The River Ophelia

by Justine Ettler

A disturbing tale about a young university student who loses herself in a destructive relationship, The River Ophelia will provoke, sadden and engage. Unconventional, compelling and controversial, this postmodern account of domestic violence became an instant best-seller making its author a household name. Justine loves Sade but Sade loves sex; indeed, he's a brutish sex addict. Despite this, Justine can't seem to leave. For all her education, she's looking for love and commitment in all the wrong places. While the feminist lore of previous generations seems to work well in theory, Justine can't seem to make it work in practise. Owning her power and experimenting with her own sexuality only leaves her feeling more empty and despairing than before. Both a parodic homage to and subversion of de Sade's Justine and Shakespeare's Hamlet , Justine Ettler's second novel recalls the work of Kathy Acker and Bret Easton Ellis. A dark anti-romance whose sparse, Spartan prose sparks with all the suspenseful chill of a thriller, this twentieth century classic of Australian literature is an electric, confronting read.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, 20th Century, Horror

374 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved The River Ophelia. I first read about the novel in an article which contextualised ‘grunge lit’ and ‘dirty realism’ whereby two of my favourite authors were cited, Andrew McGahan and Christos Tsiolkas. The River Ophelia however has very little in common with Praise or Loaded, both of which were published at or around the same time in the early to mid-nineties, and to my perception has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘grunge’ or ‘dirty realism’. The River Ophelia is a well-written novel with a muscular, driving narrative that is both vivid and dramatic, resonating throughout with a poeticism similar to much European writing. For this reason I would have believed it had the novel had been written in French (or German) and translated into English. Many of the novel’s themes and scenarios are influenced by French writers, namely Marquis de Sade and Georges Bataille, and often depicted in an absurdist or surrealistic style. The novel contains a lot of explicit sexual content, violence, self-flagellation and unreserved depictions of bodily eruptions which provoke many readers into disliking it. But for those who understand trauma, repression, and living in the shadow of an inauthentic life, this book will resonate vividly for them. There are no references to place in the River Ophelia, although knowing readers will recognise Sydney’s Kings Cross district in the narrative (‘the peninsula’). And by not ascribing place names the novel tends to sit in a bubble, very much of its time, yet timeless. I didn’t read the book when it first appeared in the mid-nineties and I suspect that its value and worth has increased over the years. There’s nothing quite like it in Antipodean literature, The River Ophelia is indeed a 20th century Australian classic.

[Devon Webb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would give this book negative stars if I could. I despised it, for many various reasons. I was super hyped to read it because I love sexy books and controversial books and masochism and drugs and basically everything stated in the blurb but maaaan this book was not only really fucked/hard to follow/non-sensical/actually quite disgusting but also was just really badly written. Kind of confused as to how it got published actually.

First problem I have with this book: all the characters are assholes. And unrealistic. And really unenjoyable to read about it. Justine was a psycho pathetic fucked up bitch and reading something told from her perspective was like being in Hell. She's just like so I met this guy at this party and we talked for like five mins then fucked and NOW I'M IN LOVE WITH HIM BUT HE DOESN'T LOVE ME AAAAH HE'S SLEEPING WITH PEOPLE OTHER THAN ME WHY DOESN'T HE LOVE ME I'M GONNA OBSESSIVELY STALK HIM AND NOW I WANNA KILL MYSELF WAH WAH WAH. What the fuck Justine. Get a grip. And Sade's an abusive wanker too who's just as neurotic and unstable, their whole relationship is DON'T CALL ME GO FUCK YOURSELF then I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU I WANNA BE WITH YOU FOREVERRRR like two paragraphs later. Seriously. And then there's Hamlet/Ophelia/Simone/Marcelle who are all crazy and get with each other's lovers in front of each other (normal people don't do that) and all Hamlet does is cry and all Simone talks about is wanting to kill people and I really just hated them all.

