Dickens in reverse

Working-class hero

Low Expectations

by Stuart Everly-Wilson

Review by Polly Jude

Fifteen-year-old Devon Destri is a young man in hiding. He’s hiding from the school yard bullies with nothing better to do than make his life hell. He’s hiding from the street busybodies who watch his every move. But he’s also hiding from his mum and from himself. Devon’s let the whole world think he can’t talk, that he’s ‘hard of speaking’ and that his cerebral palsy makes him stupid. But Devon Destri is smarter than they all know, and thanks to clever first-person narration, the reader is in on the secret. Hiding out in the remedial classes offers Devon some protection from the system and the thugs. But when Devon and his best friend and protector, Big Tammy, launch a lucrative porn magazine business, it throws them both into the mainstream where they are confronted and challenged by a town that doesn’t fit either of them.

Set in gritty, industrial Western Sydney, Low Expectations is set in 1975, a tough year for Devon. He loves David Bowie – yet another thing that separates him from the conservative, working-class world in which he lives. Devon’s nearly at the end of high school and a lifetime of secrets are about to catch up with him and his mum, as Devon starts to unravel the secret identity of his father. The past and the lies of a whole town are about to be revealed with both devastating and inspiring consequences. A secret fan of the classic Great Expectations, the irony isn’t lost on Devon or his audience – Devon has low expectations. Of himself, of his mother, of everyone in his life who seems to let him down in various ways, over and over again. This coming-of-age story sees Devon finally recognise that these low expectations aren’t the limitations he always thought they were, but an opportunity to stand up, change things and to be better.

Low Expectations is made even more relatable by offering readers an unusual cast of characters. Devon’s mum loves to gossip but is too often the topic of everyone else’s talk. Krenek is the Hungarian refugee who at times seems like Devon’s only confidant. There is the bully father-and-son combo who own the local shop, and the long-suffering wife and mother who is so much more than she appears, but who is just as trapped in her life as Devon is trapped in his. Low Expectations explores a number of confronting issues: rape and sexual abuse, domestic violence, bullying, living with disability and sexuality. The 1970s setting allows the audience to consider these issues from a more contemporary position while at the same time, the 1970s context makes Devon’s choices even more courageous. Told in the charming and at times confronting voice of Devon, Low Expectations is the coming-of-age story you didn’t know you’d been waiting for. It’s gritty, real and raw. Bowie-loving Devon Destri is an unlikely hero. He’s been called Western Sydney’s very own Holden Caulfield, but this anti-hero is funnier, more likeable and more relatable than Holden ever was. Low Expectations is the debut novel from Northern Rivers author, Stuart Everly-Wilson, and it’s a cracker! It is both heartbreaking and hilarious. With his sharp oneliners, endless courage and killer sense of style, Devon becomes the working-class hero of his own making. In true Charles Dickens fashion, Everly-Wilson explores the funny sides of poor social and working conditions in 1970s Australian blue-collar suburbs with comical and, at times, repulsive characters. When Devon overcomes all the obstacles thrown at him, audiences are ready to cheer along with him. He’s the ultimate underdog with kick-arse hair. This novel may appeal to readers who love Scot Gardner’s simple yet poetic narrative style or to readers who enjoyed Craig Silvey’s Honeybee.