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Analogue Men
Do you ever feel like you might have just one more chance to get on top of your life and make things happen? Andrew Van Fleet and Bamberg Davis Kirchner have parted company. Private equity has let him go without a fuss and he’s opting for a job that will let him spend more time at home. But the house is overrun by iPads and teenage hormones and conversations that have moved on without him. Plus his ailing father is now lodged in the granny flat, convalescing from surgery with his scrappy bulldog in tow.And then there’s Brian Brightman, the expensive fading star at the radio station Andrew’s signed up to manage, still gotcha-calling and dropping single entendres as if it’s the eighties. He too is starting to wonder if the twenty-first century might prove to be his second best. He’s Andrew’s worst nightmare, but they’re thrown together on a road trip to face their shared fear of obsolescence, with hilarious consequences.
361 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
9 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Nick Earls
74 books173 followersNick 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
August 15, 2014
I do miss Neville H. He's my mate. Between us we could happily, contentedly feel like '...analogue men in a digital age.' He's still my mate, my best male mate. I just don't get to see see him as often as I would like. We met aeons ago – shared a school uniform and a local footy team. His only downside is that he's Collingwood through and through – and I cherish the 'poo and piss', as he repeatedly calls them – Hawthorn. We did uni together – shared digs at a residential hall – married our sweethearts and commenced our teaching careers. Then we moved to different locales, gained new mates, parted from our spouses and lost touch. Eventually he returned to my town, we reconnected, reviewed our pasts and made ready for the autumn years. Mine involved a beautiful woman from Hobart, his one from Thailand. I moved south to be with my Leigh – and now, sadly, I miss my mate.
I miss our Friday nights – together, us two 'analogue men', throwbacks to when it was all less complicated, less busy. The digital age has made our lives so full of crap. I tried to comprehend it and largely failed. He gave less ground than I. We'd sit around the table at 15 Lane Street, telling tales large and fantastical. I'd cook him tea, we'd sink a few reds. Then we'd get onto politics – always dangerous. He was rabidly Green, my beliefs of a lighter hue – but I couldn't bring myself to vote for anyone else. Then we'd settle down to watch the footy – except if the Hawks were playing. Then we'd make it another night. But if the Maggies were on and they lost, it would always be the fault the 'white maggots'. But this was a put on, an aberration for Neville H has more humanity in his little finger than Tony Abbot in his whole being. He looks out for the downtrodden and repressed – he'd give them the shirt off his back. I am extremely content with my new life by the river in Hobart Town and I trust he's found similar in our old stomping ground up north. We will continue to get together on occasions, but there's no regularity now. I wouldn't swap what I have here by the river, but I do miss those Friday nights with Neville H.
That's why I enjoyed Nick Earls' take on it all in 'Analogue Men' so much. Reading it was akin to those Friday nights with Neville H, getting gently to the 'Mr Wobbly' (in joke) stage and talking, talking, talking. Earls' central protagonist, Andrew Van Fleet, is about to enter the autumnal years – the years yours truly and Neville H inhabit (with some joy I might add). We know our pomp is substantially behind us, but like Andrew, reckon we're not completely kaput. We have all downsized – although Neville H reverted to up-sizing a while ago – he's had a second wind. Van Fleet has been a high flyer, but like many who have realised the digital age has taken away their lives, he has opted for a quieter existence on reaching the cusp. He wants more time with family – his missus Robyn; his offspring, Abi and Jack. And then there's his dad out there in the granny flat – ailing in his late dotage, but once a legend in in his own lunch-box on the local radio airwaves.