Second problem: Terrible writing. You get told in year nine English class not to overdescribe... this book is just pages and pages and pages of overdescription. Her round, light blue eyes looked into his dark, brown eyes that were like deep pools in his round light-skinned face... The bath *two paragraphs describing the bath* and the ceiling was made of white-painted plaster. Fuck OFF I do NOT care. And also... ALSO... there is a paragraph near the end where the PERSPECTIVE LITERALLY CHANGES MID PARAGRAPH. IT GOES FROM THIRD PERSON TO FIRST PERSON IN THE MIDDLE OF A PARAGRAPH. LITERALLY. HOW DID. I DON'T. UNDERSTAND. WAS THE EDITOR NOT LIKE. THE FUCK. Aaaaaand there is a sentence that's like 'Justine opened the frig...' FRIG. SPELLED FRIG. LITERALLY SPELLED FRIG. Is this a joke?

Third problem: Really really gross? I don't wanna read a page about Justine taking a shit or a whole chapter about Hamlet cutting his leg despite it not adding anything to the plot? Why is this necessary.

Fourth and maybe my BIGGEST problem with this book: Marketed as 'feminist literature' but sooooo not feminist. All the female characters do is cry about men and not getting laid and don't even develop at all or become independent at all and THEN when Justine's like 'wah wah wah I wanna kill myself' to her friend her friend's all like 'you know what you need? You need a BOYFRIEND' and I'm like are you fucking serious that's what got her into this mess in the first place she really just needs to go to a mental hospital or maybe at the very least learn some VAGUE INDEPENDENCE instead of just crying and mutilating herself all the time and yeah I get it she's fucked up and yeah she acknowledges it but that doesn't make me sympathise with her at all cos she doesn't do one fucking thing to improve her situation. Fuck you Justine.

Fifth problem (I thought i was done but there's more): Non-sensical plot. I was confused the whole time like wait whaaat why is this happening. All the reactions are fucking stupid and unbelievable. And towards the end some real twisted shit goes down and Justine's like 'oh no' for like a paragraph and then she goes back to her tiring 'WAH WAH WAH SAAAAADE' monologue. Fuck. This.

Fuck. Honestly. This is an offense to the entire literature industry. I need an explanation. Is it supposed to be this bad? What were the publishers thinking? Really I'm just hella glad I finally finished the slog through that awful piece of ass. Lost some brain cells along the way and it made me hella angry but I'll recover eventually (I hope).

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wild ride. I picked this up randomly as I saw it was a book about sex and violence written by an Aussie women in 1995 and I was curious. It is a difficult read but strangely I consistently sat up later than I intended, reading into the night. The characters are horrendous but it really is a satire and ostensibly emblematic of grunge lit (this is the first book of the genre that I've read). I want to read more Ettler, however her other two books appear completely different. Glad that I picked it up.

[Kyra Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's going on in The River Ophelia, you might ask? Basically, it's a scathing attack on modern society and life in Australia's largest city. All of these characters are more concerned with projecting the illusion of success rather than actually living meaningful or fulfilling personal lives. They shirk long-term romance for brief and sometimes violent, often degrading sex, and when they aren't looking for a quick screw, they're getting high or abusing each other in ways so sadistic, so brutal, that one could be forgiven for thinking this was a Sade novel. It is very reminiscent of American Psycho, where the author offers a stylised stream-of-consciousness that is supposed to parody and mirror the very worst of society, not literally invoke it or romanticise it - though Ettler has a strangely beautiful, lyrical literary poeticism when she describes certain street or city scenes, or shafts of light for example. Even the squalor is rendered with a kind of Gothic romanticism before the novel turns brutally, irredeemably ugly during several sex scenes.

Fortunately, for Justine, there's a way out of this shallow existence.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. A pastiche of references from Shakespeare, de Sade, Batailles to Bret Easton Ellis sets the framework for the action. Ettler’s exhilarating prose takes us on a roller coaster ride. Some scenes made me laugh out loud. Others were poignant or horrifying. Subtle character analysis is not the point. When a character is named Hamlet, what more do you need to know? The visceral descriptions of sex, parties, drinking, bodily effluent, urban trash and grime will evoke strong responses. Justine the central character is unreliable, frustrating, maddening but always engaging and sometimes tragic. The reader will gain vivid insight into the experiences of emotional trauma, abuse, domestic violence and sex addiction. A novel for our times.

