Green Dot (Madeleine Gray, A&U)

Madeline Gray’s debut novel, Green Dot, which has enjoyed a lot of pre-publication buzz, is a surprising read. With some superficial markers of the recently popular ‘sad girl’ novel—particularly in the first quarter, where the main character, 20-something Hera, is self-indulgent and unlikeable—I found that it was a bit flat to start. But not for long. When we meet Hera (ironically, the Greek name for the goddess of marriage and family), she is an overly qualified arts student, living with her father and looking for something—or someone—to attach to. Instead of being an active Instagram ‘green dot’ in her life, Hera is more like a thumb hovering over an aimless scrolling screen, and the reader wouldn’t be blamed for ‘shutting down’. However, Green Dot has heart, and gathers pace when Hera joins a media company as an online community moderator (her acerbic observations of office life and her colleagues are laugh-out-loud funny), and enters into a relationship with the married 40-something Arthur. The affair plot should be cliched and bland, but the biting honesty of Hera’s commentary and the surrounding dialogue make it relatable, grimly funny and engaging. It’s tempting to assume that this novel is just for the younger demographic of Sally Rooney and Dolly Alderton fans, but the unrelenting dissection of unrequited love and forensic insight into the world of affairs gives Green Dot a universal appeal to anyone curious about the human condition.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Michelle Atkins is a communications professional and published educational author. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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Category: Reviews