Plum

by Brendan Cowell

The wildly impressive, raucously funny and deeply moving second novel from award-winning writer, actor and director for television, theatre and film, Brendan Cowell, confirming the talent he showed in his bestselling debut novel from 2010, How It Feels. Peter 'The Plum' Lum is a 49-year-old ex-star NRL player, living with his son and girlfriend in Cronulla. He's living a pretty cruisey life until one day he suffers an epileptic fit and discovers that he has a brain disorder as a result of the thousand-odd head knocks he took on the footy field in his twenty-year-career. According to his neurologist, Plum has to make some changes - right now - or it's dementia, or even death.

Reluctantly, Plum embarks on a journey of self-care and self-discovery, which is not so easy when all you've ever known is to go full tilt at everything. On top of this, he's being haunted by dead poets, and, unable to stop crying, discovers he has a special gift for the spoken word. With spectral visits from Bukowski and Plath, the friendship of local misfits, and the prospect of new love, Plum might just save his own life.

From award-winning writer, director and actor, Brendan Cowell, Plum is a powerfully moving, authentic, big-hearted, angry and joyous novel of men, their inarticulate pain and what it takes for them to save themselves - from themselves. It's got a roaring energy, a raucous humour, a heart of gold and a poetic soul.

'Exploring masculinity and the healing power of language with great humour, grace and whimsy, Plum is a bighearted, raw and joyous take on what it means to be a man in modern Australia.' Sunday Times

'The audacious inclusion of literary outlaws ... the muscular viscerality of his language ... [Plum is] a Shire pastoral that yearns for a nostalgia fantasy of The Golden Days ... I wonder whether Plath was inspired by the great Peter Lum. Or if Whitman wrote Leaves of Grass observing a spear of summer grass while sitting in Shark Park one lonely Sunday afternoon.' Sydney Morning Herald

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Book Club

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2021

Reviews

[Kirstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloody brilliant! Listened to this on audible and Brendan Cowell narrates the book himself. Finished this in 3 days - loved every poetic word. Made me laugh and cry. Can’t recommend highly enough.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Curious experiment in wish fulfilment and a sort of attempt at magical realism without committing. Plum never learns anything about himself and just runs away from all his problems continually and very irritatingly, and yet he ends up solving most of his problems with multiple deus ex machinas.

His imaginary friends don't make much sense in any context, since he doesn't know who any of them are and didn't seem to have any background of white dude lit reading. And his real(?) friends who he meets by chance are all suffering from various ailments that make Plum's life better, eg being a billionaire and being a paraplegic.

[Lee at ReadWriteWish · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the NRL season wrapped up last night, I thought it was apt that I also finished reading Cowell’s Plum.

Peter ‘Plum’ Lum, a 49 year old ex NRL and NSW origin player, has an epileptic fit whilst working. The episode is obviously a direct result of the numerous hits to the head and concussions he suffered throughout his playing career which is not helped by his constant dalliances with booze and drugs. We then follow Plum’s journey of self discovery and poetry.

Yes, poetry. Peter, an elite player in undoubtedly the toughest high impact sport in the world, discovers a love for poetry in an attempt to understand his emotional probems and come through the other side to redemption. This odd choice of a hobby for Peter adds another layer of depth to Cowell’s novel, luckily without becoming in any way pretentious.

Actually, despite his fame due to his footy career, Peter is the epitome of a little Aussie battler. Cowell’s use of typical everyday Aussie language in his dialogue made me connect further with the characters even though, also in typical Aussie fashion, they all, at some point, stuff up monumentally.

Given the NRL’s stance on concussions this year and the number of players who have recently retired due to sustaining too many head knocks, Plum focuses on a very topical subject. I enjoyed the fact that Cowell never bagged the game though; in fact his love for the game shines through and he shows that there’s a lot of other sports where champions are facing health crises, not just footy.

As a diehard passionate fan, I understood all the rugby league references throughout the book but I’m not so sure readers from anywhere bar Queensland and New South Wales will pick up on everything. I don’t think this will stop you from enjoying the book though -- Plum’s issues are relatable and representative of modern society in general.

Although the book is very funny, it’s also very sad and touching. There’s a plethora of themes including men’s health and suicide, ableism, sexism, parental neglect and abuse, date rape and addiction (alcohol, drugs and gambling).

Plum was a perfect way to finish the footy season - 5 out of 5

[Robyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the sort of novel where you wish you could be reimbursed for the time spent reading it. The idiom is excruciating and turns all the characters into 1950s “Aussie” caricatures. The female characters fall into two sub-types damned whores or God’s police. And of course we have to be regaled by how good each females characters’ tits are. Men are not this stupid or ugly. So what is the message about rugby?
Sexual assault, misogyny and violence is excusable depending on the level of participation of the character. It full of such memorable lines like, “I want you to know that there are two “ws” things I don’t mess with. One’s mate’s wallets, and the other’s a mates woman” FFS ! So rugby is all about these values? Demeaning and belittling women and the reader is supposed to find some sympathy with any of these characters? The prose is weak and the lack of any meaningful plot leaves the reader dependent on a bunch of ugly Neanderthals to derive some interest. I only wished Plum’s final resolution had taken place on 17.
A good opportunity to present a serious topic of sport trauma brain injury in a meaningful way.

