The Current
Yannick Thoraval, 2014
Furber
252 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780992591601
Summary
The island is sinking. No doubt.
When the president of a sinking tropical island calls on the world’s most ingenious entrepreneurs to help save his people, Peter Van Dooren answers the call.
Van Dooren’s wealth and prestige mean that his family wants for nothing – except a husband and a father.
As an engineer, Van Dooren believes his idea can not only save the island and its people’s way of life. It could also transform ideas about culture and nations. After all, changing the world is what Peter Van Dooren really wants. But playing God may cost Van Dooren his fortune and his own family.
While Van Dooren plots a world away, his wife, son and daughter sink deeper into their own personal abyss of retail therapy, amateur pornography and religious extremism. Everyone is adrift on the same tide of greed, lust and fear. This is the current that shapes the world. It always has; it always will. Is anyone strong enough to resist it?
Commended by judges of the prestigious Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, The Current is the story of a man's obsession with overcoming the forces of nature. At all costs. It is a story about culture and nations and how to find one’s place in the world.
Ironic and slyly, bleakly humorous, The Current shows us how our modern affluence buys us material comfort at the expense of a sense of purpose in our lives. It is a hopeful story about finding meaning in our relationships and strength through our community. It asks us to rekindle our relationship with nature. The novel is reminiscent of the film Network, re-imagined for the 21st century.
The style of writing is literary (thoughtful but humorous), and will appeal to readers of Jonathan Franzen (particularly Freedom) and Michel Houellebecq (particularly Platform). Stylistically, The Current offers readers a back and forth split storyline and portent of danger comparable to Paul Thomas Anderson's film, Magnolia (1999).
Author Bio
• Birth— September 21, 1976
• Where—Holland, raised in Cyprus, Canada, and Australia
• Education—B.A., University of British Columbia; M.A., University of Melbourne
• Currently—lives in Melbourne, Australia
Yannick Thoraval is an author and university lecturer.
Best known as an essayist, Thoraval has published widely for both academic and general audiences.
He formally studied film, philosophy and American political history, attaining a Master’s degree from the University of Melbourne before leaving academia to pursue commercial writing interests. He worked as a copywriter in marketing and communications and as a speechwriter for the Victorian State Government.
Thoraval’s fiction has received critical acclaim. His first screenplay, Kleftiko, was a finalist in the International Showcase Screenwriting Awards. Judges of the prestigious Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, Australia, highly commended his first novel, The Current.
The novel draws from Thoraval’s personal and professional experiences of working in government, particularly his work in international development, including with the nation of Timor-Leste.
He is a career migrant and has lived in the Netherlands, France, Cyprus, Canada, and Australia. Moving internationally from a young age has left him feeling culturally stateless, despite holding three passports.
Thoraval is a quiet advocate for refugees and asylum seekers. He is a founding member of the World Writings Group, which helps refugees write about their experiences of forced migration.
He has pledged to donate 10% of the proceeds of his book to assist the settlement of asylum seekers and refugees.
He currently lives in Melbourne, Australia, where he teaches professional writing and editing at RMIT University. He is working on his second novel. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Yannick on Facebook.
Book Reviews
A contemporary novel that captures the moral complexity of climate change.
Time Out Magazine (Australia)
Discussion Questions
1. The Current is set against a backdrop of rising sea levels. To what extent is this a novel about global climate change? What, if anything, does the author have to say about climate change?
2. What is "The Current," and how does this central metaphor influence the novel’s themes and characters?
3. How do the themes of nature versus nurture, science versus religion play out in novel?
4. Religion plays an important part of the novel’s narrative structure. Christian themes, in particular, reverberate throughout the novel. To what extent is this a religious or Christian story?
5. L’Eden Sur Mer is French for Eden on the Sea. Is the island an Eden?
6. Why does the international community turn its back on the Republic of L’Eden Sur Mer?
7. What is the perspective of world leaders (for example within United Nations) on L’Eden Sur Mer? To what extent is their view comparable to the perspective of the Van Dooren family?
8. What is the role of nature in The Current?
9. How does the novel treat the relationship between parents and their children?
10. What is the role of fathers in the novel?
11. What role does technology play in The Current?
12. How is Gaia Enterprises implicated in L’Eden Sur Mer’s dilemma? To what extent is Stephen complicit in the company’s wrong-doing? Is Stephen a victim only? What were his motivations for working at Gaia?
13. How do Alma’s shopping habits reflect her personal issues and how does her shopping relate to the broader themes explored in the book?
14. What is the significance of Alma’s workplace?
15. The characters are flawed. What are their flaws and how did their character affect your experience of the novel?
16. Is there a hero in this story?
17. Alma is deeply affected by her experiences of migration. To what extent is The Current a novel about the migrant experience?
18. What is the significance of the novel’s dedication? What does this dedication add to your reading and understanding of the story?
19. How does the novel distinguish between the idea of a home versus a homeland? How is this distinction important to Alma? To President Koyl?
20. What is a community according to the author?
21. How and why are the islanders divided on how to approach their predicament?
22. How is the Van Dooren family connected to the island of L’Eden Sur Mer?
23. What are some of the similarities and differences between the personalities of the Van Dooren family? How do the characters’ personal experiences inform their worldview?
24. What motivates the members of the Van Dooren family to behave as they do?
25. How would you describe Peter’s relationship with nature? Why has he adopted this position?
26. What does Peter really want to achieve? Why?
27. How does Tal respond to the Van Dooren family’s wealth? Is affluence itself problematic in The Current.
28. Gracie claims to be a Christian. Is she?
29. To what extent is Gracie responsible for the difficulties she experiences?
30. How does Stephen’s addiction to internet pornography inform his relationship with women? How does this relationship change over the course of the novel?
31. How does Peter change over the course of the novel? What factors contribute to this change?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)