[Rhymerslog · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can see what the author was trying to do, but it just reads as a pathetic woman who can't do anything for herself, an incredibly unlikeable character, and I ended up sympathising with the men even though they were supposed to be the villains.

[Danielle Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

The River Ophelia is a Bret Easton Ellis wannabe novel. It lacks substance, intrigue and suspense. It's vulgar. The book is not sexy, which is frustrating as there are 'sex scenes' every 3-4 pages. The protagonist is boring and her issues have no substance. Overall a pretty crappy read

[Kaili Vaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great work. At last, an Australian novel of above average intelligence that engages with Critical Theory and is also an unputdownable read. Like The Hours does for Mrs Dalloway, this book is a definite recommend for anyone who enjoyed American Psycho but wanted something Australian and realistic.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bizarre, irritating and nauseating book. I finished it out of morbid fascination rather than enjoyment. Sick, twisted and disturbing. Well written but unpleasant.

[Lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

An endless tedium of one dimensional characters and descriptive lists that I couldn't bring myself to finish. Glad to be rid of it from my shelves.

[Sofia Monro · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. Some parts make you cringe and it feels off putting to read yet there is a certain interest to follow the insanity of the story to see the lengths in which it’ll go.
It’s quite heavy, definitely not a light read and makes you question morals and behaviour.

[Liz Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel had me transfixed. I actually read it 3 times it works on so many levels. The obvious story of a young university student in a crazy destructive relationship and what happens to her, the violence, the cheating and then her anger, the stalking and the ugly scenes. All that stuff that happens when you find yourself trapped in one of those horrendous addictive scenarios. And then I read it again just because I loved it so much the first time. Then I finally read it a third time having done some research on it and thats when I started to see the subtleties of it, the structure and the way the characters are named after all these famous writers and their characters from their books. I half expected someone called Shakespeare to make an appearance and that’s when I really understood what all the hype was about. The novel isn’t about what it appears to be about, or its not only about that—there’s a whole other level—I could say more but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else.

[Kathlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally bought this book second hand recommended by a friend and I can’t understand why it was taken out of print. It’s one of the most gripping books I’ve ever read. I also love its authenticity and the way its so in your face. For the first 100 pages or so I couldn’t put it down, it was so fast-paced. The style is also really good, the writing’s not trying to be beautiful or anything but what it does really well is puts you right there so that you can experience almost first hand what it’s like to be in love with an abuser. I didn’t realise this predated Sex in the City but I personally I found the sex scenes pretty hilarious that is, when they didn’t make me angry. The really annoying thing though is that half way through a friend borrowed it and now I can’t get it back. Can’t wait to read my new iBook copy.

[Nicholas Beck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Justine Ettler inserts The Marquis De Sade, Bataille, and Shakespeare's, Hamlet and Ophelia into her narrative. Interestingly her characters inhabit the bleak suburban landscape of Melbourne (unnamed in the text). Here she proceeds to explore her themes of sexuality and power. It's raw and uncompromising and Ettler doesn't hold anything back. Accordingly lacks some subtlety and becomes a little repetitive but I found it a challenging thought provoking read nonetheless. It's been labelled "dirty realism" or "grunge lit" and I came across the term "cultural cringe" while reviewing some of the more in depth critiques of her work and fellow authors of early 2000's Australia. Also see Elfriede Jelinek for more no holds barred feminist explorations of the modern world.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up because of its reputation. Early on, some of the more intense scenes struck me as gratuitous. As I got a better sense of the characters, however, I started to understand their necessity. I was soon horrified but entranced by how effectively this represented a vulnerable person becoming emotionally dependent upon a harrowingly dysfunctional situation. I saw some reviews describe this as tedious and repetitive, but I feel as though that's the nature of obsession. It's not pleasant to read, but it's not meant to be.

