A Private Man

by Malcolm Knox

It is two days since Dr John Brand's death and his eldest son, Davis, suspects a cover-up. 'Survived by two sons', the death notice said. 'Peacefully.' But someone has lied: there are three sons, and the circumstances of their father's death are murky. Still, the Sydney Test Match is on and Davis's famous brother Chris is batting to save his career while their mother Margaret watches the broadcast from her armchair. Hammett, the unacknowledged third brother, lurks on the edges, banished but not forgotten. Scattered over Sydney, the Brand's lives u and John Brand's funeral u are put on hold for the duration of the game: five days of suspense, silences, revelations, recriminations and redemption.

Genres: Fiction

385 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Malcolm Knox was born in 1966. He grew up in Sydney and studied in Sydney and Scotland, where his one-act play, POLEMARCHUS, was performed in St Andrews and Edinburgh. He has worked for the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD since 1994 and his journalism has been published in Australia, Britain, India and the West Indies.

His first novel Summerland was published to great acclaim in the UK, US, Australia and Europe in 2000. In 2001 Malcolm was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Australian novelists. He lives in Sydney with his wife Wenona, son Callum and daughter Lilian. His most recent novel, A Private Man, was critically acclaimed and was shortlisted for the Commomwealth Prize and the Tasmanian Premier’s Award.

Reviews

[Hae-Lyun Kang · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Private Man is very much an interior novel with the male characters as composites of the author himself with Hammett possibly a spin off of his actual son. Family members are on the introverted side who are NOT upfront and non confrontational. There is quite a bit of focus and detail on the minute of domestic life that could have been edited back. This is very much a blokey, macho and yobbo world for behind the scenes of the cricket world. However Malcolm Knox has managed to turn writing about cricket into an art form. What was lacking personally as a reader was how the female characters are so passive and sidelined so much to the point of being peripheral almost a passing thought. Kittering character is objectified. The sudden jump to Davis not being a couple with spouse Lucy is too abrupt. There is mo substantial lead up to this which is unconvincing and not explored enough in depth. Female characters are very much a passing thought and brushed aside too readily. There needs to be more forceful tornado like strong opinionated women like a Bing Wu who dominated a lunch party for 3 hrs straight to have the author sorted out for any future novels. Headstrong women don’t feature in this book at all which turned out to be the drawback to this book in the end. Too convenient and too much of a cop out and a white wash to say that Lucy was being adulterous to instigate break between the two with Davis. Also choice of names could do with better conventional use for future consideration. There were parts of solid writing with wordsmith maestro ways that Malcolm Knox is capable of however the focus on the male world got too testosterone filled in the end. In a way this book could rate as a 2 and 3 quarters actually. But star rating won’t allow and personally will not let Mr Knox get credit so he can be riled over and spurred to try harder and better for next and not so insipid novel. It was a stop and start novel at start in parts and some parts a tedious drag for reading in others. The femal voice definitely needs to be a lot more active like a Bing Wu dominanting a lunch party for 3 hrs straight of which partner disagrees. This book was written before the Japanese porno film Wet Wiman In The Wind came out which partner is keen to see for obvious reasons. So Mr Knox can go down the rabbit hole with manga porn at Comic Con as a tubby Spider-Man for his next jaunt of novelisation.

[DJ Sandals · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't make it past the second chapter unfortunately - just not a fan of the writing style, I found it took way too much time describing the scenery and environments with this arrogant undertone that I found quite annoying and hard to push through

[Andrew Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tortured family at first unwilling to confront the hidden and challenging while a cricket match unfolds in the background.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tawdry cover is a bit offputting. This is not great literature, but it IS a gripping read. Sport meets detective story meets family drama with a dark sexual overtone. The ending a bit pat and unsatisfactory. But if you want a fairly medium-brow gripping read, I'd recommend it.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over-rated, unrelatable, predicatable, preposterous

[Ros · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting narrative of the lies we tell or the cover-ups we allow because we think others won't cope with the truth.