And that's what Andrew VF takes on – a managerial role in a radio station – as if that's going to lead to a quiet life! It's here he comes face to face with another legend in a terminal decline - albeit one of a different ilk – Brian Brightman. Once the king of the wireless in Brisbane, his star has long fallen- but he still battles on at the bottom of the ratings chart, trying to compete with the shock jocks and the new shiny hip kids on the block. He has a patter that has seen better days, often getting him in deep shit he is so out of touch with political correctness – or is he? Andrew soon finds he is drowning – he's beyond his depth and now he just can't swan away to NYC or HK on a business caper. There's also family conundrums a plenty to deal with. Then comes the ill-conceived plan to combine both and solve all issues in one knockout blow. It involved minding BB at a comedy festival down on the GC, paralleling that onerous responsibility with a family holiday. It spells disaster – it was.
Earls has created some characters for the ages with this. From the two kids with digital apparatii hanging off every appendage to a constipated bulldog – he is back to the rare form of his earlier novels that bought so much Mangoland sunshine to a chillsome Tassie winter.
Of course Neville H and I never reached any great heights in our professional careers – which does not mean we weren't successful at what we did. There is, though, in AVF a soul I can relate to. Luckily I do not have to compete with all that plurry technology as much with these days of retirement bliss. I loved this book. At times I laughed till the tears were streaming. All the trouble Andrew had with his buttocks is priceless. Sure the climax involving a shark and an errant tongue is a tad over the top – so weird it just may be a possibility (except in fiction) – but even with this I was happy to be taken along for the ride. So thank you Nick Earls. For a short time perusing your offering I was around that table again with Neville H, fixing up the world, with not a digital device in sight. Your book, Mr Earls, did that for me – even if it made me miss Neville H even more.
I miss our Friday nights – together, us two 'analogue men', throwbacks to when it was all less complicated, less busy. The digital age has made our lives so full of crap. I tried to comprehend it and largely failed. He gave less ground than I. We'd sit around the table at 15 Lane Street, telling tales large and fantastical. I'd cook him tea, we'd sink a few reds. Then we'd get onto politics – always dangerous. He was rabidly Green, my beliefs of a lighter hue – but I couldn't bring myself to vote for anyone else. Then we'd settle down to watch the footy – except if the Hawks were playing. Then we'd make it another night. But if the Maggies were on and they lost, it would always be the fault the 'white maggots'. But this was a put on, an aberration for Neville H has more humanity in his little finger than Tony Abbot in his whole being. He looks out for the downtrodden and repressed – he'd give them the shirt off his back. I am extremely content with my new life by the river in Hobart Town and I trust he's found similar in our old stomping ground up north. We will continue to get together on occasions, but there's no regularity now. I wouldn't swap what I have here by the river, but I do miss those Friday nights with Neville H.
That's why I enjoyed Nick Earls' take on it all in 'Analogue Men' so much. Reading it was akin to those Friday nights with Neville H, getting gently to the 'Mr Wobbly' (in joke) stage and talking, talking, talking. Earls' central protagonist, Andrew Van Fleet, is about to enter the autumnal years – the years yours truly and Neville H inhabit (with some joy I might add). We know our pomp is substantially behind us, but like Andrew, reckon we're not completely kaput. We have all downsized – although Neville H reverted to up-sizing a while ago – he's had a second wind. Van Fleet has been a high flyer, but like many who have realised the digital age has taken away their lives, he has opted for a quieter existence on reaching the cusp. He wants more time with family – his missus Robyn; his offspring, Abi and Jack. And then there's his dad out there in the granny flat – ailing in his late dotage, but once a legend in in his own lunch-box on the local radio airwaves.
And that's what Andrew VF takes on – a managerial role in a radio station – as if that's going to lead to a quiet life! It's here he comes face to face with another legend in a terminal decline - albeit one of a different ilk – Brian Brightman. Once the king of the wireless in Brisbane, his star has long fallen- but he still battles on at the bottom of the ratings chart, trying to compete with the shock jocks and the new shiny hip kids on the block. He has a patter that has seen better days, often getting him in deep shit he is so out of touch with political correctness – or is he? Andrew soon finds he is drowning – he's beyond his depth and now he just can't swan away to NYC or HK on a business caper. There's also family conundrums a plenty to deal with. Then comes the ill-conceived plan to combine both and solve all issues in one knockout blow. It involved minding BB at a comedy festival down on the GC, paralleling that onerous responsibility with a family holiday. It spells disaster – it was.
Earls has created some characters for the ages with this. From the two kids with digital apparatii hanging off every appendage to a constipated bulldog – he is back to the rare form of his earlier novels that bought so much Mangoland sunshine to a chillsome Tassie winter.
Of course Neville H and I never reached any great heights in our professional careers – which does not mean we weren't successful at what we did. There is, though, in AVF a soul I can relate to. Luckily I do not have to compete with all that plurry technology as much with these days of retirement bliss. I loved this book. At times I laughed till the tears were streaming. All the trouble Andrew had with his buttocks is priceless. Sure the climax involving a shark and an errant tongue is a tad over the top – so weird it just may be a possibility (except in fiction) – but even with this I was happy to be taken along for the ride. So thank you Nick Earls. For a short time perusing your offering I was around that table again with Neville H, fixing up the world, with not a digital device in sight. Your book, Mr Earls, did that for me – even if it made me miss Neville H even more.
February 27, 2019
I found this really hard going. And I wanted to like it, badly- I love all his other work. This one didn’t resonate despite being about a character in a similar stage of life...
September 3, 2014
The idea of feeling like an ‘analogue man in a digital age’ describes any of us in any situation where time has marched on and left us scrambling to catch up. Technology provides us with potent examples, of course, and Earls uses the radio industry in this latest novel as a touchstone against which he can bounce different ideas about change.
Earls has written on a wide range of topics, but is best known for his bewildered-bloke-books, like Zigzag Street and Bachelor Kisses. This one follows that formula; meet Andrew, a 40-something business man returning to family life in Brisbane after several years as a globetrotting big wig. He’s taken on a less prestigious but only slightly less stressful job in order to spend more time at home. His mission is to turn a tired radio station – Spin99 FM – into a profitable concern, principally by shifting some of the dead wood. That dead wood, in the form of old school DJ Brian Brightman, is less than impressed by the gathering winds of change. Brightman is one of those ‘gotcha call’ kind of guys who thinks the PC police are ruining their best material.
As Andrew tries to get his head around the future of radio, he is also struggling to find his place again in a bustling household that’s established its own routine in his absence. His wife is a busy GP, his teenage kids talk via gadgets he’s never heard of and his ailing elderly father is a constant reminder of the march towards the inevitable. Andrew represents a point in life that a lot of us probably take too long to arrive at, where money and career suddenly seem much less important than family. He longs to get to know his kids on a deeper level (just as they’ve reached the age when they no longer want to talk) and he’s finally ready to really listen to his father’s stories about his own career and life experiences, in the knowledge that there’s now a time limit on those opportunities.
I found fewer ‘laugh out loud’ moments here than I have in others of Nick’s novels, but I also found many beautifully articulated snapshots of life in the years when we are parents and children at the same time. Technological progress is fast, but it’s no more bewildering than the ageing process or the almost daily shifting of the goal posts that comes with parenting.
A longer review of this novel can be found at http://thischarmingmum.com
Earls has written on a wide range of topics, but is best known for his bewildered-bloke-books, like Zigzag Street and Bachelor Kisses. This one follows that formula; meet Andrew, a 40-something business man returning to family life in Brisbane after several years as a globetrotting big wig. He’s taken on a less prestigious but only slightly less stressful job in order to spend more time at home. His mission is to turn a tired radio station – Spin99 FM – into a profitable concern, principally by shifting some of the dead wood. That dead wood, in the form of old school DJ Brian Brightman, is less than impressed by the gathering winds of change. Brightman is one of those ‘gotcha call’ kind of guys who thinks the PC police are ruining their best material.
