Woman of the Future

Ouch! I have read 4 other novels by the author and have loved them. Two had won the Miles Franklin award and in my opinion are classics of Australian literature. A Woman of the Future also won the Miles Franklin so with that my expectations were high. But........ I found this astonishingly tedious at times. As usual there is the challenging thought provoking prose, the usual dark and satirical humour and the comments on society that make the author so attractive when at his best. The satirical use of those of us that are the Frees and those of us that are the Servers is a brilliant concept that differentiates societies classes. But it is the long winded pointlessness of long tracts of the book that kills the idea off for me. The second half of the book goes a touch over board on the act of sex as well. This book was released in 1980 and may have had impact back then but today less so. This was not meant to be a prudish comment. It is just that in todays day and age the shock value is less than it once was. I wonder if this book would even get shortlisted for an award such as the Miles Franklin nowadays and may have been “of it's time”. Oh well cant win them all and will not stop me digging into the rest of the authors oeuvre.