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Welcome to Normal

3.1 of 5 stars 3.10 · rating details · 30 ratings · 6 reviews

This collection of stories showcase the calibre and versatility of Nick Earls at his perceptive best.

An Australian wine-maker tries to crack the Taiwanese market. Two holiday-makers in Spain decide to tell a lie about each other every meal. A man drives home from work trying not to dwell on what he has just done.

From Arizona to Taipei to suburban Brisbane, Nick Earls's cha...more

Paperback, 273 pages

Published July 2nd 2012 by Random House Australia

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Sep 01, 2012 Steve lovell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nick Earls – Welcome to Normal
In the grey years of life a certain invisibility descends. Once one is eligible for a seniors’ card, and without the possession of copious bling indicating conspicuous wealth, sixty plus year olds – and I can only, as Earls does, speak for males – seem to submerge into irrelevance in one aspect. The frisson of encounters with beautiful women – and all women are, in one way or other, beautiful – are almost impossible to find, particularly once the workforce is left b...more Nick Earls – Welcome to Normal
In the grey years of life a certain invisibility descends. Once one is eligible for a seniors’ card, and without the possession of copious bling indicating conspicuous wealth, sixty plus year olds – and I can only, as Earls does, speak for males – seem to submerge into irrelevance in one aspect. The frisson of encounters with beautiful women – and all women are, in one way or other, beautiful – are almost impossible to find, particularly once the workforce is left behind The reason being is that they simply do not see you. With one’s dotage such encounters need to be manufactured – and the best places for this to occur are in venues where lovely ladies of all ages are required to so that very thing - notice you – in the course of their daily labour.
Now this is not a reference to what some invisible men do - going to the extreme of seeking out the world’s oldest profession. The average numerically afflicted male can find the necessary solace in far less costly places, for a sexual culmination in any encounter is never the aim – far from it, at least for me.
Earls gives a great illustration of this in one of the tales from ‘Welcome to Normal’ and it had me thinking of some recent ‘adventures’ of my own.
On a trip to the big city lights across the water a month or so ago I took my great mate to a well known Melbourne CBD alleyway in search of our evening meal. The walkway was festooned with street board menus and pumped spruikers. I gesticulated expansively to the scene ahead telling my similarly invisible pal to make a choice from the array before us. Along the street he proceeded, rejecting each offering seemingly out of hand, until we happened almost the end of the thoroughfare – and there it occurred. He was tempted by the first female cajoler – she being young, vibrant, perky, as well as decidedly beautiful – and entranced by saucily presented promises my gullible – or so it seemed – comrade beckoned to me that this was the one. Despite the quite expensive, but blandish, meal, delivered by sloppy, if alluring, staff, we had the best night. Soon after our placement a bevy of young ladies seated themselves down in intimate proximity at the neighbouring table. We were trapped by beauty. The young things were provocatively dressed for the nightlife and, despite the paucity of their meal, were well lubricated for a good time. The shortcomings of the restaurant’s offerings gave excuse to initiate conversation, and soon connections were made and for a while our cloaks of invisibility disappeared.
I later discovered that my friend had an inner checklist for eatery choice as a salve to invisibility. For me, as well as the menu and cost, I need to know that the restaurant is well attended by a glance inside, for surely a populated scene is a measure of goodliness. Maybe I could also espy a dish being served or consumed to gauge that the fare is plentiful. My mate has a different focus. His method is to appraise the serving staff, especially the male to female ratio with, of course, the calibre of the latter being well noted. All this serves to illustrate the extremes us grey men indulge in to add lustre to our lives.
More of said lustre was attached at later stages in the trip to that mainland metropolis. In this I was aided by the fact that I was Tasmanian, and a certain art museum, of exotic exhibition fame, had recently been established in my neck of the woods. Firstly there was the ravishing caramel coloured assistant – as it turns out of West African ethnicity - in a quiet Brunswick Street perfumery (I was there on a mission at my daughter’s behest). She became seemingly transfixed by my accounts of visits to the outlandish attractions of MONA. Her smiles lit up the rest of my day. I adore Melbourne’s multiculturalism. Similarly an assistant at the National Gallery of Victoria’s bookshop spent a good twenty minutes or so listening to a repeat of my MONA spiel. I discovered that it was her first day on the job – I did wonder if, after having received an introductory exhortation to be attentive to customers, she overdid it with me as she seemingly ignored other browsers. She was a dazzling blonde and I began to feel somewhat less than my six decades. In all this, with me, and no doubt with my chum as well, there is a inner-codicil about lines not being crossed. We have no need as we both have gorgeous, beautiful ladies as partners in life who add polished sheen to each and every day we are in their orbit. And we are not stupid.
And all this is a perhaps overly roundabout way of saying how much I could relate to the second story, ‘Merlo Girls’, in Earls’ fine collection, ‘Welcome to Normal’. In this tale a similarly invisible duo use the ruse of regular coffee refills to have their cloaks removed for a short time. There is much to enthuse about in all these short story offerings from one of my favourite purveyors of the written word. With the collection he takes what perhaps can be described as a Google Earth approach. He descends down on his characters taking a seemingly random slice from the narrative of their lives to present to us. The stories are often subtle in their appeal with climaxes, if at all present, quite muted, but nonetheless worth ruminating over. Earls is a terrific writer with an eye for the detail of what is poignant in the lives of ‘normal’ humankind – and I suggest the title can be taken in this way as well as the obvious. The stories are just of what is. Nothing happens that is earth-shakingly unexpected, but their delight is in their ability to conjure up relevance to one’s own life journey. The wonderful ‘The People I Met Through Smoking’ reminded me so much of my own father and his ability to gather ‘strays’, even if he was decidedly anti the fag. The titular story summoned to us the repressed nature and the yearnings of many lives entrapped, even if Earls did us all a favour by not succumbing to the clichéd outcome – as he may have done in ‘Grass Valley’ – or did he?
The ‘sunniness’ of his early Queensland based works may be missed by some, but this, being more ‘international’, with stories set in America and Asia, is just Brisbane’s gift to the world spreading his wings, as he has in other recent titles. He has the chops to still fly into our hearts. We know he has his ‘sunniness’ patter indeed down pat – there are few better at it. From ‘After January’ on I have read all of Earl’s menu and, like encounters small with beautiful women, my life has been given lustre as a result.
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May 17, 2013 Ben Eldridge rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