As Andrew tries to get his head around the future of radio, he is also struggling to find his place again in a bustling household that’s established its own routine in his absence. His wife is a busy GP, his teenage kids talk via gadgets he’s never heard of and his ailing elderly father is a constant reminder of the march towards the inevitable. Andrew represents a point in life that a lot of us probably take too long to arrive at, where money and career suddenly seem much less important than family. He longs to get to know his kids on a deeper level (just as they’ve reached the age when they no longer want to talk) and he’s finally ready to really listen to his father’s stories about his own career and life experiences, in the knowledge that there’s now a time limit on those opportunities.
I found fewer ‘laugh out loud’ moments here than I have in others of Nick’s novels, but I also found many beautifully articulated snapshots of life in the years when we are parents and children at the same time. Technological progress is fast, but it’s no more bewildering than the ageing process or the almost daily shifting of the goal posts that comes with parenting.
A longer review of this novel can be found at http://thischarmingmum.com
September 3, 2018
I've read Nick Earls before and found him poignant and insightful, and maybe its just that I'm not a late forty/sixty simething man, but I found this book a bit reulsive. It was awkward and way too detailed with grossly unfunny experiences. I wanted to stop reading it from the moment Brian Brightman entered the story. A well written catastrophe.
July 9, 2017
What is a smurfberry? What is shelf bosom? How badly can a sex education talk with your fifteen year old son go? (I'm still giggling at that one.) These were all questions I found myself asking as I read this novel. I love books that make me laugh and this was one of them.
September 18, 2022
I wanted to love this book but I struggled. All previous Nick Earls books have been awesome. This one, hmmm, it was difficult. Characters weren't as enjoyable, some of them unlikable, maybe it was because I couldn't relate to them? The storyline was a bit stressful and frustrating.
June 11, 2017
Disjointed mess.
September 30, 2017
Another classic Brisbane-based comedy by Nick Earls
September 20, 2018
An entertaining book with a good yet open ending. And it is really funny. Enjoyed remembering Australia through it.
November 7, 2018
I love the way Nick Earls writes.
July 18, 2020
Super readable, I breezed through it and it mostly held my interest. But there was so long where nothing really happened and then I just really hated the climax and ending.
April 16, 2021
Oh God! I so wish I didn't personally recognise every single character in this book but I do. Snorting with laughter in the doctor's waiting room may not have been my finest moment.
November 24, 2014
Although a child of the 80s, I am an unashamed luddite despite coming from a family with a computer-programming father – and I recently heard Earls talk about being the luddite of his family stuck between his tablet-obsessed son and his father, who has the time in his retirement to pursue technology.
(Case in point - I read a nice paperback signed edition - but I accidentally selected "Kindle" and can't seem to undo it. Poodies.)
This book is an affable story about a man who is beginning a new chapter of his life as he downsizes his work life to appreciate time with his family who have done a pretty good job without him when he had a much higher flying job. He has taken up a job in a radio station where he becomes effectively a babysitter for a vile shock-jock who is the distillation of all the most terrible Australian shock-jocks ever to befoul the airwaves.
I found a lot of the story was quite sad – there was a sense of a lot of lost time with the family, feelings of dislocation in the modern world and much of the main character’s life having already been and gone, without much exciting stuff on the horizon. There wasn’t much sense the main character had been all that fun in his younger days either. It took some completely hilarious and strange events for the main character to come out as being needed by the family (and even so mainly because the wife’s phone was turned off).
I wanted to spend more time with the interesting characters – the main character of this suffered a little from Nick Carraway Syndrome (where the narrator is surrounded by such vivid, colourful characters they seem incredibly dull by comparison. I’ve taken two days to get around to writing this review and already had to refer back to the book to remember the main character’s name). I got the impression there was a lot more going on with the wife than just the Tina Fey lookalike who polices the family. Likewise the teenage children are very interesting people (much like the young people of the last Earls’ book I read, ‘The True Story of Butterfish’) – and it makes such a refreshing and more honest story than the old “anyone born after 1990 is a vapid wastrel” trope. (Although Earls has been effectively writing main characters that follow his own age, I would totally love to read a book from the internal world of one or both of the van Fleet kids.)
