The Brisbane Novel Fiasco

John Birmingham, The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, 1997
This novel was a strange disappointment. It started out full of promise, with a cast of characters rich with comic potential, but soon descended into very self-satisfied lazy writing and a whole load of uninteresting back story that had me give it up around page 107. Watch out Douglas Coupland, you've got competition!

A large group of young people from various backgrounds share a house in Brisbane. When one of the roommates steals the rent money, it's up to the rest of the roommates to figure out where he might be, leading them on an investigation into the previous houseshares he belonged to. Because it's a sequel, the narrator many times asks the reader to remember so-and-so from the previous book and then uses that as the basis for some new character's description. Dialogue is often pointless and unnecessary and characters are barely sketched out and mostly indistinguishable. There's a whole load of telling without much showing, and the dramatic tension seems to have disappeared with the rent money at the start of the story.

It's a shame really because I was hoping this novel would give me a little insight into Brisbane (where a good friend of mine has currently moved to) and its slacker culture. I'll just have to hope that one day another Brisbanite (?) writer will satisfy my curiosity.