Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser
Scary Monsters (2021) is a dual proposition, examining the past and the future in 1980s France and near-future Australia. Written by twice winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, Michelle de Kretser, this book comprises two separate stories, splitting the book in half and presenting the reader not only with two beautiful covers, but also with a choice: “what comes first, the future or the past?”
Choosing to read this in one order over the other certainly influences the experience, but the end result is the same: a profoundly smart, satiric and thrilling novel that examines the three “scary monsters” at hand in these stories – racism, misogyny and ageism.
In the story prefaced by the cover with a cherry, we meet the young Lili, whose parents had migrated to Australia from Asia quite some years prior, and who is now working as a language teacher in the south of France. Her narrative follows the everyday life of someone feeling out of place wherever she goes – amongst her new-found friends, on trips to other European cities, in her apartment being creeped out by her downstairs neighbour or struggling with cold and loneliness. On her outings, she is routinely presented with reminders of her skin colour and the fragility of her womanhood, and she regularly observes the horrible treatment of North African immigrants. Lili struggles to become “A Bold, Intelligent Woman,” all the while trying to make the most of her time away from a place she now has to call home.
“Loneliness was shameful. The thing to do was to transform it into solitude – but how? Solitude was lofty and literary, the realm of men and exceptional women.”
In the other story, prefaced by the cover of a cherry blossom tree, Lyle is still trying to assimilate into a near-future, post-pandemic, dystopian Australia, many years after having migrated there with his wife from Asia. He works for a sinister government department, “evaluating” other minorities and reporting on those who might need to be deported. Lyle’s life goal is to be as nondescript and indispensable as possible, staying under the radar – which is not always easy with his eccentric mother, his two wayward children and his ambitious wife. Lyle’s fear of standing out in any way gives way to some chilling decisions. Trying to blend into his surroundings, he is transported into a way of being that is the most in line with being Australian in this future – often, he doesn't even realise the weight of all he’s left behind.
“‘Intergenerational living’s one of those fantastic ethnic things,’ Gavina informed us. ‘It’s like being able to squat on your heels – it comes naturally to people like you. Westerners lost the knack before… microwaves. Our culture is completely different, I’m afraid.’”
Where Lili’s story still heeds the promise of possibility, smuggling in the fun and recklessness of youth, Lyle’s tends towards disturbing doom, revealing a hypocrisy so deep it feels suffocating. Scary Monsters has an overriding sense of anger and urgency to it, while also giving over to satirical glee at all the right moments. Reading it in the order from past to future, from Lili to Lyle, I also got a sense of covert nihilism creeping in – not through the narration itself, but from the message these stories transmit through beautifully tragic interpersonal observation.
At the centre of both stories is the experience of migration – of moving, in these cases, from unnamed Asian countries to Australia, and then of trying to make sense of this new world, whether that’s in the past or the future. Both Lili and Lyle experience undercurrents of discrimination based on the colour of their skin, and this shared modality gives Scary Monsters a very relatable and relevant frame. The scary monster rearing its ugly head throughout both stories is racism, driving home de Kretser’s personal experiences as a Sri Lankan living in Australia.
Throughout this book, de Kretser’s writing is laced with satire, ripe with sensory details, and heavy with the weight of existential complexity. Both stories are brimming with references to grand artists and thinkers, examining their work or their concepts through the lens of Lili and Lyle. Alongside references to David Bowie, courtesy of the titular album, there is Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, John Berger. Just as Marxism and Existentialism overlap across the two narratives, so do de Kretser’s narrators and the works of art and artists they self-reflexively turn to for guidance.
If you enjoy a well-told tale of satiric socio-political commentary with episodes of chilling insight into the future and a penchant for literary intertextuality, then Scary Monsters is the perfect read.
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.