More importantly, I didn’t get the sense of the other characters having much of an effect on the main character himself. Surely a key reason to have such a colourful shock-jock character the same age as the main character is to reflect on their differences and for the ‘Odd Couple’ to rub off on each other, with the main character (Al? Pretty sure it started with an A) learning to embrace a little of his own inner Brian Brightman.
The story takes place effectively over a few days, and in some ways the story felt incomplete. It’s more than fine to leave to speculation how (the main character… uhm… Bob?) will negotiate the future of his business concern, but there was only momentary glimpses of what might happen and the potential next days of the main character. Just as the family had been going along quite fine without his daily presence, I didn’t get the sense of there being a place that desperately needed… uh… Phil?... to be the hero of the hour (unless there’s surgical material extraction from a canine or embarrassing naked housekeeping incidents).
(Case in point - I read a nice paperback signed edition - but I accidentally selected "Kindle" and can't seem to undo it. Poodies.)
This book is an affable story about a man who is beginning a new chapter of his life as he downsizes his work life to appreciate time with his family who have done a pretty good job without him when he had a much higher flying job. He has taken up a job in a radio station where he becomes effectively a babysitter for a vile shock-jock who is the distillation of all the most terrible Australian shock-jocks ever to befoul the airwaves.
I found a lot of the story was quite sad – there was a sense of a lot of lost time with the family, feelings of dislocation in the modern world and much of the main character’s life having already been and gone, without much exciting stuff on the horizon. There wasn’t much sense the main character had been all that fun in his younger days either. It took some completely hilarious and strange events for the main character to come out as being needed by the family (and even so mainly because the wife’s phone was turned off).
I wanted to spend more time with the interesting characters – the main character of this suffered a little from Nick Carraway Syndrome (where the narrator is surrounded by such vivid, colourful characters they seem incredibly dull by comparison. I’ve taken two days to get around to writing this review and already had to refer back to the book to remember the main character’s name). I got the impression there was a lot more going on with the wife than just the Tina Fey lookalike who polices the family. Likewise the teenage children are very interesting people (much like the young people of the last Earls’ book I read, ‘The True Story of Butterfish’) – and it makes such a refreshing and more honest story than the old “anyone born after 1990 is a vapid wastrel” trope. (Although Earls has been effectively writing main characters that follow his own age, I would totally love to read a book from the internal world of one or both of the van Fleet kids.)
More importantly, I didn’t get the sense of the other characters having much of an effect on the main character himself. Surely a key reason to have such a colourful shock-jock character the same age as the main character is to reflect on their differences and for the ‘Odd Couple’ to rub off on each other, with the main character (Al? Pretty sure it started with an A) learning to embrace a little of his own inner Brian Brightman.
The story takes place effectively over a few days, and in some ways the story felt incomplete. It’s more than fine to leave to speculation how (the main character… uhm… Bob?) will negotiate the future of his business concern, but there was only momentary glimpses of what might happen and the potential next days of the main character. Just as the family had been going along quite fine without his daily presence, I didn’t get the sense of there being a place that desperately needed… uh… Phil?... to be the hero of the hour (unless there’s surgical material extraction from a canine or embarrassing naked housekeeping incidents).
April 22, 2016
3+
Having just read his collection of short stories I wanted to give my old mate Nick Earls another run for his money. At page 57 I admit to checking how much I'd read and wondering if I should keep going or just move on to another book. That was most definitely a first for me during a Nick Earls book and it rattled me a bit. I kept going and whilst I was never completely blown away by this book I am not sorry about finishing it. In fact I had a few laughs along the way, but one of the best laughs I've had in ages was induced on page 337, so close to the end of this book. From memory, when reading his older books I've had lots more of those huge giggling fits than I did during this book but hey, I'll take a good book inspired laugh any day.
