Blueprints for a Barbed Wire Canoe

by Wayne Macauley

'The rain fell hard and unending on the roof. All the ghosts of ur were sleeping. The night was as dark as a whale's belly. She passed by swiftly, cried out softly; I wasn't listening, I couldn't have heard.' Bram has a reluctant story to tell. Excavating common objects from the mullock heap of a failed housing estate, he records the lives fo those who lived there. One-eyed Michael, fencing contractor and ideologue, his daughter Jodie, Slug the real estate agent, Layland from the Ministry and Tony the these are just some of the players in a laconic comedy of circumstance. Prize-winning short fiction writer Wayne Macauley has made, as Peter Craven has noted, 'something almost like allegory.' His compulsive telling ensnares us in an escalating series of remarkable events. An old leather satchel holds the documents for the fatal vessel of the title... Beguilingly simple, eccentric and original, 'Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire Canoe' is a fable of ownership, and an elegy for a dream.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Australia

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Wayne Macauley is the author of the highly acclaimed novels: Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire Canoe, Caravan Story and, most recently, The Cook, which was shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Award, a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Melbourne Prize Best Writing Award. His new book Demons will be available in August 2014. He lives in Melbourne.

Reviews

[jeniwren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have recently read Macauley's most recent novel 'Demons' which I enjoyed and was pleased to go back to this his first novel. Firstly I was intrigued by the title and what did this say about the story that lay ahead? Well it has turned out to be a most thought provoking read and a dark satire on home ownership that has long been the great Australian dream.

It centres on a group of residents who take up residency in a new satellite suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne. Before long planned infastructure is stalled and the area becomes unliveable. Most people pack up and leave but a few disgruntled residents refuse to give up that dream. What descends is anarchy of sorts and the whole situation becomes quite macabre. Highly recommended.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wayne Macauley is the author of The Cook, a dark and funny satire which I read and reviewed a year or so ago just as Macauley was starting to gain an international profile, but I have had Blueprints for a Barbed-wire Canoe and Caravan Story on my TBR for ages. I bought them when I heard that Blueprints for a Barbed-wire Canoe was included in Year 12 reading lists and I was intrigued by the title.

I enjoyed The Cook but I found that Blueprints for a Barbed-wire Canoe was a more thought-provoking book. I finished it two books ago and (apart from the fact that I’ve been AWOL online this week due to some pressing commitments) this absurdist novella’s been swirling around in my brain bothering me ever since I finished it at half past one in the morning on Monday night (which hasn’t helped with the pressing commitments). Like The Cook, Blueprints for a Barbed-wire Canoe is a satire, one which attacks the sacrosanct Great Australian Home Ownership Dream, and Macauley uses lashings of black humour to make his point. It’s deeply unsettling.

Narrated by Bram, the story takes the reader to a strange alternative society that has formed in a satellite housing development marooned beyond the outskirts of Melbourne. Originally planned as a model suburb, the development stalled because a promised freeway and fuel subsidy failed to materialise, so the car-dependant projected population never materialised either. Before long nearly all of the residents leave because the place is unliveable: no transport links, miles from anywhere, and almost nothing in the way of amenities such as parks, schools, medical services, shops or eateries so there are no local jobs to be had.

But a small core of disgruntled residents remain, obstinately clinging to the belief that the promised freeway will be built and their dreams restored. As the development decays, the situation becomes macabre: there is no electricity; a failed sewage system produces a foul stench; the streets are filthy, and vandals from the nearest town do the moronic things that vandals usually do. Into this profoundly unaesthetic environment Macauley places a motley collection of characters who form a bizarre little community.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/02/23/bl...

[Warrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deeply allegorical, I guess.

Also, bleak and slow and gritty and grimy as the doomed suburb that is the centrepiece of this story.

It feels like the debut novel it is: moments of inspired poetic feeling and moments that should’ve been re-written or cut. In the end, repetitive and vaguely unsatisfying.

[Marj Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently, a fierce storm brought trees and power lines down across our street. Not only was the power cut, but for two days, a policeman guarded the cul-de-sac, ensuring that no one left or came into the street. Fortunately, many of our neighbours are friends, so we saw these events as a great excuse for a street party, a time to use the contents of the fridge and freezer, each household contributing to a communal meal, cooked on the BBQ, eaten by candlelight at someone's home.

These events happened just before I read 'Blueprints for a Barbed-Wire Canoe', lending a poignancy to the novel which I might not have otherwise felt. I realised the similarities (brought about by different events) to Camus' 'The Plague', or Steinbeck's 'The Moon is Down' - a group of people stranded by circumstance, together yet so individual in the way they respond. It's a reminder too of our essential loneliness in life.

This novel may be too esoteric for teens, who'd find it hard to place themselves in the middle of this allegorical tale; perhaps adults will relate far more to situations where faded ideals have burnt them or led to their demise.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so much fun to read. I had been quite ill and picked this book out as it's quite thin. It really picked me up.
Loved the characters, the setting, the storyline....what a great book!
I'll certainly be looking out for this author.

[Snoakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this strange story - it has more than a touch of the Magnus Mills about it.

[Zuzu Burford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that is hard to fit into any genre which makes for a great read.