A Fine Excess: an Australian Odyssey

Book excerpt: Hes caught in a rip tide off Kuta Beach in Bali: no ones on shore to help; every time he cries out, the waters rush over him. Tony Speed is in free-fall. Near 30, a victim of the budget ax, hes lost his first real job as an Instructor at a southern university. Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and John Lennonthe gods of his idolatry--all tell him to get out, just go. So he takes his lifes savings and chases his Japanese girlfriend to Tokyo. But Yoshiko dances to a different drummer, and before he knows it, Speeds in Southeast Asia, knocked silly by a rip tide. That rip is the books central metaphor, as Speed travels through Asia and the Lucky Country of Australia, watching the fragmented pieces of his life play out like a kaleidoscope. Set in Bali and Australia, with flashbacks to Japan and the States, A Fine Excess is a novel that reads fast and goes deepan On the Road for the new millennium--with a foot in this floating world, and a wing in the spiritual realms of East and West. It's a book about the adventure of discovery, integrating our whirling selves with the mirroring chaos and beauty of the world. Whats Speed searching for, what does he want? An affirming vision wholenesssomeone and some place to hold onto. Its the mid-70s, after all. Vietnam, Watergate, a worldwide recession form the crazy quilt hes woven into. He joins Aussie friends Peter and Kay in hurricane-ravaged Darwin where hes harassed by the local bar faunaOckers. With fellow wayfarer Dacy, he hitches a ride through the outback in a Holden station wagon piggybacking a lorry, the red dust of the Simpson Desert clogging every pore. In Coober Pedy, the mole-like denizens burrow into caves to escape the heat while ferreting night and day for fire-lit opals. Its all Dante-esqueand exhilarating! Speed finds work in Adelaide, picking grapes for a winery. He settles in for a month of love-making with Colleen, a funny, pretty Canadian scientist who despises Aussie men. Tempted to linger, Speed finds he cant shake the memory of Jeri, the American woman he met in Indonesia who is now in Sydney. On his way to her, he stops off in Melbourne, where he re-joins Peter and Kay. Theyre in the process of breaking up, and Speed gets caught in the inevitable rip. A couple of weeks later, hes keeling into Jeris orbit. But shes involved with two other men. Only when he can recognize the quiet charm of Carol, Jeris reticent roommate, does Speed find peace and love. He finally gets his revelation, his Zen slap, through Dennie, Carols quadriplegic cousin. In the sad and luminous figure of Dennie, the suffering, acceptance, gratitude and grace at the core of the religious traditions of the East and West finally converge. All journeys are beginnings. This is a book about beginning.