New Pearls in the Magic Garage. "Magic Garage", by John Donnelly. [review]
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Date
2002-06
Authors
Broinowski, Alison
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Publisher
Australian Book Review
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Abstract
John Donnelly’s "Magic Garage", with a stunning cover by Amelia Mollett, comes as a welcome surprise. Donnelly the insider prefers to avoid the foreigners’ Jakarta. Knowing his way around, he takes you off the highways and into the alleys and canals of Setiabudi, a fringe settlement targeted by corrupt developers and the even more corrupt army. You meet the ‘little people’ of Setiabudi who get in their way; you taste their salads and satays, sample their herbal medicines, smell their drains, see them bleed. All Donnelly’s ordinary people are manipulated and deceived by the system, but they are no slouches at manipulating and deceiving each other, whether they deal in Amway, massage, holy water, secrets or sex.
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Keywords
Book review, Australian fiction
Citation
Broinowski, Alison 2002. New Pearls in the Magic Garage. Review of "Magic Garage" by John Donnelly. 'Australian Book Review', No 242, June/July, 59.