Mates of Mars

by David Foster

The title of Mates of Mars relates to a diverse group of martial arts fanatics, which includes the ex-bouncer Steve Overton, paralysed from the waist down and eventually literally legless; a Jewish professor, Bruce Nonnemacher; a Chinese doctor, Lim; a feminist self-defence teacher, Jade; a male model, Sven; and a Black footballer, Cyril. When this oddly assorted group travel to Cyril's home, Never-fuckinlose in the Northern Territory, they discover the ineffectiveness both of their 'chi' and of their various cultural identities in the face of the uncompromising Aboriginality of the land itself; as in Foster's other novels, entropy is the characteristic experience.

Genres: Fiction

383 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

David Manning Foster (born 15 May 1944) is an Australian novelist and scientist. He has written a range of satires on the theme of the decline of Western civilization, as well as producing short stories, poetry, essays, and a number of radio plays.

Foster writes in an Australian tradition of idiosyncratic satire and comedy that may be traced through the work of Joseph Furphy, Miles Franklin, Xavier Herbert and David Ireland. His novels are the most wide-ranging and fearless of the Australian novels that have contributed to the late twentieth-century re-examination of Western ideologies and the literary forms in which they are expressed. ('Foster: The Satirist of Australia' by Susan Lever)

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

it dragged... oh it dragged.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished it but I don't recall the details.