[Stephanie Poleson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading and rereading The River Ophelia. I think I got a lot more out of it the second time around. The difference between reading it as a 25 year old and then as a 47 year old is that this time I got the concept of it. There’s a story behind the story and I don’t think I noticed that at all the first time around. The River Ophelia describes drama that could happen to anyone behind closed doors. It does not paint a pretty picture of events, but it is not meant to.

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is just nasty - sensationalist and shocking just for the sake of if it. This stuff should have been kept inside her diary!

[Carson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novel belongs in the 90s: nihilistic, masochistic, utterly derived from Critical Theory. Nasty tedium personified.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

My main gripe with this book is that it is badly written. The author is not a good writer, and I'm tempted to assume there was no editor. Which sucks cause I was really excited to read this. The plot has potential and this could have been a great book, but the writing is bad on a technical, sentence structure level. The dialogue is laughably unrealistic and disjointed.

My second biggest gripe with the book is the weird sexual stuff involving kids. You could just have left that out. It does nothing for the plot apart from making the reader uncomfortable, and the rest of the book already makes the reader uncomfortable, so the kid stuff is not needed to achieve that effect. Maybe it's in reference to de Sade's or Bataille's works and it would make more sense if I'd read them, but I still don't think it's good or necessary. Books can be weird and disturbing without bordering on kiddie porn.

My third gripe is I feel I was tricked into reading this book by the misuse of Bret Easton Ellis' name in the blurb. He deserves better than to be compared to this.

I have many more gripes but they aren't as major and I can't be fucked typing them all out. I'm sure Ettler's writing has improved since this was written but this was bad

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first grabbed this novel of the bookstore shelf I was drawn by the blurb describing a bitter take on modern feminism, contemporary Australian capitalism and societal attitudes towards sex.

What I found was an unreliable narrator who’s self obsession crashed violently into self abuse. Justine is a character who at times seems to chose to be miserable, a character who clings desperately to the concept of male desire and what it provides for a desperate woman.

The storyline is inconsistent and at times you are unsure what is dream, psychosis and what is genuine. Justine’s own violent juxtaposition between self mutilation and matter of fact self care can cause the readers head to spin. Justine seems to know the way out of her own misery but a history alluded to implies that she can’t.

Overall I found this novel gripping in a particular sort of way, but I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it.

[dsbau · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this years ago. It was part of the grunge literature fad in Australia that lasted for about 12 months. They published some truly awful books trying to cash in on the success of a couple if books, like Andrew McGanhan's Praise.that, that were actually worth reading.

I made it about two thirds of the way through before giving up. I remember that it was a mess of references, not quite believable characters, over the top dialogue with a couple of gross out scenes thrown in for good measure. Deciding to put The River Ophelia down once and for all was like was bit bit like ending a relationship with a narcissistic , overly dramatic partner. It was a relief...

[E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are the few moments of genius worth suffering through 400 pages of terrible writing? This is a book with true literary merit for those with enough patience and a strong stomach, but you can only read about fucking and smoking and cocks and cunts and vodka and cocaine so much before skipping over passages after passages. Still, in its conception and its few truly memorable images, this novel has established itself as something unique, ambitious, and exemplary of an era.

[Zoe Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justine Ettler amazing riveting read - touching the heart and soul of any person who has reached the depths of pleasure and pain. Your one of the best writers Sydney has to offer - and thank you for making the time to share with the public your skill and talents.

[Megan Gorter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could not connect to any of the characters, they’re all just horrible people hiding behind the aesthetic of parties and sex. Justice for Justine bit get ur shit together girl

[Liz]

DNF the sample

[Cheers Darlin’ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haunting, harrowing, at times uncomfortable. I wanted to shake our main heroine!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is hard to categorise. But after reading it, I was reminded of a quote by Elisabeth Hanscombe: "for a layperson it may perhaps be difficult to understand that someone can be extremely intelligent, can function well academically, be beautiful and at the same time be seriously disturbed".

All of the characters in this book have these attributes, virtues and credentials that should make them "desirable", highly functioning members of the public. They are well-educated, have university degrees, high paying careers, are conventionally attractive, and young. The world should be at their feet. Instead, they are all damaged...calculated, manipulative, and borderline mentally ill. Some, including Sade, are downright evil. This is precisely the point of Ettler's novel, and it was also largely the point of Brett Easton Ellis's AMERICAN PSYCHO, released five years earlier. But they hide it well, because they have all picked a remarkably attractive mask. A facade.

