Mr Enigmatic

Central Secondary College series

by Jenny Pausacker

Rhett Foley is in his final year at school and confused as hell. How come no one ever told him that life, love and this sex stuff would get so complicated? The next step's a big one - so watch out, Mr Enigmatic. It's time to get real.

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Jenny Pausacker is a Melbourne-based freelance writer. Her young adult novel, What Are Ya? won the Angus and Robertson Junior Writers Fellowship and was short-listed for two State awards. Other short stories have been published in the anthologies, Landmarks, The Blue Dress and Bittersweet. The short story 'About Zan' was dedicated to Helen and published in 'Family: A Collection of Short Stories'.

Reviews

[Nerida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow that was good. I picked this up because it turned up in my work’s high school library — and I was not expecting to be this intrigued!

Basically, Mr Enigmatic is the story of Rhett Foley, a 17-year-old doing Year 12 in Victoria. It runs through his family and friends, his psyche, a nasty accident, and the ways we respond to people around us. Rhett is a pretty classic 17yo, the “Enigmatic” part coming in because he hides a lot of his emotions. In fact, a lot of the book discusses the place of emotions in writing, and whether the emotional content or the technique is more important for an effective story. It’s very meta.
The creative part was that Jenny Pausacker has Rhett telling his own story through his creative writing portfolio — including comments and responses from his English teacher, Ms Carson. In fact, Rhett is deliberately collecting his first drafts as material for a future biographer, for the one day when he turns those drafts into a novel about his life. Rhett’s intentions for the pieces are printed in a handwritten font, which made those parts feel much more personal than the stories themselves.

There was nothing crazy about any of the characters, but the way Pausacker uses the English portfolio setup is clever. Rhett explores writing in the style of different famous authors, using different POVs, and different genres. So, as well as classic short stories, we also get a news report/feature article, a letter, an essay, and a film script. Each piece reflects a different part of Rhett’s life, and his responses to his life circumstances.
Ms Carson’s responses are a beautiful representation of the role teachers play when they actually get to know their students. She doesn’t just comment on his technique and style (although they do engage in some arguments about that), but also engages with the content, and with what she learns about him. I loved the way she debates with him, and was willing to consider ideas and techniques, and learn alongside him. There was so much honesty in a few of her lines:

“P.S. (Two hours later) — Ouch! For once I wish I wrote these comments in pencil, so I could go back and rub out that last sentence.” — p. 54

“I’m disappointed in you, Rhett. Disappointed and hurt. … Two cups of coffee later, I’m a bit less disappointed and a bit more understanding. … Ouch. This is the second time I’ve regretted writing in biro. Very well, that settles it. Much as I like to think of myself as the spontaneous type, I’m writing these comments in pencil from now on.” — p. 143

And then Rhett’s reply:

“P.S. Go on, write your last lot of comments in biro. I dare you.”

The repartee is hilarious, even if it isn’t live. TBH, witticisms on paper make me just as happy as chemistry in conversation.

This book just felt raw and true to me. I love how Aussie and informal the language of Rhett’s and Carson’s comments was, compared to the more formal English used throughout the draft pieces. It was a nice touch, and drew my attention to the craft of writing itself — the way we choose words and use structure deliberately to frame our experience for others to read, vs the language of our brain dumps in intentions and initial critiques. As I said, it’s a very meta book.

I also really related to Anna’s decision to marry Terry at 17 so that people would take them seriously. Especially when we’re young, so many people brush us off with “You’ll get over it” and “It’s just a phase” — or similar phrases. Of course we shouldn’t immediately take everyone seriously over every little thing, but there’s a very real danger that people jump into serious decisions before they’re ready so that others will take notice. And that’s in all parts of life — career decisions, finances, relationships… which is just generally unhelpful.

The real question is, as much as I enjoyed this book (as an adult), would I give it to a teenager to read? I think it’s a brilliant exploration of the teenage psyche, and a wonderful example of different storytelling styles. For the right teen, who is ready to grapple with the issues raised, this could be an amazing English text. For others, I’m concerned they would be too interested in the descriptions of alcohol and drug usage, or impacted by Terry’s accident and paraplegia. So… some yes, some no!

TW/CW: drugs, underage drinking, swearing, LGBT, disability, trauma

[Katelijne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eindelijk herlezen.
Als tiener was dit echt mindblowing, dat viel nu wat tegen. Maar toch, wat een heerlijk boek.