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WORK TITLE: Clancy of the Undertow
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: c. 1983
WEBSITE: https://furioushorses.com/
CITY: Brisbane
STATE: QL
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY: Australian
https://furioushorses.com/about/ * https://www.textpublishing.com.au/authors/christophercurrie
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2013023600
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2013023600
HEADING: Currie, Christopher, 1981-
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100 1_ |a Currie, Christopher, |d 1981-
378 __ |q Christopher Mark
670 __ |a The Ottoman Motel, 2013: |b t.p. (Christopher Currie)
670 __ |a Email from author |b (Christopher Mark Currie, b. 11 Oct. 1981)
PERSONAL
Born October 11, 1981; married Leesa Wockner; children: one.
EDUCATION:Queensland Institute of Technology, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Avid Reader Bookshop, Brisbane, Australia, bookseller and social media manager.
AWARDS:Residency at Varuna, Writers House, 2013.
WRITINGS
Short fiction published in anthologies and periodicals.
SIDELIGHTS
Christopher Currie is author of the novels The Ottoman Motel and Clancy of the Undertow, with the latter aimed at a young-adult audience. “I’ve always enjoyed writing, but never gave it serious thought as a vocation until I left school,” he told an online interviewer at Angel Reads. “I completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Creative Writing at Queensland Institute of Technology … and have been plugging away ever since. My parents are both big readers, and they instilled in me the same love.”
The Ottoman Motel
The Ottoman Motel is written for an adult audience but features a child protagonist. Simon Sawyer, age eleven, is staying with his mother and father at the titular motel in the Australian seaside town of Reception, where the family members plan to visit his grandmother. Simon’s parents leave him alone for a while to go sightseeing, and he falls asleep during their absence. When he awakes hours later, his mother and father have not returned. Simon is a shy and awkward boy, an only child given to daydreaming, but he is nonetheless determined to find his parents. He receives shelter and help from Ned Gale, the widowed owner of a nearby bed-and-breakfast, along with Ned’s two children and an orphan boy named Pony, also taken in by Ned. There is something sinister about the town, and many of its inhabitants seem to harbor secrets, including a local police officer, Madaline.
The Ottoman Motel originated with an idea Currie had jotted down years earlier, involving a young boy on a tedious trip with his parents, sitting in a food court along the way, he explained in an online essay at Readings. The boy was the basis for Simon, he wrote. As for the setting and plot, Currie noted: “I had been long obsessed by the way small tourist towns close down during winter, and the idea of this type of town as a modern-day ghost town intrigued me. The best way to explore the town was always going to be a disappearance. Having Simon disappear was too easy, and too predictable. What about his parents going missing? Once I had Simon stuck alone in this strange town, the story really started taking shape.” In the novel, Currie told Crikey blogger Angela Meyer, Simon “makes his premature journey from childhood imagination into the ‘real’ adult world.” He continued: “This fulcrum between reality and mystery is something I really wanted to explore. While Reception may feel like something out of The Twilight Zone to some readers, The Ottoman Motel is very much a classic mystery story transplanted into the actual world.”
Several reviewers deemed it a compelling and well-crafted tale. “The mystery underpinning this is intriguing and fascinating,” related Sara Garland at a Web site called Nudge. “The pace is comfortable and engaging, easily read with some beautifully descriptive sentences.” Currie, remarked Sydney Morning Herald critic Cameron Woodhead, “creates a brilliant atmosphere, layering superficial small-town charm over dangerous paranoia and criminal depravity.” An online commentator at Fair Dinkum Crime concluded: “I thought this a solid debut novel and will be keen to read more from its young author.”
Clancy of the Undertow
Clancy, the first-person narrator of Clancy of the Undertow, is a sixteen-year-old girl living in a nondescript small town, Barwen, in the Australian state of Queensland, with her parents and two brothers. The story is set in the summer before Clancy’s senior year in high school. She is intelligent and witty but socially awkward, and the townspeople consider her whole family rather odd. The family becomes the subject of outright hostility after Clancy’s father is involved in a traffic accident that kills two teenagers. Meanwhile, Clancy is nurturing a crush on a beautiful girl named Sasha. Sasha has a boyfriend, but Clancy makes some tentative attempts at getting close to her, with no success. More fruitful for Clancy is a friendship with a new girl in town, Nancy, who becomes Clancy’s confidant and is the catalyst for a lesson about bullying.
Currie intended to write more adult novels after The Ottoman Motel, but surprised himself and his publisher by producing a young-adult story instead; he was inspired to do so when he came up with the character of Clancy. “I have certainly always been drawn towards coming-of-age stories in my reading, and there’s something universally relatable about going through your teenage years,” Currie told Cassie Hamer in an online interview at Book Birdy. “Clancy’s voice is the thing I’m most proud of in this book, and I’ve certainly tapped into that confusing time in my life when I was figuring out not only who I was, but reconciling that with my perceptions of who everyone else thought I was.”
Clancy and her story are appealing and moving, according to several reviewers. “It’s tempting to praise Currie for his ‘bravery’ in writing a novel from a teenage girl’s perspective, especially one who is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality,” reported Meredith Jaffe in the U.K.’s Guardian. “He could easily have chosen a male protagonist. But Currie engages with Clancy with such warmth and empathy, it’s clear he has not forgotten what it is to be a teenager.” The novel, however, is not only for teens, Jaffe observed. “From the dialogue to narration, Clancy of the Undertow blends the excruciation, confusion and hope of being a teenager into a novel that will pull in readers of any age,” she explained. Susan Whelan, writing online at Kids’ Book Review, remarked that the tale “manages to be both the story of a small town girl’s search for identity amidst family chaos, and a story that represents a general teenage search for acceptance, purpose and identity.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor described the novel as “funny, gritty, absorbing, and occasionally depressing … an intriguing if occasionally melodramatic glimpse of a young Australian woman’s coming-of-age.” A blogger at Alpha Reader noted that “there’s real power and impact” in Clancy’s voice, then concluded: “Currie may not have consciously set out to write a YA novel — but I’m glad he found … Clancy, and I hope he comes back to this readership who will welcome any new words from him with open arms.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Guardian, April 8, 2011, Alison Flood, “Novelist Proposes to Girlfriend in Print;” December 2, 2015, Meredith Jaffe, review of Clancy of the Undertow.
Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2016, review of Clancy of the Undertow.
Sydney Morning Herald, April 19, 2011, Dan Nancarrow, “Novel Proposal Grabs Worldwide Attention;” June 4, 2011, Cameron Woodhead, review of The Ottoman Motel.
ONLINE
Alpha Reader, http://alphareader.blogspot.com/ (November 26, 2015), review of Clancy of the Undertow.
Angel Reads, http://angelreads.com/ (June 10, 2016). interview with Christopher Currie.
Australian Writer’s Marketplace, https://www.awmonline.com.au/ (January 9, 2017), T.J. Wilkshire, “Taking Five with Christopher Currie.”
Book Birdy, http://bookbirdy.com/ (November 27, 2015, Cassie Hamer, interview with Christopher Currie.
Christopher Currie Home Page, https://furioushorses.com (August 1, 2017).
Crikey, https://blogs.crikey.com.au/ (May 16, 2011), Angela Meyer, “Mystery, Strangeness and Coming-of-age: An Interview with Christopher Currie, Author of The Ottoman Motel.“
Fair Dinkum Crime, https://fairdinkumcrime.com/ September 6, 2011), review of The Ottoman Motel.
Goodreads, http://www.goodreads.com/ (August 1, 2017), brief biography.
Kids’ Book Review, http://www.kids-bookreview.com/ (February 26, 2016), Susan Whelan, review of Clancy of the Undertow.
Nudge, http://nudge-book.com/ (April 9, 2013), Sara Garland, review of The Ottoman Motel.
