I Dream of Magda

Stefan Laszczuk

I Dream of Magda
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Allen & Unwin
Country
Australia
Published
1 August 2008
Pages
288
ISBN
9781741755015

I Dream of Magda

Stefan Laszczuk

Winner of the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award 2007.

‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’

Tolstoy wasn’t thinking specifically of the Harrison family when he wrote those words, but maybe he should have been. George Harrison is twenty-eight and afraid of the dark. His father is dead and his mother lives in la-la land. Reeling from a broken heart, and still coping with the trauma of a childhood home invasion, George works in a dead-end job in a bowling alley and finds rare solace in the giant painting of an alien that sits outside his room. His brother Matthew isn’t much better off. After losing the love of his life in a traumatic car accident, he’s retreated into a private world of sleep where he dreams about falling in love with comedienne Magda Szubanski.

Matthew and George are each stuck in their own little messed-up world, with no idea how to get out, and neither of them is sure whether their unhappy family will ever finally pull together, or simply just fall apart.

The winner of the 2007 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award, this is a quirky, left-field, yet deeply felt and wholly engaging story of families, love, loss and grieving.

Review

Last year’s Vogel winner reminds us that breaking up is hard to do. Left by their respective girlfriends, the Harrison brothers lead a shambolic existence, numb with grief. Matthew retreats into an imaginary tryst with comedienne Magda Szubanski while younger brother George shuffles along in a soulless job. Unlike his namesake, George is no chilled-out Beatle but reminiscent of a less cynical, equally neurotic Holden Caulfield.

Fast forward Salinger’s anti-hero 50 years, get him a job at Northcote Bowl scrubbing wheelie bins and agonising over lost love, and you get the picture. When a wonky rebound relationship appears to offer him some respite, George can’t help but worry about that too. Throw a nutty mother into the mix and it’s difficult to imagine this hapless family ever functioning. Laszczuk’s second novel is laced with black humour but readers will need to wade patiently through some murky emotional soup before these broken-hearted goofball brothers are finally dealt a faintly upbeat hand. It’s an ending worth waiting for: moving, hopeful and unexpectedly tender. I can almost hear Magda giggling with relief.

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