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The Doubleman
This is a fable of the sixties and the author's theme is illusion. His previous novels include "The Boys in the Island", "Across the Sea Wall" and "The Year of Living Dangerously".
334 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
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About the author
Christopher J. Koch
15 books52 followersChristopher Koch was born and educated in Tasmania. For a good deal of his life he was a broadcasting producer, working for the ABC in Sydney. He has lived and worked in London and elsewhere overseas. He has been a fulltime writer since 1972, winning international praise and a number of awards for his novels, many of which are translated in a number of European countries. One of his novels, The YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, was made into a film by Peter Weir and was nominated for an Academy Award. He has twice won the Miles Franklin award for fiction: for THE DOUBLEMAN and HIGHWAYS TO A WAR. In 1995 Koch was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to Australian literature.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 24, 2021
Well-written and well-structured novel dealing with Tasmania, occultism, and the electric folk scene of the ‘60s. Its fictional band ‘The Rhymers’ are like a cross between Fairport Convention, The Seekers, and the Manson Family. The characters are very vivid and you get a strong sense of what they look and talk like.
The weak point of the book is the rather sinister Darcy Burr, who is clearly modelled on Koch’s perception of Charles Manson (one of his disciples is even called Pipsqueak…an obvious reference to Lynette ’Squeaky’ Fromme). But it is never clear what Burr’s real motives are! Is he interested in ‘piercing the veil’ of the sensory world, like his master Clive Broderick? Or is he merely desperate for the shallow pleasures of celebrity, to the point where he will water his music down to please record company execs?
Aside from that ambiguity, highly recommended.
The weak point of the book is the rather sinister Darcy Burr, who is clearly modelled on Koch’s perception of Charles Manson (one of his disciples is even called Pipsqueak…an obvious reference to Lynette ’Squeaky’ Fromme). But it is never clear what Burr’s real motives are! Is he interested in ‘piercing the veil’ of the sensory world, like his master Clive Broderick? Or is he merely desperate for the shallow pleasures of celebrity, to the point where he will water his music down to please record company execs?
Aside from that ambiguity, highly recommended.
July 1, 2017
Winner of the Miles Franklin in 1985 and certainly an interesting choice. The writing is excellent and the story is fine but the presentation just feels too forced. It now has a certain feel that it may have been of its time.
Richard Miller a polio ridden child of WW2 takes his enquiring mind and his actors needs to the bright lights of Melbourne and then Sydney and drags himself into the culturally changing world of the 1960’s. The reader is constantly engaged in the Doubleman thoughts of a couple of characters with Richard, for me at least, being the most important. His thinking seems to lead from one direction to the other with a final burst of religious idealism that makes for a thoughtful ending though one that leaves the reader to decide what is happening.
The author is seemingly aware, or been a fan, of the acoustic and electric folk upheavals of the 60’s and also aware of the influence of occultist Aleister Crowley. For me this lay heavily on the story late and as much as I enjoyed the book it just seemed a slightly ham fisted attempt to make the underground scene in Sydney something it was not. One historical error is that the band that is central to the story is an electric folk band and their time is 1964/65 with their big influence Pentangle. Pentangle did not form until 1967. I doubt that the author cared for pedants like me though. I had never heard of magic mushroom cookies either. Maybe someone can tell me different on that.
In the end an enjoyable read, very good writer and look forward to reading more by him, but not a book worthy of the Miles Franklin Award in my view.
Richard Miller a polio ridden child of WW2 takes his enquiring mind and his actors needs to the bright lights of Melbourne and then Sydney and drags himself into the culturally changing world of the 1960’s. The reader is constantly engaged in the Doubleman thoughts of a couple of characters with Richard, for me at least, being the most important. His thinking seems to lead from one direction to the other with a final burst of religious idealism that makes for a thoughtful ending though one that leaves the reader to decide what is happening.
The author is seemingly aware, or been a fan, of the acoustic and electric folk upheavals of the 60’s and also aware of the influence of occultist Aleister Crowley. For me this lay heavily on the story late and as much as I enjoyed the book it just seemed a slightly ham fisted attempt to make the underground scene in Sydney something it was not. One historical error is that the band that is central to the story is an electric folk band and their time is 1964/65 with their big influence Pentangle. Pentangle did not form until 1967. I doubt that the author cared for pedants like me though. I had never heard of magic mushroom cookies either. Maybe someone can tell me different on that.
In the end an enjoyable read, very good writer and look forward to reading more by him, but not a book worthy of the Miles Franklin Award in my view.
January 24, 2018
Reminds me of The Hungry Wolves of Van Diemen's Land in some ways, with its atmospheric depictions of old Tasmania and dreamlike faerieland scenes. I’m not very familiar with Sydney, but the later chapters set there are also full of atmosphere, with the eerie prescence of the doubleman finding his way back to the protagonist after many years of abscence. The descriptions of the music are great, makes me wish the band actually existed and recorded these songs!
September 24, 2017
There is no question that Christopher Koch is a great Australian writer and that his words flow across the page s with great eloquence and the surety of a master of his craft.
The Doubleman, which was awarded the Miles Franklin prize in 1985, is surely a fine example the author's talent, and yet I found it, ultimately, to be not quite satisfying.
It didn't quite measure up to his later 1995 Miles Franklin award winner, Highways To a War, set in the killing fields of Vietnam and Cambodia, which had me riveted from first to last.
The Doubleman contains elements of Koch's own life - his upbringing in the post-war streets of Hobart, Tasmania and his career as a radio producer with Australia's national broadcaster.