[A.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard Brendan speak on the First time podcast

[https://thefirsttimepodcast.com/2021/...

And then, BONUS, the library had a copy.

The main character Peter Lum, known to all as Plum, is a famous League player, a legend in his own area, who is 49 and hitting the realisation that he is getting old. His son Gavin has inherited his talent and could play for one of the big clubs if he wanted to. He idolises his famous dad.

But all is not well...

Plum has an epileptic fit at work; a lifetime of head knocks leaving his brain scarred and malfunctioning. Being a typical 'hard man' Plum desperately tries to keep it all secret as his life starts to unravel. It's impossible to keep secrets when every bugger has a phone with a camera and your face is famous.

888

I enjoyed reading it. But it was just so Australian, I am not sure how it will go with foreign readers. There's a lot I fear they won't understand.

I hit one part, and just put the book down and walked away; it was too much for me.

[My father was a Plum of Australian hockey and we were all expected to play, but he NEVER came to any of our games, never supported us, and never told us he was proud of our efforts.

So when Peter walked out on his son's game, it just HURT to read.]

I am not so sure about the visions of literary figures; it almost felt like a joke at Plum's expense. He had no idea who they were, even if some gave good advice. I guess Sylvia Plath was experienced in addiction recovery, right?

4 bonza stars mate

[Sinèad Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Head knock is a heart knock” - I really enjoyed this book. Brendan Cowell writes so beautifully. This novel addresses so many real and devastating realities about society, love, family, friends, trauma, expectations and life as we know it.

I’ve read some comments complaining that ‘men and women in Australia aren’t like this anymore’, or that ‘Plum never learns’… I respectfully disagree. What a privileged life those readers must lead if they think this story is anything but real. These social and cultural issues are what we still face head on here in Australia (around the world to be honest).

Plum is original and a breath of fresh air…. Great to read a book that’s different. A powerfully moving, tragic and genuine book.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful portrait of an unlikely hero. Cowell gives Plum such depth and warmth without shirking the sh*t bits. This book, with ALL it's very Australian characters, will stay with me for a long time. Opened my heart and my mind.

[Reannon Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant, it’s unexpected & it is a must read. If you can, listen to the audiobook, in which Brendan Cowell brings Plum to glorious life. Brendan is by far, one of the best narrators, if not THE best, I’ve ever listened to. This story has a touch of the Trent Dalton to it & that is never a bad thing. I don’t think I’ve ever read a character quite like Peter Lum. He’s a character I’m sad to not be able to spend any more time. And the ending…..no words. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another terrific book to start 2022 (4.5 stars). Brendan Cowell wrote and read (audio book) this wonderful Aussie novel. I would've missed a lot, I feel, if I'd read rather than listened. Big themes, big characters. My only (mild) complaint was the choice of poets from the US - some insightful characters from Plum's suburban milieu would've been more convincing.

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the author narrate this absolutely fabulous story. Beautiful observations of life in Sydney, Australia and wryly written characters felt true and the story made me laugh out loud. I loved this story!

[Kris McCracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed "Plum", and not in a polite, bookish way. I mean I tore through it, laughed, winced, and felt properly pissed off that it’s taken this long for a novel to grab sport’s concussion crisis by the collar and shove it into the centre of the room.

This book drags concussion out of the too-hard basket and slams it on the table, where it sits there daring you to look away. No euphemisms. No duty-of-care waffle. Just the slow, grinding reality of what happens when a sporting culture is built on the idea that being able to take a punch is a virtue. I was a good, ordinary footy player. My value was tackling, bumping, getting in the way. Same deal when I boxed. If your main talent is absorbing damage, you learn very quickly how thin the romance is. Cowell doesn’t romanticise a thing.

What caught me off guard is the tenderness. For a writer who clearly enjoys a swinging-arm metaphor, Cowell handles the emotional fallout of brain trauma with real care. Not just the medical deterioration, but the panic, the grief, the humiliation of not trusting your own head. The novel lives inside Plum’s foggy, boozy, concussed consciousness, and I felt every headache, every lapse, every moment where the lights flicker and don’t quite come back.

Plum’s internal monologue works. Funny, raw, self-loathing, self-searching, often all at once. Cowell gets how blokes like this think, or refuse to think, and how humour becomes the last defence against feelings you don’t have the language for. The supporting characters feel painfully real too. Broken bodies, broken dreams, the odd broken TAB account. Nobody here is aspirational. They’re just hanging on.

