Dominic Knight

“Aaargh Executive summary of this book”

2020 has been an unprecedented* year.
It started (in Australia) with Black Summer* , thanks in part to the effects of Climate Change* which our Prime Minister Morrison, Scott* vehemently denied from his penthouse suite in Hawaii*.
And then came Covid-19*.
After a brief flirtation with the idea of Herd Immunity*, Australia embraced the policy of Flattening the Curve*, except for those Covidiots* like Jones, Alan*, Evans, Pete*, Karen* and Anti-Maskers* who alternately denied the pandemic was happening at all, and/or spruiked any number of Conspiracy Theories* about its origin, spread and threat level.
First urged to observe Handwashing* and Social Distancing*, and use an Elbow Bump* to greet one another to reduce the spread, any hope of limiting the virus’s impact went out the window when some idiot (-Border Force*) let the Ruby Princess* dock in NSW. With talk of Lockdown*, the Panic-Buying* began, resulting in an incomprehensible drought of Toilet Paper*. While the pollies declared we were All in this together*, they decided it was too dangerous for themselves to continue working, but insisted Essential Workers*, including doctors, nurses, teachers, bottle shop owners and Hairdressers*, did.
Shelter(ing) In Place*, Australians started a Podcast* or Baking* (until we ran out of flour), drank Delgona Coffee*, or indulged in a glass or five of Quarantini*, (but no Corona*), ate Lasagne* or Cake* that didn’t look like cake, watched Exotic, Joe* or TikTok* , all while Doomscrolling* on Twitter. Some of us were condemned to the torture that is Homeschooling* while simultaneously being stuck in the hell that is WFH* (Working From Home) via Zoom*. Victoria, and Andrews, Daniel* aka Dictator Dan* bore the brunt of Australia’s second wave after the virus escaped from Hotel Quarantine*, and unsurprisingly the Contact Tracing App* was no use at all.
Meanwhile Arden, Jacinda* led the world in the pandemic response, Sweden* got it very wrong, and under the (absence of) leadership from Donald Trump*, the United States* became a Clusterf*ck*, beset by Murder Hornets*, and riots associated with the Black Lives Matter* movement.
The Eurovision Song Contest*, the 2020 Olympics* in Tokyo, and Rowling, J.K.*, were cancelled. We lost Boseman, Chadwick*, Bryant, Kobe* and Bader, Ruth Ginsburg*. Bezos, Jeff* got richer, so too (temporarily) did those on Jobseeker*. Parasite* won a swag of awards. Biden, Joe* is America’s new President-elect, which means Kushner, Jared* will be looking for another job soon.

In short, 2020 has largely been a Dumpster Fire*. Dominic Knight’s 2020 Dictionary will ensure you won’t forget a single detail, and will be a handy reference for the grandkids history school project a few decades from now.
Here’s hoping 2021* will be better!

All the words marked with * , and more, along with their definition can be found in the 2020 Dictionary… (meer)

I finished this book just a few hours ago and ever since, it’s been going through my mind.

Why?

Could it be that the characters were brilliantly written, living humans inside my mind?

Definitely.

Could it be that this is one of the few books to make laugh (and snort) out loud?

Yes. (That’s a big thing. I’m not usually a snorter).

Could it be that I wasn’t sure to smile or cry at the ending?

Sure.

Man Vs Child really touched me. (Not in a creepy way). It just resonated with me – I’m a girl, a bit younger than the protagonist Dan but he’s going through exactly the same thing as me – all of my friends are getting married and then having babies. Dan’s single – he’s not in a relationship, but occasionally he thinks he’d like a child to call his own. However, he lives in a tiny apartment and regularly survives on minimal sleep in between stand-up comedy gigs and producing a breakfast radio program. Enter Penny, his almost girlfriend from high school, now newly single – with baby. Is this the family Dan secretly craves?

There are several awesome things about Man Vs Child, the first being Dan’s stand up. It reads as really funny, actually making me laugh out loud. I don’t usually get that with written funny stuff. If Dan was real, I’d definitely go to one of his shows. The second is commercial breakfast radio – thanks to Dom Knight, I can never listen to it again with thinking some cynical thoughts. The show Dan produces is with Silly Sally (who isn’t really silly) and Bry Dynamite, an older guy who thinks he’s sexy and funny (but is definitely not). There are people on radio I suspect the inspiration for Bry came from… Some of Bry’s stunts had me groaning aloud – they’re not even dad jokes. I loved reading about the fake pranks, setups and the almighty sponsors.

Another thing I loved was Dan. He is a lovely character – realistic, slightly geeky yet rather delightful. I have a bit of a fictional crush on him. Knight reveals all sides to Dan’s character, from the good to bad. He’s so honest and the thoughts he reveals are not something you’d usually read from an Australian bloke. We only see Penny’s character through Dan’s eyes and it’s interesting to see what is revealed as time goes on. Her child, Lloyd, is reasonably sweet, but how much can you develop a baby’s character?

I don’t want to give away the plot, but wow, some of it is a complete rollercoaster. In the last hour of reading, I went from happy to sad, and then finally astonished. The ending is magnificent – I didn’t know how to feel. Should I be happy? Sad? Worried? It’s a realistic ending and original.

Dom Knight is my generation’s Nick Earls and Nick Hornby. He writes books from a male perspective that have humour, heartbreak and wisdom.

I love it. More please! A 10 out of 10 read (and I don’t give those away lightly).

(If anyone decides to name their child Elspeth after reading this book; I think you’ve completely missed the point!)

Thanks to Random House Australia for the eGalley.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (meer)

I love The Chaser (if you’re not Australian, you might be more familiar with them as ‘the guys that crashed APEC doing a motorcade dressed as Osama Bin Laden’). And so, I love Dominic Knight, one of the Chaser boys more likely to be found writing or behind the camera these days (he also writes some very funny tweets – worth following). However, it did take me some time to get round to reading his first piece of fiction, Disco Boy, which comes complete with quote from fellow Chaser, Chas Licciardello (that’s the guy who played Osama in the above stunt). In case you can’t see it on the cover, Chas writes, ‘If Nick Hornby and the Buddha wrote a book together, it’d be much better than this one’. Funny, but with a grain of truth because Knight’s writing reminds me of an Australian Hornsby.

Disco Boy is unashamedly Australian (nothing wrong with that, except the novel is set in Sydney – blergh). It makes the most of picturesque settings such as Sydney Harbour, ferries as a form of transport and the great weather. Sydney/Melbourne arguments aside, this book delightfully captures the musings of Paul, who has a degree in law but is trying to refuse the conveyor belt to hell of CBD law firms and the working day that never stops. So, he’s living with his parents, doing DJ gigs to make some money while he works on his music and lazes about. Unfortunately for Paul, his DJ savvy turns to nothing after a poor choice of song on a harbour cruise and he quits. He is then enticed back to his law firm (short term, part time –really!) where he lusts after lawyer Felicity, while fighting off the younger Emily then pouring it all out to friend Zoe. Surely every man would like three lovely ladies in his life?

In between hilariously satirical mishaps (and I do mean hilarious – Knight has a talent for this), Disco Boy counts down great party songs from 40 to 1 culminating in a somewhat predictable ending, but pleasing all the same. I finished this book with a smile on my face – it’s light and entertaining Aussie fiction, something we don’t have enough of. It also pokes fun at the need to be one better all the time – we all should just cut it out and stop pretending like Paul.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (meer)