The buried life by Andrea Goldsmith

Melbourne University academic, Adrian Moore was shocked when Irene, his wife of ten years left him, saying she didn’t want to spend the rest of her days with someone more passionate about death than he was about anything in life. For the last year, to fill the void, Adrian has immersed himself in death, his specialist field, exploring the cultural and social meanings of death, but he hasn’t been able to move on in his life. He has a good friend in Keziah, a 28-year-old neighbour who works in a call centre to pay the rent while she pursues her passion in making handmade art papers. She is the one to remember Adrian’s 43rd birthday and theirs is a good and companionable friendship. Kezi grew up in Crossroads, a fundamentalist Christian community, but left when condemned for her sexual preferences. Estranged from her family, she struggles with how to reconcile her faith, creativity and chosen life with the stringent rules her parents and their community required. When Adrian meets social scientist Laura Benady at his favourite cheese shop, she has just completed a large development project. In her late 50’s and, she believes, happily married to her life mentor Tony, Laura is treating herself to a carefully chosen blue cheese for lunch. Adrian is smitten by this tall dark woman who also has a passion for cheese and they agree to share two different varieties for lunch. Their friendship develops, as does Adrian’s newfound love of music, particularly Mahler and all three characters seem to have reached a plateau of meaningful lives. But Laura’s discovery of her own wants unbalances the relationship she has with her jealous and controlling husband and her marriage becomes dangerously toxic just as Kezia experiences a crisis in her life. The title, from Mathew Arnold’s poem, considers “Whence our lives come and where they go” and there are supporting quotes from many sources throughout the book (book clubs could tease out a very comprehensive reading/listening list) and Andrea Goldsmith examines small moments in her characters’ lives that demonstrate the power of love and friendship on that life journey. There is a real sense of place and the different circles the characters inhabit including academic snobbery and an appreciation that music can have powerful effects at certain times in life.

This is a beautifully crafted and subtle exploration of relationships, though I found Tony’s character to be over-explained to the point of caricature. The ending was a bit unsatisfactory but as the poet Szymborska, quoted on page 81 writes “Every beginning is only a sequel, after all / and the book of events is always open halfway through."

Themes: Friendship, Death, Family, Relationships.

Sue Speck