- Jessie Tu's second novel is simply magnificent. Her first A Lonely Girl Is A Dangerous Thing was also magnificent. I reviewed it here. What a talent she is.
- The Honeyeater is a story about people who lie and who betray. Personal integrity is difficult for them, and fidelity seemingly beyond them. Duplicity is their modus operandi. And we're submerged in a jigsaw of a plot, sort of a puzzle, which Tu slowly and satisfactorily reveals to us. Doesn't totally solve, but then we're dealing with complicated human beings.
- Fay and her mother travel to France for a two week holiday. Fay is a young literature academic and translator and her mother is a cleaner from Taipei who came to Sydney when Fay was a baby. They speak Mandarin to each other.
- Fay is an assistant to a female professor, also a translator, and as the story develops their relationship becomes increasingly complicated. They discover each other's sexual and family secrets. Fay is in fact sexually involved with the professor's husband James, a charming but rather nasty piece of work. He had numerous sexual relationships. And kept a notebook, full of incriminating details.
- The translation industry is dissected. Academics and translators are invited to speak at conferences, where controversies about the essence of translation are endlessly debated - to build a commonality, or highlight cultural and social differences. Getting the translation rights to the books of celebrated authors is a fierce contest.
- As the plot unfolds secrets of all sorts are revealed, and puzzles eventually solved.
- But this is far from your standard who-dunnit. What Tu has achieved is a penetrating exploration of the richness of close human personal relationships, but also their underside. Human beings are complicated, and they inevitably disappoint. Thankfully, however, there is love, affection and commitment.
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