The Temperature

by Katerina Gibson

The debut novel from the multi-award winning six very different characters each have their lives altered by a tweet, a storm, a revelation – and a secret in one of their pasts.

What brings six very different people together? Fiona is a millennial media writer; Sidney a failed poet; Tomas a thirty-something factory worker and father; Lexi a fading activist icon; Govita a non-binary visual artist; Henry a Vietnam veteran ageing out in rural isolation. On the face of it, they have nothing in common – but when a tweet goes viral, it sends their lives ricocheting off each other and upending their assumptions about each other, the world they live in, their pasts and their futures.
 
Following her acclaimed collection of stories, Women I Know, Katerina Gibson’s debut novel demonstrates her extraordinary range of sympathy and interest. Compelling and discursive, ironic and serious, compassionate and ethically rigorous, The Temperature describes our fragmented society as it tries to absorb the significance of climate change, social media, shifting boundaries in gender and sexuality, and deepening gaps between generations. The Temperature is about whether we can learn, personally and collectively; about the cyclical nature of grief, catastrophe and revelation. It is a novel about how we might live through the end of the world.
 
A contemporary equivalent of Elliot Perlman’s Seven Types of Ambiguity or Michelle de Kretser’s The Life to Come, The Temperature marks Katerina Gibson out as one of the most ambitious, engaging and significant of our emerging writers. 
 

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Queer, Contemporary

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 3, 2024

About the author

Katerina Gibson was born in 1994. She is a writer and a bookseller living in Naarm. Her stories have appeared in Granta, Overland, The Lifted Brow, Island Online, Going Down Swinging, the Meanjin blog and the Kill Your Darlings 2020 New Australian Fiction anthology.

Most recently, her short story ‘Fertile Soil’ was the Pacific regional winner of the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Katerina is a 2021 Felix Meyer Scholar and holds a Graduate Diploma in the Arts (Advanced) w/ First Class Honours from the University of Melbourne (2019).

Reviews

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows six main characters’ lives mostly leading up to and then through the massive bushfires of 2019/20 and then into the COVID lockdowns. It’s a strange one to review because it’s pretty meandering in places and there’s not really a plot, it’s more about how the characters are surviving through life, their families, relationships (past and present) and navigating through life as they react (or not ) to climate change and other issues like cancel culture. I was quite drawn to the book and enjoyed reading it.

[Claire Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the most fascinating, interesting, beautiful and thought-provoking books I’ve ever read. I was definitely disappointed by some of the resolutions that were reached- some of the characters narratives felt quite rushed towards the end Irrespective of this I think Katherine succeeding in creating a cyclical account of human experience. The overarching message to return to what matters, often being the beauty of simple things and having a rich understanding of self amongst loud social expectations and ideals, was profound. I think a lot of this novel is still unclear to me and it definitely takes a high level of comprehension/life experience to come to terms with the complexity of the themes/imagery. Regardless I have still managed to take a lot away from it…

My steam of consciousness as I finished this book:

-the derailment of some of the characters lives, particularly Henry, mirror the ecological derogation that exists as a consequence of global warming. Lexi co-existed alongside him as a person who cared but did not have any emotional connection to him. I understood the empathy that Lexi showed to a rather hateful and disruptive character as an ode to the difficult relationship that humans have with the environment; nature bears the fruit that fuels our existence but is also unpredictable and cruel at times.
- the commentary on performative activism was interesting and uncomfortable. I think it was an important thing to cover although I feel as though no real resolution or conclusion was reached. Perhaps that really speaks to the nuances of social media as a tool AND a means of attracting attention.
-Tomas was tormented by not doing enough to achieve change (in respect of advocating against global warming) but was rewarded in the novels conclusion as Sidney returned. His serious illness (COVID-19) and experience with depression marked the finality of his narrative and was etched with imagery about a ‘temporary break from reality’ where the consumerist speed of society slowed and nature returned. He was hopeful that the pandemic would encourage change and a collective response to global warming… a forced reality check where things had to shut down and break before starting fresh and anew… Much alike his own encounter with ‘rock bottom’. I found this very interesting although I think the real point of his character and character development was missed… perhaps I need to see what other readers have said on this.
-I think Govita’s narrative was most engaging. Their realisation that they had to look outward rather than spiralling inward was thoughtful. I think the obsession with ourselves and our own improvement does make us selfish and ignorant… where in reality we are one big breathing organism that must help one another!!!!!! Lol. As to their experience with drugs and addiction- I think in many ways it spoke to the detachment that we experience in the modern world, whether that be with our environment, the people right before us (we can become distracted by the internet multi-verse), or ourselves.
-I’m really frustrated by Fi.

