Jetty Rats by Phillip Gwynne
Hunter Vettori has one ambition in life – to catch a massive mulloway. The trouble is his mother runs the caravan park in Dogleg Bay, where no mulloways have been sighted since the estuary was dammed.
The caravan park hosts ‘permies’ like Saphonia, the vego hippy who subsists on dips and jatz , thereby earning the nickname dippyhippyterian, and her twin daughters whom Hunter refers to either as ectoplasmic blobs or desirable babes, depending on his mood.
There’s an annual influx of ‘God Botherers’, members of the Charismatic Church of the Former Day Saints’ whom Hunter is sure must buy their clothes from the ‘Christian Smart Casual’ section of Target, and this year Warwick the paleoichthyologist has come to search for fish fossils. Hunter sees a lot of Warwick as he brushes and flosses and hypothesizes about the UFOs (unflushable objects) Hunter is obliged to purge from the caravan park dunnies.
Determined to catch his mulloway, Hunter enlists the help of Skulster, the computer freak who is so white he glows like a neon sign. Skulster hacks into the computer system which controls the dam barrages, releasing 200 000 million litres of water into the thirsty bay. The consequences are far more than Hunter was fishing for and the chapters that follow are full of irreverent humour, priceless fishing tackle and unique smells. Jetty Rats is a clever, crude, original and immensely enjoyable read, especially appealing to fishermen, undertakers or those who clean toilets regularly.
Mrs Sweeney
March 14th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Is it any good?
I need a good book to read.
My goal for this year is to read all the books the literature lunch book list.
March 15th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Did you read my review Hamish? Yes…Jetty Rats is good!
That’s an admirable goal – there’s certainly a wide range of books on the list. In fact, I’ll publish the list on The Portal soon.
You’re the most prolific commenter on The Portal so far Hamish…you can collect a prize! How about writing a review of a book you’ve read recently?