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Beef
Can an affair be non-physical? Is infidelity really just about meat slapping together? Or is what goes on behind the meat actually more important? ‘Beef’ is a contemporary satire about love, meat, and infidelity, set in an Australia of the incredibly-near future. It is a multi-generational tale of unseen consequences, and the pressures of leaving a legacy. But most of all, it’s the rollicking story of an awkward middle-aged sociophobe’s attempts to be a good partner and a good father and a good son, in the context of desperately trying not to have an affair with a wildly attractive psychic… a psychic who insists they are going to end up together, like it or not, because “it’s destiny”.
From one of Australia's most-awarded comedy writers, ‘Beef’ explores desire and faithfulness in a dystopian future Australia where bizarre cults thrive, where music is advertising, where psychics are out of the closet, and where meat is no longer murder.
From one of Australia's most-awarded comedy writers, ‘Beef’ explores desire and faithfulness in a dystopian future Australia where bizarre cults thrive, where music is advertising, where psychics are out of the closet, and where meat is no longer murder.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 23, 2016
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Mat Blackwell
2 books8 followersMat Blackwell is a multi-award-winning writer, a visual artist, a prolific chaos-musician, and a reclusive troglodyte who veers between feeling universal oneness with all living beings, and wishing that they'd all just hurry up and die.
He has written jokes for performers as varied as Waleed Aly, Paul McDermott, Corinne Grant, Wil Anderson, Amanda Keller, and Barry Humphries. He wrote the funny bits of TV shows like THE GLASS HOUSE, THE SIDESHOW, GOOD NEWS WEEK, WEDNESDAY NIGHT FEVER, and ROOM 101, amongst many other things. That bit you loved? That was probably him.
He also co-created and co-wrote the hilariously grotesque sharehouse-black-comedy-meets-convict-period-drama BRUCE, starring (amongst others) Angus Sampson and Rich Davies.
When he's not cranking out the gags for TV, or penning satirical novels for discerning adults, Mat writes philosophical essays on music, art, humour, and morality.
He has too many cats and not enough beard.
He has written jokes for performers as varied as Waleed Aly, Paul McDermott, Corinne Grant, Wil Anderson, Amanda Keller, and Barry Humphries. He wrote the funny bits of TV shows like THE GLASS HOUSE, THE SIDESHOW, GOOD NEWS WEEK, WEDNESDAY NIGHT FEVER, and ROOM 101, amongst many other things. That bit you loved? That was probably him.
He also co-created and co-wrote the hilariously grotesque sharehouse-black-comedy-meets-convict-period-drama BRUCE, starring (amongst others) Angus Sampson and Rich Davies.
When he's not cranking out the gags for TV, or penning satirical novels for discerning adults, Mat writes philosophical essays on music, art, humour, and morality.
He has too many cats and not enough beard.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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August 23, 2016Beef is an engrossing and entertaining novel which explores a near future and oh so believable contemporary Australia which is a post-meat eating world. Eating meat from animals is taboo, and all meat is grown in vats. Ethical dilemma solved! Or is it? We explore this world through the eyes of Royston, a sweet and somewhat directionless young man who is happy with his beautiful wife and daughter, and his role in the family vat meat company - the rich, powerful Beef Corporation. Royston meets a luscious musician called Gene - who breathes about fate and destiny all the while, and sends Royston into an absolute tailspin about being faithful to his family. Their stories intertwine ever closer until the novel's devastating climax... I enjoyed this book immensely! Recommended for carnivores and vegans alike, and anyone who has ever wondered whether they can have their cake and eat it too!
May 10, 2017
Great novel. I read it for my book club and we all loved it!!! Witty and funny. Lots of very interesting and provocative futuristic ideas but somehow believable. I highly recommend this book.
September 2, 2017
"Woah!" I'm glad I started reviewing books on my blog, because otherwise I don't think I would have found this one. I don't think I've ever read a book quite like this before, and I doubt I will again.
Beef represents, for me, the best of what science fiction and eco fiction have to offer. It extrapolates from today's issues into the near future and explores what might happen if certain fictional, metaphorical, elements are introduced. It has a strong viewpoint and voice, without being unpleasantly polemical. Rather than preaching at its readers, or drowning them in gloom, doom, and apocalypse, it draws them in with delightful characters, vivid situations, and laugh-out-loud humor.
That said, this book is probably not for everyone. It's not for the perfectionistic, the moralistic, or the easily offended. It's about corpse eating, infidelity, depressarians, and toxic capitalism, and there is a lot of drug use and profanity, even by major characters whom one comes to know and love. And the "alternative" spelling of the word "whoa" as "woah" (which the author does) has become one of my pet peeves in the past year or so, but when I saw it here I was willing to give it a pass. Like the other transgressions depicted therein, it kinda fit the novel's sensibilities. And who knows, maybe "woah" is the correct spelling in that timeline. Language evolves and all that.
I also felt that the book as a whole went on a bit too long. It might have been fine, and packed even more punch, as a novella. I sympathized with Royston's dilemma, and I give the author major kudos for giving his hottie female character curves and booty (rather than anorexia), but I didn't find her as fascinating as Royston did, especially when she spent so much of the novel getting high and saying silly things about destiny.
