaves one three-page, involved philosophical musing to head off down another. She explores the mechanics and methods of writing – the ‘storyless story’, the death of the author, metafiction – as well as philosophy, Zen Buddhism, poltergeists, magic, ships in bottles, fame and whether or not we’re actually all living in some kind of fictional Second World without ever knowing it.

What happens in Our Tragic Universe is what happens after Meg reads a book she thinks she’s supposed to review and it turns out it hadn’t ever been sent to her to review in the first place.

I think I loved it. It was certainly relevant to my life - it was as though my Novel 1 teacher was reading this at the same pace as me and would bring these very topics up for discussion in class. I definitely liked it a lot. I have to think that everything that Thomas (actually, I'm going to call her Scarlett, because I think we'd be friends) everything that Scarlett did in the novel, she did intentionally, because she's so smart and The End of My Y was just so brilliant and perfect. So when I sit back and think 'Well that ramble was all for nothing (and added nothing to your story) wasn't it Scarlett?' I think again about how she's (perhaps with just a smidge of an echo of intellectual pretention) just letting us know something new, and letting us be open to a different kind of storytelling. One outside of the neat 'beginning-middle-end' Western story tradition.

review : big river, little fish

big river, little fish, belinda jeffrey (uqp)

tom was born backwards. from the first page, belinda jeffrey's story calls all of your senses as she details tom's tragic birth - ending with the death of his young mother - on the muddy banks of the mighty river, the old mother murray.

the story takes place in 1956, when tom has grown to a young man of fifteen. he has been raised by foster parents who, though they love their boy as their own son, are frustrated with him. tom lives in a backwards world, he does not read like the others in his class, the letters do not align properly for him. his teacher is impatient, cruel even, and his parents urge him to try harder. tom can speak to cars and engines, soothe and fix them, but his parents want him to go on to higher education.

the river calls to him, draws him to her every day. he has friends down on the bank, no-hopers, the sad and crazy lost souls. tom looks out for them and we see his strength and love and dedication. murray black, who was there the day tom entered the world, and will always protect him. and then there's hannah, almost like a sister for tom. hannah is a curious one. she understands tom, calls him 'mot' and helps him find his letters. the reader, straight away, realises that there is something about hannah, something you just can't put your finger on. i was fairly certain i knew what was going on, which made me flip back in the story to reread parts a few times because i felt like i had missed something, and my reading rhythm was broken a bit (this is my only teeny criticism of the book, but you know what? i have a feeling this was intentional). my hunch was correct, but it isn't until the end that hannah's truth is revealed.

big river, little fish takes place during the real-life floods of '56. the river, and the land, become a character in the novel; creating the drama, testing friendships and relationships. the river can take away everything tom has known in a moment. however, there is also the possibility that the river can give back as well.

belinda jeffrey's metaphors and amazing descriptions render this story evocative, beautiful, raw and totally engrossing. she created the small town of swan reach so vividly i could smell it. she drew the inhabitants of the town in perfect detail. i could feel their fear as the mother murray's levels rose, threatening the sandbags and the levees.

it was frightening to read a book about a flood now, with the horrific events in pakistan (you can donate to unicef and to the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies), and those closer to home this week.

this is a remarkable book, and a must-read for all.

"a kid who can't leave well enough alone"

steven herrick spoke at the melbourne writers festival to a very full auditorium of school students, their teachers, other writers, friends and me. he spoke to the students, with the students, and not at them. he had the lights put on so he could see them. he singled the cheeky ones out and laughed with them. he listened kindly when a girl, inspired by one of steven's characters, shared her sadness at her mother's death. he talked about drinking, kissing, vomiting. masturbation. fathers. sons. how he left (or rather, it was suggested that he not come back) school at fifteen and now has twenty books to his name, and two sons and a football team of middle-aged men who wear pink. it was session that will not be forgotten easily.

coffee : irrewarra sourdough shop and cafe

the irrewarra sourdough shop and cafe is on james street in the heart of geelong. mama bear and i were perusing the secondhand bookshop just down the street (barwon booksellers) so popped in for lunch. my skinny latte was ok - bit milky (but i feel this so often at so many different places that i wonder if it's just me) and way too hot. my vege pide was delish though, with beetroot and some goats cheese too. service, however, was quite ridiculously slow. it took ages to be served initially, then after our food we waited for someone to clear the plates and take our coffee order. and waited. i turned around in my chair and smiled at the two staff, who were behind the counter chatting and wiping benches and things. nothing. a third guy wandered through the tables, ignored us completely and walked away. by this time the cafe was mostly empty. in the end i had to stand up and wave. i felt rude. even then he didn't even take the dirty plates away. i apologise, cafe, for plonking them on another table. luckily we were having a lazy day and didn't have to be anywhere. so we just laughed at how ridiculous it was. but...ridiculous it was.

film : tomorrow, when the war began

You know what? I really liked it!