There was no doubting this story was written by Nick Earls. The main character was just like many of his other male main characters except this guy was older. Whereas in many of his other books his main characters have either been young guys at uni or just out of uni (from memory Perfect Skin had a 30 something main character) but in this book Andy was definitely middle aged. He's a father and husband but he's been away from his family for work so much over the past 3 years he doesn't quite belong the way he should. So, he's wiped his hands of his high flying career and has taken a bit of a demotion to be at home more often and to grab his chance to spend time with the family before his teenaged twins are fully grown. It is clear from the start that this is not going to be an easy task. In many of the Nick Earls books I've loved the guy is just an average kind of Aussie bloke, trying to fit in with his peers, often disparaging himself and lacking the confidence that he's going to achieve anything, but generally they are decent, basically family oriented guys. I don't think Andy was so very different from these other main characters, he was just an older version with different goals. Instead of chasing skirts and being fixated on booze and sex our guy was trying to re-establish himself with his family and find a place in his new job. What I liked was that the story didn't go anywhere near infidelity, and it didn't go near being a gushy romance, or even a hint of a rekindled one. He and Robyn were husband and wife and they too were getting back into a routine of being in this parenting business together. Even though he buggered things up from time to time (and that's how the laughs kept rolling), he kept trying.
So, whilst I'm pretty sure I can no longer say "Nick Earls is my favourite author" it's fair to say I still enjoy his writing and will be back for more.
Having just read his collection of short stories I wanted to give my old mate Nick Earls another run for his money. At page 57 I admit to checking how much I'd read and wondering if I should keep going or just move on to another book. That was most definitely a first for me during a Nick Earls book and it rattled me a bit. I kept going and whilst I was never completely blown away by this book I am not sorry about finishing it. In fact I had a few laughs along the way, but one of the best laughs I've had in ages was induced on page 337, so close to the end of this book. From memory, when reading his older books I've had lots more of those huge giggling fits than I did during this book but hey, I'll take a good book inspired laugh any day.
There was no doubting this story was written by Nick Earls. The main character was just like many of his other male main characters except this guy was older. Whereas in many of his other books his main characters have either been young guys at uni or just out of uni (from memory Perfect Skin had a 30 something main character) but in this book Andy was definitely middle aged. He's a father and husband but he's been away from his family for work so much over the past 3 years he doesn't quite belong the way he should. So, he's wiped his hands of his high flying career and has taken a bit of a demotion to be at home more often and to grab his chance to spend time with the family before his teenaged twins are fully grown. It is clear from the start that this is not going to be an easy task. In many of the Nick Earls books I've loved the guy is just an average kind of Aussie bloke, trying to fit in with his peers, often disparaging himself and lacking the confidence that he's going to achieve anything, but generally they are decent, basically family oriented guys. I don't think Andy was so very different from these other main characters, he was just an older version with different goals. Instead of chasing skirts and being fixated on booze and sex our guy was trying to re-establish himself with his family and find a place in his new job. What I liked was that the story didn't go anywhere near infidelity, and it didn't go near being a gushy romance, or even a hint of a rekindled one. He and Robyn were husband and wife and they too were getting back into a routine of being in this parenting business together. Even though he buggered things up from time to time (and that's how the laughs kept rolling), he kept trying.
So, whilst I'm pretty sure I can no longer say "Nick Earls is my favourite author" it's fair to say I still enjoy his writing and will be back for more.
November 27, 2014
I laughed my way through this book. I could relate to so much of the adults barely coming to grips with new age technology angle. The family Andrew Van Fleet returns to from working away in the corporate world are a mystery to him. His son Jack and hi twin sister Abi are still adjusting to having their father around. Andrew’s father Casey was a big radio star before retiring and getting too ill to live alone. Now he living with them in his granny flat, he talks to Abi about music and plays chess with Jack on their ipads all while sharing with them and a catalogue of musical memories.
The world Andrew agrees to come back to includes a radio station. He knows nothing about radio, only the celebrity his father used to be and that the aging start of the station is Brian Brightman, who was an up and comer in his father’s day nick named Gopher. Andrew can see the bad jokes as material for libel and his fat wage as taking the radio profits.
