Shane is an interesting character, I don't really know what to say about him. He seemingly knows very little about his wife, puts himself and his needs before hers throughout the story and seems to resent her, blame her for his dissatisfaction.
Of course he wouldn't, but he likes to think of himself in that light. He tells Freya he would help Lisa and Lucas regardless of whether Lucas was his son, but this is clearly nonsense. He really irritated me, I found him to be incredibly selfish and self absorbed, even when he thinks he is being responsible. Not because ' it is the right thing to do' but because he craves 'meaning' in his life and on a more basic level, some excitement. He loves his wife and his child in his own way, but he clearly does not want to be 'a family man' which is why, I think, he throws himself headfirst into the whole Lucas situation.
Matt is probably one of my least favourite types of people - he is constantly dissatisfied with his life, he is clearly 'a free spirit', aloof and irritated by domesticity.
We see that again and again in her dealings with both Matt and Shane. I didn't quite know what to make of Freya, she is very anxious, constantly making excuses for why she can't or won't step up and make changes in her life. I am willing to admit I saw glimmers of myself and my world in this book, but these characters I think are extremes. And that leads me to my problems with the characters. But we are mostly detached from the realities of the actual state of the world, and completely impotent - unable or unwilling to actually 'do something about it'. We white, middle class folk do tend to sit around in our privileged bubbles, moaning about right wing politics (I too threatened to leave the country if Tony Abbott became PM) and the state of the world. I say 'uncomfortable' not just because uncomfortable writing is part of the story, but it did genuinely make me uncomfortable because I could see myself. This is an uncomfortable look at white, middle class life in Australia. I found this book strangely compelling, I read it quite quickly, I found I couldn't put it down, which I am a bit surprised at, as I actually loathed almost everyone in this book except for the kids.
0 kommentar(er)
