The Idea of Perfection

by Kate Grenville Narrated by Odette Joannidis

Overview

Set in the eccentric backwater of Karakarook (pop. 1374) New South Wales, this is the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a shy and clumsy engineer with jug-ears who meets Harley Savage, a woman who is known for being rather large and abrupt.
Douglas is there to pull down a quaint old bridge and Harley aims to foster heritage. They are clearly on a collision course - but when they meet they are unaware that something unexpected is going to happen...

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

The fifth novel by Australian author Grenville (Lilian's Story, Joan Makes History) won Britain's prestigious Orange Prize last year and, at its best, it's easy to see why. It is an oddly uneven book, however, sometimes dazzlingly lyrical, compassionate and smart, but occasionally arch and rather clumsy. In the tiny backwater town of Karakarook, New South Wales, where everyone knows everyone else's business, two improbable outsiders fall very tentatively in love. Douglas Cheeseman is an engineer, sent to replace a historic bridge some townsfolk believe could be made into a tourist attraction. Museum curator Harley Savage has come from Sydney to create an exhibit of rural applied arts. The atmosphere of the town and the sunbaked, somnolent countryside is brilliantly rendered, and so, usually, are the prickly, deeply self-doubting lead characters; the use of a wonderfully observed dog as Harley's companion throughout is masterly. At other times, however, Grenville seems to be mocking her protagonists, as when Douglas is backed up to a fence by some cows, and the climactic scene, where he does something unwontedly brave, is forced. The subplot about a banker's self-regarding wife who allows herself to be seduced by a Chinese-born butcher is too coy by half. These elements are only disappointing because the book, when on target, is so remarkably clear-sighted about, yet fond of, its quirky characters. (Apr. 1) Forecast: The prize, noted on the cover, should certainly help to draw attention, and the book is readable and likable enough to earn good word of mouth. Admirers of Grenville's previous work are likely to be more critical. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This fifth novel by renowned Australian author Grenville (Lilian's Story), winner of the Orange Prize, presents the story of two people, both divorced, who for differing reasons are residing temporarily in a small town in the Australian bush. How Douglas, an awkward engineer, and Harley, a plain, big-boned museum curator, meet up as well as connect with the townspeople they are to work with is described with a compassionate eye for human frailty. While unfolding the lives of Douglas and Harley, Grenville depicts the life of the town and some of its eccentric inhabitants, using an effective blend of humor, sensuality, and pathos. She nicely contrasts urban and rural living and shows how even those who work to preserve the historical past may themselves remain haunted by their own personal histories. Both Grenville's description of small-town life in a harsh and rugged environment and her endearing portrayal of the minds and hearts of two people make for a satisfying and memorable read. Recommended for most fiction collections. Maureen Neville, Trenton P.L., NJ Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

There's a smile-if not an outright belly laugh-on every page of this delicious comic novel (winner of Britain's 2001 Orange Prize), the fifth from the Australian author (Albion's Story, 1994, etc.). The setting is the amiable little backwater of Karakarook in New South Wales, to which engineer Douglas Cheeseman is sent, to supervise the dismantling of the town's moribund landmark, the Bent Bridge. At the same time, Harley Savage, an irreversibly plain middle-aged woman who has left three husbands and as many sons behind her, arrives in Karakarook to help its Heritage Committee build a museum celebrating indigenous arts and crafts (Harley being a sometime curator, and an expert quilter). The tenuous, ineffably awkward relationship between Harley and Douglas is played out within a richly funny context of local folks and their doings, beginning when the two collide on the street, after which she inadvertently rescues him from an angry cow, their first "date" (for tea) leaves both with food poisoning, and they're forced to decision point when the good women of the Heritage Committee form a "blockade" against bulldozers aimed at the Bent Bridge. Meanwhile, the town banker's beautiful wife Felicity Porcelline finds herself helplessly attracted to Karakarook's Chinese butcher (and amateur photographer) Alfred Chang-with predictably disastrous seriocomic consequences. Grenville moves among their separate (and conjoined) stories with easy skill. The unfailingly delightful incidents dramatize the demolition of each major character's "idea of perfection": Felicity lives for physical beauty; Harley labors to subsume her vagrant "dangerous streak" into preservation of the environment and the past;Douglas worships the beauty of logical structures and the bountiful usefulness of concrete. All-including the stray dog that attaches itself to Harley-eventually discover the considerable pleasures of human (and animal) imperfection. Wonderful entertainment: a cockeyed romance that will have you cheering for all of these unlikely, wayward lovers.

From the Publisher

"An amusing and moving story of unlikely love." (Atlantic Monthly)

"Fluid and funny . . . an incandescent novel." (Boston Globe)

"A sweet read." (Entertainment Weekly)

APR/MAY 03 - AudioFile

Right from the start, the old "Bent Bridge," a condemned wooden structure that engineer Douglas Cheeseman is commissioned to tear down, and Harley Savage to save, becomes suggestive of the two characters themselves. It has been as damaged by storms as they have been by their marriages. With some insight into their unique problems and careful engineering, however, all three could go on for a long time to come, but will they? The voice of Odette Joannidis has an aggressive toughness that creates a perfect mask for both the hard shell of Harley and the tentative underside of Douglas. It is very Australian in accent and tone, like Grenville's subtle comic novel, which won Britain's Orange Prize for fiction. Joannidis's voice shapes the angular rhythms of her fresh Aussie diction into sheer beauty that goes well beyond regional writing. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171164874
Publisher:	W. F. Howes Ltd
Publication date:	11/24/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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