These characters have wealthy, privileged backgrounds. They live in Sydney's richest inner suburbs, in apartments and terrace houses. But for all their knowledge, they are also morally bankrupt, and more concerned with quick thrills, drugs, sex, petty games and their own neurosis than living a balanced, healthy, loving life. There's ambition, but it's always to prove a point, to climb a ladder, or to get out with one's nose in front. They sleep around, they take drugs, they abuse strangers, and they abuse themselves. They are vacuous, empty.

The only character with a glimmer (and a very faint one) of hope is Justine. She finally decides, in the end of the novel, that she is going to shed her past. The first way she will achieve this is by shedding her ties with Sade, a man who is incapable of feeling anything other than an erection. He is DEVOID of love in the same way as a classic narcissist: damaged long ago, beyond repair, love won't save his day. People are objects to him, and Justine tried frantically to emulate his behaviour to "feel in control", but she just ended up hurting herself. This man cannot feel love and he's making sure that the women he is damaging in the process cannot feel it either.

The book can be repetitive, but it's always deliberate. Ettler was laughing at everyone. She has noticed a rent in the social fabric, a severe flaw in this materialistic, sex obsessed world where we accumulate constantly, but never really connect. We surround ourselves with people who only confirm what we think, but never challenge it. Sade, in his most hypocritical moment, yells at Justine: "Why must you reduce EVERYTHING to sex?" Yet the man had a new woman in his bed every night. Everyone was absolutely oblivious to their own sickness, deflecting their own transgressions and guilt onto those around them (“I’m not obsessed with sex, you are.” “You have problems, I am perfectly sane”.)

As the book progressed, the "tunnel of light" that someone might make it out of this shallow world alive looked more and more faint. It receded. But in a few short sentences, it is summed up finally. I noticed a lot of readers took this very literally. But it's supposed to be a parody. A lot of it borders on a joke. But these people do exist in the world.

The book, in the sense that it understands YUPPIE culture, and the world of excess, is brilliant. It is confronting, bleak. But it holds a mirror up to society, particularly modern, wealthy Australian society, cracks and all. Do we dare to look?

[Missk90 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall Rating: 3 STARS ⭐⭐⭐

Format: Paperback.

Brief Synopsis...
Justine is a 20-something university student in inner-city Sydney, head over heels for an abusive, narcissistic yet oddly intoxicating man, Sade. Her adoration for him borders on obsessive and she is drawn into his sex-addicted, depraved world of sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Taunted by Sade's penchant for openly sleeping with other women, and trapped in a toxic relationship devoid of love or respect, Justine seeks to destroy Sade like he has done to her, as she spirals into a black hole of addiction and degrading sexual encounters.

-------------------------------

My Thoughts...
This book is often described as pornographic, and yes, there is a ton of graphic sex in this book. Even though I am not a fan of short stories, I wish this book had been published as one, with it ending at the finalisation of the first part in which it details Justine and Sade's relationship. I totally devoured their toxic relationship and loved Ettler's character descriptions and narration. The sexual tension between Justine and Sade was brilliant, as was her spiral into obsession, leading her to stalk him and experience all the emotions relating to his 'cheating'.

The latter parts of this book were a total madness; hallucinations, casual sex, swinging, drug-taking and physical/sexual abuse. It was dizzying trying to keep track of the sexual pairings and the characters brought in along the way were far less interesting and weren't as fully fleshed as Justine and Sade.

Supposedly this novel is meant to be viewed as a social commentary, with references to Shakespeare and the Marquis de Sade. Whilst I appreciate the historic literary component, I somehow doubt that Sydney university students in the 90s were this wild. This book made my head spin, and I am not at all a prude.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those things I just kept reading despite not being entirely sure of what I was feeling or thinking. A perfect holiday read.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story about nothing, but I managed to laugh out loud a few times! Not recommended if your at all prudish....