Hilary Leichter, Temporary

 

- This wonderful debut novel was published last year to enthusiastic acclaim. And it so deserved it. Here's what the New York Times said a few weeks ago in an article about the difficulties of publishing new literary fiction during the COVID lockdown:

  Before the shutdown, Hilary Leichter's 'Temporary' was shaping up to become one the year's breakout debuts. It was nominated for the PEN/Hemingway Award and shortlisted for the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, was praised by critics and became ubiquitous on 'best books of 2020' lists. But the accolades surrounding the novel were not enough to overcome the obstacles the pandemic posed, after Ms Leichter had to cancel a 10-city tour and appearances at literary festivals. In the end, it sold just a few thousand print copies. 'It was a bummer not to be able to push off of all that momentum', Ms Leichter said.

- The narrator is perpetually stuck in temporary jobs, and has temporary boyfriends. It's a temporary life of existential emptiness. She and her colleagues keep track of their postings in leather-bound planners. 

- Her numerous boyfriends establish a book club and meet while she’s away on her various  jobs. And the jobs are absurd: She's a mannequin, a ghost, a cleaner on a pirate ship, a door opener and closer, a barnacle, a murderer's assistant, a bomb button presser in a blimp, a pamphlet distributor, a young boy's mother, a burger flipper, a metal and mood detector. Her employers are harsh, inhuman cogs, with not an ounce of feeling or loyalty. She is dispensed with and fired on the flimsiest of grounds. 

- This is not just about temporary work. It's about permanent isolation. She admits she '...could find glimmers of joy in this ephemeral life’, though that sensation is rare. 

- What is conveyed is an end of times fragility, a fractured society slowly sinking into nothingness. 

- Leichter has written an extraordinary work, full of imagination and flights of fancy and written in sharp, crystal clear prose. 

(The brilliant cover at the top is from the original US edition. The other one is from the simply awful, pedestrian and uninspiring UK edition)

  

John Edwards, Reconstruction: Australia After COVID

- John Edwards, former economic advisor to PM Paul Keating, has just released this new contribution to the excellent Penguin Specials series of 'concise, original and affordable' contributions to our national debate.

- It's certainly worth reading. He brings together in one handy volume key statistical data and relevant facts. Ironically however, given his decades of political involvement, it's surprisingly disappointing when it comes to critiquing policies that have negatively impacted Australia's economic performance over the last decade or so. In fact it is quite politically naive and tepid. 

- It's a ‘no-one’s at fault’ analysis, glossing over real problems and issues. As a stark example the word 'austerity' is never used. Conservative government policies, in Australia and in the West generally, are not critiqued; debt and deficit obsessions are not examined; the profound structural impact of low wages growth is not even superficially surveyed; the lack of needed fiscal stimulus pre-COVID is not criticised; the severe and long term underfunding of essential services like Aged Care and the University sector is completely disregarded; there's nothing on the need to boost GDP growth; nothing on the need for the Reserve Bank, and the government, to prioritise increasing inflation to within the 2-3% band; And, surprisingly, nothing at all on the challenge of climate change and what Australia urgently needs to do.

- The necessary fiscal spending undertaken by the Morrison government to confront the pandemic's severe effect on the economy is at least welcomed, but the debt fetish remains: Long after the pandemic has become a distant memory...the consequences will still be apparent in debt, the cost of servicing debt and the constraints debt will place on government and central bank options. He forecasts that fiscal policy will be contractionary for a decade and perhaps a lot longer. Why? There are just too many conventional banalities here, so typical of a conservative economist. Edwards could do with a dash of Modern Monetary Theory.

- When it comes to the international situation however, Edwards comes into his own. He's very good on the US-China competitive situation, and the recent trade war; and excellent on economic growth rates and likely futures. He's also critical, thankfully, of Australia’s dopey handling of our China relationship, singling out our many anti-dumping cases against China. Australian governments do need to detach themselves from an American point of view on China, and insist on their own’. 

