Tuvalu (novel)
![]() First edition | |
Author | Andrew O'Connor |
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Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Allen and Unwin, Australia |
Publication date | 2006 |
Publication place | Australia |
Media type | Print Paperback |
Pages | 347 pp |
ISBN | 1-74114-871-5 |
OCLC | 74946085 |
A823.4 22 | |
LC Class | PR9619.4.O286 T88 2006 |
Tuvalu is a 2006 novel by Australian author Andrew O'Connor. It won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under 35.
Plot introduction
The novel is set mostly in Tokyo and tells the story of a young Australian teacher of English, and his relationship with two women, Tilly, another Australian English teacher, and Mami, a Japanese hotel heiress. It is told in first-person.
Explanation of the novel's title
Tuvalu is a small Pacific island nation. It doesn't appear in the novel except as an idea. Tilly describes it to Noah as follows:
I guess for me Tuvalu's always done the trick. I've never been anywhere near it. I've never even studied it. For all I know it might well have sunk. But that one word's taken on a meaning all of its own. [...] Haven't you ever once looked into the future and pictured a different life for yourself, made it a destination in some abstract way? A place in which you are content and from which you never look forward, except maybe to hope for more of the same?[1]
Awards
- 2007: Commonwealth Writers' Prize SE Asia and South Pacific, Best First Novel: Winner
- 2005: The Australian/Vogel Literary Award: Winner
Reviews
- Delaney, Brigid (2005) "The loneliness of the long-distance writer pays off", The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 January 2005
- Dooley, Gillian (2006) Review of 'Tuvalu' by Andrew O'Connor, recorded for Writers Radio, Radio Adelaide, 6 October 2006
References
- ^ O'Connor, Andrew (2006) Tuvalu, p. 245