The novel begins with great promise, introducing the narrator, Richard Miller, then a young boy overcoming the effects of a bout of polio, which left him with a limp. We soon meet, on the cold and gloomy streets, the enigmatic and mysterious Clive Broderick, whose pivotal role in the novel is, dealt with all to briefly. We also quickly get to know Brian Brady, Richard's cousin, and the manipulative, occasionally manic, Darcy Burr.
Broderick teaches Brady and Burr to play guitar, inculcating in them a desire to make their living from playing music.
As a young man. Richard Miller leaves Tasmania, first seeking work first in Melbourne, and then in Sydney, where the opportunities are greater. He gains employment as a producer of radio and television programs, meets his future wife, Katrin, a post-war refugee from Estonia, and becomes re-acquainted with Brady and Burr from his youth, who are now part of a reasonably successful band.
And so is created Thomas and the Rymers, featuring Brady, Burr and Katrin, produced by Richard, and playing a new brand of electric folk and fairy music.
Swift success is inevitably followed by disintegration, as ambition, the influence of drugs and the other baggage that comes with success and commercial realities take a harmful toll on all concerned.
Koch has managed to incorporate a number of themes into this intelligent novel, including the music of the 1960s, elements of the occult, post-war European migration to Australia, and the coming-of-age tale of a young man guided by a beautiful but lonely older woman (Deidre), the trophy wife of a rich man.
Despite the coherence and intelligence and the inclusion of many brilliant passages of writing, the plot just didn't fully engage my attention all the way through.
After a very promising start, the middle section drifted a little and the ending lacked coherence and satisfaction.
I had expected Broderick to play a much larger role in the narrative, but he was relegated to a background influence. he could have been such an interesting character.
Notwithstanding my criticisms, this is still a really good novel and definitely worth taking the time to read.
The Doubleman, which was awarded the Miles Franklin prize in 1985, is surely a fine example the author's talent, and yet I found it, ultimately, to be not quite satisfying.
It didn't quite measure up to his later 1995 Miles Franklin award winner, Highways To a War, set in the killing fields of Vietnam and Cambodia, which had me riveted from first to last.
The Doubleman contains elements of Koch's own life - his upbringing in the post-war streets of Hobart, Tasmania and his career as a radio producer with Australia's national broadcaster.
The novel begins with great promise, introducing the narrator, Richard Miller, then a young boy overcoming the effects of a bout of polio, which left him with a limp. We soon meet, on the cold and gloomy streets, the enigmatic and mysterious Clive Broderick, whose pivotal role in the novel is, dealt with all to briefly. We also quickly get to know Brian Brady, Richard's cousin, and the manipulative, occasionally manic, Darcy Burr.
Broderick teaches Brady and Burr to play guitar, inculcating in them a desire to make their living from playing music.
As a young man. Richard Miller leaves Tasmania, first seeking work first in Melbourne, and then in Sydney, where the opportunities are greater. He gains employment as a producer of radio and television programs, meets his future wife, Katrin, a post-war refugee from Estonia, and becomes re-acquainted with Brady and Burr from his youth, who are now part of a reasonably successful band.
And so is created Thomas and the Rymers, featuring Brady, Burr and Katrin, produced by Richard, and playing a new brand of electric folk and fairy music.
Swift success is inevitably followed by disintegration, as ambition, the influence of drugs and the other baggage that comes with success and commercial realities take a harmful toll on all concerned.
Koch has managed to incorporate a number of themes into this intelligent novel, including the music of the 1960s, elements of the occult, post-war European migration to Australia, and the coming-of-age tale of a young man guided by a beautiful but lonely older woman (Deidre), the trophy wife of a rich man.
Despite the coherence and intelligence and the inclusion of many brilliant passages of writing, the plot just didn't fully engage my attention all the way through.
After a very promising start, the middle section drifted a little and the ending lacked coherence and satisfaction.
I had expected Broderick to play a much larger role in the narrative, but he was relegated to a background influence. he could have been such an interesting character.
Notwithstanding my criticisms, this is still a really good novel and definitely worth taking the time to read.
July 10, 2025
Christopher Koch, in this powerful and evocative novel, The Double Man, has applied a psychoanalytic model of human personality to fairytales and the fantastical world of myth: the pursuit of illusion as reality. Its ingenious double life is that of a modern-day fairy tale coupled with the face of 1960s man, paralysed with the despair of his era: its inability to cope with the breakdown of shared values and beliefs.
The Doubleman is expertly written. Each sentence and paragraph flows irresistibly into the next. All the characters are believable, and the descriptions of places and landscapes were majestic. It is a literary novel, so I wouldn’t recommend it to those who enjoy action-packed stories. But if you enjoy a good literary novel, from a great Australian author, its excellent.
The Doubleman is expertly written. Each sentence and paragraph flows irresistibly into the next. All the characters are believable, and the descriptions of places and landscapes were majestic. It is a literary novel, so I wouldn’t recommend it to those who enjoy action-packed stories. But if you enjoy a good literary novel, from a great Australian author, its excellent.
December 5, 2011
Koch starts his story out in Hobart, Tasmania, a part of the world I know nothing about, but hope to visit someday. Three young Tasmanians come of age in this story with lives woven together like leaves on Palm Sunday starting out from St. Augustine's boy's school. Women of all ages figure big in the plot.
December 16, 2015
This is the first novel I have read of this writer and I was truly impressed. I found his descriptions of the folk music scene of the time really good. It took me back to that time and took me back to that era. I 'hung out' in that scene at that time so the setting resonated.
July 31, 2019
An interesting Australian novel.
April 18, 2015
En Espańa se publicó con el título de "El doble". Me dio a conocer la lejana Tasmania, su capital Hobart y después Australia. El tema de la música folk me entusiasmó.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews