Green Dot

 

I heard about Madeleine Gray's debut novel, Green Dot, on Radio National's The Book Shelf, and found it -- guess where? -- at the Athenaeum Library. This is an up-to-the-minute take on a classically tragic situation, the one described by Princess Diana as 'three people in this marriage.' Green Dot is told from the point of view of Hera, a twenty four year old who has emerged from university with a fistful of degrees and a big blank where her life's passion should be. She settles for a menial job (comments moderator for a major newspaper) and proceeds to fall in love with an older man. The catch is, though technically she doesn't discover this until it's too late, he is married.

From the vast wisdom of late middle age, this reader sometimes wanted to give Hera a shake, or at least roll their eyes at her -- of course he's married! Of course he's lying to you! Of course he's not going to tell her! To be fair, Hera's own friends do plenty of this, and she is self-aware enough to see how bad her situation looks. But Hera wants to feel something, experience something, anything rather than the numbing void of deep depression that she's skirting the edges of, and god knows she's not the only one guilty of pouring away her best years on someone who doesn't want her enough.

By the way, Arthur, the object of her passion, is a tool. All the way through the novel, you just know he is doing his damnedest to have his cake and eat it too, and he doesn't deserve either of these smart, funny, attractive women whose lives he's ruining.

Just like the character of Hera, Green Dot is ironic, funny, charming, but also in a strange way, deeply sad. I would put it in the category of 'New Adult' fiction, along with Nina Kenwood's books, if we're still doing that.