Despite its more serious subtext, Amnesia is a very funny book and is Peter Carey at the height of his powers. I read it a second time because I wanted to savour it again for its structure and its writing. Carey doesn’t put a word or sentence in the wrong place – they all have meaning and purpose within the narrative. His Australian readers, and especially those who have an interest in the state of our nation, or Carlton, will absolutely love his acerbic take on the media and power, and his nostalgic stroll through Carlton of the seventies.

Gaby Baillieux releases a computer virus that cracks US software controlling the locks of our prisons and detention centres, opening all their doors. Her virus also opens doors in the US, and the US is baying for her blood when she is bailed by millionaire property developer Woody Townes. Townes is of the left but is ostentatiously rich and used to getting his own way. He cajoles and blackmails his old journalist mate, Felix Moore, who he has known since the Whitlam days, to write a hagiography on Gaby. As Felix delves into Gaby’s life, he recollects the era of the early seventies when the new Whitlam government heralded a brave new age.

One of Carey’s devices is to weave real people, places and incidents into his story, but often they are distorted or made into caricatures. Along with Carey’s black humour, this gives the book strength and credibility as these are familiar characters, or appear to be so, but with a sort of slapstick quality. Carey’s depiction of the places Gaby spent her early life – around Carlton and Coburg – are particularly evocative. As Australia stands at some kind of crossroad, seemingly ready to abandon the grand visions of universal health care and access to education, Amnesia is the novel for our times.

Mark Rubbo