The Trouble With Hyphens
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday December 9, 2006
The painful quest for identity, especially in multicultural settings, seems never-ending in adolescent lives.
YOUNG ADULT FICTION is almost always about the search for identity. It is a universal but confusing process and if any writer can appreciate this, it's the Australian-born Muslim-Palestinian-Egyptian, Randa Abdel-Fattah. Understanding the effect of complicated "identity hyphens" is Abdel-Fattah's area of expertise and the skill is evident in her latest book Ten Things I Hate About Me (Pan Macmillan, $16.95).Ten Things is about student Jamilah Towfeek, who bleaches her hair and goes by the name Jamie to hide her Lebanese background. Jamie is torn between a culture that deep down she's proud of and a school community whose rejection she fears. The story is a welcome contribution to the debate surrounding Australia's ongoing cultural and identity issues. The characters are charming, from Jamie's strict but well-meaning father to her amusingly egotistical brother. Jamie's slowly emerging confidence is inspiring and gives a valuable insight into how negative stereotyping can affect people. Ten Things is an important book and an entertaining read that will have you craving cultural harmony. And hummus.Grappling with a similar set of identity-hyphen issues is the Australian-born Chinese-Irish teenager Maeve, in Kirsty Murray's The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong (Allen & Unwin, $15.95). After her mother dies, Maeve loses her sense of self and yearns for a place to belong.Sydneysiders will especially love this story, which meanders through familiar streets of Balmain, Potts Point and Newtown (before jetting off to Ireland where Maeve hopes to find her father). Murray prides herself on creating a vivid and familiar sense of place for Australian readers, as this was something she craved as a child but found lacking. It's a worthwhile endeavour that makes her novels all the more appealing.Maeve and her two best friends make a formidable team. Their dialogue is perfect, as is the balance between their personalities, which seem to clash and complement in equal measures as each girl tries to work things out.A less functional trio of friends are Gem, Lo and Mira in Simmone Howell's impressive debut, Notes From The Teenage Underground (Pan Macmillan, $16.95). Film and art buffs will love this book, which is bursting at the seams with pop culture references, with a particular focus on artist Andy Warhol.The story is told from the point of view of Gem, who exists on the fringe of her school's social norms. The three friends decide that this is to be the summer of teenage underground (aka, "Ug"), and their agenda fills with "happenings" intended to challenge prevailing social norms.Parents may take issue with the book's sexual themes and drug use, but the edgy postmodern feel and Gem's voice, sardonic but still self-conscious, will appeal strongly to teenage readers.Popular author Maureen McCarthy has been off the scene for a few years, but her new novel, Rose by any other name (Allen & Unwin, $19.95), is a brilliant comeback. McCarthy writes about women well and with Rose she adds another handful of gloriously complicated female characters to her oeuvre. What makes these characters especially memorable is the way they interact with each other: it's raw and real and utterly absorbing.Rose O'Neil has the world at her feet until her parents split up and a dark secret causes her to fall out with her best friend and flee what remains of her once tight-knit family. The events of last summer - when everything began to unravel - are expertly interwoven with a road trip Rose is taking with her mum, where everything is coming to a head.Rose is a heartbreaking trip that examines the roles and responsibilities of adults and teens and how these can be manipulated and shamelessly exploited. It may sound grim, but it's balanced with a ray of hope and a healthy dose of humour (especially from Rose's headstrong sisters). McCarthy fans won't be disappointed.
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald