David’s parents have split, and while both of them settle in with new partners, they give their 13 year old son the brush off, sending him to stay with his elderly grandparents. David’s grandfather, Jimmy, is a World War II veteran; a survivor of the Changi POW camp and the construction of the Thai-Burma railway. Jimmy spends much of his time at the local RSL with a small group of other Jewish veterans, drinking and slinging lyrical grenades at each other to block out the memories. It isn’t working for Jimmy, and slowly, he begins to tell his grandson the story of the war. He will make one last attempt to still the ghosts of the past by giving them a home at last – by building a ‘spirit house’ like those he saw in Thailand so many years ago.
Mark Dapin writes a regular column for The Age’s Good Weekend magazine, and won the Ned Kelly Award for first fiction with his crime novel, King of the Cross. Dapin is also editor of The Penguin Book of Australian War Writing, which explains his accuracy and insight when writing about the conditions experienced by soldiers and prisoners of war.
Spirit House is probably the best example of what a fiction writer can do for fact – not only bring it alive, but drag it to its feet and boot-camp it into the best shape of its life – that I have ever experienced. And ‘experienced’ is a more accurate word to apply to Spirit House than ‘read’.
Spirit House is worth reading on so many levels; it’s difficult to focus on just one. Dapin takes the novelist’s goals of heart, humour, and significance and shows off with them. This book is about pain – significant, lifetime pain – and it is also incredibly funny. The narrative weaves between the present day story and Jimmy’s recollections of the war, and both stories are equally compelling. The present day story is at least three snort-laughs to a page (Dapin must, as his old men are, be a fan of the Marx Brothers). Spirit House also accurately captures times and circumstances that are, inevitably (and thankfully), not understood by a younger generation; yet it is also about a younger generation misunderstood by the elder. Dapin takes his time revealing one side of the coin, and then deftly flips over to the other in just half a page.
There are many reasons to read Spirit House. Decide on one after reading it.
Rating: Four and a half stars
Spirit House
By Mark Dapin
Macmillan Australia, 359pp
RRP $32.99
