WHO SINGS FOR LU?
Alan Duff
Vintage, $36.99, pbk
Alan Duff's second novel in less than a year marks something of a departure by being set in Australia.
It is also probably his most approachable book yet in terms of plot and dialogue.
Duff country, however, remains familiar.
He's always been best at portraying the gritty hard stuff and there's plenty of that in Who Sings For Lu?
Much of the book involves takeaway worker Luanne (Lu) O'Brien, her wretched family, her companion (later lover) Rocky and Lu's scumbag mates Jay, Bron and Deano.
They inhabit a world of petty crime, violence, incest and alcohol and substance abuse.
A simple glance across the street sparks the action.
One day while out with her mates, Lu sees Anna Chadwick tossing back the vino and fine food with her wealthy father Riley at an outdoor cafe, and sees red. Literally.
Her sudden flash of hatred leads to the devastating trail of events that plots the book.
Why react so badly to a rich bitch she's never met? We quickly discover that Lu's an emotional volcano.
Part of that is because she comes from a dysfunctional family: "they'd come to her house and see her parents either too drunk - her old man - or away with the fairies in the head department - the old lady."
Even worse, her Uncle Rick has been sexually abusing her for as long as she can remember.
Quite literally adding insult to injury, he has tried to justify his behaviour by blaming it on her ugliness.
Although she's actually physically attractive, Uncle Rick destroys her self-esteem by convincing her that that "this was her lot in life . . . to be the object of erect, desperately wanting snakes, and to be denied of voice to speak about it. Even to herself".
Screwed, and screwed up, Lu unleashes a chain of violence.
Her mates kidnap and desex Uncle Rick and bash, rob and sodomise Anna.
Anna's emotional collapse shatters her wealthy, philandering father.
Fortunes crash, business alliances reshape themselves, employment loyalties switch, marriages tear apart.
Virtually everyone loses and almost everyone is shown to have some dark secrets.
Duff handles the transitions in this multi-voiced, fast-paced novel deftly.
His dialogue is brisk and he uses language to emphasise the social gulf between the worlds of the O'Briens and the Chadwicks.
The truly violent action is hinted at, not described in graphic detail.
Pity about the ending. The book is a powerful indictment of family sexual abuse but I wasn't convinced that Duff wrapped it up convincingly.
Lu believes that with Rocky and with a child on the way she has found redemption, but "my nugget of pure goodness with a convict record", as she calls him, is the least convincing character in the book.
For me he's just a prop to show "we all have to find something to sing for."
- Gavin McLean is a Wellington historian and reviewer.
