7 ½ by Christos Tsiolkas
(Allen & Unwin, $37)
7 ½ by Christos Tsiolkas is not quite autobiographical, but it is somehow auto-fiction. Bearing exactly the same name as the author of the book, a successful writer goes to a beach house on the southern New South Wales coast to both escape urban Melbourne and to work. However, the "Christos Tsiolkas' of 7 ½ is not the Tsiolkas of reality, despite any number of similarities.
Tsiolkas is one of the best-known contemporary Australian writers. There have been movies based on his first book, Loaded, and then the later Dead Europe. The Slap and Barracuda have generated two very successful TV series. 7 ½ is his 10th novel. Tsiolkas' themes frequently centre on the Greek immigrant experience in Australia, homosexuality, and left-wing politics. Old Europe is often seen through new eyes. Sexual expression is varied.
The Slap explored the consequences of a physical blow aimed at a young boy during a picnic, filtered through the perceptions of eight characters. More recently, Damascus examined the origins of Christianity in a blood-and-gore revival of the life of the Apostle, Paul – or Saul, as he is called in the book. 7 ½, however, is an infinitely more mellowed work.
7 ½ is also a mature novel. "Christos" the writer is frank about his theme – he wishes to deal with Beauty. He evokes the NSW coast with vivid accuracy. Stingrays flap in the shallows. An octopus attempts to capture a crab. Desirable young surfers sunbathe or swim. Waves collapse in the twilight. A writer's daily life is captured in finely tuned observations, from self-cooked meals to the sound of an opossum on the roof at night. A life-time of recollections arise.