The Last Summer of Hair

The Last Summer of Hair. Great title.

“What the tram stop incident rendered undeniable was that the dream which took him to the city had finally run its course. Not simply that he had failed to achieve what he set out to, but that he no longer had the desire to pursue it any further. To be the man in the ad campaign. The one who uses hair dye and wilful delusion to obscure the truth of time. The older dude who pursues younger partners. Who flings himself ridiculously at the clay feet of youth, mortgages his self-respect for pretty faces and firm flesh. The hypocritical cynic, still begging for morsels of status and sexual approval. Still doing the same old vanity shit that leaves him feeling sad and alone and useless and old. Here on the porch, coffee cup resting warmly in his hands, birds twittering sweetly, he is savouring a modicum of distance from the buzzing, busy life he once put so much energy into. He knows that nothing can compel him to return to it, only the fear of change and the ease of the familiar.”


Antonio ‘Tony' Timone was not a good fit for his coastal home town of Bravery Bay. Bravery Bay? Yes. Australian towns that younger people run from are sometimes portrayed as these bush towns, when in truth the far majority of the population live in cities and the coastal areas. Is Bravery Bay synonymous with Summer Bay of Home and Away kitsch? Maybe. The Bravery Bays of this world did not fit the youthful good looks of the sand surf sun fakery of Summer Bay. Bravery Bay was the Australian coastal town during the 1980s and prior. No matter what, small-town conservatism made life difficult for those that did not fit the norm. Many moved to the city. Author Paul Ransom's character-based novel explores the need to move, but also that that move can in the long term prove that we maybe forced to return to our roots. Antonio ‘Tony' Timone was a bit to suave, good-looking, flash for the local generational cockies. He moved to the big smoke and made a slight name for himself, leaving the youthful love of his life Christa behind.

But even that slight success leaves a bitter taste on his forced return to Bravery Bay.

“He wants to let her know that his unease is more than mere snobbery, more than disappointment or bitterness. Yet, he realises that this would be pointless - not because she believes the industries breathless hype, but because she does not. What is on the table is a deal, nothing more. The signatories could be Tony, even the client, they are simply placeholders. Examples of a market mechanism. Product, model. Payer, payee.Ah, so that's it, he thinks, penny dropping. The inherent dehumanisation of life to a rectangle.”


Inherent dehumanisation is not the point of this novel, it is an exploration of lost youth and how we deal with that, but just maybe another point is we are all still expected to conform to the norms of our tribe and that can lead to disappointment if we fail. As to disappointment, that depends on how one handles that.

A character driven novel and should appeal to anyone that likes that kind of read.