Readings, https://www.readings.com.au/ (May 2, 2011), “The Story of My Book: Christopher Currie on The Ottoman Motel.“
Text Publishing Web site, https://www.textpublishing.com.au/ (August 1, 2017), brief biography.*
ABOUT
This is the official blog of author, bookseller and slow-moving target Christopher Currie. Christopher is 33 years-old and is from Brisbane. His first book, The Ottoman Motel, was released by Text Publishing in May 2011. His second book, Clancy of The Undertow, will be released by Text Publishing on December 9, 2015.
Christopher Currie is a writer and bookseller from Brisbane, whose fiction has appeared in anthologies and journals internationally. His first book, a novel for adults called The Ottoman Motel, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and the Queensland Literary Awards in 2012. Clancy of the Undertow is his first novel for young adults.
I am a Brisbane-based writer, bookseller and blogger. My first YA novel, 'Clancy of the Undertow', will be in bookshops from November 16!
My first novel, 'The Ottoman Motel'was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and the Queensland Literary Awards in 2012.
I am a slow-moving target.
Novelist proposes to girlfriend in print
Christopher Currie includes personal cliffhanger in his new thriller by popping question in the acknowledgements
Christopher Currie
Christopher Currie talks about his new book on YouTube.
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Alison Flood
Friday 8 April 2011 07.55 EDT First published on Friday 8 April 2011 07.55 EDT
It's one way to ensure your debut novel starts life with a bang: 28-year-old author Christopher Currie included a marriage proposal in the acknowledgements of his upcoming new mystery The Ottoman Motel.
After variously thanking his publisher, his friends, his bosses and his local coffee shop "for letting me occupy a table and nurse one of your brilliant coffees for almost the entire rewriting process", Currie finally moved onto his girlfriend, Leesa Wockner. "If it's possible to fall more in love with someone every day, then that's what I do," the Brisbane-based author wrote.
"To my favourite, to the reason I live my life, Leesa Wockner, who, if she reads this, I hope will agree to marry me, despite the number of commas in this sentence."
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Happily for Currie, Wockner was able to overlook the commas and her answer was yes. He told Australian news site Crikey that he presented Wockner with the book while the pair were drinking champagne on a rooftop bar, and she saw the word "marry" straight away. "She said 'yes, of course I will', even before I got a chance to show her the ring (here's another thing: jewellers need to provide you with boxes with apparent hinges: I spent a good minute trying to get the box open under the table) and get down on one knee. I said, 'Are you sure?' which is another thing not to say when someone has agreed to marry you, but nonetheless it all worked out for the best," said the author.
He'd had to wait over a month, keeping the book well hidden from his girlfriend, before showing it to her, and admitted that he had been pretty nervous about what she might say. "A ring is one thing to hide, a book is quite another. And, I suppose, the really brave (or stupid) thing was knowing that my proposal would be in print forever, and I would look like a real idiot if it didn't come off. [But] now the most sublime moment in my life is preserved in the best way possible. Let's see you do that, ebooks!"
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Currie, 28, has previously published the novella Dearly Departed but The Ottoman Motel is his first novel. Due out on 2 May from Text Publishing, it tells the story of Simon, whose parents disappear from their hotel in the small town of Reception while he's sleeping. As a half-hearted police investigation begins, Simon realises he isn't sure whom in the town he can trust: as friendly as the inhabitants seem, no one really appears to be trying to find his parents. Text called it "not just an intriguing character-based mystery, but a moving study of fear and loss", and said Currie was "one of the brightest young novelists in Australia".
He's not the first writer to take the opportunity publication offers to propose, however. Two years ago, economist Peter Leeson asked his girlfriend to marry him on the dedication page of his new book The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. "I hope she says 'yes.' If she doesn't, I might have to turn to sea banditry, which would be tough since I don't know how to sail," Leeson wrote in his foreword. Fortunately for him, she did.
Quoted in Sidelights: I have certainly always been drawn towards coming-of-age stories in my reading, and there’s something universally relatable about going through your teenage years,”
“Clancy’s voice is the thing I’m most proud of in this book, and I’ve certainly tapped into that confusing time in my life when I was figuring out not only who I was, but reconciling that with my perceptions of who everyone else thought I was.”
Meet Christopher Currie, author of ‘Clancy of the Undertow’27/11/2015
Chris Currie HeadshotTeenagers are so hard to buy for. Right?
Well, I might just have solved at least one of your gift shopping issues for this Christmas.
‘Clancy of the Undertow’ is a brilliant piece of contemporary realist fiction (ie set in the here and now) which would be perfect for any girl (or nuanced boy) aged 15+. You can read more it in the reflection I wrote recently.
Clancy herself is the wise-cracking, make-up selling, non-white, contradictory-as-only-a-teen-can-be heroine of this book. But she was written by a 30+ year old white guy. A pretty special writer by the name of Christopher Currie, who already has one (adult) book under his belt (The Ottoman Motel) and kindly agreed to answer a few of my questions about his fabulous second book.
Is Clancy of the Undertow exactly the book you set out to write?
It actually is! I’m immensely proud of it, and especially proud of the characters I have created.
For me, the key to this book is Clancy’s voice. How did you get inside the mind of a 16 year old girl, who is yearning for all types of love?
I have certainly always been drawn towards coming-of-age stories in my reading, and there’s something universally relatable about going through your teenage years. Clancy’s voice is the thing I’m most proud of in this book, and I’ve certainly tapped into that confusing time in my life when I was figuring out not only who I was, but reconciling that with my perceptions of who everyone else thought I was. The first draft was written quite quickly, and I think this was instrumental in capturing that “lightning in a bottle” moment when you’re trying to inhabit a character’s headspace for an extended period of time.
clancy of the undertowNow – I know you’re talented, but I’m thinking you probably weren’t solely responsible for that gorgeous cover.
I am extremely lucky that my publisher (Text Publishing) has a blisteringly good in-house design team. My cover was designed by Imogen Stubbs, and the first time I saw it was when my editor emailed it to me! I remember I was waiting in line at the supermarket, checking my emails on my phone, when the image popped up. I definitely uttered an affirmative expletive and may have punched the air. As you can imagine, the other people in the line started to inch away from me.
In the first few pages, there’s a degree of delicious ambiguity about Clancy – to the point where I wasn’t sure if she was male or female. Similarly, there’s an undercurrent about her sexuality that only really surfaces mid-way through the book. Was this ambiguity intentional? To me, it speaks very much of the fluidity of being a teenager. Nothing is black and white….
It’s a funny thing trying to think about a character’s progression in a book you’ve written because of course I know who Clancy is from the very first page. There’s some ambiguity at the beginning, certainly, but you’re right in that Clancy doesn’t address her sexuality directly in her own voice until later in the book. The idea, I suppose, is that this reflects Clancy’s own uncertainty about who she is. Fluidity, as you say, is certainly part of it, but it’s also the concept of Clancy “admitting” things to herself. I really don’t want to be one of those authors who dismisses their character in terms like “she just happens to be gay”, because her sexuality is tied up so deeply in her identity.
Your first book The Ottoman Motel, featured a young chief protagonist but is described as a book for adults. ‘Clancy’ also features a teenage chief protagonist but is described as young adult. Can you define where the difference lies?
Mainly in the content. In The Ottoman Motel my main character is actually younger than Clancy, but there are also two other adult voices the story is told through. Ottoman is certainly a much darker story as well, with more of a mystery at its heart.
What’s your writing process?
It’s nothing special I’m afraid. I’m as guilty as anyone of preaching the benefits of regular writing, and then not following through with it. I was extremely lucky to obtain a 2-week residency at Varuna, The Writers House in 2013, where I wrote the first draft for Clancy, and surprised my editor by sending her a YA manuscript! I work four days a week at my day-job, and try to reserve one weekday and one weekend day for writing.
Authors you love, or who influence your work?
The first author that comes to mind, though, is Sonya Hartnett, who is legitimately my idol. What she can do with words is unparalleled, especially in the writing of young voices. I have been ridiculously lucky to arrive as a YA author at a time when so much focus is being devoted to Australian YA, especially through movements such as #LoveOzYA.
The best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?
Work hard and be nice to people. Which works just as well in any context, I suppose!
Why writing?
I wish I knew the actual answer to that. All I can say is that it calms me, and when I’m working I can disappear into it.
Thanks Chris. Now, dear reader, go buy the book. Or find out more information from Text Publishing.
APRIL 19 2011
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Novel proposal grabs worldwide attention
Dan Nancarrow
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It's the engagement ring in the wine glass and the attention-grabbing stadium scoreboard message rolled into one.
When Brisbane author Christopher Currie proposed to his girlfriend in the acknowledgments of his debut novel he managed to capture the feel of both an intimate and public proposal in an enduring moment.
But what Currie could never have expected was the worldwide media frenzy he would set off by sweetly offering his hand in marriage to girlfriend Leesa Wockner in the back of The Ottoman Motel.
Currie's tale, of a young boy who wakes up one morning on the northern New South Wales coast to find his parents have disappeared, has not yet been released, but the title has already been heard all around the world, from New York to London, to Italy.
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http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/novel-proposal-grabs-worldwide-attention-20110418-1dliq.html
Brisbane author Christopher Currie and his fiancee Leesa Wockner.
Brisbane author Christopher Currie and his fiancee Leesa Wockner. Photo: Supplied
And it's all thanks to Currie's marriage proposal, which read: "And finally, if it's possible to fall more in love with someone every day, then that's what I do. To my favourite, to the reason I live my life, Leesa Wockner who, if she reads this, I hope will agree to marry me, despite the number of commas in this sentence."
The young author gave Wockner an advanced copy of the book over drinks at a city hotel to celebrate her birthday earlier this month.
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"He told me to look at the last page and I saw in the acknowledgments my name and 'marry' and I instantly put it together and said 'of course I'll marry you'," Ms Wockner said.
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The proposal began receiving public attention after Currie announced to his friends on Facebook that he and Wockner had become engaged.
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Christopher Currie takes to Facebook to announce Leesa Wockner accepted his unorthodox proposal.
Christopher Currie takes to Facebook to announce Leesa Wockner accepted his unorthodox proposal.
"When you ask someone to marry you in the acknowledgments page of your book, you really hope that she'll say yes. Luckily, she did, and it was awesome," his Facebook status read on April 6.
The story was quickly snapped up by crikey.com.au's book blog Literary Minded before respected UK newspaper The Guardian featured the proposal online, leading to thousands of retweets on Twitter.
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The proposal story was picked up by the Guardian online soon after Christopher Currie announced his engagement on Facebook.
The proposal story was picked up by the Guardian online soon after Christopher Currie announced his engagement on Facebook.
When the Guardian story went live, his Google alert message went viral as the story spread through blogs and social networks.
Currie began getting interview requests from the BBC World Service and friends advising him that the story had made it on to websites all across Europe and the US including the Time Magazine website.
When you ask someone to marry you in the acknowledgments page of your book, you really hope that she'll say yes.
The next thing he knew he was recording a live cross to the US to appear on the CBS America's Sunrise-style program The Early Show.
Currie said although he had been accused of devising an elaborate publicity stunt, the proposal was purely for Leesa and himself.
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Christopher Currie's debut novel contained a special message in the acknowledgements.
Christopher Currie's debut novel contained a special message in the acknowledgements.
"I wanted to do something that was original so when I thought of the book I thought that was an idea that could be recorded and preserved, something we could hang onto forever," he said.
"I've seen a lot of comments from people who love books and think it's an interesting way of doing it, either people thinking it's very romantic or that I've set the bar too high for other men.
"There's also been the obvious personal attacks on internet forums, some of the Guardian's ones were pretty hilarious."
Currie said he expected a backlash when the story began to receive worldwide attention, so the negative comments weren't surprising, even though one commentator said he would be laughing when the couple divorced because he had "prostituted his marriage for publicity".
But as coverage of the proposal begins to die down, Currie said he was hopeful the focus would now turn to the book itself.
He admitted he was concerned the book could be overshadowed by the unintended attention given to the acknowledgments page.
"I guess that is a worry and I have said somewhere else that hopefully my five minutes of fame expires before the book comes out and they can assess it on its own merit," he said.
"And I hope that all the places the book's been sent to will review it as a book and not as a cultural phenomenon ...
"Whether it's a good review or bad review, I hope they deal with what I have written in the book."
Wockner joked that in Currie's next book, he would announce she was pregnant or that he had bought a house.
But she said she believed the worldwide attention for the proposal showed just how creative, romantic and special her husband-to-be was.
"I think the fact that [the proposal] has gotten worldwide attention just goes to show there is not enough romantics out there and there needs to be more men like Chris," she said.
The Ottoman Motel is released on May 2 through Text Publishing, Melbourne.
Quoted in Sidelights: I had been long obsessed by the way small tourist towns close down during winter, and the idea of this type of town as a modern-day ghost town intrigued me. The best way to explore the town was always going to be a disappearance. Having Simon disappear was too easy, and too predictable. What about his parents going missing? Once I had Simon stuck alone in this strange town, the story really started taking shape.
The Story of My Book: Christopher Currie on The Ottoman Motel
by Christopher Currie
2 MAY 2011
ChrisCurrie-_regular28-year-old Queensland author Christopher Currie made headlines a couple of weeks ago for proposing to his girlfriend in the acknowledgments section of his just-released debut novel The Ottoman Motel. The novel itself is also worthy of attention and Chris has guest blogged for us to tell the story behind The Ottoman Motel - which was longlisted for the Australian/Vogel Award in 2007.
There is sort of a purgatory in every computer I have owned, where shards of stories with forgettable file names sit in folders marked STORIES 2001, STORIES 2002… and each folder gets subsumed into another folder and those folders get copied onto new hard drives, until I have thoroughly forgotten not only what each story is about but that I even wrote them in the first place. The Ottoman Motel started its life as one of these shards. It was only a couple of paragraphs, and told of a young boy sitting in a generic foodcourt with his parents in the middle of a boring and nameless roadtrip, lying his head on the table, thinking about all the layers of food that had built up on it over the years.
It was around 2003 I was thinking of starting my first novel-length manuscript. I was going back through my unfinished/unstarted story ideas, and came across the boy in the food court. I started to think of why him and his parents had stopped to eat, where they were going, and why none of them really seemed to be looking forward to getting there. This boy became Simon Sawyer, the eleven year-old central character to my book, and as the world of him and his parents was fleshed out, I came upon the idea of Reception, the town they visit in The Ottoman Motel. I had been long obsessed by the way small tourist towns close down during winter, and the idea of this type of town as a modern-day ghost town intrigued me. The best way to explore the town was always going to be a disappearance. Having Simon disappear was too easy, and too predictable. What about his parents going missing? Once I had Simon stuck alone in this strange town, the story really started taking shape.
The first version of this story that I came up (and I wrote in fits and starts over the next four years) with was insanely ambitious: a maybe-supernatural Twin Peaks-esque ghost story with the narrative running through the viewpoints of eight separate characters, where too many mysteries were set up and too few resolved. It showed enough promise, I guess, to be longlisted for the Australian/Vogel Award in 2007, but by then I was thoroughly sick of the sight of it and put it away in the proverbial bottom drawer.
Luckily enough, in the middle of 2009, I got the opportunity to show the first few chapters to Text Publishing, and I was signed up, with the proviso that I was happy to do significant redrafting on the novel. What has emerged from at least two complete rewrites is hopefully a leaner, more lyrical and more compelling mystery story. It is by no means a thriller, as some people have assumed, as the disappearance serves only as a catalyst to explore the dynamics of the town. And it is by no means a book for YA readers, despite the main character (one of three voices you hear in the book) being eleven years old. But if you enjoy mulling over a mystery that gives you room to breathe, and appreciate exploring that moment in your life where your childhood imagination bumped up against the harsh realities of an adult world, then I really hope you will at least pick up my book and start reading.
P.S. I spent an hour trying to find that original story shard yesterday, and eventually found it. But when I tried to open Foodcourt Scenes.doc, my computer froze up and refused to work. Perhaps it was a message to let the dead lie.
Chrisopther Currie blogs at furioushorses.com. The Ottoman Motel is out now in both paperback and ebook.
TAKING FIVE WITH CHRISTOPHER CURRIE
Home · Writers · TAKING FIVE WITH CHRISTOPHER CURRIE
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Christopher Currie is an award-winning fiction writer, whose first YA novel, Clancy of the Undertow, took the Australian YA scene by storm. AWM intern TJ Wilkshire took some time to talk to Chris about the writing process, small towns, and writing as a bookseller.
chris currieYour second novel (and first YA novel) was released last year. Are you currently working on anything new? Do you think you will continue into the YA genre or follow on from The Ottoman Motel?
I am (very slowly) working on another YA novel. This one is a bit different in tone to Clancy of the Undertow. Think bad schools, zombies and middle distance running.
Has your process of writing changed since the publication of your first book? If it has, how so?
Anyone’s first book is more often than not a reflection of the author’s own experiences, and carries the baggage of many, many drafts. This was certainly the case with The Ottoman Motel. As it was a mystery novel, any rewrites meant tiny changes to many, many parts of the story, which added up to a long editing process. Clancy was written and edited much more quickly, partly because it was a more straightforward story, and partly because I had become better at writing longer pieces. At the moment, I’m primary carer of a six month-old baby, so my writing routine is virtually non-existent at the moment unfortunately, but I am able to grab snatches of time here and there!
Your novels are largely based around small rural towns. What inspires you to have your characters those places?
Basically because I grew up in one. Ottoman came more out of a fascination with Australian coastal tourist towns, especially what they become in winter when their primary economic purpose disappears. The town of Barwen, in Clancy is much more similar to the town I grew up in, i.e. regional and arterial.
Between 2008 and 2009 you did a project on your blog called 365 stories, where you tried to write a story per day. That’s an incredible undertaking. What did you learn through this process, and is it a project you’d recommend to other writers?
I learned that shame is a great motivator. I told as many people as I could (especially other writers) that I was doing it, which meant I felt compelled not to stop. Most pertinently, I learned the importance of routine to a writer. Even though I’m not necessarily doing it at the moment, regular daily writing will make you better. I would thoroughly recommend it to other writers, providing you’re up to the challenge!
clancy of the undertowHas your experience as a bookseller influenced how and what you write? (And have you ever recommended your own book to a customer?)
It’s a double-edged sword, really, as you obviously become inspired by other books (and your market knowledge increases), but you also get a glimpse into the economic realities of book retail. You see how short a time each book has to make an impact, and how such small things as cover design, marketing and reviews have on a book’s life. I have gotten slightly better at recommending my own books to customers, but it still makes me a little queasy.
You can read more about Christopher Currie here.
Quoted in Sidelights: I’ve always enjoyed writing, but never gave it serious thought as a vocation until I left school,. I completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Creative Writing at Queensland Institute of Technology (QUT) and have been plugging away ever since. My parents are both big readers, and they instilled in me the same love.”
OZYA Author Interview- Christopher Currie
I love Aussie YA. I love reading books from authors that live in the same country as me, that know things that people out of Australia might be so confused about. I love how sometimes they can incorporate this into their book and it is fabulous.
So in saying that, I have decided to start a new feature on Angel Reads spotlighting Australian YA Authors. Each Friday for the next couple of months, I am going to interview an OZYA Author. I thought it would be a fun way to share my love for Australian Young Adult authors with not only fellow Aussies, but everyone around the world. I want more Australian YA books to be read, because they are amazing.
First week I interview Sarah Ayoub, then Fleur Ferris, followed by Will Kostakis, then Shivaun Plozza, and Gabrielle Tozer, followed by Jay Kristoff and Kylie Fornasier. A.J Betts was next and then last week we had Megan Jacobson.
This week we have Christopher Currie author of young adult novel Clancy of the Undertow (2014, Text Publishing).
Christopher Currie Author PicHi Christopher, and welcome to Angel Reads. First can you introduce yourself to everyone? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hello, my name is Chris. I’m a 34 year-old writer from Brisbane. I grew up in a small country town called Warwick. I work at the wonderful Avid Reader Bookshop as its social media manager (and sell books to people as well!).
What has your writing journey been like? Where did you start? Why?
I’ve always enjoyed writing, but never gave it serious thought as a vocation until I left school. I completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Creative Writing at Queensland Institute of Technology (QUT) and have been plugging away ever since. My parents are both big readers, and they instilled in me the same love. In fact, I was just in a suburban library today to do some work, and remembered again how wonderful they are!
I don’t have much occasion to go to libraries these days (as I’m surrounded by books at work anyway!) but when I was little I feel like I checked out nearly every book from the Warwick Council Library. I was very lucky that my parents didn’t really tell me what I could and couldn’t read. This was so important in teaching me the pleasure of the written word in all its forms, I think.
Fun Fact About Chistopher Currie
What was the process of getting your first book published?
A long one! I submitted what would eventually become my first novel, The Ottoman Motel (an adult literary mystery story), to Text Publishing through an informal callout they sent out in 2009 (side note: be nice to everyone in the industry; this came about because I heard about it from a friend of a friend). The book went through three major rewrites and some rigorous editing before it was published in 2011. This process was a real eye-opener for me. It was painful, yes, but getting to work with a professional editor was an insanely useful experience.
Was it different when getting your subsequent books published?
Text Publishing are wonderful, because they really believe in developing a relationship with an author, one that (thankfully for me) doesn’t simply rely on a certain number of book sales to continue. Despite promising at least three other adult fiction manuscripts to my editor, I ended up writing the first draft of a YA novel, Clancy of the Undertow.
My editor, to her credit, took the project on (thankfully Text have a burgeoning YA arm of their business) and it went from there. I had to basically double the word count from the original version, but the whole process was much quicker the second time around!
christopher currie books
You are an OZYA author, what are some of your favourite Aussie YA books?
I adored booked by Victor Kelleher when I was growing up, which perhaps betrays my age somewhat, and then when I got a little writers such as Sonya Hartnett (her novel Of a Boy was a huge inspiration to me when writing my first book). As I mentioned, I tended to read quite widely so I’m not sure all of what I read was “age appropriate”.
I’ve tried to read more contemporary Oz YA since my book has come out (Avid Reader recently moved its kids and YA books into a new shop so I am far less aware of that side of publishing now!) and I’ve been really pleased that so much of it is so good! I loved Fleur Ferris’ Risk and Trinity Doyle’s Pieces of Sky and am just about to start Dave Burton’s How to be Happy.
Thank you Christopher for joining me today. You can find Christopher at @furioushorses on twitter, his website and don’t forget to add his books to your goodreads.
clancy of the undertowClancy of the Undertow by Christopher Currie
Pages: 282
Publish date: November 16th 2015
Publisher: Text Publishing
ISBN: 1925240401
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – Dymocks
In a dead-end town like Barwen a girl has only got to be a little different to feel like a freak. And Clancy, a typical sixteen-year-old misfit with a moderately dysfunctional family, a genuine interest in Nature Club and a major crush on the local hot girl, is packing a capital F.