The Cronulla setting is thick with sweat and habit. Sometimes it flexes a bit too much, like the book’s proving its Shire credentials, but mostly it works. This place breathes. It remembers everything.

I loved the way Cowell demolishes the footy players don’t read books bullshit by making Plum a poet-in-progress. It’s cheeky, risky, and it mostly works. The link between sport and art has a feral plausibility here. You believe Plum could read Bukowski and belt someone in a tackle drill without seeing the contradiction. The ghostly cameos from dead poets act as a shortcut into Plum’s subconscious, letting Cowell dig around without forcing introspection on a bloke who’d rather skull a Tooheys than examine a feeling.

That said, the cameo parade flirts with gimmickry. An author’s allowed their fun, but it sometimes feels like Cowell yelling "LOOK, I READ BOOKS TOO". I kept thinking one apparition, worried properly, might have been sharper. Still, I admire the audacity, and I kind of love that it works more often than it should, even when the book tips into full Cronulla fever dream and briefly convinces me Sylvia Plath would barrack for the Sharks.

Where the novel stumbles is when violence-as-identity starts crowding out quieter emotional beats. The message can get heavy-handed, almost sermon-lite, and the hyper-masculine meat-and-potatoes world occasionally thickens into caricature. I’m also less impressed with how minority characters function. Too often they feel like narrative maintenance rather than people, there to validate Plum’s manhood instead of complicating it. That’s a real blind spot.

Still, I respect the hell out of this book. It punches through the wall between sport and literature and yells EVERYONE GET IN HERE. It’s messy, sweaty, chaotic, and smarter than it pretends to be. Like a front-rower who secretly writes haiku and dares you to laugh.

It’s not perfect. But it’s alive. It gives voice to something literary fiction usually sanitises or avoids altogether. Cowell has a proper crack at the big bloke questions. What it means to be a man. A father. A former weapon with a failing brain. Sometimes he lands the punch. Sometimes he swings himself off balance. Either way, he doesn’t look away.

Four stars. Because it hits harder and with more purpose than most novels trying to be “about something”, and because it refuses to pretend that taking damage is character-building rather than corrosive.

[Chloe Calleja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book that has left me in shock. The poetry was so good. The emotions I felt and the way the author shows the male mind and thought patterns, especially with childhood trauma and sports. This was a stunning piece of literature

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable book, with lots of humour and warmth. A great account of Aussie male culture, particularly the world of rugby league and the devastating effects of concussion.
It did seem to lose pace in the middle = a bit of sameness about Plum’s attempts at redemption coming apart through either his own poor decision making or external factors.
But .the array of characters is always entertaining and the storyline is clever and often heartwarming.

[David Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd read "How it Feels" a decade ago and thought the premise of this book sounded promising. It's an impressive read, haunting and memorable in equal measure. I can't imagine this IP won't be snapped up for a film or TV adaptation. It's relevant, well composed and I'll probably be thinking about it for weeks. I was concerned that the addition of characters like Bukowski and Plath wouldn't gel with the narrative, but like a mosaic it all works with the bigger picture.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving book with an endearing character, written in easy, rolling and relentlessly Australian prose. Cowell has a distinct lyricism to the way he writes. Plum's earnest and unashamedly sentimental and has something to say about working through turning points, and moments of adversity and reckoning. Definitely should be read by league fans.

[Justine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really sure what to say about this book. Didn’t really like the characters and the narrative was a bit of a mess. (Why the poets?? I don’t think Peter Lum would have any knowledge of them, so why choose them?) But having grown up with league and knowing the setting (to a limited extent) made it interesting.

[Daisy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it dealt with worlds I don’t interact with in a way that made me love them and discussed masculinity with vulnerability and awareness. I loved the elements of magic realism that I usually can’t interact with too easily, but Cowell made it meaningful

[Jessica Morel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Lum is an NRL legend, one of the greats, one of the lucky ones who got to hang out with his best mates, play some footy and get paid for it. The footy days are over but the boys are still around. The coxless four, they live life hard; beers, bumps and bets. Everyone still adores him but Lum is 49, his body isn't what it used to be. Things are getting harder to remember, harder to deal with. Lum's life starts coming apart at the seams. All that hard living, all those head knocks, there might be repercussions for those...

Plum is a novel about a man who has a scare, and as a result strips himself down and faces who he really is, and bloody hell it's so fucking great!
@brendanbcowell is a national treasure. He writes the Aussie male so well, I could almost taste the Tooheys New!

They're currently making this one onto a mini series on @abctv so make sure you read it first!

Cover design by Darren Holt

[James Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first dip into fiction books. The more I read the more I loved it. I grew to love Plum warts and all and was rooting for his happiness more than anything. Devastated at the ending but that’s fiction books apparently.

