- The Octopus and I, by Erin Hortle. Allen & Unwin. $29.99.
Set in Tasmania, near Eaglehawk Neck, The Octopus and I focuses on a small group of inhabitants, primarily Lucy, who has survived cancer, and is trying to live with her reconstructed body.
More particularly, her breast reconstruction after surgery makes her uncomfortable, and after an accident, she decides to live without breasts at all. Through Lucy's eyes, and those of others, the natural environment itself becomes a major character in the novel.
We hear from animals themselves as the story unfolds; the thoughts and actions of octopi, mutton-birds and seals play as important a part in the work as those of the human characters.
We see how the same animals are killed, whether in macho displays, an illegal "white people" hunt for mutton-birds, or in the day-to-day work of an abalone fisherman.
Scenes of octopus hunting (which will leave many readers squirming with discomfort) are contrasted with an impulsive act to save a single octopus.
Through the novel, an impulsive or emotion-based way that we can treat other creatures is contrasted with a more rule-based approach, voiced through, and embodied in, different characters.
The impulsive actions of two characters result in the death of a man. One of the people responsible for his death refers back to the man's own unthinking attitude in slaughtering a seal, as if to minimise the gravity of his own risky behaviour.
An older woman asserts that "you can't look at things like that" when asked to compare the killing of a pregnant octopus with that of a pregnant dog. "Well, because if you did, you wouldn't ever do anything, would you?" she adds.
The law itself is administered by a particularly unthinking and unpleasant man, so that even where it seems right that someone is held to account for their actions, further ambiguity arises.
Hortle creates a vivid world to explore these issues. The questions are embedded in the story of Lucy's relationship with her lover, another man, and her friends.
The author has a real gift for dialogue, and the prose is often beautiful, as it shifts between points of view both human and animal.
Just as tattoos placed on Lucy's body seem to become alive as she moves, the book provides multiple, shifting ways of looking at things.
Erin Hortle's debut novel is a remarkable achievement, raising important questions of our relationships with animals, as well as with other people.
- Penelope Cottier wrote a PhD at the ANU on images of animals in the works of Charles Dickens.
