Oblivion

 Oblivion

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       July 19, 2024

 

Author  Patrick Holland

Distributor:      Transit Lounge
ISBN:                 978-1-923023-14-7
Publisher:         Transit Lounge
Release Date:   July 2024  

   Website:   https://transitlounge.com.au/shop/oblivion/

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He lives in the nebulous world of the Diplomat. His base is China, his world of operation is Asia, Thailand and Vietnam and on occasion wherever he is sent finalise agreements for land purchase, mineral rights or whatever the Governments of the world see fit to acquire, change or bend to a purpose.

Oblivion the latest work of fiction from Patrick Holland is one where a sparsity of words is used to create an enthralling world around the endless, hopeless seeking of oblivion. The nameless man is forever seeking the intangible; one night here, one night there, always a beautiful girl to keep him company, to share his bed to offer warmth and comfort if only for a fleeting moment. With the help of a little of this and that he seeks nightly peace for his distress.

But as with all things, he is asked by a different department to carry out what seems to be a simple task; to hand over a passport and credit card to a man who needs to be extracted. He reluctantly agrees to this as he needs the money to achieve his dream; that of owning his own apartment high in the sky; a place of solitude, beauty. This causes conflict and danger in his carefully controlled world.

The love of a woman who is beautiful, a sought after Courtesan, is something he desires but she is unattainable. In their short, but gently powerful time together, she teaches him much about desire, wanting and the space called lonely.

He is everyman and no man; he is the seeker, the dreamer, the man who lives inside us all, often alone, often wondering.

Oblivion is a deeply introspective work which in its sparse simplicity and yet complex prose, resonates, remains and demands of the journeyman, contemplation.

Fiction, General