Madame Bovary’s Haberdashery (Maurilia Meehan, Transit Lounge)

Odette and Cicely are best friends. Odette is a ceramic artist and serial monogamist; Cicely likes to knit and once published an erotic novel inspired by Madame Bovary. At the beginning of this novel they share a lover, Zac, an unconventional translator of Flaubert. Zac is one of a series of arrogant, dominant men with whom the women become involved. This oddball novel blends mystery, satire and literary fiction (with literary references) in a postmodern manner. Sometimes the effect is charming, at other times it’s completely chaotic. It seems the author could have made more choices to give the story more focus. Some quirky elements, such as Cicely’s eye surgeon’s new-age research project, are mysterious in their relevance to the overall story. The structure is also haphazard, beginning with the ménage à trois, then shifting to Cicely’s third-person point-of-view for the bulk of the novel (where she floats along in her goal of finding Odette), and closing with a ‘shocking’ denouement. If the characters drank less tea and were more active, if the novel were more focussed, its cleverness would delight. But thematically it is anti-action, and somewhat anti-structure. At the end, one of the characters comments that her child ‘could grow up to be as boring as she liked’. So maybe that’s the point. This book might appeal to readers of quirky or experimental literature.

Angela Meyer is a reviewer, former bookseller and former acting editor of Books+Publishing

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews