The Pages (Murray Bail, Text, $34.95 hb, ISBN 978192351464, July) *** 1/2

Murray Bail - author of the much-loved modern Australian classic Eucalyptus - has finally ended the 10-year wait with his new novel The Pages. Erica is a mild and conservative woman who is considered the expert on philosophical thought at Sydney University. She has been asked by a solicitor to travel to a remote property in the Blue Mountains to legitimise the work of a recently deceased and self-proclaimed philosopher, Wesley Anthill. For company she brings her friend Sophie, a psychoanalyst who possesses a flamboyantly abrasive personality and a freshly broken heart from yet another failed relationship. Together they explore the world in which Wesley lived, with the help of Wesley’s siblings and the thoughts he left haphazardly scribbled onto loose pages strewn about his study. As Erica and Sophie make discoveries and adapt to life on the Anthill’s family estate, we are also introduced to Wesley himself through is own writings of his time away from the farm in the 70s, exploring big cities. Wesley’s siblings, Roger and Lindsey, take over the running of the farm while Wesley fulfils his desire to discover the world outside the confines of the family estate. He travels to Sydney, then London, and finally traverses Europe for years on the family dime. He eventually settles back home to fully delve into and explore his own consciousness, in an attempt to have a new philosophical thought.

Each chapter throughout the novel alternates between Wesley’s 30-year-old narrative and the present-day scene, playing out on the family farm between the four people brought together by coincidence. The Pages presents the reader with a rather interesting concept, that Australia as a country could not produce a philosopher of world standards. This is due to its sunny location and the fact that it is a considerably young settlement with a large portion of the population descended, over a mere 200 years ago, from convicts and the uneducated lower class. We find this opinion woven into the narrative pertaining to Wesley. As a reader we doubt his abilities as well as his motives, and this makes for interesting character development.

My only concern is that readers who loved Eucalyptus may be disappointed in The Pages as it lacks the descriptive elegance and light humour of Bail’s previous novel. Yet The Pages is an interesting and thought-provoking piece of modern literature. It explores big life issues-philosophy, the boundaries of friendship, the love of siblings and the soothing effects of a nice cup of tea.

Anna Hood is a bookseller at Avid Reader

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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