We are pirates by Daniel Handler
Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781408821459
(Age: Senior secondary - adult) Lemony Snicket, this is not! While
you may well be used to the dark humour of the Lemony Snicket
children's novels, this newest novel from the same author,
alternatively known as Daniel Handler, is a disturbing mix of
fantastical realism most definitely only suited to mature readers.
Against a backdrop of contemporary San Francisco, Handler presents
an interesting take on modern family dynamics as he introduces the
Needles family - Phil, struggling radio producer with a condo he
can't afford and a family to which he can't relate; Marina, bored
unfulfilled wife whose painting is not enough to sustain either her
married life or her relationship with her daughter; Gwen, fourteen
and troubled, a shoplifter, ex-swimmer, rebel with a desire for
romantic adventure. When Gwen assumes an alter ego as Octavia and
swashbuckles her way through a swathe of shoplifting at her
neighbourhood drugstore and is busted bigtime, she is forced to
spend 'punishment' time as companion to Errol, an Alzheimer's
patient who imagines himself as a retired Navy veteran, who revels
in piratical fiction and non-fiction.
Gwen and her newly acquired friend Amber, a strangely fierce and
feisty being, take to the pirate notion with fervour and begin to
plot to escape the humdrum existence of their teenaged lives and
useless parents with adventure on the high seas. It is a little
difficult to imagine two 14 year-olds enthusiastically embracing
such offerings as Captain Blood but it is the hook for the rest of
the plot. They 'spring' Errol from his retirement home and almost
accidentally acquire a couple of other crew members and hey ho! It's
off to sea they go - in San Francisco bay, where they create not
just mayhem but murder with a very nasty edge to it.
While this is all rolling along, Phil Needles is beset with
complications around a radio project he is developing, his
not-very-successful production company and his attractive new
assistant. Summoned home from a conference, where he is meant to be
pitching his newest idea, by news that his daughter has gone
missing, Phil's professional worries are eclipsed by Gwen's
disappearance and his wife's manic reaction. With an ending that is
bleak and, frankly, creepy, this is not a novel for the
faint-hearted. I found the plot somewhat uneven and the characters
are at times more caricatures but it was nonetheless intriguing and
often very humorous, albeit also somewhat repugnant at times.
With a dose of very explicit language and sexual references, this
would only be suitable for your senior students if you chose to add
it to your library collection (the publisher's comment is that it is
an adult novel). On a personal note, you may like to try it out
yourself, to see another side to Lemony Snicket.
Listen to Daniel Handler talk about the book on YouTube.
Sue Warren