The Life to Come

LoveReading Says

Set across Sydney, Paris and Colombo, this masterful novel explores self-deception and the construction of public personas with scathing brilliance. While the incisively and honestly drawn characters are largely unlikable, their stories are compelling. Their flaws are artfully portrayed, and hold a mirror to many middle class conceits with razor sharp cunning.

This is no conventional contemporary novel in which characters journey down an obvious narrative path, battling obvious obstacles along the way. Rather, it takes in the inner and outer lives of three protagonists, each of whom, in differing ways, are beset by self-delusions. They are connected via Pippa, a writer desperate for success and adulation.

She tweets lies about damning reviews from her readers, spinning unfettered criticism into pseudo-self-effacing gold. There are many astute, amusing observations on personal motivation, and the façades we wear to manipulate how we’re perceived by friends, lovers, the world at large. As one character remarks, people have always “presented selective aspects of themselves”, and this novel demonstrates just that with incredible flair.

There’s much self-conscious posturing, but little self-awareness, and the portrayal of middle class desperation to appear effortlessly liberal is excruciatingly spot-on. Deeply nuanced, and highly readable, this is an exhilarating breath of fresh air.    ~ Joanne Owen

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen’s lifelong love of reading and writing began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, and very much wished that witches (and Mrs Pepperpot) were real.
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About The Life to Come

Winner of the Miles Franklin Award, 2018 Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, 2018 New Statesman's best books of the year, 2018 Michelle de Kretser's fifth novel is both a delicious satire on the way we live now and a deeply moving examination of the true nature of friendship. Pippa is a writer who longs for success. C�leste tries to convince herself that her feelings for her married lover are reciprocated.

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