The Full Ridiculous
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4.0 • 6 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A funny, moving novel about love, family and the precarious business of being a man.
Michael O'Dell is hit by a car. When he doesn't die, he is surprised and pleased. But he can't seem to move from the crash position. He can't concentrate, or control his anger and grief, or work out what to do about anything much. His wife Wendy is heroically supportive but his teenage children don't help his post-accident angst: daughter Rosie punches out a vindictive schoolmate and all hell breaks loose; son Declan is found with a stash of illicit drugs. A strange policeman starts harrassing the family and ordinary mishaps take on a sinister desperation. To top it all off, Michael's professional life starts to crumble.
Mark Lamprell's extraordinary debut examines the terrible truth: sometimes you can't pull yourself together until you've completely fallen apart.
Mark Lamprell has worked in film and television for many years. He co-wrote the film Babe Pig in the City and wrote and directed the award-winning feature My Mother Frank. His most recent project is the movie musical Goddess, which he co-wrote and directed. The Full Ridiculous is his first novel.
textpublishing.com.au
'The Full Ridiculous will appeal to readers of quirky, contemporary fiction such as The Rosie Project and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It reminds us that sometimes, to really appreciate the beautiful highs of life, you need to hit rock bottom first.' Bookseller and Publisher
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Screen writer Lamprell debuts with a first-rate novel told almost exclusively in the second person. It begins with Michael O'Dell being hit by a car, an accident that sets off a yearlong descent into an "Alice-less Wonderland" of personal and familial trouble. Michael is a sardonic film critic who gave up his reviewing gig to work a book about the decline of Australian cinema, a fitting subject given his growing conviction that "the good part of your life is over; the bad part has begun." To wit: his daughter picks a fight with a girl from a particularly vengeful family; his son may be using, or worse, dealing drugs; and then there is Constable Lance Johnstone, the off-kilter policeman whose buffoonery makes his obsessive hounding of the O'Dells no less sinister. As Michael and his family work to resolve their crises, Lamprell manages to temper sentimentalism with a tonic wryness. Despite the relatively uncommon second-person narration, the dysfunctional family plot feels familiar. However, in Lamprell's hands, the reader won't necessarily mind.