As the summer begins, Clancy’s dad is involved in a road smash that kills two local teenagers. While the family is dealing with the reaction of a hostile town, Clancy meets someone who could possibly—at last—become a friend. Not only that, the unattainable Sasha starts to show what may be a romantic interest.
In short, this is the summer when Clancy has to figure out who the hell she is.
***
Thank you Chistopher for joining me at Angel Reads. That is it for this week’s #LoveOZYA Interview. What did you think of Christopher and his books? Let’s Chat!
Come back next week for some more Aussie fun. If you want to know more about the #LoveOZYA movement check out the website for all the details. Also if you have any Australian YA authors that you would like to see me interview, just let me know and I can see what I can do.
Quoted in Sidelights: makes his premature journey from childhood imagination into the ‘real’ adult world.”
This fulcrum between reality and mystery is something I really wanted to explore. While Reception may feel like something out of The Twilight Zone to some readers, The Ottoman Motel is very much a classic mystery story transplanted into the actual world.”
Mystery, strangeness and coming-of-age: an interview with Christopher Currie, author of The Ottoman Motel
Angela Meyer —
Angela Meyer
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Text Publishing, May 2011, 9781921758164
(Aus, US, UK)
The parents of a young boy disappear in a small, strange town called Reception, in Christopher Currie’s atmospheric debut novel The Ottoman Motel. The townfolk don’t seem to be trying too hard to find Simon’s parents, and it isn’t the first disappearance in the area. Currie’s debut is simultaneously a gripping mystery and a touching coming-of-age story, as young Simon faces new emotions and is burdened with the task of looking for his parents himself. I asked Chris Currie a few questions about The Ottoman Motel…
The novel has a real Twilight Zone feel, especially at the beginning: a small town, strange characters, adults going missing with no explanation. Also, through the way it’s written: the shadows Simon sees in the corner of his eye, the things he imagines. Did this kind of mood interest you, or was it more about capturing the experience from the POV of a child? Where everything can be kind of exaggerated, confusing and frightening?
That’s a really great question. And I think it’s yes on both counts. What started me on this book was the idea of a disappearance. This is a commodity well-mined in fiction, but more often from the point of view of parents/a family losing a child, because of the obvious dramatic richness of the situation. Far more interesting for me was the notion of how a child would feel upon losing his parents, in a quite literal sense. And yes, that mood of not being one way or the other (Simon’s parents could be alive or dead) certainly plays into the idea of Reception, the fictional coastal town the story is set in: where the town is stuck in an early winter, when the tourism it is heavily dependent on has vanished.
This in-between state plays out in another way in the book: through Simon, as he makes his premature journey from childhood imagination into the ‘real’ adult world. For me, the memories we form as children are sort of hyper-real, in that we see the world in a necessarily exaggerated way. Our imagination (that thing, by the way, that we writers try to access every day) is inevitably dampened over time as our ideal version of the world comes up against the harsh realities of the ‘grown-up’ universe. Simon is something of a day-dreamer, a kid whose own particular brand of loneliness has spawned numerous games inside his own head, insulating him. The other children in the story have had their own reactions to an early birth into the ‘real’ world, but that’s perhaps something I’ll let the readers work out.
So yes, this fulcrum between reality and mystery is something I really wanted to explore. While Reception may feel like something out of The Twilight Zone to some readers, The Ottoman Motel is very much a classic mystery story transplanted into the actual world.
So you began with the idea of a disappearance, and did you know it was going to turn out to be a mystery story? Did you start out wanting to write a mystery or thriller? If so, were there certain conventions you knew you had to follow?
It was definitely always going to be a mystery story. In the original version (which featured viewpoints of eight separate characters), I didn’t really know how to write a proper mystery, so it was a matter of me setting up as many problems (ie. ‘What the hell is going on here’ moments) as I could to solve by the end of the narrative, which was overly ambitious, and would never have held up. Interestingly enough, this original version did borrow more tropes from the thriller genre, as I had to perform the necessary smoke and mirrors of withholding or revealing information depending on which character was telling the story. Each section was more of a classic set-up/cliffhanger scenario as well, which you’ll see in every thriller: leaving off one character in a perilous/intriguing situation before starting on another.
The version that ended up being published is far less cluttered, in that it only has points of view from three characters, and has been distilled down to one central premise: what effect does a disappearance have on a town with a lot to hide? As I mentioned before, this departs from the classic mystery or ‘crime’ question: ‘What has happened to Simon’s parents?’ I grew up in a house with a large collection of books by classic British crime writers like Ruth Rendell and P D James, and I really enjoyed them, but the caveat to any ‘classic’ mystery story is that the conclusion can never match the setup. China Miéville says it best in this great essay about crime fiction.
Did you revisit any tiny coastal towns while you were writing, or was it inspired by any in particular? Reception reminded me of many places I’d passed when I used to drive from Coffs Harbour to Sydney. Nuggets and chips at the Ottoman, indeed.
Yeah, I think we’ve all experienced the ‘Kidz Menu’ at various dodgy cafes in our time. I think more than anything the town came out of my laser-focused loathing of family Sunday Drives while growing up. I spend just about all of my childhood in a country town called Warwick (about two hours from Brisbane), whose proximity to the NSW border meant that jaunts to places like Killarney, Stanthorpe and Girraween could stretch that extra hour to include somewhere like Tenterfield of Glen Innes. While these places were far from coastal towns, they did instill in me a natural dread of abandoned main streets in country hamlets on dwindling Sunday afternoons. The coastal town element comes from experiences I’ve had at places like Stradbroke Island, The Sunshine Coast, Yamba and especially parts of Byron Bay. There’s something about people who live by the sea…
In the first draft of the book Magpie Lake (where Simon’s parents go missing) was a far larger character in the book, and it was based on Warwick’s own Leslie Dam, which has been Warwick’s water source for as long as I can remember. In my early childhood, it was a bountiful place where you could go swimming and exploring the Picnic at Hanging Rock-esque granite boulder fields, but by the mid-nineties, its level had fallen to three per cent, and this weird ghostly landscape was uncovered that had been hidden underneath the water: bare bones trees, bleached rocks etc. When I left Warwick in 2000, it was still hovering around the 12 per cent mark. In January of this year, however, the dam spilled over for the first time in about 20 years.
It’s a shame that I had to cut a lot of the Magpie Lake scenes out of the published version, but maybe it will return in another book! For those of you playing at home, the rock-throwing scene in my book is something that actually happened to me, my brother and my dad by the shore of Leslie Dam.
Oh, yikes! I once accidentally knocked a kid out with a baseball bat (on the backswing) if that’s any consolation. Tell us a bit about the journey behind the book. It’s been a few years in the making, yes?
It has been a long journey to publication, that’s for sure. It all started with a short scene I wrote in around 2003, where a young boy sits at a nameless food court with his parents, halfway through a car trip, bored and philosophising about all the people and meals that had gone before him. I came back to the scene some time later, when I couldn’t get questions out of my head about the characters: where were they going? Why did none of them want to talk about it? This scene, of course, became Simon Sawyer and his parents, and their road trip became a journey to Reception, and The Ottoman Motel.
I had tinkered on and off with the story over the next five or so years, but had reached a stalemate about 2/3 of the way through. I was (and still am) a compulsive re-writer, and just kept editing the first parts of the book without ever pressing on to the end. I eventually decided to give myself a concrete deadline, and powered through the final 20,000 words over a long weekend in order to get it in for the 2007 Vogel Award. The prize was announced, and I hadn’t heard anything, but then a month later I had the notification that I had been longlisted (and to this day I don’t quite know how many people get longlisted!). The notification came with a page of judges’ comments, which added up to ‘nice writing, but unsalvageable ending’. The book then stalled again, and my writing routine disappeared. I threw the novel in the bottom drawer and began Furious Horses (my blog where I wrote a story every day for a year) as a jump-start to my writing process, which it did, as well as raising my profile. A year or so after the blog project ended, I got the chance to submit my first three chapters to Text Publishing, and the rest is history! And of course, when I say ‘history’, I mean ‘gruelling redrafting process that nearly killed me.’
