SHE’LL BE RIGHT
by
Kevin Roberts
Reviewed
by
Andra P.Thakur
(RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY,
UDONTHANI , THAILAND)
If you must read one novel this year, I strongly recommend Kevin Roberts’
She’ll Be Right (Published by Pilot Hill Press, Salt Spring Island, 2007. Distributor Amazon.com Price $20. Can.|). Set mainly in Adelaide, Australia and Vancouver, Canada with a web of other international connection. Once you get into this 319 pager, set in seventy-four short chapters, it is a no put-downer. The novel is a skilful and aesthetic braiding of three stories: a pregnant young woman, Imogene, and her boyfriend Peter, in search of her mysterious past; entwined with a group of eight, seemingly mis-placed Aussies living at Fred’s
House; and interlaced with five short stories. It is metaphorically rich and Roberts writes with a deep sensitivity of indigenous art and culture
The Aussies in Fred’s House are life-like characters and one readily identifies with them. Peter (p.7) distinguishes them as dogs: “
HM, a dingo crossed with an oversize head;
Queensland, naturally a blue heeler;
Downhill, one of those motley farm dogs;
PDC, a lolloping overweight St. Bernard;
Adelaide, a snappy spoiled poodle;
Firebug, a dumb Irish setter running around in circles;
Wacker, a roo dog built only in hunt; and
B, a friendly Lab with his curious noise always in the garbage”. They all fell under the spell of Bernie, the mysterious and intriguing Aussie beauty, hockey star, and artist. But Fred’s House is an
open house and serves as an international drop-in centre; like the two young women from South Africa who are invited to stay, but later insulted as though they were personally responsible for the creation and maintenance of the apartheid system.
Queensland, a central character at Fred’s House, worked as a longshoreman and through devious, and not so devious, means finds well-paid employment for his Aussie mates. On the water-front goods got missing; the supervisor rants about “immigrant convicts from Australia stealing anything that wasn’t bolted down” (p. 29); with new fridges, stoves and dryers mysteriously arriving at Fred’s House. But Queensland had earlier told B, a checker at the water-front, to take a coffee break and that if a
container or
forklift load got missing “the earth wouldn’t stop moving”
Aussies are sports
fanatics and with free equipment from the waterfront sets up a hockey team, The Didgeridoo All Stars – the worst and funniest team in Canada. Despite their ignorance and insufficient members for a team, Fred’s blokes are very nationalistic. “We could ask London House”. “No Poms”. Kiwi House?” “No Ned Zed either” (p.52). Then, through Peter’s eyes, we followed a cricket match between Simon Fraser University team (made up mostly of
geeks and
gooks from every corner of the globe, including pregnant Imogene as wicket keeper) and University of British Columbia snobs- played at the legendary Brockton Point oval. Fred’s House occupants also take gambling to a new hilarious level with a “bunch of beetles and cockroaches in a card board box with a number stuck on them, and start and finishing lines” (p.311).
If you think the film, Three Men and a Baby, is funny, you should read the chapters about eight hopeless Australian men planning a wedding for the newly arrive bride-to-be, Helen. This is a rich, varied, unusual but very entertaining novel. You should read it.