The title sounds like a middle-management euphemism and might well be borrowed from an upbeat platitude of Arianna Huffington’s about failure being part of success. Don’t let it put you off.The Opposite of Success is the opposite of shy about failure,it leans into it to create a zany comedy with broad appeal. Two Melbourne women kicking 40 face an increasingly bizarre black comic web of events that will test their friendship. Council worker Lorrie is in line for a promotion,with a big program she’s organised about to be launched at a swish party thrown by an entrepreneur. On the surface,Lorrie’s heading a worthy urban community garden project,though there’s a whiff of greenwashing about it. Meanwhile,doco-maker Alex has infiltrated a group of eco-terrorists calling themselves the Earthlings. Romantic,career,and family entanglements twist into ridiculous contortions in this satire on middle-management and motherhood and female friendship on a doomed planet. Laugh-out-loud funny,this one.
The Heaven&Earth Grocery Store
James McBride,Weidenfeld&Nicolson,$32.99
It begins with a skeleton found at the bottom of a well in Pottstown,Pennsylvania,1972,but James McBride’s latest novel is first and foremost about life. To solve the mystery,the author immerses us in the bustling neighbourhood of Chicken Hill during the 1920s and ’30s,then a vibrant melting-pot where black people,a large Jewish community,and recent immigrants made their home.
Jewish couple Moshe and Chona Ludlow run a theatre and a grocery store (after which the novel is named). When Nate,a black man who works at the theatre,asks the Ludlows to help hide a young deaf boy,Dodo,whom authorities want to institutionalise,the tender-hearted Chona agrees immediately,setting up a chain of events that lead at length to resolving the initial mystery. McBride cements his reputation as a leading American novelist. Here he effortlessly evokes an entire multicultural neighbourhood,impressing with emotional depth,narrative finesse,and the scope of his imagination.
Past Lying
Val McDermid,Sphere,$32.99
I probably haven’t read as many Val McDermid crime novels as I’ve had gin and tonics,though I’ve lost count in both cases. In any event,the author’s gin-swilling cold-case detective Karen Pirie could drink me under the table,and she makes a much-anticipated return inPast Lying. This time DCI Pirie stumbles across an author’s manuscript with unique qualities. The plot bears an uncanny resemblance to an unsolved disappearance. Lara Hardie,a university student,vanished from her doorstep,never to be seen again,and the author clearly knows what happened to her. Trouble is,the manuscript is unfinished,the author dead,and Pirie must delve deeper into a spiral of betrayal and revenge that features more than one of McDermid’s signature twists. Queen of crime is a title that gets bandied about a lot,and with her meticulously plotted and atmospheric murder mysteries,McDermid has a reliable claim.