SPOILERS...

Sure, Fi was totally wrong - in that instead of being a sweet, naive, wholesome "private schoolgirl"-esque character she was...kinda trashy...but her character arc was nice and she did have some funny moments.

...and when one of the characters ate Vegemite out of the jar with a spoon i thought - oh dear, those poor foreigners will be even more confused about Vegemite. That's not cricket.

...and they filmed it in New South Wales so Hell and surrounds looked completely wrong too. John Marsden set the books in the Victorian Alpine region, specifically around the Terrible Hollow (aka Hell), the Devil's Staircase (Satan's Steps) and the Crosscut Saw (Tailor's Stitch), which is near Mt Howitt and Macalister Springs. Beautiful country.

This* is how it really looks:





However.

I was happily surprised with Caitlin Stasey as Ellie (even though Ellie would never have worn such short shorts in the bush!) and Deniz Akdeniz was brilliant as Homer. Ashleigh Cummings, although I was unsure to begin with, portrayed the incredible character of Robyn with the perfect balance of fragility and strength (although I always imagined Robyn a bit older, practical, the ferocious netballer). That scene at the end (no, not the very end, but the bit just before they blow up the bridge) which was a departure from the book, but very well done, was so moving - mostly, I believe, due to Cummings' performance.

As a big-budget film I think it works. The explosions were great, the action acting pretty good. The comic moments were great too, with a special mention to the conversation between Ellie and Corrie during which they conclude that books are always superior to their films. Cute touch.

With a couple of moments of creative licence the plot sticks to the orginal story - enough that I was anticipating the next scene, thinking 'oh yes, now they go back to Corrie's...' I was disappointed that they dropped the Hermit storyline, although I understand that not everything can be included in a film that can be in a novel.

Ultimately, it all felt so wonderfully familiar. It was like finally meeting old friends (pen pals, perhaps).

I'm so glad the movie wasn't awful. Now bring on The Dead of the Night.

*I took these photos in 1997. The place may look different now, but I don't think so.

why didn't the cat drink its milk?

because it had no face!

bahahahahaha!

brian's very, very bad ideas, the killer koalas from outer-space who will rip off your face, the dog-poo family...I LOVE THEM ALL. and a very bad special mention to the very bad teacher - your nightmares are real. i love her.

what a good start to thursday.

the very bad book is written by andy griffiths, with drawings by terry denton and published by pan macmillan.

review : girl saves boy

Girl Saves Boy, Steph Bowe (Text)

This debut novel is alive with humour, verve, friendship and romance - not to mention lashings of garden gnome theft and lobster liberation. It is also unabashedly teenaged; the smart and snarky characters are delightfully kooky and have a lot of heart.

Girl Saves Boy begins with Jewel Valentine – loner, painter and head case – saving Sacha Thomas’ life when he comes close to drowning in the same lake where Jewel’s brother drowned a decade before. Jewel’s family broke down following the tragic death of her brother, and she has grown up prickly and independent. At the book’s open she is trying to adjust to life back with her mother, while mourning the death of her grandmother. Sacha has a complicated mess of problems of his own: a life-threatening illness, the death of his mother and his father’s new partner (one of his teachers from school). Sacha’s friends provide a good foil for the main characters: Little Al is a genius bogan - whose family are delightful and the comic relief - while True Grisham is an intelligent, driven young woman who came across to me as a bit superior and rather unlikable character but who relaxes and comes through at the end.

The opening chapters, in particular, were great - understated and engaging – and the dialogue was very good. Maybe being a teenager yourself helps your characters sound right…as much as Steph Bowe claims she is not your average teen! I thought it was funny, to the point of a bit strange, that we kept being given the characters heights; the characters were always talking about so-and-so being taller, or shorter and it made me giggle. The book suffers a little as a result of the almost overwhelming array of problems each character faces, but there is no doubt teenagers will enjoy the drama. The funny thing is, if this was real life I probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid, but reading it I kind of felt like the characters were almost one-upping each other with family issues and deaths.

Nevertheless, Girl Saves Boy is an excellent first novel by young author Steph Bowe, and I know that as she continues to write she will develop and hone her already considerable skill. She is certainly a very welcome addition to Australian YA.

I received this book for review from Bookseller+Publisher magazine. You can read my shorter review (though I’ve nabbed bits from there to put here) and also my interview with Steph in the current (September) edition.