Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire Canoe

Sorry it has been a while between postings again.

I have been doing that things where I read more than one book at a time. That's what happens when you need to read for work as well as for pleasure. But, I have finally finished one of them! It was a re-read actually rather than a read.

Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire Canoe is an odd little book and beautifully quirky. It borders on the ridiculous at times, and yet the characters motives never lose their believability. Quite a fine balance really!

The author is Wayne Macauley, an acclaimed Australian short story writer. The title relates to the old saying - "Up shit creek in a barbed-wire canoe without a paddle" (although I must say I have never heard of the barbed-wire canoe bit before). And in fact, the barbed-wire canoe, a symbol of hopelessness and doom (because how far can you really get in it?) becomes the symbol for the entire story.

In a way that only an Australian can, Macauley writes about the suburban dream of housing estates, and sets his story in a satellite estate - one that has been built far out from the urban fringe, but lies waiting for buyers and the long-promised freeway (which sort of gains mythical status throughout the book) to catch up to it. Like the canoe, the little community is doomed before it even begins, by bad planning and shoddy workmanship.

Yet despite this (or perhaps because of it), Macauley painstakingly shows us the development of a society in the estate that becomes known (by letters falling off a sign) as ur - a clear parrallel to the doomed Sumerian city of the same name. The core characters stubbornly do not leave the development, despite the lack of plumbing, electricity, and eventually income that they are subject. Instead, they band together and survive using each of their unique skills.

At what point they story may verge on the ridiculous will change with every reader. Some will say it is the building of the wall around the estate (do I hear East Germany anyone?), while others will vote for the senseless deaths or the sheer lunacy of Michael's attempts to draw attention to their plight at the end.

Bram, our narrator (and now think biblical reference) tells the story if the demise of the estate and all of their dreams after the event. But how reliable is he? His is a love story, and yet the object of his affection is strangely silent and absent. I would love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this.

It's a really original read - which makes it great. Certainly it's not for everyone - but no good book is. Trying hard to please everyone just makes for a bland read.