Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Allen & Unwin for the opportunity to read Bluebird by Malcolm Knox.
The Lodge is perched on the side of a cliff in a prime location with stunning views over Bluebird Beach. It has fallen into disrepair.
The residents of the Lodge are Gordon Grimes, his soon to be ex-wife Kelly and their son Ben. Gordon’s goddaughter has come to stay, as has Kelly’s stepmother, Leonie.
Kelly has a 1/3 share in The Lodge given to her 20 years prior by her father, Noel. Leonie has inherited the remaining shares in The Lodge, plus other property from her husband. Unexpectedly, Leonie gifts Gordon a 1/3 share. Gordon has lost his job and he and Kelly have no money to put towards repairs. Leonie is not prepared to help with any upkeep.
Gordon is desperate to save The Lodge from the developers. However, Leonie has other plans. Kelly has cheated on Gordon with his best friend, who had embarrassingly left her at the alter 30 years prior.
With his marriage in as much disrepair as The Lodge, and coping with his aging parents, Gordon is exhausted. Gordon’s childhood friends, now a banker, lawyer and a councillor are all in their 50s and are still in his life. They are all clinging to a Bluebird lifestyle.
As all the Bluebird secrets and lies from the past 42 years emerge, all the pieces of the puzzle fit together leading to a dramatic conclusion.
Although the book is long and there are a lot of characters to get to know in the early chapters, it is well worth persevering. It is well written, with humour, showing complicated family and small-town relationships.
A great read. Four stars!
ISBN: 9781760877422 / Copies courtesy of Allen and Unwin
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Bluebird by Malcolm Knox. You can read their reviews in the comments section below, or add your own feedback.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
I am going to be honest in saying that I didn’t actually warm to this book at all. I didn’t hate it but I can’t say that I absolutely enjoyed it either. For me reading what the book was about through the blurb on the back sounded really interesting and intriguing but I just found it wasn’t reciprocating back to me while reading.
The storyline centres around Gordon, his wife Kelly and son Ben, his goddaughter and all of Gordon’s mates and the gorgeous house named Bluebird on the clifftop which holds long lost secrets. I didn’t warm to the character of Gordon though but I did to his son Ben. I would have rather followed more of his story and Gordon’s goddaughter.
There is a lot of the F word in this book and another descriptive word that I really dislike in a book.
For me this book is definitely more for a bloke to read but they are my thoughts and maybe there are female readers that could enjoy Malcolm’s style of writing. I did read the book twice and it still didn’t make an impact on me. I found myself rereading over pages I had already read.
There were times I did laugh at some things written in the book and then there is the rules of surfing that I never knew, just because I have never tried that sport and probably never will but it was interesting to know that there are rules out there on the waves.
I guess this is going to be a book that you either love or enjoy but thanks to Beauty & Lace and Allen & Unwin for the opportunity of reading this book.
Thankyou Beautyandlace, Allen&Unwin and of course the author Malcolm Knox for the opportunity to read and review ‘Bluebird’.
Bluebird Beach seems to be a seaside town where everyone knows everyone else’s business. A story of surfing culture, of mates (not always!) And family dramas.
Gordon Grimes living in ‘The Lodge’ which overlooks Bluebird Beach with his wife Kelly, cricket mad son Ben and goddaughter Lou has problems with his surfing friends who impose. Because he is unemployed he is struggling with the upkeep of ‘The Lodge’ and with other issues that have arisen.
There are his problem aging parents and his step mother in law Leonie as well.
Many of Gordon’s friends have unusual nicknames so it was initially a little difficult to sort out who was who.
This book had clever humour and parts were very amusing. It’s a real blokey book and has such a great cover, colourful and enticing.
A book perhaps more suited to males or those into surfing, although well written and interesting it was not the style of book I would usually read.
Thanks Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read Malcolm Knox’s Bluebird – not a book I would normally read but having said that it got me intrigued. Gordon Grimes is a man in his 50s who has had a tough life and we follow his story set in the coastal town of Bluebird – surfing, mateship, marriage woes, elderly parents, tragedy it’s all in this book. It took a while for me to get into it but once I did I enjoyed it.
Thanks to Beauty & Lace and Allen & Unwin for giving me the opportunity to read Bluebird by Malcolm Knox. The story line of this book really interested me – Gordon, desperate to save his home while surrounded by family dramas is right up with my usual reading choices & so I was eager to dive in. Initially, I found it hard to get into & kept putting it down in favour of other books as the writing style didn’t appeal to me. It felt a little forced for that genre & while I read many other male authors, this is the first male author that I’ve read who is writing about family drama’s. Continuing on through the book, I found that it was funny & entertaining, just a little hard going for me to get out of my head the “blokey” ness of it all.
Many thanks to Beauty and Lace, Allen & Unwin and Malcolm Knox for my copy of Bluebird.
Gordon Grimes has been given a part share in the beautiful Lodge set on the coast with lovely views over Bluebird Beach. He has spent his life trying to save the history of Bluebird amongst the threats to modify the town.
He lives with his soon to be ex wife, Kelly, whom cheated on Gordon with Dog, his best mate, his son Ben and his goddaughter Lou. He also has many friends who are unemployed that are always at the Lodge when there are no waves to surf.
Everyone wants to help Gordon while putting themselves in trouble as well. He has many issues to deal with and secrets he has kept for 40 years to do with his brothers death.
It’s not a fast paced book but it is an enjoyable read with funny moments at times.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for my copy of Bluebird. I really enjoyed it and all of it’s quirky characters.
Bluebird by Malcom Knox is set in the fictional beach (surfing) town of Bluebird.
This is where we meet our main character unemployed Gordon Grimes who is struggling to hold on to his home ‘The Lodge’. This is where he lives with his wife, soon to be ex, his son his god daughter Lou and his st4ep mother in law Leonie.’
Gordon trying to save ‘The Lodge’ while also dealing with his own issues and secrets at the same time.
Although this book was a very different sort of book than I am used to I really enjoyed it and loved the fact that it was set in Australia
Thank you to Beauty and Lace, Allen & Unwin and Malcolm Knox for giving me the opportunity to read and review to this book.