Summary

 I initially thought that this novel was a commentary of the development of Australian Literature from Federation until the early 1980s. However, the novel seems to aim for the minimalist ideas of John Cage as the novel culminates in a performance of 4'33". The novel had potential, but I do not think it was able to explore it.

Narrative Structure

 The novel is divided into three (3) parts:

1. Return to Australia. This is written from a limited third person POV centred on the narrator.
2. Combined binding of 'Such is Life)' and 'Moby Dick'. This is written from a first person POV by the narrator.
3. Return to public life. This is written around an exchange of letters between the narrator and an experimental musical composer. But this morphs into a limited third person POV towards the end.

 I think these changes in narration styles matches the emphasis of the plot at that time.

Character Development

 The main character (narrator) regresses from a confident and rebellious adolescent into a recluse who eventually returns to a form of public life by attending a musical recital that highlights the experimental composer.

 The narrator had high hopes of becoming a writer but ends up as being a correspondent with a composer. There is no single crisis that prevents the achievement of a literary career, but, rather, it is a series of minor crises that saps the will of the narrator to pursue the career.

 The depiction of a female character does not appear real to me. This highlights the risk and danger of a male author trying to write a female character. The main problem is the lack of depth of the main character: she seems just to drift through life without confronting any existential crises.

Themes

 The author appears to explore several themes:

1. Relationship of Australian Literature to World Literature
2. Relationship of Australian Literature to Australian Landscape

 The first relationship was explored in two (2) parts:

1. Return to Australia in which the main characters absorb the culture of Europe and see the Australian landscape through European eyes.
2. The combined binding of 'Such is Life)' and 'Moby Dick' opens the parallels between Australian and American literature.

 The second relationship sees Australian Literature as an intrusion into the Australian Landscape as would be the mounting a bell in a tower. The sound would drown the natural sounds of the natural landscape.