Lia's review of Man Bites Dog

Man Bites Dog
by Adam Ford (Goodreads author!)

Lia's review

rating:

bookshelves: contemporary, novels

status: Read in January, 2008

This novel was both thoroughly enjoyable and somewhat disappointing.

Backstory: I discovered Adam Ford when I was about fourteen. He wrote these short and sweet free verse poems that I loved (see Not Quite the Man for the Job). He also makes zines and comics and edits Going Down Swinging and generally does a lot of stuff to support the local grassroots lit community. I loved that, too; loved that he used to live with Alicia Sometimes (another stalwart of the Melbourne poetry scene, she hosts the spoken word show on RRR among other things), loved that they wrote poems about each other and Fitzroy and trams. About my world, or the world I wanted to be part of and I think sort of did, for a while at least. I loved that though they seemed to be professional writers they were kind of fannish, except for the fandom of Melbourne. But I always had a sneaking suspicion that the fandom factor played a bit part i...more This novel was both thoroughly enjoyable and somewhat disappointing.

Backstory: I discovered Adam Ford when I was about fourteen. He wrote these short and sweet free verse poems that I loved (see Not Quite the Man for the Job). He also makes zines and comics and edits Going Down Swinging and generally does a lot of stuff to support the local grassroots lit community. I loved that, too; loved that he used to live with Alicia Sometimes (another stalwart of the Melbourne poetry scene, she hosts the spoken word show on RRR among other things), loved that they wrote poems about each other and Fitzroy and trams. About my world, or the world I wanted to be part of and I think sort of did, for a while at least. I loved that though they seemed to be professional writers they were kind of fannish, except for the fandom of Melbourne. But I always had a sneaking suspicion that the fandom factor played a bit part in my love for such writing -- my bias towards their subject matter tilted my judgement to exaggerated favour.

And that's one of my main problems with this book. The protagonist, Steven, has just finished a BA (at Melbourne Uni) and becomes a postie (around North Fitzroy). His friends make zines (which they sell at Polyester and Sticky) and have picnics (at Collingwood Children's Farm) and go for bike rides (along Merri Creek). They even have dinner at the Moroccan Soup Bar. It's all very familiar. And, of course, that's not Ford's fault -- it's his city too and it makes perfect sense that he should write about it. But it makes me a little suspicious, as though my affection is being bought too easily.

The main plot, a farcical mystery about a dead dog, is really quite funny, though at times I (like the protagonist) forgot about it entirely. The subplot about Steven working out his life (or perhaps that's really the main plot) is fine, and readily believable, if somewhat predictable. But it feels like perhaps it's drawn too closely from life (well, inner-city mid-20s hipster life). All the characters are likeable, and the story is sweet and funny, and stylistically it's very natural, but it just doesn't seem all that inventive. Easy to like, sure. But maybe just because it's colloquial, not only in language but idea. I wanted something more daring.

There's a suggestion that Ford is aware of this, though. In one scene, Steven is at a picnic where Emma's friends are dismissing The Secret Life of Us as just another soap, but one that tries to lure them in with all the paraphernalia of their demographic. For me this scene makes me go "Oh, okay, I get what you're doing".

Hipsters always dig the meta.

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Lia's review of Man Bites Dog

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