- And finally, he's insightful on Australia’s need for continuing globalisation. His view on the impacts of the pandemic on exports and global economies generally is refreshing. 

Edward St Aubyn, Double Blind.

 

- I've read all Edward St Aubyn's novels, ever since being thoroughly sucked in by his Patrick Melrose series. I think I can now confidently say that Double Blind, his latest, is his best. In fact by far.

- He populates it with intriguing characters, mostly scientists, doctors, therapists, and rapacious venture capitalists. There's also the odd priest thrown in to presumably counterbalance the privileging of rationality, and there's a schizophrenic young man who effectively challenges everything real.

- We're in the universe of biology, physics, and the mystery of consciousness. It's the brain versus the mind, with plenty of rather abstruse reflections on their relationship. Philosophical explorations abound. St Aubyn buries us in ideas confidently tossed around by his supremely intelligent and academically inclined characters. The writing sizzles with fire and energy and kaleidoscopic colour.

- There’s much more boldness and complexity in this prose than in his prior novels. More experimentation. It’s almost as if the characters and their electric conversations are just scaffolding for St Aubyn’s meandering thoughts on the brain, the mind, genes, schizophrenia, motion and space. He sometimes overdoes it. As one character reflects after one thinking session: ‘Jesus, he really needed some rest’. As does the reader.

- Francis is an ecologist. His expertise is on the natural landscape and the biodiversity of the environment. He laments its destruction by industrial 'progress'. His pregnant girlfriend, Olivia, is kind, caring and generous. She had a difficult childhood, was put out for adoption, and is now healed. Her possible twin brother, Sebastian, was abandoned at birth and was cruelly abused as a baby and young child. He developed a severe case of schizophrenia and was lucky to receive expert treatment.

- The mind can suffer but so can the brain. Another main character, Lucy, has been diagnosed with brain cancer. Olivia and Lucy are long time friends. 

- The other main and fascinating protagonist is the billionaire, Hunter Sterling. He's passionate about acquiring startups and making them very successful. But he's ruthless and had crossed the line from bravado to something unacceptably sinister. St Aubyn never indulges in stereotyping however. Hunter is exceptionally intelligent and capable of real love and loyalty when it is needed. 

- I kept thinking: what is St Aubyn doing with all this rich material and his delightful cast? What is he saying? What is his critique? It came to me slowly towards the end. Life in its conception, birth, development, sickness, pain, healing and death is what defines us, and all the inflated, high tech, biological, brain enhancing investments that are a feature of our social landscape can be more often just paths to profiteering. The grandeur of life and love is right in front of us. It’s not just science that’s essential, but the human touch of love, care and compassion is paramount.

- The book is littered with insights and stuff you need to underline. Here's a sample:

It was great when empiricism displaced ignorance, but now mathematics has usurped empiricism. 

Science is a subset of human nature and not the other way around. It has its own oppressive sociology of funding and peer review and publication and profit, and it shares all the emotions of rivalry, intuition, conformity, anxiety and generosity that inform every other field of activity. 

Lesley was one of those people who thought that originality consisted of a fluent and knowing use of cliche, vigorously imprisoned with inverted commas to make sure it couldn't escape the further boredom of being vaguely ironic. 

Graham Allison & Robert D Blackwill, Lee Kuan Yew.

 

- This book was put together by its editors almost a decade ago, selected from Lee's speeches and interviews sometimes many years prior to that. So it's a little dated, and allowance has to be made. For example there's no mention of Trump or Xi Jinping, or China’s Belt and Road initiative; no mention of the current trade wars with the US or Australia; no mention of China’s huge military buildup; no mention of its expansion into the South China Sea; no mention of Hong Kong or the Uyghur minority. 

- It's also a bit fawning and naive on America. No mention of the US's increasing inequality; or the far right takeover of the Republican Party; or the rise of populist extremism and its increasing distrust of democratic institutions, particularly election processes; barely a mention of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. There is no mention of ISIS obviously. Lee's focus is on Al Qaeda (remember that?). 

