Waiting for Matindi

by Helen Hodgman

As the wry, ever-observant narrator of Helen Hodgmans beautifully written new novel recovers from an operation in the Australian countryside and Bondi Beach, life washes over her like waves on the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345417747
• ISBN13: 9780345417749
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Bondi Beach Memoirs

One recent (and rare!) sunny afternoon here in Seattle I decided I really must go down to the beach. This slim novel, with a picture of two beach chairs on the cover, seemed like a good choice to take along. Indeed it was! The book is a beautiful character study of a woman and her collection of friends in Sydney, Australia. The writer is spare and economical with her words, but manages to draw vivid portraits of several fragmented individuals. The main character is recovering from surgery while trying to navigate a crumbling relationship with a woman who seems to be much more interested in her famous and wealthy mentor. But it is our narrator's encounters with an assortment of Bondi Beach folk that eventually bring her the strength to chart a new path for herself. There is Elliot, her lover's headbanging teenaged nephew. And there is Doug, who vents his anger at his departed wife Sunshine by literally banging his head against the "no dogs allowed" sign at Bondi Beach until he gets himself arrested, leaving our narrator in charge of his little son Joe. She also winds up in charge of Doug's dog Brucey, who dies a noble (if not patriotic) death on Anzac Day. And Theresa, who wakes her up in the middle of the night to witness an amazing episode of phosphorescence at the beach. It is Theresa who is waiting for Matindi, an exotic and mysterious Kenyan woman. Although we never really get to know Matindi, her elusiveness proves to be a powerful talisman. The act of waiting is a refreshing distraction, and eventually it is this anticipation that brings healing.This book is only 164 pages long, and before it was time to fold up my beach chair I had finished this well crafted story. I haven't read much lesbian fiction, but the characters in this story were so richly drawn that I could easily picture them there with me at the seashore. Although Bondi Beach is a long way from Seattle I thoroughly enjoyed spending my afternoon waiting for Matindi.