Disco Boy: Dominic Knight
Time Out reviews the first novel from The Chaser's writer Dominic Knight.
By William Posters
Disco Boy is the debut novel from Dominic Knight, one of the founders of and writers for The Chaser. So you'd expect it to be full of cutting, cruel and cynical jokes. And you'd be entirely wrong.
This is an uplifting, entirely believable romcom about Paul Johnson, a Sydney bloke in his late 20s who is suffering an all-too-common quarter-life crisis. He's an overeducated underachiever who still lives with his parents and is struggling to figure out what he actually wants to do. Should he continue to follow his dream to be a musician - a dream he's done little to make a reality as he aimlessly treads water as a cheesy DJ for cheesy parties - or should he settle for the safe-yet-dull life of climbing the corporate ladder at a law firm like the rest of his mates from Sydney uni?
He's similarly hopeless when it comes to women. He's the archetypal Mr Nice Guy who doesn't have any luck with the ladies beyond close friendship. He's too shy, self-deprecating and low on confidence to pull. And he's so unused to success that he doesn't know how to cope when it comes along.
Paul's problem is that he is just too damn sweet. But as a protagonist, he's so likeable that you want him to find The One, someone, anyone, and be the exception to the rule that nice guys finish last. The novel started out as an assignment in Knight's creative writing class and you can't help but think that elements of this book are based on the author's own experiences.
Everyone knows someone like Paul. And the Sydney references will get nods of recognition from a local readership. You'll identify with the places he is talking about, and you'll be able to cast the novel's characters from your own social circle.
At times the storyline verges on the saccharine, and the musical refrain that runs on loop throughout can get a bit repetitive. But it's a very readable page-turner that you could envisage being given the Richard Curtis treatment and turned into a film. And it would have a killer disco soundtrack of floor-filling guilty pleasures.
