Scrublands by Chris Hammer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hands from Hell

The main elements of the story: Heat (intense), Sex (non-graphic), Media (crass), Politics (dirty), Religion (not too serious), Dead Animals (cows, kangaroos, and cats) and Murders (many, apparently unmotivated). All these elements are repeated again and again by several or more characters, presumably so that the reader doesn’t forget how hellish the Riverina of New South Wales really is.

Oh, and one more element: Hands (one pair), belonging to the journalist in whom all the other elements connect. The hands are variously described as insipid, useless, limp, purposeless, pathetic, ageless, old and young, sullied and innocent, the hands of a witness and the hands of a note taker. They appear unaccountably in every chapter. As a clue? As a literary trope? As a running gag? Or just a concise symbol of all the “greed and hate, guilt and hope” as well as sundry other emotions produced by those hands? Every kind of journalistic schmaltz available in one fictional package as it were.

Actually the whole of Scrublands is clearly an extended screenplay. The repetitions are director’s notes for each scene to remind the actors why they’re there and the audience what the complicated plot is about. The largely irrelevant details of movement - walking/driving from point A to point B; opening/closing doors, sight angles, etc.- are instructions for the cameramen - wide shot to close up, panning, context-setting, etc. And the pace between action and interior dialogue is perfect for film although often excruciatingly slow for print. The detailed descriptions of interiors are plans for the cinematic scene-creators. A complete production package therefore.

So keep an eye out for ‘a major motion picture’ in the very near future. The Aussie-isms should go viral. I’m feeling Alex O’Loughlin for the lead but I’m open on that. if anyone has a clue what those hands are really about, I’d love to chat.

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