Andrew arrived early to take over the station and decided that the big weekend event to be held on the Gold Coast that weekend would be the perfect opportunity to have a nostalgic weekend away from Brisbane with his family. He and wife Robyn would be able to enjoy the meal during the ‘Comedy Night Celebration’ as Brian Brightman would be performing his usual tricks and needed his boss to be his minder.
Nick writes hilarious situations so well. I won’t retell them here for fear of spoiling the joy of the impromptu laughter.
The world Andrew agrees to come back to includes a radio station. He knows nothing about radio, only the celebrity his father used to be and that the aging start of the station is Brian Brightman, who was an up and comer in his father’s day nick named Gopher. Andrew can see the bad jokes as material for libel and his fat wage as taking the radio profits.
Andrew arrived early to take over the station and decided that the big weekend event to be held on the Gold Coast that weekend would be the perfect opportunity to have a nostalgic weekend away from Brisbane with his family. He and wife Robyn would be able to enjoy the meal during the ‘Comedy Night Celebration’ as Brian Brightman would be performing his usual tricks and needed his boss to be his minder.
Nick writes hilarious situations so well. I won’t retell them here for fear of spoiling the joy of the impromptu laughter.
July 9, 2014
I really wanted to like this, particularly because I'd heard it harked back to Nick Earls' Zig Zag Street style. I loved the early work, liked all the rest except Welcome to Normal for some reason, but didn't like this. I found it too crass, and the revolting radio host pervaded too much when I wanted to read more of Andrew's life and family.
I know Earls' protagonists are mostly easy going hapless men (whatever hapless means, it seemed to fit here), but I didn't like Andrew being like that. He was a business man who reshaped companies and came back to Brisbane with the express purpose to fix the station and fire this Brian guy. Well, the outcomes are the same, but Andrew didn't do anything to get there.
He did make some inroads with his kids so there's a few stars for that. There were some laugh out loud moments as with all Earls' work, but a lot of it was backed right up with crassness. Others will love it though, I'll just look forward to the next book.
I didn't read the kindle edition. I read some online and then the print publication, but I'll fix that when someone adds that edition.
I know Earls' protagonists are mostly easy going hapless men (whatever hapless means, it seemed to fit here), but I didn't like Andrew being like that. He was a business man who reshaped companies and came back to Brisbane with the express purpose to fix the station and fire this Brian guy. Well, the outcomes are the same, but Andrew didn't do anything to get there.
He did make some inroads with his kids so there's a few stars for that. There were some laugh out loud moments as with all Earls' work, but a lot of it was backed right up with crassness. Others will love it though, I'll just look forward to the next book.
I didn't read the kindle edition. I read some online and then the print publication, but I'll fix that when someone adds that edition.
July 25, 2014
I wonder if it's just that I am of a particular age or I know men of a particular age or if I live these moments regularly, but this was an hilarious look at Brisbane radio and life of those of a particular age!
Yes I laughed often at and with all the characters.
Earls writes character driven novels that express themselves in awkward and yet redeeming ways. We all know 15 year olds or own 15 year olds that would make us question our ability to hold rational conversations. His take on the aging parent question is a perfect shift between what we see everyday and what we hope for our own family: humour, exasperation and love. His adaptation of the married life in the modern era is a welcomed insight from what we regularly experience.
If I took the highlights of my life and only reported the lowlights with humour, then Mr Earls has described my life in rich and rewarding colour. Thank you Nick for growing up with me from Zig Zag to Analogue!
Yes I laughed often at and with all the characters.
Earls writes character driven novels that express themselves in awkward and yet redeeming ways. We all know 15 year olds or own 15 year olds that would make us question our ability to hold rational conversations. His take on the aging parent question is a perfect shift between what we see everyday and what we hope for our own family: humour, exasperation and love. His adaptation of the married life in the modern era is a welcomed insight from what we regularly experience.
