Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Coda (novel)

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Country
  
Australia

Publisher
  
Heinemann, Australia

Pages
  
188 pp

Author
  
Thea Astley

Preceded by
  
Reaching Tin River

Language
  
English

Publication date
  
1994

Originally published
  
1994

ISBN
  
0855615443

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Media type
  
Print (Hardback & Paperback)

Followed by
  
The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow

Similar
  
The Multiple Effects of, Girl with a Monkey, The Well Dressed Explorer, A Boat Load of Home Folk, Reaching Tin River

Coda is a 1994 novel by Australian author Thea Astley.

Contents

Plot summary

The novel is a satire on old age and concerns Kathleen Hackendorf who has reached the age when she must decide on where she is going to live until the end of her days. She begins to get lost when out of her house and discovers that the government requires her house as right-of-way for a road. She calls on her children for help, but they have their own selfish lives to lead: Shamrock (Sham) is the wife of a crooked politician and overly self-obsessed, and Brian is miserably married. Neither of them want anything to do with her and pack her off to Passing Downs retirement village.

But Kathleen refuses to be "rendered invisible" as a result of her age and fights to maintain her dignity.

Reviews

  • Publishers' Weekly: "...sparks of humor provide balance, humanizing a fictional landscape that otherwise promises little hope or compassion."
  • Kirkus Review: "A spare, sharp-boned bird of a novel, whose song is wrenchingly sad yet full of indomitable spirit...Astley is a marvelous writer and a hilarious, merciless, and poignant truth-teller."

    • References

    Coda (novel) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA