the unknown terrorist

the national bestseller
stunning...brilliant
crucial and compelling
this from the front cover of the latest book from richard flanagan
there are more wordy raves also on the back cover
so i thought i'd buy this one about our contemporary society
the book is set in current days in sydney
complete with all the suburb and street names left intact
even the personalities of the town are featured in the book
though for obvious reasons ray martin and alan jones are renamed
the star of the book is an innocent pole-dancer known as the doll
who by association gets caught up as the suspect in a terrorism scare
so has to go underground to escape the hysteria and hence the title
it's not really such a good read
though it is a very easy one
i'm now not so sure what i was expecting from the book
probably a take on the heavy-handed way we are dealing with terrorism
and the effect it is having on our society
the author touches on this but does not criticise, condone or question it
but certainly uses it all to enhance the excitement of his book
there are some books you read where you wonder how it could ever be made a film
not this one as it reads like a film script
and so from very early on i felt a bit cheated by the book
felt that i was just part of the process leading to the real target
of a cinema or tv audience and not a book-worm
there are some real clangers in the book and some terrible stereotyping
seems mr flanagan has a real problem with aboriginal society
not sure what they have to do with the perceived terrorism threat
but he sinks the boot in there on more than one occasion
the same for the poor and wretched in our society
this in reference to an encounter with a beggar in redfern
and because her revulsion had so abruptly overwhelmed her empathy
she found herself thinking how someone else
people in authority, or charities, or government departments
should be helping such people - not her
thanks for your thoughts on this matter mr flanagan
and so i found myself reading it all as quickly as possible
not out of enjoyment but more a case of get it over and done with
or maybe hoping it would get better as it went on
which in a way it did as it wrapped up quite neatly
everything fell into place more or less as expected
the final scene will be quite spectacular on the big or little screen
the unknown terrorist
sucked in