image of person or book cover 8304805356113744132.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
Issue Details: First known date: 2002... 2002 The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

"Eleven year-old Floaty-boy (so named because of his passion for body-surfing and peculiar talent for buoyancy) inhabits a murky, watery world of wagging school and illicit night surfing. He hovers on the edge of things; he is in between – not boy or man – and inhabits liminal spaces: the edge of the ocean when he body-surfs and the edges of a family that seems to be spinning out of control. Vulnerable, Floaty-boy is as prey to his altered dream-like perceptions of the world as he is to the sharks that cruise in the other world of down below. At the centre of Floaty-boy's universe is Adelaide - mother, wife, surfer and breadwinner – who holds not only her own family together but the knockabout Cronies of her larrikin husband, the Old Man. Yet when her eldest son, Eddie, disappears, her family's world threatens to fall apart; her centre may not hold and Floaty-boy has to find a way to cope."

(Publisher's blurb)

Exhibitions

Affiliation Notes

  • Writing Disability in Australia

    Type of disability Not explicit in the text. In an interview with the author, the Sydney Morning Herald suggests Floaty Boy has an attention deficit disorder.
    Type of character Primary.
    Point of view First person.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Milsons Point, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Vintage Australia , ca. 2002 .
      image of person or book cover 8304805356113744132.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 300p.
      Note/s:
      • Dedication: For Ryan
      ISBN: 1740511891
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Untapped , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 1070429482273700328.png
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      ISBN: 9781922749277
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Brio Books ; Untapped , 2022 .
      image of person or book cover 6803919676575976224.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 330p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 25 October 2022.
      ISBN: 9781761280757

Other Formats

Works about this Work

10 ‘Lost’ Australian Literary Treasures You Should Read – and Can Soon Borrow from Any Library Rebecca Giblin , Airlie Lawson , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 24 November 2020;
Untitled Ben Beaton , 2004 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , October vol. 84 no. 4 2004; (p. 31)

— Review of The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel Brett D'Arcy , 2002 single work novel
Tampa Proof? Australian Fiction 2002-2003 Paul Genoni , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 48 no. 2003; (p. 159-174)
Black Jests Peter Pierce , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 251 2003; (p. 47)

— Review of The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel Brett D'Arcy , 2002 single work novel
Life as a Wave Anne Susskind , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 6 May vol. 121 no. 6371 2003; (p. 77)

— Review of The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel Brett D'Arcy , 2002 single work novel
Untitled Ben Beaton , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , December 2002/January vol. 82 no. 6 2003; (p. 29)

— Review of The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel Brett D'Arcy , 2002 single work novel
Aussie Eyes Smilin' in Lainey's Life Katharine England , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 8 February 2003; (p. 11)

— Review of Spin the Bottle Monica McInerney , 2003 single work novel ; The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel Brett D'Arcy , 2002 single work novel
Plot May Be Optional but Wit is Essential Tony Maniaty , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 8-9 February 2003; (p. 10-11)

— Review of All This Is So John F. Roe , 2002 single work novel ; The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel Brett D'Arcy , 2002 single work novel ; Air Guitar : The True Life and Daggy Times of a Lounge-Room Rock Star Anthony Griffis , 2003 single work novel ; Ninety East Ridge Stephen Reilly , 2002 single work novel
Untitled Phil Brown , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Brisbane News , 19 - 25 February 2003; (p. 14)

— Review of The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel Brett D'Arcy , 2002 single work novel
Caught in the Currents Shaun Charles , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 15 February 2003; (p. 8)

— Review of The Mindless Ferocity of Sharks : A Novel Brett D'Arcy , 2002 single work novel
Knockabout Novelist Rod Moran , 2003 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 8 February 2003; (p. 15)
Tampa Proof? Australian Fiction 2002-2003 Paul Genoni , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Westerly , November vol. 48 no. 2003; (p. 159-174)
10 ‘Lost’ Australian Literary Treasures You Should Read – and Can Soon Borrow from Any Library Rebecca Giblin , Airlie Lawson , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 24 November 2020;
Last amended 20 May 2024 15:12:47
X