Murder, bigotry and the holidays
River's Edge
By Cath Phillips
Blackwattle Press
149pp, $15.95
Trashtown
By Robert Tait
Blackwattle Press
224pp, $16.95
Reviewed by Kath Gelber
At this time of year, many of us are on the lookout for some light holiday reading — something to meander through while taking in the view from the balcony, or having a picnic in the park. Both these novels fit the category nicely. They are relatively easy and enjoyable reading.
Phillips' is by far the better written book. It centres around an independent woman, Valentine, who lives on an island at the mouth of a big river and fends for herself and her 10 dogs by growing vegetables, trapping and rearing animals and baking bread. Her's is a solitary existence, and she likes it that way. She doesn't dislike life, she points out, just people.
But violence and retribution shatter her paradise and force her to respond. Her choices are not altogether unexpected, but they are shocking nonetheless. Enter the female protagonist, detective Jane Stewart. The tension between the two women is palpable.
Phillips' language is evocative — you can smell Valentine's bread baking and see the dust of flour on her forearms. The tension with murder, corruption, lust and violence. Some of the violence has a purpose, at other times it's meaningless homophobia. As a reader, you are forced to examine justifications for deeds which, in the end, are remarkably similar.
It's a book that's hard to put down because you really want to know how it all ends — including if the woman gets her woman. A great read.
Trashtown is Tait's second novel. His first, as the publishers are keen to point out — called Mardi Gras: the Novel — sold out in three months. This time the lead character, Andrew, is also a gay man. Burnt-out by Sydney and one too many funerals, he decides to head "home" to a small NSW country town, reeking with bigotry.
Intertwined with religious revivalism, closeted beat sex and neo-fascist politics, Andrew must choose who his real friends are. And there's the beautiful blonde man as an added attraction.
In this novel, the language is much more predictable and too self-consciously clever for the genre. The story is classic light reading fare — boy goes to redneck town, boy tries to fit in, boy meets boy, boy finds he can't and won't fit in with violent, hateful, corrupt, hypocritical, pseudo-religious, homophobic, redneck politics, boy stands up for himself and confrontation ensues.
Trashtown is billed as a confrontation with Hansonite politics. Sure, the politics are hateful and despicable, but the setting could have been any country town at any time during white Australia's history. There's little specifically Hansonite about the hatred and bigotry which occurs. Nevertheless, as a contemporary critique of bigotry in a fiction format, the story makes its point and is enjoyable reading.
If you are after a lesbian or gay (anti)Christmas present, even if it's for yourself, these two novels are perfect.