This is one of the books we examined for our unit on Australian Literature at uni this past trimester. The unit was interesting. I started it thinking how excited I was by Australian literature and what I knew about it, I finished pondering how little I actually know. But that sounds like something I should examine on Friday rather than now.
Tsiolkas doesn’t believe in tackling the easy issues in his books. I scribbled a few words about his book The Slap back in 2012 when I knew less about books and working out what they actually mean and pertain to. It’s interesting how much one learns at uni. If I reread it now it’d be fascinating to see what I make of it.
Barracuda is another well-written book about people and relationships. This book highlights many things, including what can happen to a person when they don’t win. Australian society seems to be fixated on sports and the winners, but what happens to a person when they don’t win, when they are that fractionally slower than the first three people to touch the line? We’re talking Olympic swimming here so that fraction might be one fifth of a second. This book examines this issue as well as other issues.
The people within this book are beautifully written. They mostly have depth and passion. When they don’t have depth it’s for a reason.
It’s set in various parts of Melbourne. We see Box Hill, parts of Sydney Road and then a school in a rich part of Melbourne. I’m guessing this school is Melbourne High School but in the book it’s referred to in a derogatory fashion which I won’t repeat here (words I don’t use). The city is beautifully detailed and if you know that part you’ll be able to spot the landmarks.
Do I recommend it? Yes, but with the following warnings.
Warnings
If you’re wary of sex, gay relationships, swearing then I suggest you read with caution. One friend at uni was quite confronted by the gay sex, I was far more confronted by the swearing.