Book Club - Patrick Holland’s Oblivion

Patrick Holland is a novelist and short story writer. He is the author of seven books, most notably The Mary Smokes Boys (2010), which was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. Patrick’s new novel is Oblivion. In a bar that wouldn’t let you in, sit men you can’t afford to drink with. These men make the deals that shape our world.  One such man is on the make. He’s seeking a fortune that will allow him to escape and is conscious that this is not a game for old men. If he can survive a few more months, he might just be able to escape into his own oblivion. … Oblivion transports the reader into a world far above the everyday. We follow an unnamed protagonist as he moves throughout the one percent brokering the sort of deals that make the world turn. The story opens into a whirlwind of airports and bars as we follow our man from one business meeting to the next. Our hero, if he is in fact the hero, lives in these liminal spaces where he can meet with the influential and this disappears to the next occasion. The settings are lavish and the movers and shakers are aware of their privilege. As we come to know our man, although never his name, we discover that he is on a personal mission of deliverance. The power wielded by those around is not so attractive as it is a means to disconnect. He is looking to make money fast and then get out. From the sleepless nights and the drugs and booze, he is looking for his own personal oblivion. This demi-monde of powerful people offers access at all levels and our man has his official face as well as his scams. When he is manipulated into a government mission on the same day he meets the most beautiful woman he can imagine it becomes certain that loyalties will be tested.  Oblivion is a stylish novel with a heart. I’ve drawn a picture of a pacy thriller and that is certainly in there, but the novel also concerns itself with why we do what we do. From the outset the reader's eyes are drawn to the sky. To the semi-charmed world of high flyers who feel they cannot be touched. In this world where anything (it seems) is possible there is a tangible unease in our protagonist's mind. We quickly learn he is not planning on growing old and so it is even more enthralling when is drawn into attachments. The pace of the plotting is juxtaposed with the interior world of a man who isn’t sure if any of it matters. As we meet other’s convictions our protagonist deftly sidesteps offering anything so gauche as an opinion. But in trying to opt out he is vulnerable to being caught by something that might truly matter to him. Oblivion is a treat with its sumptuous locations and for the balance it strikes being international espionage and matters of our interior world. Come for the cocktails but stay for the conversation. Oblivion is a novel of ideas with an edge.