That’s all I have to say on this book for now… time to dwell

[Stacey O · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF
These would work better as short stories. I struggled to finish this.

[Eileen W]

DNF. Meandering narrative, totally repellent characters, and the most jarring feature was the number of grammatical errors. Where were the editors???

[Gemma Hancock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a difficult book to get through. Why was every character insufferable? Why were there so many editing errors?

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

The Temperature by Katerina Gibson is a beautifully written, piercing examination of the divide in Australian society with the looming crisis of climate change growing more urgent, not only in our collective psyches, but our collective realities.

I am disappointed I did not love it more. This kind of book is normally my jam with interesting characters and ideas explored but I often found I had to force myself to keep reading or pick it up again.

While I was reading, I was comparing it (maybe unfairly) to other books I'd read with a slightly similar 'essence' such as The Overstory by Richard Powers, Clade by James Bradley and Everything Feels Like The End Of The World by Else Fitzgerald. And what these books had that I found the Temperature lacked was how compelling they were and how connected I felt to the characters.

I kept getting pulled out of the story. There was often little asides or sentences that seemed to pile up explaining, re-explaining and further explaining the same concept or feeling. Which stylistically is a choice and one I can often get on board with, but in this book I found for me it ran interference with the pace and flow of the story and created distance for me to connect fully with the characters. It felt like the narration inserted itself to much at times. Sometime it felt didactic. All the sharp and cutting insights and opinions keep telling me how I should think and feel at any given moment, instead of allowing me to infer my own meaning and insights.

It took me about half way through (once we got into Tomas's section) for me to feel more immersed in the story, and then parts of the second half of the book felt harder again. Structurally, I'm not sure it worked. While the characters are interlinked in different ways, being pulled from point of view to point of view in sections didn't make for a compelling reading experience. I feel it may have been more compelling for me if the stories were interwoven through the years, rather than each characters stories in sections.

I admire this book and what it was doing. I just didn't enjoy reading it as much as I thought I would. The issues and characters within this books pages are explored with depth and compassionate insight into humanity. The writing is beautiful with some truly stunning prose. I wouldn't be surprised if this author also writes poetry with some of the imagery they evoked. There was also some funny insights that made we laugh. My favourite being: "Trust a man to think himself God in the throes of copulation."

While The Temperature might not have ticked all the boxes for me, I'd still be interested to ready more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for an ARC copy of this book for my honest review.

[Erin Shooter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don’t believe the hype, it’s not great. Some parts enjoyable, but most drag on and on and they should spend more time with characters instead of jumping ahead.

[Rebecca Larsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Temperature is one of those books that sneaks up on you. One minute you are reading a collection of nice, meandering narratives and the next you realise how they all intersect and are filled with a slight sense of awe. Then you turn the last page and want to start all over again to look for the hints along the way.

Set against the fires, and the virus, we are taken on a journey through the lives of six characters as they navigate not only life and love, but societal pressure and expectation. It asks the question 'what is truly important?' What should be hang on to, and what should we put behind us? Is loneliness a valid outcome for choice? And what would we change if we could go back.

A great debut novel.

[Megan Koulouvi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Struggling to finish this book, only persevering so I don't have an unfinished book. Good when the story is being told but there are lots of overly wordy parts that are trying a bit too hard to be poetic. The worst thing about the whole book is the irritatingly high volume of spelling and grammatic errors. The first few errors made me think I was misreading and I was rereading multiple times to try and make sense of it, but I quickly learnt it's just poor editing.

[Shelley Currier · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn’t really for me. The premise is good but I found most of the characters a bit tedious. I wonder if they are meant to be that way and I missed something.

[Other Terrain · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Cate Searson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost abandoned this book about a third of the way in, after having skipped a few pages due to the wordiness and, I felt, the many unlikeable characters. But after reading reviews here I decided to persist and I'm so glad I did.
Now, having the rewards of the second half of the novel, I almost feel like starting it again - an "if I knew then what I know now" situation!

