4.5★s
The Opposite Of Success is the first novel by Australian author, Eleanor Elliott Thomas. As she heads to work on Friday morning, Lorrie Hide, happily married, almost thirty-nine, mother of two, is feeling quite good about her application to be promoted to team leader. She’s worked as a policy officer for the city council for twelve years, so she has the experience.

So when her manager, Philomena Petrakis tells her, in perfect corporate-speak, that there’s a general perception that she doesn’t try hard enough, that she might consider “demonstrating more conspicuous commitment to achieving our shared organisational goals”, and that the job is going to a man eight years her junior who has “been working here for literally a quarter of a nanosecond”, Lorrie, perhaps understandably, has a meltdown, of the tears, snot and regrettable statements kind.

Even though she’s meant to give a speech that evening at the opening of the first of the council’s rooftop gardens, her pet project, she consoles herself with a few good slugs of alcohol at lunch. And she arranges an invite for her best friend, Alex, to film the sponsor’s speech for her documentary.

Alex Black’s documentary about the environmental activist group Future Earthlings seems to have stalled a bit, but she’s been pushing Lorrie for the chance to film Sebastian Glup’s speech at the opening of Glup Gardens: it will be interesting to hear how the CEO of the Glup Mining Group justifies his morally compromised position on the environment.

Only now she has her invite, she’s a little nervous about going: she’s not sure what the Future Earthlings have planned; and running into Zoe Apolline Moreau, attractive wife of Glup’s lawyer (and Lorrie’s ex), Ruben Armand, might be quite awkward.

Perhaps suspend your disbelief that Lorrie is, after so much alcohol, and a joint, actually still standing to make her speech: “Now, though, under the lights, with pot and alcohol and failure and betrayal charging through her veins like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, she found she could not even remember the opening line.”

Eleanor Elliott Thomas cooks up the perfect storm for her protagonists’ Friday night do, throwing in a fledgling love affair, a jealous husband, a Clive Palmer-like magnate, a rigidly-corporate manager, a sycophantic bureaucrat, a quirky lawyer, a bold fashion choice, the revelation of a hurtful secret, a bit of pot and a lot of alcohol, an embarrassing stunt, and a guard with a gun.

Sensitive readers should note that there is liberal use of expletives, but most will find this debut novel a cleverly-written and entertaining read.
This unbiased review is from a copy provided by Text Publishing.