You’re a well-read buyer at Avid Reader Bookshop in Brisbane, too. What authors or books have been an influence or an inspiration? Or does your inspiration come from elsewhere?
I think it’s fair to say that a draw a fair bit of inspiration from my day job. Despite getting to see close up the horrifying reality of how many books are released each month, it does really give me the satisfying sense that people still read books, and, more importantly, are willing to read books by new authors. Certainly for The Ottoman Motel, at least in the initial drafts, I wore my inspirations on my sleeve. Sonya Hartnett’s brilliant book Of A Boy was obviously a huge influence, along with other writers I was into at the time I started writing it like Haruki Murakami (whose writing quite literally taught me a new way to think about writing), Murray Bail and of course Donna Tartt. I’m an all-time sucker for ‘coming-of-age’ and ‘small town’ novels, and when the two collide, all the better. To this end, books like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Jim Lynch’s The Highest Tide hold enormous sentimental value for me. Murakami led me to David Mitchell (just about my all-time favourite author) and then later to more ‘experimental’ writers like Ben Marucus, Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders, whose style and simplicity can’t be beaten.
Apart from books, I try to collect ‘moods’ for my fiction as often as I can. Which sounds a little wankerish, and it’s a little hard to explain, but I often find my way into a story by trying first to create its unique atmosphere, which takes into account the setting, the character and what has already been: that is, what forces have come together to place this character at this place in time. Actually, that sounds very wankerish. Let’s just say Shakespeare, and leave it at that.
What’s one thing you hope readers will get out of The Ottoman Motel?
Hopefully they will want to read more! Most of all, I really hope that readers will just be able to enjoy the story. That is first and foremost. If they appreciate the mystery elements, and the way I’ve played with the conventions of the genre, then all the better, but hopefully they will find an engaging and graceful narrative that will lead them to seek out more writing by this first-time author, tell their friends and buy my next book!
Quoted in Sidelights: funny, gritty, absorbing, and occasionally depressing … an intriguing if occasionally melodramatic glimpse of a young Australian woman’s coming-of-age.
Christopher Currie: CLANCY OF THE UNDERTOW
Kirkus Reviews.
(Oct. 1, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Christopher Currie CLANCY OF THE UNDERTOW Text (Adult Fiction) 11.95 ISBN: 978-1-925240-40-5
An Australian teen copes with poverty and family problems as she fumbles toward acceptance of her lesbianism.Clancy is a foulmouthed, snarky,
scrawny 16-year-old. Her first-person narration is peppered with slang, her conversations with older brother Angus humorously vulgar. Curries
first teen title covers a week in Clancys life and veers from humor to drama and back again (several times), packing in what might feel like a few
too many quirky characters and life-changing events. What with her fathers possible involvement in a fatal car crash, her older brothers obsession
with cryptids, a new friends unfortunate experience of being severely bullied, and her secret crushs sudden interest, Clancy is off-balance and
overwhelmed. Her self-sabotaging behavior and corrosive humor will likely be familiar to many teens, but sorting through unfamiliar words and
cultural references takes work and may discourage some potential readers. Most of the supporting characters are apparently white, but Clancy, her
mom, and her siblings are part-Aboriginal. She describes their skin as yellowy-brown which she attributes to her Mums dads dad. Aside from that
single reference, however, race isnt mentioned, leaving readers to infer for themselves how much the familys struggles are related to prejudice.
Funny, gritty, absorbing, and occasionally depressing, this is an intriguing if occasionally melodramatic glimpse of a young Australian womans
coming-of-age. (Fiction. 14-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Christopher Currie: CLANCY OF THE UNDERTOW." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA465181792&it=r&asid=aeae61a0d9cdee6af6d44ef73a45474f. Accessed 7 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A465181792
Quoted in Sidelights: I thought this a solid debut novel and will be keen to read more from its young author.”
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Review: THE OTTOMAN MOTEL by Christopher Currie
Posted on September 6, 2011 by bernadetteinoz
Simon Sawyer is 11 years old when he and his parents travel to Reception, a small town on the east coast of Australia, to visit Simon’s grandmother who the family have been estranged from for some years. On the advice of one of the locals Simon’s parents decide to do some sightseeing before their visit to grandma and Simon stays at their motel by himself. He dozes off when he wakes at 10:00pm that night he realises his parents have not returned and he soon learns that no one has seen them since the afternoon. He is taken in by a widowed B&B owner who has an odd collection of family and guests.
As a born and bred city girl it is the small town with its thin veneer of civility hiding an evil heart that is always guaranteed to scare me witless and Currie has created yet another atmospheric excuse for me to stay safely within the confines of my anonymous urban sprawl. Reception is not the kind of town tourist bureaus would highlight, harbouring all manner of dark secrets and people who have fled other, mostly problem-filled lives to settle there. There’s a real sinister mood to the novel as readers are introduced to a succession of gloomy characters such as the ageing and secretive crab fisherman, the guilt-ridden policewoman, the widowed B&B owner and his peculiar children. This family takes in Simon while the search for his parents gets underway which introduces Simon to his grandmother, a permanent guest at the B&B and yet another Reception resident with secrets to hide.
I’m not a huge fan of books which feature children as main characters as they are often given more adult traits than the average kid. However Simon is believably drawn, capturing the mixture of burgeoning independence and fear at possibly being all alone in the world quite beautifully. His interactions with the B&B owner’s two children, still recovering from the loss of their mother several years earlier, and Pony, an orphan boy who lives there too, are also very believable. These relationships and the children’s’ reactions to unfolding events add an interesting perspective to this story which is, in essence, the opposite of the more traditional missing child mystery.
The story itself is good though for me it was a slightly weaker element of the book than the excellent characters and atmosphere. Although I found it compelling enough to want to read on quickly there were just a few too many implausible happenings for me to be wholly sucked in. The resolution in particular was not quite as satisfying as I’d have liked; I didn’t mind the loose ends but felt a little cheated by the very vaguely described outcome of the main plot thread. Overall though I thought this a solid debut novel and will be keen to read more from its young author. Its mixture of influences, which clearly include some horror and science fiction in addition to mysteries, and evocative writing style made for a quick, engaging and unpredictable read.
THE OTTOMAN MOTEL has been reviewed at Cally Jackson Writes and The Book Nerd Club
I first came across THE OTTOMAN MOTEL via this interview with the author at my favourite Australian news site
My rating: 3.5/5 stars (rating scale is explained here)
Author website: http://furioushorses.com/
Publisher: Text Publishing [2011]
ISBN: 9781921758164
Length: 290 pages
Format: Trade Paperback
Source: borrowed from the library
Quoted in Sidelights: creates a brilliant atmosphere, layering superficial small-town charm over dangerous paranoia and criminal depravity.
JUNE 4 2011
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Book of the week: The Ottoman Motel
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Small-town Australian mystery 'The Ottoman Motel' bristles with suspense.
Small-town Australian mystery 'The Ottoman Motel' bristles with suspense.
THIS small-town Australian mystery bristles with suspense from the first page. Teen Simon Sawyer is travelling with his parents to Reception to visit his ailing grandmother. The family hasn't seen her in years. The town belies its name with an unwelcome development - on their first night at a rundown motel, Simon's parents vanish without a trace. Not everyone in Reception is inhospitable. The grief-stricken Ned Gale gives the boy a place to stay and Simon quickly becomes friends with Pony, a local orphan. Police are thin on the ground and Madaline, the town's constable, has her own demons. But Simon isn't about to leave without his parents and, together with Pony, sets about sleuthing to find the lethal secrets that lie beneath Reception's idyllic facade. Christopher Currie's novel creates a brilliant atmosphere, layering superficial small-town charm over dangerous paranoia and criminal depravity. If its tautness slackens slightly later on, it remains an engrossing and deeply creepy read.
