It's Not About the Girl: The Girl Before

The Girl Before by JP Delaney

Quercus

Pp. 406

Edward has designed a house that is minimalist in appearance, with all the modern technology to make it seem almost sentient. To rent One Folgate Street, with its open-plan features, floating staircase and clean spaces, potential tenants must answer a series of questions before gaining admittance. Once they have been accepted, they understand that he has a sense of authority over them. Everything in the house is computerised and Edward controls the computer; if the tenants don’t answer the questions to his satisfaction, he will turn off the lights or the hot water for the shower. The questions get increasingly pertinent and personal, as the house computer search engine will only respond with certain information, and it collates all the findings to provide ‘helpful hints’. The novel questions when being cared for becomes being spied on; when does being protected become being stifled?

It is clear that Edward is a control-freak. He needs to control all aspects of his – and others’ – lives; not just their living arrangements. He cooks in a very methodical manner with precisely the right hard-to-find ingredients; he admires foreign things so that he can appear knowledgeable and correct people’s pronunciation to constantly assert authority. He also likes the Japanese custom of hitobashira, which he tells a tenant is about burying dead people under buildings, but she later finds out it refers to burying the living. So far; so creepy.

But wait; there’s more. He has very similar relationships with very similar women, two of whom live in his house and narrate alternate chapters. Jane is ‘now’. She has had a stillbirth which makes her vulnerable; she has memories which Edward triggers, she thinks accidentally. Emma was ‘then’. She had been attacked and raped by burglars – her partner, Simon, adores her, but can’t live by her stringent rules or those of the house. Jane’s friend, Mia, points out how much Jane looks like Emma, the previous tenant, who died in the house, and Edward’s wife, Elizabeth, before that. Emma defends him, “Men often go for the same type. Women do too, of course. It’s just that in our case, it isn’t usually physical resemblance so much as personality.” But when does it stop being a ‘type’ and become a fetish?

Past experiences are repeated in the present; the lines Edward uses echo over each other as he says them to both women and they find themselves starting to question his past. When Jane questions Edward about his former relationship (his wife and previous tenant both died in suspicious circumstances), he tells her not to look into it. “The past is over; that’s why it’s the past. Let it go, will you?” There are heavy-handed metaphors about clean slates with faintly discernible chalk marks from previous writings, and if we hadn’t already got the point, Jane spells it out for the hard of understanding with a high-school art essay about palimpsests and pentimenti.

As with any novel including the word ‘girl’ in the title, it seems we must have sex, violence, and an unreliable narrator. It is also worth bearing in mind that it is written by a man. A policeman advises Emma, “We take cases of rape very seriously. That means assuming every woman who says she’s been raped is telling the truth. The flipside of that is that we take false rape allegations equally seriously.” This suggests they are equally common. Fact check: over the past 20 years, only 2% of rape accusations proved to be false. It’s not that men can’t write realistic female characters, but a reliance on pop psychology and simplified gender stereotypes doesn’t help.

The Girl Before is not about a girl, before, after or present. It is about a house and a man’s viewpoint of manipulation and control. It is an entertaining read, but it is not earth-shattering. Shock value isn’t everything, and its veneer wears off very quickly.

Friday Five: Enlightenment.

I have mentioned before (about this time last year, funnily enough) how much I like the Enlighten Festival that Canberra puts on. Having wiffled on about it previously, I think I shall just highlight my top five architectural projections for this year.

5 Architectural Projections:

1. The National Library is currently exhibiting Mapping Our World: Terra Incognita to Australia - the terrific collection of cartographic treasures is highlighted in the images on the walls of the building.





2. The National Portrait Gallery exterior features animated designs which chase each other across the face of the building. One short story relates the theft and recovery of a precious artefact.





3. The National Gallery of Australia follows up last year's outstanding Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition with works from Gold and the Incas: Lost Worlds of Peru. All of these images are fabulous, but obviously I like the one with the cat best.





4. Old Parliament House provides a canvas for a number of cartoonish and surreal presentations. They are bright and colourful and some feature kangaroos.





5. Parliament House displays projections of past politicians, national artworks and events of extreme importance (the signing of the Magna Carta) but my favourite is the wordscape of the constituencies that comprise the current government.

Friday Five: Getting High

  

Pink bubbles at Madame Brussels

One of the many things I like about Melbourne is her buildings. Old sandstone edifices erected in the wake of the gold rush are given new life with steel and glass designs while maintaining their classic integrity. The skyline reflected in the river; the Shrine of Remembrance hailing from the end of the avenue; the bustling and strangely elegant Flinders Street Station opposite the unashamedly flamboyant Federation Square with its focus on tourism, events and hospitality; and the sprinkling of churches and town halls on the tram thoroughfares all add up to a vibrant, eclectic and appealing cityscape.

And those Melburnians aren't afraid to take their buildings to new heights. While I was there recently, I discovered a 'thing' for rooftop bars. I know they're nothing new, but around the city pubs and bars have decided to maximise space (and sunshine) by putting patrons on the roof. And because some of these buildings are relatively high compared with their neighbours, if you're lucky you will get both views and fresh air.

5 Melbourne Rooftop Bars:

1. The Rooftop - Seven floors up (the lift wasn't working when we visited) it serves fine views along with champagne, cider and cheeseburgers. From December to March it also operates as a cinema complete with stripy deckchairs. 
2. Madame Brussels - Inspired by a German brother-keeper, the theme is pink and white stripes with sparkling rosé, cocktails, punch, cheese plates, fondues and an innuendo-laden menu.
3. Palmz at the Carlton - Kitsch and cheerful with faux flamingos and other exotic beasts, and plenty of palm trees as a backdrop to your piña colada. Fortunately, the bar also stocks a range of good beers, so you don't have to drink the eponymous brew.
4. Campari House - Wood-fired pizzas and an extensive wine list make this tucked-away corner down a land and up the stairs a wonderful find. The distant lights of the city hum and shine as you relax with plastic turf beneath your feet.
5. Aer Bar, European Bier Cafe - Well-stocked with Belgian and German favourites, this bar could be pricey but we stumbled (literally) across half-price European beer night and so had Leffes, Hoegaardens and Erdingers with a cool breeze after a hot day - a 'misting system' keeps temperatures down during the daylight hours.

My Newest Favourite Thing: Enlighten Canberra

You can tell this is my newest favourite thing because I took hundreds of photographs. I haven't put all of them here, but there are quite a lot.

I have mentioned before that I find Canberra's public buildings a bit dull and uniform. This, however, makes them ideal canvases for the festival 'Enlighten'. It lasts for a week and images are projected onto their surfaces to bring the buildings to life. The projection artists are Betty Holdsworth, David Sequeira, Eleanor Gates-Stuart, Martin Ollman, and Houl.

The images change every 30 seconds or so and last from when it gets dark until 11pm. We strolled around the parliamentary triangle on a balmy evening and were entertained and quite enlightened. First up, the National Library.

These images are among my favourites, with the pictures of Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin alongside their designs for Australia's capital city and photographs of the realisation of these designs. Of course this is particularly apt as Canberra is busy celebrating its centenary.

The National Portrait Gallery also had some interesting artwork shape-shifting on its outer walls.

The National Gallery of Australia is currently showing an exhibition of works by Toulouse-Lautrec. During this week, many of those works are projected onto the front of the building and they look equally remarkable inside and out. They overwhelm in their entirety and stun in their detail.

Ain't that a kick in the head!

These images projected onto Old Parliament House are among my favourite. Surely the word 'enlighten' on a government body building is an audacious statement? The graffiti art is a bold move too.

My Dysfunctional Family!

And this is Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre.