‘You’re a politician, a public figure. What on earth were you thinking?’
Up-and-coming junior minister Gregory Buchanan has had a portrait painted of himself by the acclaimed artist Sophie White – a painting she intends to enter in this year’s Archibald Prize. Until then, Gregory has hung it in pride of place on his dining room wall. It’s a life-sized standing portrait, practically photographic in nature. And it’s a nude.
His wife will be home soon and he thinks the painting will be a pleasant surprise. Even more surprising will be an unexpected accumulation of guests: his sardonic mother, his fundamentalist mother-in-law, his lycra-clad cycling-enthusiast sister, and the state premier, Louisa Wetherly – a senior minister who has just resigned in scandalous circumstances, and needs Gregory to step into the spotlight ahead of the upcoming election.
It’s going to be a wild afternoon, and an even wilder campaign – to do something about Gregory’s naked ambition.
Bestselling novelist Toni Jordan suggested Naked Ambition is ‘a madcap, witty delight – it’s like Oscar Wilde or Noel Coward, but naked’. She’s hit the nail on the head. Acclaimed novelist Robert Gott has gifted us with a contemporary satire that sings with hilarity. Naked Ambition is filled with superb irony, outlandishly unabashed farce and is a pure joy to read.
Written with wildly witty dialogue and a swollen tongue in cheek, it would lend itself easily for theatre.
Naked Ambition combines elegantly written language with the hilarity and hypocrisy of the inner vanity within us all. It’s a quick read, and a superbly crafted one. Offering a modern-day retelling of The Emperor’s New Clothes, only in Gregory Buchanan’s case, it’s the not wearing of any clothes for a portrait that he’s particularly proud of.
Naked Ambition satirises marriage: Gregory’s wife Phoebe offers a litany of blazing one-liners and survives the institution with her husband through a trail of wryly-assessed ‘incidents’. It’s also a wonderful romp into the world of families – mothers and mother-in-laws at odds, political ambition, the pretension of the art world and egoic self-importance.
The novel races along with razor sharp accuracy and delightful aplomb. It truly is laugh-out-loud funny. Add to this a little whodunit mystery to find a culprit, and you’re in for a supremely entertaining time… where else would you read a line like: ‘The penis is the problem. It’s the problem generally, of course, but in this case it’s the specific problem.’? Read it. It’s a humdinger of a novel.
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