Quoted in Sidelights: The mystery underpinning this is intriguing and fascinating,” \“The pace is comfortable and engaging, easily read with some beautifully descriptive sentences.
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The Ottoman Motel, by Christopher Currie
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Review published on April 9, 2013. Reviewed by Sara Garland
Nudge Reviewer Rating: 3 out of 5
[product sku=”9781908737199″]Shortlisted for the commonwealth Book Prize and Queensland Literary Awards in 2012, this is a story about a family arriving in the small town of Reception in Australia and the strange goings on they encounter.
Simon is the central character. He is an 11 year old boy, who travels to the isolated town with his parents to see his sick grandmother. What starts as a quiet adventure turns into a more horrific excursion when Simon is left at the Ottoman Motel whilst his parents go to see a nearby lake, never to return.
Simon is an only child, shy and socially impotent. When his parents don’t return from their outing, he needs to alert someone. He heads for the local café, which they as a family had popped into whilst trying to find their motel. Here, the locals alert the local police and arrange for Simon to be looked after by Ned a nearby B&B owner.
Whilst Simon is met with some kindness, not everybody is as they seem. It transpires most have moved to this unknown, inconspicuous place to escape a past life and have personal secrets. From the local aged gloomy fisherman, with very suspicious backgrounds, to the local police woman harbouring her own secrets and inabilities, everybody seems to be facing their own demons. There is a sinister undercurrent running throughout the book – who is as they seem, is anybody actually trust worthy?
Paradoxically, the hotel owner lost his wife under mysterious circumstances and his children are deeply affected by this in their own way. Ned’s children at times can prove hard to communicate with or conversely very forthright, when they interact with Simon. In an almost enigmatic way, the directness, albeit challenging actually helps Simon to grow in confidence; something that could not have been anticipated or expected in such circumstances.
Quietly brave in the face of adversity, Simon develops a bond with some of these children, which allows them to start to unveil what has happened to his parents. As such the background about each of the main characters starts to be revealed and so you learn more about their foibles and the reasons why they act like they do. The interface between Simon and the B&B owner’s unusual children is very convincing and absorbing. It is also the most well written aspect of the book.
The mystery underpinning this is intriguing and fascinating. The pace is comfortable and engaging, easily read with some beautifully descriptive sentences. Simon is a convincing and likeable character, not always easy to achieve with such a young main character. The ending whilst perhaps not the strongest, does leave you with a few loose ends to ponder on after its denouement.
Quoted in Sidelights: It’s tempting to praise Currie for his ‘bravery’ in writing a novel from a teenage girl’s perspective, especially one who is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality. “He could easily have chosen a male protagonist. But Currie engages with Clancy with such warmth and empathy, it’s clear he has not forgotten what it is to be a teenager.”
Clancy of the Undertow blends the excruciation, confusion and hope of being a teenager into a novel that will pull in readers of any age.”
Meredith Jaffe
The Guardian - Back to home
Fiction
Clancy of the Undertow by Christopher Currie review – a YA cracker for all ages
The Brisbane author has crafted a compelling coming-of-age story set in a dead-end Queensland town that’s embued with warmth, empathy and real wit
Lucy Mangan: You’re never too old to read young adult fiction
Clancy of the Undertow by Christopher Currie.
‘It’s tempting to praise Christopher Currie for his “bravery” in writing a novel from a teenage girl’s perspective, especially one who is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality.’ Photograph: Miquel Llonch/Text
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Meredith Jaffe
Tuesday 1 December 2015 20.28 EST Last modified on Tuesday 2 May 2017 14.12 EDT
Brisbane bookseller Christopher Currie, whose first novel The Ottoman Motel was award-nominated several times over, notes in the acknowledgements to his new novel, Clancy of the Undertow, that his publisher acted “not at all surprised when I brought her a YA [young adult] book instead of the two other serious adult books I had promised her”.
Implicit in his comment are all the issues the YA debate has raised over the past few years, particularly: what defines a book as “young adult” and what defines the readers of such titles?
Clancy, 16, lives in the dead-end Queensland town of Barwen with her two brothers and parents. To Clancy’s mind, she and her family are the town’s misfits, weirdos and freaks. Clancy loves Nature Club where the local nerds congregate on the weekends. She’s desperate to learn to drive and struggles to define her yearnings for Sasha, the girlfriend of Barwen’s chief bogan.
When Clancy’s father is involved in a traffic incident in which two local teenagers die, the family is further ostracised. The summer holiday before her final year of high school becomes the proving ground for understanding the nature of true friendship, the importance of family and the value in being different.
Author Christopher Currie
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Author Christopher Currie. Photograph: Text Publishing
It’s tempting to praise Currie for his “bravery” in writing a novel from a teenage girl’s perspective, especially one who is struggling to come to terms with her sexuality. He could easily have chosen a male protagonist. But Currie engages with Clancy with such warmth and empathy, it’s clear he has not forgotten what it is to be a teenager.
The dialogue is natural and quick-paced, peppered with Clancy’s inner thoughts, from her painful interactions with her parents (is there any other kind?) to her excitement when Sasha finally notices she exists. There is also a lot of humour in Clancy’s dry assessment of her mother’s parenting skills, which involve hitting her up with “greeting-card racks worth of motivational quotes”.
Then there’s Clancy’s awkward conversation with her heart-throb over caramel milkshakes at the roadhouse. When Sasha asks if it’s true she is part-Aboriginal, Clancy responds: “Uh, like, an eighth or a sixteenth or something. I guess. Mum’s dad’s dad was or something.” Her skin is all wrong compared to the luminous Sasha, she laments. “Yellowy-brown ... Me and Angus and Titch have all got it, and it just looks like we’re dirty or sick.” It’s the only reference to race in the novel.
The arrival of a new girl in town, Nancy, allows Currie to touch sensitively on the issue of bullying. It’s with Nancy that Clancy is able to build her first proper “adult” friendship and confide in her feelings for Sasha.
You’re never too old to read young adult fiction
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Teenage protagonists represent a stage in life when our personality is in greatest flux. Our sense of self and of belonging are never so shakeable as they are in these formative years. If JD Salinger had written The Catcher in the Rye today, it would have been classified as young adult. So too Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Guardian Australia recently reviewed Tony Birch’s Ghost River and Peggy Frew’s Hope Farm. The protagonists in both stories are 13.
The brouhaha around what constitutes a YA novel versus a novel for adults is surely semantic. Publishers label books YA when marketing to a teenage audience but various surveys, notably the Bowker survey of 2012, suggest that 55% of purchasers of YA novels are over 18, with the biggest group aged 30 to 44.
Set against these statistics are the opinions of critics such as Helen Razer in Attention Young Adult Fiction Fans: Grow Up for Daily Review and Ruth Graham’s Slate article Against YA, both claiming adult readers should not be reading teen fiction.
But why not read YA? The Australian scene is a vibrant mix with many new voices reflecting back a different kind of Australia. Consider Alice Pung’s Laurinda (2014), Sarah Ayoub’s Hate Is Such A Strong Word (2013), or Alyssa Brugman’s novel Alex as Well (2013), which explores issues of gender misidentity.
Still looking for Alibrandi: migrant teens deserve their own young adult fiction
Sarah Ayoub
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It’s a mistake to assume these novels are dumbed down for children. The award-winning Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey, which came to mind while reading Clancy of the Undertow, could easily have been categorised as YA. It is set to become both a film and stage play in 2016. Margo Lanagan’s novel Sea Hearts made the 2013 Stella shortlist. YA writer Sonya Hartnett joined Sofie Laguna on the 2015 Miles Franklin shortlist, which Laguna went on to win with The Eye of the Sheep, a book that crosses the boundaries of adult and YA fiction.
Whatever the case, Currie has a talent for keeping his writing real. From the dialogue to narration, Clancy of the Undertow blends the excruciation, confusion and hope of being a teenager into a novel that will pull in readers of any age. It is a book to pass on, or as Currie says in the acknowledgements: “By reading this final sentence you are now legally obliged to buy the book for five of your friends.” Lucky for him it’s Christmas, the perfect time to share a book you love.
Quoted in Sidelights: manages to be both the story of a small town girl’s search for identity amidst family chaos, and a story that represents a general teenage search for acceptance, purpose and identity
Susan Whelan
Review: Clancy of the Undertow
Barwen is a dead-end small town where even the smallest difference makes you stand out. Sixteen-year-old Clancy has no chance of passing unnoticed. She’s bright, a loner, attends nature club, and has a crush on Sasha, the local hot girl. As if that’s not enough to make her the town freak, her family is now at the centre of a town tragedy after her father is involved with a fatal car crash.
It’s at this lowest point that Clancy is surprised by the unexpected; a new girl in town who just might become a friend and the longed-for attention of Sasha. With her father becoming the target of town anger, her mother’s silence, her brother’s weird conspiracy theories, and potential new friendships (and perhaps something more), it’s time for Clancy to work out what she wants from life. If she can.
Clancy of the Undertow, author Christopher Currie's first book for teens, is a thoughtful coming of age story narrated by a strong, authentic Australian teen voice . While Clancy’s situation is rather unique, the emotional and social challenges she is dealing with have a universality about them. She’s struggling to establish her own identity amidst the chaos and conflicting expectations around her, and her doubts, insecurities, hopefulness and humour seemed very familiar from my own teen years and from my observations of the teens I know now.
I particularly appreciated the contradictions within Clancy’s family relationships, which made them seem so much more realistic. Love and affection existed side by side with frustration and a careless disregard for the feelings of her parents and brothers. As in many families, their relationships were a tangled mix of shared experiences, emotions and practicalities that resulted in both everyday tensions and unquestionable support in the tough moments of life.
Clancy's voice is relatable and authentic, with a snarky humour balanced by occasional vulnerability. Her sexuality is dealt with sensitively. The scene where she lets her new friend know that she is gay is touchingly sweet and contrasts with a heartbreakingly harsh response from another character and a more practical conversation with yet another character. It is refreshing to see a LGBTQI character play a central role in a mainstream young adult novel.
Clancy of the Undertow manages to be both the story of a small town girl’s search for identity amidst family chaos, and a story that represents a general teenage search for acceptance, purpose and identity. This slow moving story is thoughtful and offers an interesting perspective on the teenage need to redefine themselves and the way they relate to those around them in the transition from child to adult.
Title: Clancy of the Undertow
Author: Christopher Currie
Publisher: Text Publishing, $19.99 RRP
Publication Date: 16 November 2015
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781925240405
For ages: 14+
Type: Young Adult Fiction
Posted by Susan Whelan at 17:00
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Quoted in Sidelights: Currie may not have consciously set out to write a YA novel – but I’m glad he found 15-year-old Clancy, and I hope he comes back to this readership who will welcome any new words from him with open arms.
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Thursday, November 26, 2015
'Clancy of the Undertow' by Christopher Currie
Received from the Publisher
From the BLURB:
We’re sitting there with matching milkshakes, Sasha and me, and somehow, things aren’t going like I always thought they would. We’re face to face under 24-hour fluorescents with the thoroughly unromantic buzz of aircon in our ears and endless flabby wedges of seated trucker’s arsecrack as our only visual stimulus.
In a dead-end town like Barwen a girl has only got to be a little different to feel like a freak. And Clancy, a typical sixteen-year-old misfit with a moderately dysfunctional family, a genuine interest in Nature Club and a major crush on the local hot girl, is packing a capital F.
As the summer begins, Clancy’s dad is involved in a road smash that kills two local teenagers. While the family is dealing with the reaction of a hostile town, Clancy meets someone who could possibly—at last—become a friend. Not only that, the unattainable Sasha starts to show what may be a romantic interest.
In short, this is the summer when Clancy has to figure out who the hell she is.
‘Clancy of the Undertow’ is a new contemporary YA novel from Australian author, Christopher Currie.
So strange that on the day I set aside to write my review of ‘Clancy’, I was getting all sorts of ping-alerts about this YA author Scott Bergstrom who had, advertently or inadvertently (but either way: stupidly), dissed the entire YA readership by claiming that his self-published YA novel (which recently had film rights bought by Jerry Bruckheimer) was more “morally complicated” than anything else in YA. A hashtag has since started up, with a whole bunch of authors and readers calling out Bergstrom’s self-absorbed, White Knight bullshit (and Chuck Wendig probably has the best response so far).
But it was amusing to me, because here I was trying to write a review of this book by Christopher Currie … a book with a lesbian protagonist, growing up in a rural small town whose already dysfunctional life is thrown into chaos when her father is involved in an accident that kills two local teens and the family suddenly finds themselves local enemies No.1
Yeah.
No moral complexity here AT ALL.
Move along.
The phone’s off the hook because some reporter from Brisbane got our number and Titch answered when she called. Mum ripped the cord and she was still shaking half an hour later. Kept saying, ‘Vultures,’ over and over. A news van came up to the top of the driveway one afternoon, a satellite dish poking out conspicuously from its roof. I was up in my room and I saw it creep up, stay for a moment, then drive away. Dad sleeps most of the day, goes out to the shed late in the afternoon and stays there until late at night to listen to the cricket. Angus is out most of the time. Probably up in the mountains or out at the observatory, who knows.
In the mornings I collect the paper and take it up to my room. Dad’s name is in there now, going from ‘a local man’ to ‘council worker Robert Underhill.’ They’re still not calling him a suspect, because they can’t, but it’s clear the town’s already made up its mind.
‘Clancy of the Undertow’ is a complex, slow unravelling … of a town, a girl and an investigation. There were parts that reminded me of Robert Drewe’s ‘The Shark Net’, and more than once I found myself quietly comparing Currie to Raymond Carver, particularly for his short story "So Much Water So Close to Home" (which the film ‘Jindabyne’ was based on).
Currie has written about his transition from an Adult author to a Young Adult one – and to some extent, I had this article of his in the back of my head while reading his book (not least because I loved this metaphor: “equivalent of Superman trying to write his memoirs with a Kryptonite pen”). He said he stumbled across his 15-year-old protagonist, and then didn’t stop writing once he found her … I was thinking about this because a plot like ‘Clancy’ has, about the death of two local teens and impact on the family of the accused local man, has such multi-faceted possibilities. But there’s real power and impact in 15-year-old Clancy to be the one telling this story.
Clancy has a crush on the local hot girl. Her family was already dysfunctional, long before her father became front-page local news and the eyes of the town turned on them … There’s a sense when reading Clancy’s turbulent year, that we’re witnessing a young woman being forged in flames here. The story certainly had lots of possibilities, but coming from Clancy’s first-person point of view heightens everything to a delicious, heart-sickening tension – that this huge and devastating event has happened right when Clancy’s in the middle of figuring herself and her world out, to suddenly have it all ripped away from her.
Morally complex YA, yo!
I’ve said Currie’s storytelling reminded me of Robert Drewe and Raymond Carver ... allow me to add one more; ‘Clancy of the Undertow’ also feels like it could be a Paul Kelly song – all Australian setting and moral questions, being told by a young woman stuck in the middle of her life. Currie may not have consciously set out to write a YA novel – but I’m glad he found 15-year-old Clancy, and I hope he comes back to this readership who will welcome any new words from him with open arms.