Krishna
We have reviewed Borderline and Oyster , two of the books by this author, earlier. Definitely Janet Turner Hospital picks very unusual stories and characters and develops them to hold your interest. This book definitely holds your attention but does not wow you.
The central character, Lucy aka Lucia Barclay, sees a movie in England where she is stunned to recognize herself and her past associations. It is by Charlie who has been in her past life. After talking to an ageing friend Christine, she decides to go to Australia to find out about them all. She remembers how she was a call girl and Charlie brought the inn below where she also worked. Since the brother is also the previous owner’s Charlie now kind of owns her but would not want her to strip. He just clicks away in numerous poses as she goes about her room. She is intrigued about Charlie as he is with this erudite, well read, university educated hooker.
Gabriel joins the bar and forms an instant bond with Charlie. We learn Charlie is Asian with an original name of Hsu something. Then follows the stupidest scene where Charlie is convinced that a girl Cat (for Catherine) is destined to shake up his life, with no proof at all and goes to the quarry and its aweful space to “look for her”. Really?
He finally meets her when she comes to the pub with the Judge and his wife – even though she seems to be the Judge’s mistress. She realizes that she is Charlie’s school friend.
There are scenes where weird people (the twins and the man who is in love with a TV presenter while making love to her) with her. It boggles my mind that a woman who had everything seems to drop off and say I will be a hooker and a hobo in turns. Yeah, even if she wanted to throw the social conventions aside and live on her own terms, it is a bit much. It could not even have been enjoyable – a hooker is the most used person in the world and a homeless person? You know how it is. It looks like insanity even if cloaked in terms that Lucia became Lucy and such nonsense.
Gabriel remembers growing up with the lawyer (later judge) father and riding the tram as Brisbane was about to abolish trams.
Charlie remembers meeting Cat, a waif of a drunken man and an idiot brother, while in school. She and Catherine and Robbie (who became Gabriel) played together. Robbie’s father was not interested in the cottage and still raved when his mother, after her divorce with her father, got the cottage (bought it, actually). He was the head honcho (Robbie) but was afraid to jump into the pool like Charlie and Catherine and Cat did.
Meanwhile Cat is tortured by a teacher unreasonably until the latter crosses a line and is almost caught. Then she simply starts ignoring Cat. Cat teaches Charlie and Catherine to lie on the rails until almost too late and run away when the train is almost upon them. When the kids’ pranks on Cat take the life of her brother Willie, the affair turns deadly serious.
But before you have time to start thinking that the story is not so bad, the author descends into trivia, quoting pointless stories, describing a collage of pictures with no apparent motive at all, and also repeating herself as to how pictures can seduce. You are now lulled into the original sensation that the story is shallow, weird and a far cry from the author’s more famous Oyster.
Then Robbie’s son Gabriel and Charlie simply disappear, in search of Cat. Police question Catherine.
The last magician is both Charlie, due to his photographic skills and Sir Isaac Newton for his obsession with the occult in spite of his scientific achievements.
The movie ends with interesting allusions of Robbie and how he was obsessed with Cat, as well as interesting insinuations on how the trio (Cat, Gabriel and Charlie himself) disappeared.
But not before a lot of repetition again, about how photographs mesmerize and similar crap.
5/10
– – Krishna