Three Darkly Humorous Novellas
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Three Sydneysiders muddle through a comedy of errors discovering their vulnerabilities and revealing their personal foibles. This is a calamitous, darkly amusing series of interconnected novellas. Read them as distinct stories or as a suite.
Sybil’s Unrest
Sybil is stuck in her bourgeois, mopey rut with a horrible husband, Frank. Still, she has a low golf handicap. Her current reading matter, Jane Austen’s Emma, is offering some guidance – or is it? Inaction has been Sybil’s default, but her world turns pear-shaped when she runs to the aid of an injured young man, Nick. She may avoid the bunkers, but can she keep clear of the rough?
The Occidental
David has taken to drinking and brooding in the company of his only friend. Is Frank really a friend? He is astonished that his wife, Audrey, doesn’t like him anymore and would rather enjoy a bit of me-time. Arrangements are made to travel overseas. Instead, he retreats to an odd city hotel when plans don’t pan out.
Bewildered
Plunder is a miserable so-and-so who, fortunately for him, has a delightful wife called Rebel and Nick his clever son. From Plunder’s point of view, any kind of social interaction is bound to take a dive at some point. They have a dinner party where events go belly-up. Oh, and what’s this about bees?
The protagonists cross each other’s paths over one tragic, crazy, ultimately redemptive day.
What people are saying about Foibles
Andrena Blizzard
I loved these novellas – character – driven chaos!
Sybil’s Unrest was both touching and hilarious with some very memorable characters.
Jenny Torniainen
A highly entertaining read.
We’ve all known people like these, not sure they’re living the lives they should. Turns out they’re going to be fine – mostly. There’s also a lot of fun on the way, quite hilarious.
Mal Kinn
This mini-collection is a knockout times a huge triple-zillion! I obtained the book on another platform and stopped by here to rave about it. The catch to the work is a non-stop cynical approach to character and life that is a great laugh of a cry. The three stories are as entertaining as anything I’ve read this year. You will mot be disappointed (Unless you are a terminally cheerful optimist.) These books make fab gifts, they’re a riot!
Jeff Moore
If you’ve run through your P G Wodehouse novels and are looking for more ado about nothing, this is the place to start. The misadventures of the upper middle class set down under are never far from the absurd.
The writing crackles with bizarre personalities observed through a dry wit. These stories should be read with a large glass of Crianza on a Summer’s day when absolutely nothing needs doing.
Have fun.
Sharon
What a joy it was to read the three novellas/short stories in “Foibles” by Chris Dreyfus. I was vividly transported into the realm of inner city Sydney on adventures by the wonderfully described characters. I empathized with Sybil in ‘Sybil’s Unrest’ on her quest to get back inside her house after being locked out. Her day turned into a life altering series of events where she met others who gave her strength to make changes in her life. In “The Occidental” the foibles of the characters are beautifully written – one can identify with their travails. “Bewildered” is a rollicking series of events that carry the reader along despite the main character’s disquiet.
Dreyfus has skillfully used the right amount of dark humour to engage the reader around their flaws and inadequacies. I loved the subtle links between the stories so it almost felt like one continuous story. Dreyfus’s use of language is eloquent and varied with the tone light but pithy at the same time. A great read! I couldn’t put it down!
