This excellent machine by Stephen Orr
Wakefield Press, 2019. ISBN: 9781743056134.
(Age: 16+) Clem Whelan is not sure if he wants to persist with the
last year of school, he's more interested in observing the goings-on
of the various neighbours he can spy on through a telescope from his
bedroom window. But the adults around him encourage him in different
ways: from Ernie with his Bolshevist convictions, to Peter the
failed lawyer, Nick, the inspiring art teacher, to his Pop who tells
him he has the brains and should use them. Clem has a mate, Curtis,
he would rather hang out with, share smokes, and hear about his
latest escapades with girls.
The central mystery in Clem's life is what happened to his father.
He knows that Wilf left when Clem was young, but he doesn't know why
and nobody will tell the least thing about him. It's like everybody
in the suburb has been told to keep their mouths shut. But
sometimes, he picks up on a word here and there, or latches onto an
old photograph. What Clem gradually comes to realise is that his Pop
has been the best kind of father he could possibly have had. Doug,
his Pop, is gradually succumbing to dementia, he becomes forgetful
and confused, but he is a true touchstone of good values. While his
dream of striking it rich with the treasure of the fabled Lasseter's
gold reef may sound just that, a dream, he conjures an element of
adventure and escape that fellow men of the neighbourhood also find
irresistible.
There are so many interesting characters in this book, and so many
personal stories; they are all fodder for Clem's machine - his
budding novel about how life is a machine where people go in and
come out changed. And that is what the author Orr creates in the
end, the excellent machine where people interrelate and are changed
by their relationships, in a wonderful old-time suburb where people
all know each other and look out for each other. The novel is about
growing up in the Adelaide suburbs in the 1980s, the world of
Datsuns and permed hairstyles, men having a drink at the pub, and
women holding the fort at home. Much of it is told via conversations
where the language is so Oz it makes you laugh at times. It is a
very enjoyable book and offers much to reflect on afterwards.
Helen Eddy
