Dorothy Porter, D. (1994) The Monkey's Mask. South Melbourne: Hyland House Publishing.

 

Dorothy Porter, D. (1994) The Monkey's Mask. South Melbourne: Hyland House Publishing.

 

Summary

The book is, as the inner flap describes it, 'a poem 264 pages long'. Jill Fitzpatrick is a private detective who's been hired to find 'Micky' Norris, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Norris. Jill is a lesbian and, in the course of her investigation, falls in love with Mickey's poetry tutor, Diana Maitland. There's lots of sex and Jill discovers that Diana is sexually involved with Tony.

 

My comments

It took me an hour to read this book, which is just as well because I wouldn't have spent much more time on it.

 

On the back cover, Helen Elliot (Australian Bookseller and Publisher) wrote, 'Sensational … Porter's language is dazzling (sic) bright: it soars and glides, not only with erotic charge, but with a street-smart wit. … A book to rave about, to gasp at the daring, the beauty - and the wit.'

 

Here's an example (also from the back cover):

Mickey's bedroom

         in her parents' home

smells of floor polish

         and absence

 

'I'll have to tear

         this room apart'

 

I tell her mother

         who frowns

                  at my gorilla hands

 

In my view, the 'poetry' is an affectation trying to breathe some life into a boring, shallow story with stereotype characters: 'Private detectives are, of necessity, hard-hearted and cynical, but here's one who falls in love while on a job. Oh, by the way - she's a lesbian.'