lip lit: floundering

Floundering is the debut novel of Melbourne writer Romy Ash, and is a powerful story of a tragic family reunion in an Australian outback setting. It is a tale of a loss of innocence as a wayward mother with no plan, direction or destination, seeks to reclaim her two children.

Narrated by the younger brother, the story encapsulates the loneliness and despair of the lives of many children around Australia, and the world, who do not have sufficient support growing up. It reflects the choices made by children, in their disappearing innocence, to survive in a hostile emotional and physical environment.

As the boys are walking home, to their grandparent’s house, after school, their mother intercepts them. Before the end of the first page Tom is safely buckled into the car with his mother, who is introduced to the reader as Loretta, as the older son lingers.

The opening pages are confusing and it takes time to establish the context of the characters and their situation. The unconventional writing style and the lack of quotation marks, initially makes it difficult to differentiate between Tom’s musings and actual dialogue.

Paragraphs are erratically put together – at least erratic to an adult’s understanding – as Tom jumps between thoughts and observations. For instance, when Loretta initially shows up in the opening scene, the reader is told, “I don’t like how Gran makes the beds. She pulls the sheet so tight that every night you got to kick and kick and kick to get it free.”

However, the reader is duly rewarded for getting past these initial difficulties and the writing style serves as a constant reminder that the perspective is from a young and inexperienced mind; one that sees more than it understands.

Although Tom sees the world generally in the 2-dimensional way of most children, he has moments of true and beautiful innocence. These moments strip away layers of life experiences from the adult reader; “He looks like a dad, like he could pick you up and swing you above his head” thinks Tom.

The scenes depicted by Ash are not well rounded or perfectly constructed images. Rather than all having some cute symbolic meaning, they can be haphazard and at times leave you frustrated with the narrator for overlooking many details.

Yet, it is in these scenes that the mystery of an innocent mind is celebrated. Observations that are overlooked by adult, purposeful minds are revealed. Imagine running out of petrol in the middle of the Australian outback, you have no phone, no water, and probably nothing to eat. Your only option is to hail down a truck and ask to siphon some petrol, what do you focus on, what do you remember? “I see a kangaroo’s paw by the side of the road. It doesn’t have the rest of its body. It’s perfect, the pads of the paw face up, like it’s waiting for a high five.”

Curtailing the desire to explore and deal with all the questions that are raised during the novel is a particular strength of Floundering. Just as life doesn’t have pretty curled ribbons at the end of every event; the jolted ending reminds that issues arising from the actions of Loretta may not be resolved for many, many years.

For me, Floundering is reminiscent of the haunting power of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. The simple prose of a young boy highlights the barrenness of love, loss, despair and fear. The motivations of this child are not embarrassed or tainted by the rationales of adults.

Floundering is a powerful example of the difficulties of growing up, albeit in a tragic circumstance. It weaves the innocence of childhood with many other, more sinister failings of adult life.

 

Floundering has been longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2013 and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize this month.

By Eileen McInnes