A Vietnam war veteran, Martin is living an isolated and detached life in Melbourne when a request from another veteran to keep quiet about a shocking wartime incident stirs up Martin's memories and has him questioning his life and how he lives. Martin's days are defined by a series of complicated relationships: with his two veteran friends, the bloke-ish Ron and the dying Colin; his son Frank and Frank's Vietnamese partner Maria; his ex-wife Moira; and his incapacitated former lover Nora. Struggling with guilt over his actions, or lack of actions, during the war, his relationship with Nora, a gambling addiction and the effect his wartime service may have had on his son, Martin is seeking some kind of peace and spiritual truth. Ultimately, however, I found there were too many threads in Martin's life for me to engage fully with this book. Khan attempts to draw in a lot of different themes while making the very valid point that the effects of war do not stop when soldiers lay down their guns. This 'issue-overload' marred for me an otherwise finely written novel with elegant and very real characterisation.

Eliza Metcalfe is AB&P's editorial assistant.

Tags: adib khan