Book review: This is Life
BOOK: This is Life
AUTHOR: Dan Rhodes
PUBLISHER: Allen and Unwin
RRP: $29.99
DAN Rhodes has established a reputation as a writer of quirky, offbeat stories.
This is his fifth novel and continues his distinctive prose style with his usual touches of tongue-in-cheek humour.
It's a warm, light-hearted read if you can suspend disbelief over his characters' antics for long enough.
Young art student Aurelie Renard is the pivotal figure in a madcap round of adventures which begins by inadvertently hitting a baby in its pram while she is engaged in an artistic manoeuvre.
Mayhem ensues, and a host of kooky characters is woven into this weird, largely implausible story.
Rhodes' imagination knows no bounds, but needs a firmer grip on his editing.
The setting, Paris, is never really brought to life.
Despite many funny moments, the whole never really hangs together or engages me.