As I approached the end (reading it in bed on a Kindle, flicking the electronic pages, I would see that I was 75% . . . 80% . . . 90% done), I was on the edge of my metaphorical seat wondering how the author was going to end it. I couldn't imagine what all the build up was going to lead to that wouldn't be a disappointment, but Blackwell pulled it off. I totally didn't see that coming. I also have found that this novel is one that becomes richer on reflection. While reading it, I was just being carried along by all the wild sheeshing on a sheeshing stick, but two days later I'm still thinking of new connections that I hadn't immediately made between ideas.
I had not heard of the author before reading this book, but that may be because I am woefully ignorant of Australian authors (and Australian pop culture generally). I think that Beef could have also been easily set in the United States, as we also have no shortage of greedy capitalists, religious cranks, socially awkward nerds, and cows, but it was interesting to view the future world through the lens of another culture, and I think Blackwell's work deserves an international audience.
Beef represents, for me, the best of what science fiction and eco fiction have to offer. It extrapolates from today's issues into the near future and explores what might happen if certain fictional, metaphorical, elements are introduced. It has a strong viewpoint and voice, without being unpleasantly polemical. Rather than preaching at its readers, or drowning them in gloom, doom, and apocalypse, it draws them in with delightful characters, vivid situations, and laugh-out-loud humor.
That said, this book is probably not for everyone. It's not for the perfectionistic, the moralistic, or the easily offended. It's about corpse eating, infidelity, depressarians, and toxic capitalism, and there is a lot of drug use and profanity, even by major characters whom one comes to know and love. And the "alternative" spelling of the word "whoa" as "woah" (which the author does) has become one of my pet peeves in the past year or so, but when I saw it here I was willing to give it a pass. Like the other transgressions depicted therein, it kinda fit the novel's sensibilities. And who knows, maybe "woah" is the correct spelling in that timeline. Language evolves and all that.
I also felt that the book as a whole went on a bit too long. It might have been fine, and packed even more punch, as a novella. I sympathized with Royston's dilemma, and I give the author major kudos for giving his hottie female character curves and booty (rather than anorexia), but I didn't find her as fascinating as Royston did, especially when she spent so much of the novel getting high and saying silly things about destiny.
As I approached the end (reading it in bed on a Kindle, flicking the electronic pages, I would see that I was 75% . . . 80% . . . 90% done), I was on the edge of my metaphorical seat wondering how the author was going to end it. I couldn't imagine what all the build up was going to lead to that wouldn't be a disappointment, but Blackwell pulled it off. I totally didn't see that coming. I also have found that this novel is one that becomes richer on reflection. While reading it, I was just being carried along by all the wild sheeshing on a sheeshing stick, but two days later I'm still thinking of new connections that I hadn't immediately made between ideas.
I had not heard of the author before reading this book, but that may be because I am woefully ignorant of Australian authors (and Australian pop culture generally). I think that Beef could have also been easily set in the United States, as we also have no shortage of greedy capitalists, religious cranks, socially awkward nerds, and cows, but it was interesting to view the future world through the lens of another culture, and I think Blackwell's work deserves an international audience.
August 29, 2016
I've been writing for a long time, but this is one of the best books I've ever written, I think. Pretty much nailed it, to be honest. I mean, really, gosh, as far as books about infidelity and vat-grown cultured meat go, it's got to be a classic. The characters were great fun to write, the world is stupidly inventive and just crazy enough to be true, and the issues are complex and portrayed with a wonderful mixture of inner-world realism and historianesque narrative detachment, as far as I can tell. I'm pretty happy with it, to be honest. I guess every single self-published author is proud of their work, because it takes guts to expose your inner tender bits to strangers for them to judge and criticise and review, and you don't do that with work you're not happy with. But I am pretty damn happy with 'Beef'. Turned out a lot better than I thought it would, to be honest.
Oh, and I don't know what a Kobo is, but you can't buy 'Beef' with it, unless I'm much mistaken. Try here instead:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.l...
Oh, and I don't know what a Kobo is, but you can't buy 'Beef' with it, unless I'm much mistaken. Try here instead:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.l...
August 18, 2018
Set in a future world of vat-meat, solar curfews, rampaging ‘nightcows’, weird cults, art-as-advertising, fracked countryside, and seas full of jellyfish, this is a very funny story about love, friendship, family and infidelity. There were many laugh-out-loud moments for me (even the copyright page and endnotes are hilarious)! I particularly loved the conclusion to the story; I had no idea where the plot was headed, but it finished quickly and startlingly, with all loose ends taken care of and everything wrapped up neatly and satisfyingly.
December 5, 2018
Beef by Mat Blackwell wasn’t at all what I expected. The name and cover imply you’re walking into some kind of dark slasher film. What I found instead was something witty and thought provoking. Blackwell’s characters and voice take center stage here. Both are the perfect balance of fun and believability and they drive this story home to a masterful end. A little bleak but all around satisfying read!
October 24, 2016
Beef made me laugh out loud so many times I lost count. The characters are real and multidimensional and complex, and the world of vatmeat and the end of eating animals, and all its ramifications, is disturbingly believable. Riding the rollercoaster of potential infidelity was entertaining and harrowing, and I loved being in the main character Royston's over-thinking head. Everyone I know who reads Beef falls a little bit in love with it, and raves about it. It's that kind of book. Highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews