Her Fidelity by Katharine Pollock
Her Fidelity (2022) by Katharine Pollock is a witty coming-of-age story infused with music and culture, set in Brisbane’s only independent record store. Described as "High Fidelity with a feminist twist,” this book follows Kathy’s personal journey from the company of grimy men she calls her colleagues and mates, to the world of music unlimited by sexist ideals.
Kathy has worked at beloved Brisbane indie record store Dusty’s Records for half of her life. Surrounded by men who are either actively misogynistic, or at the very least complicit in the actions of what Kathy and her friends call the ‘Bastard Bingo,’ she is beginning to be fed up with the course of her life over the past 15 years.
The book documents Kathy’s personal growth, which begins when her two close friends, Mel and Alex, start moving on and up in life, and after a decade’s worth of workplace sexism has slowly but surely been crushing her spirit. Once Mel, the only other female employee at Dusty’s, decides to move to Sydney to pursue both a dream and a girl, Kathy is forced to take stock of her own life and her many shortcomings.
Kathy is sarcastic, self-involved and witty – as a narrator, she can lean into being annoying, but is always quick, smart and opinionated. Her narration is laced with “disingenuously witty repartee,” making her a character you want to stick with. Pollock’s writing elevates Kathy from comic relief side-character to feminist heroine in charge of her own destiny by giving her exactly what funny girls in media usually lack: an insight into her doubts and vulnerabilities. As a result, Kathy feels as real and authentic as Pollock’s Brisbane is, with its steaming concrete and perspiring beers, snaking river and many recurring characters that fill its streets.
Her Fidelity is laced with pop culture references, from music to movies to books, and interwoven through the narrative is a soundtrack of indie bands and edgy countercultural musicians doing what they’re good at: sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. This atmosphere is exactly what clouds Kathy’s judgement for so long – it isn’t until the advancement of streaming devices and a JB Hi-Fi on every corner that the pink fog begins to wear off and the men who run the store are once again visible for exactly what they are – which isn’t pretty.
They repeatedly rub up against her, make suggestive comments and belittle her for simply being of the opposite gender. To begin with, she can’t help but go along with it.
“Ah, the giggle. I know it shouldn't be what upsets me the most. After all, sometimes all you can do to avoid eliciting angry calls of ‘hairy-legged feminazi' is to knock out a quick ingratiating chuckle.”
As the narration progresses, Her Fidelity walks us through the journey that most women go through as part of their own coming-of-age story – namely, the realisation that just because something is liked by women doesn’t necessarily make that thing inferior, and that being one of the girls can be even more empowering than pretending to be one of the boys.
The one unconvincing part of Her Fidelity is that it takes Kathy, raised by a sexually empowered mother and a fun, socialist father, 29 years to figure this out – although better late than never.
“And booze? Hoo boy. From the first time I shared an after-work pint with the Dusty's boys and heard the magical words ‘you're not like other girls', I realised that beer was an easy way to assimilate into their club, and to be the manic pixie dream girl that all of them wanted me to be. Cue nauseous gagging, and not from too much booze. For years, I swallowed both beer and the idea that I somehow wasn't like the remaining 52 per cent of the human race. Of course, I didn't know any of this at the time. I ate and drank so I didn't have to be self-reflective, no duh! But as I sat down to my dinner of a lettuce burger (a burger in a bun with lettuce inside is technically a lettuce burger), sweet potato fries, and a Coke Zero, because health, it occurred to me that I am like other girls. I'm just like them. And how rad is that?”
These revelations do not come as any sort of a surprise to the reader – at least they didn’t to me – and so Her Fidelityonly hangs out around the periphery of feminist discourse, without truly plunging in headfirst. This could be the downfall of a book with aspirations like Her Fidelity, but its saving grace is precisely its distinctive delivery that makes it different from other versions of the same story: it barely even tries, and as a result, the reader is taken on a fun, music-filled ride that delivers exactly what it promises. Women and music – in all different shapes and sizes.
Her Fidelity is the perfect pick-me-up, a hilarious heroine’s journey to rock bottom and back, studded with enough indie rock and pop culture references to make it a worthwhile companion for a heart-warming case of nostalgia.
Many thanks to Penguin for a review copy.
Check out our interview with Katharine here.
Fruzsina Gál is an aspiring writer, born in Hungary but living in Australia. She has been a reader all her life, and her first short story, 'The Turul' was published in Griffith University's 2018 anthology, Talent Implied. Her writing is often focussed on identity and the effects of immigration on the self. You can find her online at www.fruzsinagal.com or @thenovelconversation.