The Bogan Book Club, by John Larkin

James has PhD in Literature and is an ex high school teacher, currently working as a cleaner in his brother Larry’s factory since being released from prison. To try to dig James out of his shell, Larry starts a book club for the characters on the factory floor. There James gets to use his teaching skills as he makes friends with this group of unlikely souls whom he finds have hidden depths beneath their bogan exteriors. We don’t discover what sent James to prison until he feels ready to share with the book club the tragedy and hubris that led to his downfall and the end of his marriage. From this point the story suddenly turns into an unlikely romance tale and becomes very silly. Extreme stereotypes and turns of phrase work a bit too hard to establish the bogan credentials of this novel. The strapline – Don’t judge a book (bogan) by its cover sums up the underlying moral well. It touches on some dark themes but treads lightly. This is the male version of chick lit – dick lit?