The lucky ones by Tohby Riddle
Penguin Books, 2009.
Suitable for senior students. A delightful
read, highly
recommended. This very readable novel gives a good insight into the
mind of some
Gen Yers,
despite being set in Sydney in the 80's. It has a contemporary feel as
it tracks
the lives of a group of school leavers seeking to find themselves and
make
sense of their world in first few years after leaving school. 'Who's
idea was
life anyway?' (p39), Tom asks. 'Surely it (growing up) couldn't be so
damn
ornery.' (p191)
Tom, the protagonist, is a shy
and
uncertain art student who lives with his taciturn father in a Sydney
terrace
house. His hippyish mother and two sisters have left home, leaving Tom
alone
and relying on his few friends for company. Despite his drifting
through days
with not a lot happening - he attends art school, works for an
eccentric couple
or hovers at the edge of a few parties - it is not boring thanks to
Tohby
Riddle's writing. He captures this lifestyle with authenticity, humour
and
quirky, clever insights and imagery. 'A lady the size of a fridge had
climbed
onto the bus - with an asphyxiating cloud of perfume like a Katoomba
fog -If the
smell had been a noise it would have been a runaway truck crashing into
a piano
showroom over and over again.' (p.75). Oliver worked in a dodgy pizza
parlour
for so little money he would 'probably blow his pay on the bus fare
home.'
(p.90) Tom's boss at the warehouse directed like a 'flinty little
buzz-cut
general.'(p.172)
Tom is hesitant but doesn't
take himself
too seriously. He is an acute and entertaining observer of people and
class.
The scene where the boys crash Bob Dylan's press conference is a gem.
Females
are on the fringe of his life - opportunities present but he lacks
self-confidence.
He is compared to Cain, the
high achiever
at school, who indulges in delusions of grandeur - a 'footloose poet
genius' and
musician, whilst sliding into foolhardiness, alcoholism and serial
lovers.
Oliver sets out to make money whilst Nathan organizes them all, except
Cain,
into climbing the Harbor Bridge, as a challenge. All seem to accept
each other
as they are, despite their different values.
The final chapter captures the
successful
Bridge climb at night with all its terrors. The high this generates
reveals to
Tom in an 'angel's arrow' that 'God is the present'; there is only NOW-
grab
it!
Tohby has done many quirky picture books and I look forward to
further
novels.
Kevyna Gardner