Author Greg McGee has put his pseudonym Alix Bosco to rest and
re-emerged from the publisher with a cracking new novel under his
own name. The electric lime and pink cover serves up the first
clue: Love and Money is set in 1987. It's boom time on the share
market and money is flying around the stratosphere, just waiting to
fall into the hands of those with the nerve to reach high enough to
grab it.
Skirting around the periphery of the 'Greed is Good' set is Mike, a
middle-aged actor and ex romantic lead, eking his way through life
with a clapped out VW, a job in community theatre and three kids to
three different mothers.
The one thing he has going for him is his girlfriend of three
years, Louise; she's climbing to dizzying heights on the corporate
ladder and it's not long before the inevitable happens - her world
of mirror glass and paper palaces is at odds with Mike's fading
glory. When Louise exchanges Mike for someone with a lot more
leverage, he has to fall back on his own resources. But how far can
three exes, three children and relatively good intentions carry him
in the glossy world of yuppies and fast money in the insatiable
late 80s?
Set against the vivid backdrop of New Zealand's largest city in the year of a rugby world cup, the year of an election and the year the shit hit the fan, McGee's portrait of the era is rich, funny and bitingly sharp. How I enjoyed revisiting McGee's Auckland of 20 odd years ago; as Mike's adventures, kids and exes wheel us through familiar suburbs, some unchanged to us now; others so altered.
McGee also weaves in politics, boldly reinventing Lange's election campaign of 87 from the perspective of a (fictional) political sidekick, Sean - who's married to one of Mike's exes. All the while, the shadow of October 87's market crash looms over the events of the novel, the nation and Mike himself. The themes of love, corporate greed and ruthlessness still resonate in today's news, lending Love and Money a disturbingly contemporary flavour.
This is a novel that's crying out to be made into a movie or
tele-feature. It's a vibrant, bittersweet slice of a more wide-eyed
time in New Zealand history, and one loveable rogue battling
through at the heart of it all. Love and Money is highly
recommended.
Love and Money: A Novel by Greg McGee
RRP
$29.99
Publisher: Penguin NZ
Available: 30 March