The Brush Off is one of the books from my literature and film comparison course... i'm sticking with the Australian theme until my books get here from Amazon and beginning with this the secon of Shane Maloney's Murray Whelan books. Murray Whelan is a political shit kicker. He's the "minder and general dogsbody" to the newly named Arts Minister. Problem is he knows absolutely nothing about "the arts". He expects it to be gallery openings and crazy artists till a body turns up in the moat at the front of the National Gallery in Melbourne. He's thrown into a world of fakes, high finance and conspiracies filled with illigitemate children and secrets. All while he's fighting for his own job which may be lost due to his lack of interest in "the arts" and trying to enjoy a weekend visit from his ten year old son.
I have to say I possibly missed some of the very Victorian political humour based on the fact I grew up in New South Wales (and was actually only born in the 80's and this book is set in 89 - I think). While it was written in '96 Maloney has been able to throw in a bunch of throw away lines that are hilarious given the knowledge of what's to come. But a lot of that is commentary on the state of Victorian politics so I've missed a bunch of very regional jokes. That said some of the random commentary about FW DeKlirk being elected in South Africa and how will that change anything is hilarious.
The characters are great. Murray is a brilliant character to focus a book on. He's clever, in over his head, completely in it for whatever he can get and fun. His quiet weekend with his son has been completely thrown in turmoil but he may get a new girlfriend an a more solid job out of it so he goes with it. He's scrambling but he's also doing it well... in many ways he's a slightly less polished Josh Lyman (West Wing tends to be my go to for politics references). Agnelli is a bumbling idiot of a minister (and I can see why they cast Mick Molloy for him in the film adaptations that i'll be looking at). Eastlake is a smooth and clever money man who is of course corrupt and eventually murderous. The women go from femme fatale archetypes to office bitches an back to clever and interesting women who Murray keeps falling for. The introduction of Claire who is lovely and actually helps with a near disaster for Murray is great and the support murray gets from his close friend (and mother of disaster Tarquin) Faye is awesome - she's just as likely to whack him over the head and call him an idiot as she is to help him clean up his real an metaphorical messes. Lastly there's Mick "Spider" Webb. Someone Murray has known and avoided since a childhood misdemeanor who he assumes is in the middle of the crimes - he is but in actuality he's the detective investigating it.
This is one of those very Australian books with a very dry sense of humour. I'd never read any of Maloney's books but i think i'll be picking up some more at the second hand bookshop over the weekend. It's funny, it's tightly written and from the look of the cast on the DVD the adaptation is gonna be brilliant.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The Twyborn Affair - Patrick White
Been awhile since updating this... firstly cause Christmas made me busy, secondly cause Australian fiction is long and hard going and i gave up on one other book part way through before switching to this one.
Patrick White's Twyborn Affair was an interesting book about a series of very interesting characters. Eddie Twyborn is described on the back of the book as being bisexual and androgynous. I read him as a gay transvestite who occaisionally slept with women but preferred the company of men. Eddie is the child of Judge Edward Twyborn and his wife Eadie. Eadie in particular is written in a similar way to Eddie, she married the judge because it was the proper thing to do but is also seen to "enjoy the company of women". Eddie appears in three guises the first Eudoxia, then Eddie and lastly Eadith. Each section of the book (there are no chapters) focuses on each way that the character presents themself.
Eudoxia is "married" to Angelos but who captivates the interest of Joan Golson, the wife of an Australian businessman who we later find out has been having a long term affair with Eddie/Eudoxia's mother Eadie. This section is set in 1914 just as war is about to be declared and set around a villa and hotel in France. As the war comes closer the characters face questions about whether Joan and her husband Boyd should return to AUstralia and whether Eudoxia will stay with the elderly Angelos or leave him for a more interesting relationship with Joan. It's not till the end of the part that it is revealed that Eudoxia is actually a young man not woman although to some readers it would be much easier to spot that coming (as it is to see the early hints of the relationship between Eadie an Joan).
