Book Review
The Albatross
by Nina Wan
Whistles, a rather pathetic nine-hole golf course somewhere in suburban Melbourne, is dying. It is about to be swallowed up by a developer and for Primrose Li, her newly discovered escape will soon be gone. Primrose doesn’t remember exactly why she ended up taking up golf, although an astute reader will put the pieces together soon enough. She knows she needed a reason to get out of the house, and her elderly, no-nonsense golf partner Harriet keeps her coming back again and again. At home, Primrose finds comfort in cleaning everything, again and again. Her hands, and her mental health, are falling apart.
With a sick husband, a career that has been taken away from her, and a neighbour who has become both best friend and worst enemy at the same time, Primrose can feel life spiralling away from her. The golf course and a weekend away with the neighbours, one of whom also happens to be an ex-boyfriend from her teenage years, might save her. They may also just make things even more complicated, but perhaps confronting the past and taking back control of her days is exactly what Primrose needs.
Reading Nina Wan’s debut novel was a true privilege. To begin with, it was a funny trip down memory lane, as Primrose and I are around the same age and her high school years roughly coincide with my own. (Anyone else remember the sweet pre-mixed bottled drink Sub Zero from the ’90s? I didn’t either until Primrose reminded me.) The wry humour throughout the book becomes the perfect antidote to the devastating undertone of Primrose’s story, as we find out more about why she is the way she is. And while the ending is somewhat ambiguous, it allows the reader to hope. Primrose is strong, she will survive and while she may never achieve an albatross on the golf course, she may yet manage a birdie.