There were pages I read, in particular about the artistic and creative process and the bullsh#@ that goes with creative industries, that were almost like "yeah, exactly!" Gibson articulated my feelings around that, and growing older and regrets and observations of others having grown old and the fears, anger and frustrations around climate change and who "owns" the protests around that and feminism and gender rights....how can an author find the words? It must be such hard yakka.
Persist, it's worth it.

[Narm Lawrence · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish. Unfortunately, I got half way through and it was going nowhere. I understand the point of this book is to meet all the characters slowly and then at the end we see how it all relates, but after reading half of it and feeling like it had gone nowhere, I got bored. I knew I might not like this book when I read other reviews due to a history of not enjoying slower-paced books with ambiguous plots that don't really go anywhere, are just meant to paint a picture, but I wanted so badly to enjoy the book! It felt modern and relevant, but just far too slow.

[Gavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first few sections of this book, then started to lose interest as the story arc was lost in the muddle. Incredibly beautifully written for the most part, which made some sections all the more disappointing. I loved the big picture considerations of the environment in the first half and towards the end. Section 5 about Govita felt like it was written by another author with its short sharp sentences and lack of clarity. A great start, very weak late-middle section and an OK finish.

[Bella Sk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was half way through this book when I decided I found almost all its characters excruciatingly pretentious and dull. Somehow all the climate change anxiety just made me think these people needed to get some real problems. I do, of course, believe in climate change and am dismayed by the lack of meaningful action by many successive governments and large corporate organisations. But it was just so hard to take any of these trite, privileged, inner suburban, vapid people seriously. Perhaps that was the point, but it didn't make it any less of a chore to live inside their minds for a whole book.

I am glad I stuck it out until the end, because some of the very best passages were in the last quarter. The passage about all the generations of Henrys, the ancestors of one of the characters, was a particular highlight. I think this work would have been stronger as a collection of short stories, rather than a novel.

[ameliastacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a great debut by an australian author. all six characters were really well established and had very clear personalities and i loved how the author used their perspectives to explore how different people in society see the climate crisis and relationships to others and with the internet/media.

[Geoff Orton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read half of it and decided to stop. Each part of the book focused on a different character, but I couldn't get into it. Picked it up after seeing recommendations from Readings and Baxter on the front, but maybe I'm missing something. Felt like the characters were judged for their actions and character without an obvious plot. Like I said, maybe I'm missing something

[Kim Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. It's VERY rare for me to put a book aside like this but I'm super keen to just move on to something I can enjoy and sink into a little deeper. The first chapter had me hooked but after that the time switching format, the unlikeable, shallow characters and the terrible editing only got me through the page 114.

[Madeleine Laing · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Gibson's last collection of stories 'Women I Know', and while this felt a little more familiar to a lot of stuff that's out lately (Melbourne Millennials, Climate Change, Pandemic) I still really enjoyed the style and characters.

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really fresh and interesting read. The author has a strong message, but the narrative is so well developed it is almost like stealth environmentalism.

I loved seeing Melbourne in print, too. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

[ariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

these stories were cleverly interlaced and often avoided cliche but sometimes the scope was too ambitious and detracted from the main message, and also there should never be so many copy errors in a book that i come to expect spelling mistakes :(((

[Julie Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this book. I thought it was me but after reading other reviews I see i was not mistaken. This book was so badly written my brain hurt. It was all over the shop and not cohesive.. maybe it was the editing maybe it was just a badly written book.

[Rowena Eddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very hard book to get into. There is some good character work, particularly in the second half of the book, though the ending is rushed. I felt the author was too emotionally engaged by the climate crisis to write as well as she is obviously capable of doing.

[Katie O'Rielly · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as good as richard powers at his best, but nowhere near as bad as richard powers at his worst

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

First half a 3, second half a 4. Looking forward to seeing what this author does.

[Rowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this, i lked seeing how the characters stories wove together and how they knew eachother.

[zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

literally so many editing mistakes which is unfortunate

[lilyred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent novel that captures the early 2020s from different perspectives, with modern characters dealing with issues of living in the face of climate change and social media.