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POSTED: 23 AUGUST 2009

Gary Crew, The Children's Writer

(Fourth Estate; 240pp paperback; $27.99)

Interesting. Gary Crew, well known author of fiction for young adults and children, has written a novel for adults about Charlie, a young man who becomes a children’s writer after a sinister set of events revolving around Sebastian Chanteleer, an eccentric charlatan and has-been children's writer.

Is that staying a bit too close to home? Who cares. The Children’s Writer is a good read.

Charlie is experiencing a lot. His first adult relationship is floundering and the transition to independence, dealing with thoughts and feelings that require a new reflectiveness and maturity, are driving him to drink.

Charlie is still unsure whether he is a goofball loser or a man with a brain and a future. How he handles Sebastian’s devious seduction of Lootie (the beguiling but immature and naive girlfriend) confronts the flawed relationship with his now dead mother and deepens his childhood relationship with best friend Rory, proves that Charlie is well on his way to the latter.

Crew uses the construct of an alter-ego “adult” Charlie who debates and challenges the goofball Charlie along his journey to wisdom. It works, and through this mechanism, Crew is able to consider some interesting points on the role of children's fiction.

Crew is an adept writer, and his fans won’t be disappointed in this story, which explores with fun and compassion the complex passage to what is called being a “grown-up”.

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