I picked this up because I rather like the odd
economist-anthropologist Thorsten Veblen; I’d used terms like ‘conspicuous
consumption’ and ‘leisure class’ loosely for ages until I actually read him,
and found him to be brilliant and insightful, and rather relevant to our
emerging post-capitalist civilisation.
But while the main protagonist of this novel is named for
and keen on the original Veblen, it’s not really about him at all. Instead, it’s
about relationships – between lovers, between parents and children, between
siblings, old friends and everyone else. Oh, and trauma-induced brain damage,
and medical experiments, and the regulation of medical trials, and the
treatment of the mentally ill.
A few pages in I decided that this was not my sort of book
at all, but I am so glad that I stayed. McKenzie is a very good writer, with a
superb eye for details. There’s a good and well-structured plot for those that
need that sort of thing (me), and sometimes the interplay between parents and
children, and between siblings and parents, was so good it seemed that she’d
been listening in on my sessions with my therapist.
So just read this. And then go read some Veblen too – I went
and got myself a new copy of the Theory of the Leisure Class when I finished
this book.
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