Tuvalu (novel)

Tuvalu
Author Andrew O'Connor
Country Australia
Language English
Genre Novel
Publisher Allen and Unwin, Australia
Publication date
2006
Media type Print Paperback
Pages 347 pp
ISBN 1-74114-871-5
OCLC 74946085
A823.4 22
LC Class PR9619.4.O286 T88 2006


Tuvalu is a 2006 novel by Australian author Andrew O'Connor. It won The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for unpublished manuscripts by writers under 35.

Plot introduction

The novel is set mostly in Tokyo and tells the story of a young Australian teacher of English, and his relationship with two women, Tilly, another Australian English teacher, and Mami, a Japanese hotel heiress. It is told in first-person.

Explanation of the novel's title

Tuvalu is a small Pacific island nation. It doesn't appear in the novel except as an idea. Tilly describes it to Noah as follows:

I guess for me Tuvalu's always done the trick. I've never been anywhere near it. I've never even studied it. For all I know it might well have sunk. But that one word's taken on a meaning all of its own. [...] Haven't you ever once looked into the future and pictured a different life for yourself, made it a destination in some abstract way? A place in which you are content and from which you never look forward, except maybe to hope for more of the same?[1]

Awards

Reviews

References

  1. O'Connor, Andrew (2006) Tuvalu, p. 245
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