- He's also rather elitist. The best and the brightest must be prioritised. He's suspicious of welfare spending and typically obsessed with debt and deficit. Very neoliberal economically. Also rather anti unions, government-owned enterprises, and fiscal stimulus. ‘Human beings are not born equal’ he says at one point.

- So they are the weak bits. On China Lee is much better. He argues it needs to be treated with respect and a good deal of listening. Invited in as an equal partner in a big power conversation.

- He's also excellent on India and its smothering bureaucracy and corruption. It desperately needs higher infrastructure development - roads, ports, railways, airports, etc, and needs to become an industrial power, not confined to services like IT.  It's a country that's bogged down in so many ancient ways despite so much promise. 

- Unlike the US he sees Saudi Arabia for what it is - as the source of fundamentalist Islam and a threat to peace in the Middle East. But he's wrong on Iraq and Iran, totally supportive of US policy and prejudice.  

- He provides an excellent perspective on Russia - a 'decaying society', and is lukewarm towards the EU. (Every time he mentions the EU the editors add [European Union] afterwards! So American and quaint. 

- His chapter on globalisation is superb. He's a strong supporter of free trade, immigration, and technology, and resists the growing international pressures for border closures and retreats into isolation and protectionism.  

- In today's world we could do with more clear and authoritative thinkers and leaders like Lee Kuan Yew. In so many ways this book is a tonic.

Jen Craig, Panthers and the Museum of Fire.

 

- This Australian novel was published in 2015. Respected literary agent and industry colleague, Martin Shaw, has been raving about it for yonks so I felt it was about time I read it. 

- And I'm so glad I did. It's just brilliant. Experimental, strange, meandering and complex, it's like walking through a hall of mirrors, but with a witty and delightful companion. 

- The story, if that's what it is, moves forward, circles back, catches up. The narrator seems vaguely autistic, indulging in ...the kind of writing that moves over water without visible sails; 

- Here's the narrative framework: Jen had a friend at school called Sarah who has just died. At the wake Sarah’s sister Pamela gives Jen a manuscript written by Sarah called Panthers and the Museum of Fire. So this book is not just titled Panthers and the Museum of Fire it is ABOUT Panthers and the Museum of Fire. 

- But as readers we're not just subject to a technical indulgence. We’re plunged into a maelstrom of reflections, weaving and circling, the product of a consciousness that's sharp and insightful, sceptical yet confident. She walks the streets of inner-city Sydney, bored by her day job, but relishing her friendship with Raf who frequently visits for dinner and who tolerates her endless prattling about her comings and goings and observations. And her aching, 'diseased' ambition to be a writer.

- The book is full of absolutely wonderful quotes, so here's a taste:

The older people get, the tighter they get, their skin becomes loose but their minds just tighten like drums.

I actually enjoy reading - and while I am usually sure just from reading the first two pages of a book that I will be nothing but disappointed when I read it, I have never allowed myself to give that book away without testing how far this could be true...I force myself to read these books from beginning to end, I force myself to read them just in case I am wrong, although at this moment I cannot recall a single example of this.

I am always being duped into thinking that there is, somewhere, a clear connection between all events and outcomes in my life. But in reality nothing was obvious then and is not obvious now (and is still not obvious, as I can see now, four years later). 

It is inevitable that the young person becomes convinced that they are the first to see clearly what others have failed to see; that they judge eighty to ninety percent of the population to be bogged in imbecility and that they alone (with very few intellectual compatriots) are the only ones to have the daring and capacity to resist.

Highly recommended.

Robin Gaster, Behemoth: Amazon Rising.

 

                                  

- This is an exceptionally good, well written and fascinating book. Unlike so much that is written about Amazon it is fair and even-handed, fact based not fear based. And it's very up-to-date, the manuscript being completed in November 2020. Many statistics date from late 2020.

- Gaster is president of a data and program evaluation consultancy and a visiting scholar at George Washington University. He's an expert in the field of ecommerce.