In a sense, this is Nick Earls' new short story collection shows a more mature approach to characterisation than he has had previously; the overall tone is mutedly sombre in exposing the frailty of the human character. The first 3 stories are all deftly executed (particularly in the writing of the child narrator, unaware of the significance of many events he witnesses), bringing some real pathos to his work, trading his usual comic expression of male anxiety into a much darker and more pessimist...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Juta rated it 3 of 5 stars

This one was hard to rate. As a book of short stories, it probably deserved a four. But my expectations of Nick Earls are very high, and this collection fell short.

The title story and 'Merlo Girls' were stand outs. 'Breaking Up' was also excellent. But 'The Heart Of Robert The Bruce' seemed an exercise in trying to prove that gay couples are just ordinary people, a little condescending towards those of us who already knew that.

'Range' was great, but the last three stories just didn't capture th...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Meredith Walker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Nick Earls is a perceptive writer and though this observations are as amusing as ever in this short story collection, I prefer them grounded in Brisbane reality as opposed to in Arizona and Taipei for example. “Welcome to Normal” is well-written as always and, as a short story collection, the stories range in setting and narrator, which adds some interest but ultimately I found the varied subject matter, cumbersome.

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Dec 01, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some of these stories are 5 star for characterization. Nick Earls knows his people and writes beautifully from within them. Some of the stories are just not page turners...

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Aug 12, 2012 Reann Norman rated it 2 of 5 stars

Short stories often leave me feeling unsatisfied, but as a fan of Nick Earl's previous works, I decided to give it a go. It was well written but did not grab my attention or leave me wanting more.

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About Nick Earls

Nick Earls is the author of twelve books, including bestselling novels such as Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses, Perfect Skin and World of Chickens. His work has been published internationally in English and also in translation, and this led to him being a finalist in the Premier of Queensland’s Awards for Export Achievement in 1999.

Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is cur...more Nick Earls is the author of twelve books, including bestselling novels such as Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses, Perfect Skin and World of Chickens. His work has been published internationally in English and also in translation, and this led to him being a finalist in the Premier of Queensland’s Awards for Export Achievement in 1999.

Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.

He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.

After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.

Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.

His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.

He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.(less)

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