The second section is about Eddie returning home after World War 1. He stays with his parents reconnecting with his former life till he escapes again moving to a sheep farm as a jackaroo. Here White examines the differences between city and country life and the differences between the people who live in each place. Out of the city Eddie embarks on an affair with Marcia who is the wife of the owner of the sheep station. Marcia is also an acquaintance of Eadie who she dislikes for being "a frowzy lesbian". Throughout this period Eddie is often disgusted with himself not for having an affair with a married woman but for having an affair with a woman. He doesn't understand his sexual urges towards her and eventually leaves not due to this but to his secret life as a "queer" being discovered by the sheep stations manager who rapes him.
The last section features Eadith living in pre World War 2 London and working as a madam at a high end brothel. Again she falls in love but at this point she doesn't want to admit that she is a transvestite so she keeps the man she loves at arms length preferring to send him to her girls when he wants sex. Eadie also turns up in London and they finally make peace with Eadie accepting her child as Eadith saying "I always wanted a daughter".
It's a thought provoking book and it only took four days to get through so it's all a bit of a blur but I enjoyed it and found the story to be powerful and involving. I shudder to think what some of my classmates who are very sheltered country kids are going to think and how they will react to some very frank sexual language. It's a good book an I really did enjoy it but it'll be one that will cause a lot of interesting discussions in class.
Patrick White's Twyborn Affair was an interesting book about a series of very interesting characters. Eddie Twyborn is described on the back of the book as being bisexual and androgynous. I read him as a gay transvestite who occaisionally slept with women but preferred the company of men. Eddie is the child of Judge Edward Twyborn and his wife Eadie. Eadie in particular is written in a similar way to Eddie, she married the judge because it was the proper thing to do but is also seen to "enjoy the company of women". Eddie appears in three guises the first Eudoxia, then Eddie and lastly Eadith. Each section of the book (there are no chapters) focuses on each way that the character presents themself.
Eudoxia is "married" to Angelos but who captivates the interest of Joan Golson, the wife of an Australian businessman who we later find out has been having a long term affair with Eddie/Eudoxia's mother Eadie. This section is set in 1914 just as war is about to be declared and set around a villa and hotel in France. As the war comes closer the characters face questions about whether Joan and her husband Boyd should return to AUstralia and whether Eudoxia will stay with the elderly Angelos or leave him for a more interesting relationship with Joan. It's not till the end of the part that it is revealed that Eudoxia is actually a young man not woman although to some readers it would be much easier to spot that coming (as it is to see the early hints of the relationship between Eadie an Joan).
The second section is about Eddie returning home after World War 1. He stays with his parents reconnecting with his former life till he escapes again moving to a sheep farm as a jackaroo. Here White examines the differences between city and country life and the differences between the people who live in each place. Out of the city Eddie embarks on an affair with Marcia who is the wife of the owner of the sheep station. Marcia is also an acquaintance of Eadie who she dislikes for being "a frowzy lesbian". Throughout this period Eddie is often disgusted with himself not for having an affair with a married woman but for having an affair with a woman. He doesn't understand his sexual urges towards her and eventually leaves not due to this but to his secret life as a "queer" being discovered by the sheep stations manager who rapes him.
The last section features Eadith living in pre World War 2 London and working as a madam at a high end brothel. Again she falls in love but at this point she doesn't want to admit that she is a transvestite so she keeps the man she loves at arms length preferring to send him to her girls when he wants sex. Eadie also turns up in London and they finally make peace with Eadie accepting her child as Eadith saying "I always wanted a daughter".
It's a thought provoking book and it only took four days to get through so it's all a bit of a blur but I enjoyed it and found the story to be powerful and involving. I shudder to think what some of my classmates who are very sheltered country kids are going to think and how they will react to some very frank sexual language. It's a good book an I really did enjoy it but it'll be one that will cause a lot of interesting discussions in class.
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