If I took the highlights of my life and only reported the lowlights with humour, then Mr Earls has described my life in rich and rewarding colour. Thank you Nick for growing up with me from Zig Zag to Analogue!
September 22, 2014
Although I enjoyed this novel, I didn't find it as funny or edgy as some of his earlier books, and I don't know whether it's because I'm used to his style and it doesn't seem so fresh, or because 'male angst,' which he does so well, has been done now by so many other authors. While I felt empathy for the main character, Andrew, I got annoyed at his wimpiness on occasions. His nemesis Brian Brightman was so excruciatingly awful he made me flinch,(which I'm sure was the intention) and I found Andrew's wife rather cold and unsympathetic at times. Some of the humour, I felt, was a bit laboured, but Nick certainly writes with compassion and empathy about family life and he is adept at highlighting the subtle undercurrents that run through these relationships.
July 27, 2014
“Analogue Men” sees Nick Earls returning to the signature style of his earlier works. The protagonist is easy going, Andrew returning to work at a radio station in Brisbane. As such, it includes a lot of relatable observations about lie in Brisbane and as he reconnects with his kids, there are a lot of similarly identifiable comments about their use of technology and his attempts to understand it all. His reflections of getting older are also amusing in their honesty, making for an enjoyable read.
August 23, 2014
I have thoroughly enjoyed all of Nick Earls' books to date and had no hesitation in purchasing this latest one. I was so disappointed in it from start to finish as the laugh out loud moments were so few an far between.
The plot never really goes anywhere. The characters never truly understood an the ending feeling incredibly anticlimactic.
I'm sure should the author write another I will at least read the blurb but please, if you have never read a Nick Earls book before, do not start with this one.
The plot never really goes anywhere. The characters never truly understood an the ending feeling incredibly anticlimactic.
I'm sure should the author write another I will at least read the blurb but please, if you have never read a Nick Earls book before, do not start with this one.
August 15, 2014
It would seem apt that a man who man his name with books about slightly useless single males would find himself 20 odd years later writing about slightly useless 50 year old men. It's probably the most slapstick of his recent novels, and had me smiling a couple of times. Reviews will tell you it's about technology and older people coping with it, but like all Nick Earl's books it's about characters, and these ones are scarily familiar, even if I'm more than a decade away from fifty.
February 1, 2015
I'm a big admirer of Nick Earls. This one disappointed me as I liked the premise, admire the author but it missed the mark. 300 odd pages of genital jokes and toilet humour just doesn't work. The characters also are very one dimensional and the narrative is stodgy. Frequently I found myself confused as to which character was carrying on the dialogue. Earls is so much better an author than this book does him credit for.
February 23, 2015
Some really laugh out loud parts but I think it's more an adult reader's book, especially for males in say their 40s who have travelled a lot in their careers and then decide to take a job that allows them to be at home more. Each of the characters is really interesting, but I think I like the father (grandfather) who is living with them in a granny flat but is way more techno than his son and so is more connected to his grandson.
July 20, 2014
the main character got more likeable as the book went on but the radio host character was really difficult to warm to & flavoured the whole novel. the family humour and relationships redeemed it a bit. defiinitely improved from my initial impression but not a favourite
January 1, 2015
Alas, this is the first Nick Earls book I actually didn't enjoy. Still had some laugh out loud moments, but the plot line was a little thin for my liking, and the characters perhaps a little close to the truth for comfort.
January 31, 2015
Earls has written a poignant portrait of 3-4 days of the life of an "invisible" man (an apt description of men who've reached a certain age). I laughed aloud a lot. I also enjoyed all the local Brisbane (Australia) references.
August 5, 2014
Excellent. Started off a bit slow, but when the action started, it was hard to put it down. It just got funnier and more ridiculous (in a good way). So very human and real :)
September 7, 2014
Loved it. Funny and poignant.
November 30, 2014
Struggled to get into this one to finish it. You won't get hooked on Earls with this one. Maybe it was because I couldn't relate to this one with the characters age/generation difference?
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