[Stella Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely poetic and lyrical for its premise. Ripper reflection on a topic that deserves more attention.

[Aretha K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining, at times moving, and quintessentially Australian.

[Samantha Oswald-Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I AM IN DIRE NEED OF A 5 STAR BOOK I AM IN SUCH A SLUMP SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE

[Natalie Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me about a third of the way into this book to realise what a gem it is. It offers a rare glimpse into the world of men, footy blokes, in all their vulgar and vulnerable states. I found it insightful and confronting at times, it certainly challenged my own assumptions. It was tender and passionate and overall I reckon I'm going to miss Peter Lum - The Plum. Well done, Brendan Cowell. We need more books like this to normalise the culture of different groups of men, to understand what drives them and their also complex emotions.

[Beverley Streater · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw the TV adaptation a couple of years ago and loved it. Then a friend gave me the book and I wondered if I'd like it as much. The beginning disappointed, but I persevered and so pleased I did as it took flight into a decent read. Unashamedly Aussie and rightly so. I'm married to a former league player and can vouch for the representation of the footy culture. Since Plum was published, we have seen more open conversations about CTE. This is good. League now attends to head high tackles. But the game is still tough!

[Sarah Nicoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 🌟

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the aussieness, the football/sport, the changes and challenges of late 40's/50's.
Plum, Peter, was likeable and felt genuine.

Maybe not for everyone, but yeah, no, I liked it.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Unfortunately I struggled with this book and I was looking forward to reading it so much!
Set in the Sutherland Shire NSW, the vernacular was purely Australian, an ex Rugby League player, Australian bloke and local language that only a Aussie would understand. I don't know how the story would sell to a bigger audience without including a thesaurus on all things Australian.
Being Australian, I can safely say we tend to abbreviate words a lot, and at times I felt the slang was over done to the point where the story just didn't hold my interest.
One would need an understanding of rugby league and issues surrounding concussion years after players retire. One would also need to know of the pub culture here where people spend hours, punting and watching a game, it's a favourite past time.
It all made perfect sense to me, however I just wasn't rapt in the story. I didn't like Plum, the protagonist, and struggled with him for the 3/4 of the book, which is where I stopped.
2.5 stars. I might add though, I'm a fan of Brendan Cowell and appreciate his passion for the Shire and all things Cronulla.

[Kris Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This Sporting Life", "The Final Winter". "The 2005 NRL Season Annual". These are all sacred texts of rugby league and 2021 sees a major work join this canon: Brendan Cowell's "Plum"
Simply put, "Plum" is a must read.
The book chronicles the shifting reality facing retired NRL star, Peter Lum, as he faces a multiplicity of challenges - staying relevant, staying loved by his family, staying alive. And as one might expect, his best way through the maze reveals itself to be poetry. It's so rugby league.
Men of a certain age will marvel at how Brendan has read their minds. Everyone will marvel at the emotions that Brendan makes them feel.
Ultimately, the novel's greatest triumph is that you'll find yourself getting around someone who played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.
That, alone, got me Fired Up!

[Brooke Alice (brookes.bookstagram) · Rating 2 out of 5]

TW: sexual abuse, traumatic brain injury, assaults, family violence.

I don't know what it was about this book, but I just really struggled from the get go. I was hoping that things would pick up as I am fascinated by ABI/TBI's, especially when interconnected with injuries, including sports, but this just fell so flat and many characters just made me feel uncomfortable.

Maybe the characters were "too blokey" for me and I just couldn't relate, but I struggled to make a connection with any characters. It just sounded like an older man complaining that he had lost everything in some "middle aged crisis" struggling to make connections with his teenage son and mates. The banter between his mates made me uncomfortable and it just made the experience unenjoyable.

Don't really have much more to offer on this one unfortunately, glad I got it from the library and didn't pay?

[Jay Dwight · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

An entertaining read, Brendan Cowell shows he's more than an actor. Plenty of funny moments in this story of an ex-NRL superstar starting to suffer from seizures, memory loss and hallucinations that have their origin from the head knocks received during his football career.

Peter "Plum" Lum and his typically male trait of keeping his problems to himself begins to alienate family and friends, and eventually has to rediscover and save himself. This amusingly comes through a discovery of poetry. A story packed with many emotive elements and Plum evolves into a more rounded human.

[Sharon J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plum by Brendan Cowell is a very down to earth Aussie novel. The story of Peter (Plum) Lum, a retired NRL star player, who is suffering from the consequences of many concussions and faces challenges in changing life around or face the ultimate consequence. Told with all the full force of the Aussie language and expressions which is raucous, rude, funny and often crude, it also incorporates poetry that P Lum creates as he explores his path to self-recovery.
A very real feeling story that comes alive and while entertaining it is also full of sadness and heart ache.
Highly recommended read.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia Publishers for a copy to read and review.