Loaded
July 17th 2006 04:27
Loaded is the debut novel from Greek-Australian author Christos Tsiolkas. It follows 24 hours in the life of Ari - a young man in the middle of a very arresting identity crisis - and we see it all from within his point of view, following his stream of consciousness and his misadventures in multicultural Melbourne. If I was to use one word to describe this book I would use the word 'confronting'.
Ari is - for the most part - gay. He is unemployed, an Australian of Greek background, a drug user, sexually promiscuous and very nihilistic. He doesn't know where he is heading and believes only in music, sex and drugs. He mainly sleeps with men, but he doesn't feel like he's gay. He feels like he fits in with neither the Greeks or the Australians. He doesn't know who he is, he doesn't fit in with society's neat labels and definitions, his world is falling apart around him because his crisis is spinning him towards a melt down.
It's a very angry book, semi-authobiographical and you can feel the frustration burn through the prose. It's a frustration that can be pegged directly on society and it's need to label everything. A lot of the book is spent on the way a label can define who someone is, and how Ari attempts to escape this.
Here's a really cool passage that made an impression on me when I first read this book years ago...
"The Polytechnic is history. Vietnam is history. Auschwitz is history. Hippies are history. Punks are history. God is history. Hollywood is history. The Soviet Union is history. My parents are history. My friend Joe is becoming history. I will become history. This fucking shithole planet will become history. Take more drugs"
It's kind of like the antithesis, or maybe just a companion piece, of the Choose Life rant from Trainspotting.
I think this book fits neatly in with that wave of nihilistic, pro-marginalised literature (eg. Palahniuk, Welsh), like the Australian contingent or something. Tsiolkas breaks up his narrative in little easily digestible pieces - which is just as well, because a lot of what he has to say ISN'T easily digestible and the book probably needs all the help it can get in promoting it's possibly anti-social messages. That's not to detract from the book's importance... what Tsiolkas does have to say is very valid - you might not want to hear it, but I think a lot of what he says needed to be said. He doesn't shy away from the dark side of multiculturalism and how deeply entrenched racism is in our culture, nor is he unafraid to throw a harsh and unflinching light on homosexuality and the hidden lifestyles of those who have been marginalised by both their ethnicity AND their sexuality (like our 'hero', Ari).
Loaded was made into a surprisingly faithful film, 'Head On', starring Alex Dimitriades as Ari. It's not as graphic (by neccessity, so as to avoid censorship) but it's pretty spot on and confronting nonetheless.
Good book. Uncompromising and interesting, and a memorable read.
Ari is - for the most part - gay. He is unemployed, an Australian of Greek background, a drug user, sexually promiscuous and very nihilistic. He doesn't know where he is heading and believes only in music, sex and drugs. He mainly sleeps with men, but he doesn't feel like he's gay. He feels like he fits in with neither the Greeks or the Australians. He doesn't know who he is, he doesn't fit in with society's neat labels and definitions, his world is falling apart around him because his crisis is spinning him towards a melt down.
Head On, the film version of Loaded
It's a very angry book, semi-authobiographical and you can feel the frustration burn through the prose. It's a frustration that can be pegged directly on society and it's need to label everything. A lot of the book is spent on the way a label can define who someone is, and how Ari attempts to escape this.
Here's a really cool passage that made an impression on me when I first read this book years ago...
"The Polytechnic is history. Vietnam is history. Auschwitz is history. Hippies are history. Punks are history. God is history. Hollywood is history. The Soviet Union is history. My parents are history. My friend Joe is becoming history. I will become history. This fucking shithole planet will become history. Take more drugs"
It's kind of like the antithesis, or maybe just a companion piece, of the Choose Life rant from Trainspotting.
I think this book fits neatly in with that wave of nihilistic, pro-marginalised literature (eg. Palahniuk, Welsh), like the Australian contingent or something. Tsiolkas breaks up his narrative in little easily digestible pieces - which is just as well, because a lot of what he has to say ISN'T easily digestible and the book probably needs all the help it can get in promoting it's possibly anti-social messages. That's not to detract from the book's importance... what Tsiolkas does have to say is very valid - you might not want to hear it, but I think a lot of what he says needed to be said. He doesn't shy away from the dark side of multiculturalism and how deeply entrenched racism is in our culture, nor is he unafraid to throw a harsh and unflinching light on homosexuality and the hidden lifestyles of those who have been marginalised by both their ethnicity AND their sexuality (like our 'hero', Ari).
Loaded was made into a surprisingly faithful film, 'Head On', starring Alex Dimitriades as Ari. It's not as graphic (by neccessity, so as to avoid censorship) but it's pretty spot on and confronting nonetheless.
Good book. Uncompromising and interesting, and a memorable read.
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