Simon MacDonald
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
He mixes with people that earn a lot of money and he's really living the high life in Hong Kong.
He's in a completely different situation from Ava.
hilarious at one of our early meetings with Victoria is when she makes some effort to talk to Ava which she hasn't always done and by this stage Ava is involved with Julian which Victoria knows but Victoria starts asking Ava whether she thinks that um
She, Victoria, is the sort of woman that Julian would want to sleep with.
I think that really tells you all that you need to know about Victoria.
They couldn't be more different, as Simon has said.
We've got Julian, who is detached to a fault and is really a very unlikable character who does not treat her well at all.
And we have Edith, who is demonstrative and apparently uncomplicated and happy to make it clear what her feelings are.
So she's presented with these two very different potential relationships.
At one point, Julian's away and that's when the relationship with Edith really flourishes.
And then when Julian comes back, things get more complicated.
And obviously, without wanting to give anything away, there are decisions to be made.
And you can only hope as the reader that
cheering her on that she'll make the right decision um she's she's really got one person who treats her with detachment bordering on contempt although that's that's part of their shtick but it's still not a great relationship and then you see her with edith who loves her cares for her is emotionally open and accessible and uh you just really hope she makes the right choice between them but simon it's never clear that ava's going to make the right choice is it
It's one of the best books that I've read this year.
And I think that it's got, as you say, Kate, you can read it at a number of levels, but there's touches on gender, on politics, on class, on colonialism, as well as just being at face value, a very, very entertaining look at modern relationships between young people.