Sydney writer Madeleine Gray’s debut novel, Green Dot, has been read widely since its publication in 2023, largely due to word-of-mouth recommendation. Gray has since published a second novel, Chosen Family, a book I have yet to read.
Hera Stephen is the first-person narrator of Green Dot. She is in her mid-twenties, holds three arts degrees, and is reluctant to join the workforce which she views with a jaundiced eye. Despite her contempt for screen-addicted commuters, she relies on her phone for most of her own communication, fixated by the green dot that tells her someone is online and typing her a message. This is especially true as she waits to hear from the married man she attracts at the newspaper office where she works as a content manager.
The outstanding feature of Green Dot is Hera’s voice as narrator. Hera papers over her many doubts and fears with humour. This is such a funny book that it is easy to forget that Madeleine Gray is writing about the growing despair of a young woman who becomes emotionally trapped in a relationship with no future.
One technique Gray uses to humorous effect is likening something to something else in an original way. These examples are taken out of context, but they are still quite striking. Relating her experiences at high school, Hera says: ‘the conversation would flow on like a bounce pass from a wing defence to a nimble centre.’ Her descriptions of her colleagues at work are particularly amusing. She reports ‘when “news” happens there’s a charge in the air, all the journalists puffing up like inflating jumping castles.’ The sheer volume of such unusual comparisons provides much amusement.
Like Sally Rooney’s novels, Green Dot tells the ubiquitous story of an affair between a young woman and a married man who has no intention of leaving his wife. This is not a spoiler. Hera tells us as much in the first sentence of the book. Green Dot adds an extra element to this story with a quirky humour which makes it a pleasure to read.
