Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

Inexperience and other stories by Anthony Macris

by
December 2016, no. 387

Inexperience and other stories by Anthony Macris

UWA Publishing $24.99 pb, 230 pp, 9781742588704

Inexperience and other stories by Anthony Macris

by
December 2016, no. 387

Given the Australian propensity for travel, it is odd that the global wanderings of our citizens are not much explored in literary fiction, which is still in the anguished throes of self-examination, arguably stuck in a loop. How refreshing, then, to read Anthony Macris’s fourth book, Inexperience and Other Stories, a short volume which drops the reader into the discomfiting world of an Australian couple overseas.

Our unnamed narrator and his wife, Carol, are determined not to fall into the classic European tourist traps. Fed up with Australia’s ‘shabby modernity’, they arrive in Madrid, which turns out to be not nearly as glamorous as they imagined. After an embarrassing incident the couple decamp to Toledo, where they intend to view several masterpieces by El Greco. It does not take long for cracks to appear in their relationship. This leads to separation and a complete breakdown of their European adventure.

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.