Joel & Cat Set the Story Straight

Nick Earls & Rebecca Sparrow (joint authors)

Penguin Books, Australia: 2007; 244pp

ISBN: 9780143006916

Genres: humour,realistic fiction

Issues: family, friendship, identity

A very funny, cleverly written novel that explores not only the confused relationship between the two characters but also the nature of narrative.

Cat is the intelligent, blonde best friend of Emma, whom Joel - clever, good-natured and funny - dated for three months in Year 10. Eighteen months later he still doesn't understand why they broke up as it was Cat who told him he'd been dumped.

Forced into unwilling partnership for two weeks, Cat and Joel do their very best to make storytelling life as difficult as possible for one another. Cat starts with an Austen-esque paragraph with much description and only hints of potential narrative. Joel responds with a Matthew Riley style action-packed ‘guns and parachutes' excerpt that is rather short on context.

A fierce battle ensues as these two intelligent Year 12 students use their writing to express their opinions of one another. As if matters are not sufficiently complicated, the pair is horrified to find that Joel's mum and Cat's father have started dating. To prevent this disastrous match, Cat and Joel find that they must genuinely co-operate. In the process they discover that hate, like love, can be a very complicated emotion.
The dual first-person narratives broaden the usual narrow perspective of recount. The embedded commentary about narrative structure is amusing and thought-provoking as Joel and Cat react both as readers and writers. The Mars/Venus differences in thinking add humour and tension to the overall story arc, as do the pleasantly normal, complex relationships Cat and Joel have with their families and friends.

Mostly, though, and on many levels, this is a story about love - fictional, familial, fraternal, platonic and romantic.

A thoroughly entertaining read.