- There is a lot of detail about Amazon’s battles with publishers in the early days: discounts demanded, discounted pricing, the ‘Look Inside’ initiative, the Kindle and ebooks revolution including the low $9.99 price point, among others. As George Packer observed in his classic New Yorker article 'Cheap Words' in 2014, Amazon executives considered publishers to be 'antediluvian losers with rotary phones and inventory systems designed in 1968 and warehouses full of crap...the New York publishing business was just this cloistered, Gilded Age antique just barely getting by in a sort of Colonial Williamsburg of commerce'.

- The book is also excellent on the new and flourishing self-publishing industry. And stunningly good at summarising Amazon’s encroachment and now virtual ownership of the book industry. 

- But today's Amazon is a huge enterprise, having moved well beyond books. In fact the book industry only takes up the first 40 pages of this 370 page tome. We move on to the amazing Amazon Prime story, to the massive investments in logistics and distribution capabilities, to the hugely successful Amazon Web Services, to the smart speaker Alexa, to the highly profitable Amazon Marketplace which offers more than two million small to medium sized independent sellers of goods a sales and distribution platform. While Amazon Retail itself is highly unprofitable, Marketplace on the other hand is highly profitable and has emerged as the real core of the entire business. It generates more operating income than any other segment (including Amazon Web Services).

- We've rarely seen any of Amazon's numbers however - its revenues by segment and associated margins, expenses and profits/losses. Gaster delves deeply into all this and has scoured a comprehensive array of sources to put together some telling financial data. 

- While celebrating the positives Gaster doesn't shy way from Amazon's substantial negatives. In Marketplace for example Amazon often plays really dirty, excluding and undercutting suppliers, stealing product designs, and indulging as a matter of course in ruthless, autocratic, uncompetitive behaviour. There are plenty of stories from disgruntled sellers who accuse Amazon of screwing them over.

- There are two chapters on Amazon's appalling treatment of its workers - blue and white collar. It operates like a cult. There’s something fascist about it - setting a bar for human performance that a large percentage of people can’t meet, and terminating them accordingly. 

- Gaster considers whether there is a case for Amazon to be broken up under Antitrust law. He concludes, quite credibly in my view, that that path would be a waste of time and resources because in all likelihood it would not be successful. The option he prefers, in the interest of taming the beast, is government regulation by an independent government agency. Full disclosure of all data should be required: sales, costs, staffing, disputes, etc. Utility-style mandatory disclosure would provide permanent and real-time monitoring of Amazon’s platform. Information transparency would enable Amazon to be held to account and prosecuted if it deviated from standards set by law.

- I've no doubt that this book will become a classic in the business genre. It's a must read.

 (It is self-published, and unfortunately the text is littered with quite a few missing words, letters and misspellings. A professional proofreader would have corrected these easily).

Leanne Hall, The Gaps

 

- I've been long convinced that all adults should occasionally read high quality YA fiction. The authors are so insightful about the stresses and strains of young adulthood, and the pressures young teens acutely feel in these difficult times.

- Leanne Hall's new novel is amazingly good. And it is a riveting read. In prose that is beautiful and frequently poetic, but never overly dramatic, she creates a world of pain and anxiety as young women at at a prestigious private girls school in one of Melbourne's upmarket suburbs confront the mysterious disappearance of a classmate. As the weeks roll on the tension builds. Where is Yin and is she still alive?

- Hall tells the story from two perspectives - Chloe, a quiet and artistic scholarship winner from a working class background, and Natalia, a beautiful and supremely confident young woman from a wealthy family. They are immensely likeable but worlds apart in virtually every way. The fate of their friend Yin however brings them together. 

-The girls' relationships to their friends and family members, and to the school authorities, are intricate to the story. There is tension and drama, particularly regarding the academic pressures and expectations on them and the dynamics of classmate rivalries, but Hall treads lightly here and always sensitively. 

- I highly recommend this hugely enjoyable novel.