In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Ben and his sidekick, Mikey, work the Target Ball stand in a ramshackle carnival travelling up the east coast. Ben is trying to put his time in the army behind him and make some money. Mikey—AKA Mekong Delta, Fremantle's answer to Fifty Cent—wants to work on his flow and impress girls.
Their marks are the boozed-up blokes wandering sideshow alley in the hope of winning fluffy toys for their girlfriends. Easy pickings—so long as Mikey keeps his big mouth shut. Especially since his tendency to start fights jeopardises Ben's lucrative meth-dealing operation…
Inventive, profane and hilarious, The Glass Kingdom is a breakneck tour of rural Australia's underbelly from the acclaimed author of A Tiger in Eden.
Original and very funny
The Glass Kingdom is the second novel by Irish-born author, Chris Flynn. Working the Target Ball stand in the Kingdom travelling carnival are Mikey and Ben. Mikey fancies himself a hip-hop artist, but until he makes it big, he’s trying to pull the punters with his patter, working on his flow when things are quiet. Ben handles the tweakers, who, after handing over $50 and a cursory throw at the target, are guaranteed a special prize: a fluffy blue koala. And he cools things down when Mikey’s big mouth incites the boozed-up blokes wandering side-show alley. Attracting the wrong sort of attention would jeopardise his crystal meth dealing operation. The story is divided into four sections and Flynn employs three narrators: Ben gives the reader the unique perspective of a man whose unusual childhood and army career have left him damaged, both physically and psychologically, a man who is completely unrepentant about meth dealing and quick to resort to violence when he deems it necessary; Huw aka Voltan, Master of Electricity, is an old carny who, despite memory problems, is able to provide the reader with some background on Ben’s past; Mikey, eternally optimistic, is not stupid, but makes several impulsive decisions that comprehensively tie him into Ben’s service. Mikey’s narration style, a sort of gangsta-speak, can at first seem irritating, but eventually the content (his naiveté, his ideas for reality TV, his notion of fair play and his delusions) will have the reader laughing out loud. Ben’s matter-of-fact commentary will occasionally leave the reader shaking the head as it highlights the contradictions in attitude to various aspects of life that he and girlfriend Steph share. Flynn explores several topical themes: the psychological effects of modern warfare on military personnel; the reliance on medication to treat mental illness; the manufacture and distribution of illicit drugs; the popularity of reality TV. While the use of the f-word is quite liberal, Huw muses that, in the Kingdom “the vernacular tended towards sentences being lavishly, and I had to admit in some cases quite creatively, peppered with expletives by all and sundry” thus giving the narratives authenticity. Flynn once again offers the reader an imaginative plot, interesting characters, plenty of humour (some of it very black), some hip-hop verse and a shock ending that is impossible to anticipate. Original and very funny.
Marianne, 13/10/2014
