Review of Overdue New Releases by Matt Johnson

If you asked, him Matt Johnson would probably say in his self-deprecating style* that his book was written for 20 something men still living in Wellington with their parents.  But he would be wrong. This is a sharp, funny book that works on all sorts of levels for a general readership – well worth looking out for.

The man character is a nice guy, a bit of a failure – failed dreams, failed relationships, still living at home at age 30, working in a video rental store in Wellington, New Zealand while his friends move on to better things.  The book tells the story of several weeks in his life, often using metaphors, language and scenarios from films – it’s almost worth keeping a list of these while reading as they’re very cleverly woven into the story.

It’s a painfully funny book, often managing to be both laugh-out-loud funny and achingly sad in the same paragraph and packed with observations that are so acute that you take a different look at the world around you after reading it.  It’s also an uncomfortable book, taking the skin off real life, its aspirations and dreams, the personality flaws people display despite themselves, especially with their guard down in the video store.  You find yourself wondering what life’s all about as you’re laughing or admiring the sneaky descriptions of Wellington.

There are not many authors who could pull this off while writing about disability and video store rentals – not usual subject areas for a writer in the first place and especially not combined.  Most of the main characters suffer from psychological problems (such as depression or dementia) or physical disability, the ‘slow walkers’ of life. Yet he makes these people very real and their disabilities funny in a warm and gentle way.  In fact, you only think of these as people with problems after finishing the book.

This is Matt Johnson’s first novel. It is slightly uneven at times, especially when it gets to the violent scene towards the end.  But the main problem I had was deciphering some of the 20-something New Zealand slang the main characters lapse into from time to time.  Not terrible -after all, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ was written in completely impenetrable slang and still maintained narrative drive!  But the language could be tempered somewhat for an international (or older!) readership.  There is a low key ending, which fits with the rest of the book, but some part of you just longs for the main character to escape Wellington, take that plane to Auckland, move to Paris, make a life for himself.

All in all I’d give it four stars out of five. This book has only been released in New Zealand so far but can be ordered online at  www.nzbooksabroad.com.  Well worth searching out. And watching out for the next novel.

*I’ve met him to speak to once!

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Tags: book recommendation, book review, Matt Johnson, Overdue New Releases