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Wisdom Tree #1
Gotham
Published as Cargoes in Griffith Review 50 Tall Tales Short—The Novella Project III, Gotham tells of the encounter between music journalist, Jeff Foster and ‘boy pharaoh’, Na$ti Boi. It reveals how hollow celebrities cast their spell. Think, Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe.
130 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2016
9 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
About the author
Nick Earls
74 books172 followersNick Earls is the author of twelve books, including bestselling novels such as Zigzag Street, Bachelor Kisses, Perfect Skin and World of Chickens. His work has been published internationally in English and also in translation, and this led to him being a finalist in the Premier of Queensland’s Awards for Export Achievement in 1999.
Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.
He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.
After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.
Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.
His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.
He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.
Zigzag Street won a Betty Trask Award in the UK in 1998, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Bachelor Kisses was one of Who Weekly’s Books of the Year in 1998. Perfect Skin was the only novel nominated for an Australian Comedy Award in 2003, and has recently been filmed in Italy.
He has written five novels with teenage central characters. 48 Shades of Brown was awarded Book of the Year (older readers) by the Children’s Book Council in 2000, and in the US it was a Kirkus Reviews selection in its books of the year for 2004. A feature film adapted from the novel was released in Australia by Buena Vista International in August 2006, and has subsequently screened at festivals in North America and Europe. His earlier young-adult novel, After January, was also an award-winner.
After January, 48 Shades of Brown, Zigzag Street and Perfect Skin have all been successfully adapted for theatre by La Boite, and the Zigzag Street play toured nationally in 2005.
Nick Earls was the founding chair of the Australian arm of the international aid agency War Child and is now a War Child ambassador. He is or has also been patron of Kids Who Make a Difference and Hands on Art, and an honorary ambassador for both the Mater Foundation and the Abused Child Trust. On top of that, he was the face of Brisbane Marketing’s ‘Downtown Brisbane’ and ‘Experience Brisbane’ campaigns.
His contribution to writing in Queensland led to him being awarded the Queensland Writers Centre’s inaugural Johnno award in 2001 and a Centenary Medal in 2003. His work as a writer, in writing industry development and in support of humanitarian causes led to him being named University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year in 2006. He was also the Queensland Multicultural Champion for 2006.
He has an honours degree in Medicine from the University of Queensland, and has lived in Brisbane since migrating as an eight-year-old from Northern Ireland in 1972. London’s Mirror newspaper has called him ‘the first Aussie to make me laugh out loud since Jason Donovan’. His latest novel is Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow.
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November 20, 2024
4★
“The closest I got to Bloomingdale's that visit was a vendor outside on third Avenue selling pretzels as big as twisted limbs. They were golden and doughy and I'd only ever had the other kind.”
The current visit to New York is Aussie journalist Jeff Foster’s business-family trip with his wife and little girl, who are on their own in the hotel while Jeff makes the most of his interview with young, newly rich rapper, Na$ti Boi.
“ ‘You can call me Na$ti Boi or just Na$ti but not just boy’, he says, ‘cuz I ain't nobody's boy’, he smiled, ‘cept my mama’s right? And we all that.’”
That struck me as a small, remarkable insight from this self-absorbed 19-year-old boy, who likes to think he’s more worldly than he is.
Na$ti and Smokey, his manager, have invited Jeff to join them at Bloomingdale’s for a private shopping session after hours. Na$ti namedrops as fast as he can. Jeff is a seasoned music reporter, but he is careful not to upstage the young rapper with his own real musical connections. He needs the paycheck this interview will bring him.
The Bloomingdale’s staff display all the garments Na$ti has chosen, many almost identical items, but the bill comes to more than his $10,000 card limit. He is furious, embarrassed, furious, disbelieving, furious. But he lets himself be talked down temporarily to fewer pairs of (almost identical) cargo pants.
It is getting late when they leave in the special celebrity van, where Smokey constantly texts his wife, who’s in hospital having a baby. His wife calls, shouts down the phone at him, and he keeps insisting he won’t be much longer… just a few more things to do. Morning is coming and so is the baby.
Jeff knows his own family is missing him, but he’s ‘at work’, following a guy around who would be horrified if he knew Jeff was doing it only for the money.
“We are all fathers, husbands, partners, always precisely where we should be in spirit even when the facts of our days and nights take us down stupid side streets like this one. Even when we should own our choices a little more than we do.”
Na$ti wants to do a video interview right now - can’t wait to tell Australia how excited they will be when he comes down to blow them all away. Film it now! Hello Australia!
“I had the videos pencilled in for later but the trick is to roll with it. To bring up my plans would betray a structure and a structure would betray a purpose and I would be back to being the interrogator to be viewed with suspicion. I am to be a talkative shadow in this van this night and shadows don't initiate the moves. A guy with a notepad and a pen and ten questions gets some facts but that's not the same. No one. once they're used to the shape of it, guards against their shadow.”
Jeff gets back to his family in the morning and the story changes direction. We get it now - what he has been feeling. When he takes his little girl to the park and happens to meet Smokey there, the whole thing comes together beautifully. Tissues may be needed.
I listened to this with the incomparable Aussie actor Rhys Muldoon playing all the roles exceptionally well. Of course he could do Aussie Jeff, but how he transformed into Na$ti Boi and Smokey is almost beyond me. I completely forgot it was one narrator – he is that good.
I believe these novellas were released separately as stories and audios, but I think you can get a collection in both formats. I will be looking for the others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
My reviews of the others
My review of Gotham- Wisdom Tree #1
My review of Venice-Wisdom Tree #2
My review of Vancouver- Wisdom Tree #3
My review of Juneau- Wisdom Tree #4
My review of NoHo- Wisdom Tree #5
“The closest I got to Bloomingdale's that visit was a vendor outside on third Avenue selling pretzels as big as twisted limbs. They were golden and doughy and I'd only ever had the other kind.”
The current visit to New York is Aussie journalist Jeff Foster’s business-family trip with his wife and little girl, who are on their own in the hotel while Jeff makes the most of his interview with young, newly rich rapper, Na$ti Boi.
“ ‘You can call me Na$ti Boi or just Na$ti but not just boy’, he says, ‘cuz I ain't nobody's boy’, he smiled, ‘cept my mama’s right? And we all that.’”
That struck me as a small, remarkable insight from this self-absorbed 19-year-old boy, who likes to think he’s more worldly than he is.
Na$ti and Smokey, his manager, have invited Jeff to join them at Bloomingdale’s for a private shopping session after hours. Na$ti namedrops as fast as he can. Jeff is a seasoned music reporter, but he is careful not to upstage the young rapper with his own real musical connections. He needs the paycheck this interview will bring him.
The Bloomingdale’s staff display all the garments Na$ti has chosen, many almost identical items, but the bill comes to more than his $10,000 card limit. He is furious, embarrassed, furious, disbelieving, furious. But he lets himself be talked down temporarily to fewer pairs of (almost identical) cargo pants.
It is getting late when they leave in the special celebrity van, where Smokey constantly texts his wife, who’s in hospital having a baby. His wife calls, shouts down the phone at him, and he keeps insisting he won’t be much longer… just a few more things to do. Morning is coming and so is the baby.
Jeff knows his own family is missing him, but he’s ‘at work’, following a guy around who would be horrified if he knew Jeff was doing it only for the money.
“We are all fathers, husbands, partners, always precisely where we should be in spirit even when the facts of our days and nights take us down stupid side streets like this one. Even when we should own our choices a little more than we do.”
Na$ti wants to do a video interview right now - can’t wait to tell Australia how excited they will be when he comes down to blow them all away. Film it now! Hello Australia!
“I had the videos pencilled in for later but the trick is to roll with it. To bring up my plans would betray a structure and a structure would betray a purpose and I would be back to being the interrogator to be viewed with suspicion. I am to be a talkative shadow in this van this night and shadows don't initiate the moves. A guy with a notepad and a pen and ten questions gets some facts but that's not the same. No one. once they're used to the shape of it, guards against their shadow.”
Jeff gets back to his family in the morning and the story changes direction. We get it now - what he has been feeling. When he takes his little girl to the park and happens to meet Smokey there, the whole thing comes together beautifully. Tissues may be needed.
I listened to this with the incomparable Aussie actor Rhys Muldoon playing all the roles exceptionally well. Of course he could do Aussie Jeff, but how he transformed into Na$ti Boi and Smokey is almost beyond me. I completely forgot it was one narrator – he is that good.
I believe these novellas were released separately as stories and audios, but I think you can get a collection in both formats. I will be looking for the others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
My reviews of the others
My review of Gotham- Wisdom Tree #1
My review of Venice-Wisdom Tree #2
My review of Vancouver- Wisdom Tree #3
My review of Juneau- Wisdom Tree #4
My review of NoHo- Wisdom Tree #5
May 30, 2016
Every time I write about Nick Earls I use the colloquialism that he 'knows how to spin a yarn'. I don't mean to but it seems to come to mind when I think of him and read his work. And it's because he's a masterful storyteller and.... well.... he DOES know how to spin a yarn.
In Gotham we meet music journalist / freelancer Jeff Foster who’s in New York about to interview 19yr old Na$ti Boi (aka Lydell Luttrell Jr).
Earls is a confident writer so Foster is well drawn and could be any number of music writers and journalists. He’s got street cred and knows how to play the game. He’s old for the business he suggests – at the ripe old age of 40!!!
We see Na$ti Boi through Foster’s world-weary eyes and sardonic sense of humour.
And suddenly Earls takes us in a new direction. It’s unbidden and we’re wallowing in the cynical world of new-found fame and money. So it’s a shock. And Earls does it well.
I re-read the end of the novella when writing this review… and cried again. They were bittersweet tears as it’s as devastating as it is hopeful.
Read the full review on my blog: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...
4.5 stars
In Gotham we meet music journalist / freelancer Jeff Foster who’s in New York about to interview 19yr old Na$ti Boi (aka Lydell Luttrell Jr).
Earls is a confident writer so Foster is well drawn and could be any number of music writers and journalists. He’s got street cred and knows how to play the game. He’s old for the business he suggests – at the ripe old age of 40!!!
We see Na$ti Boi through Foster’s world-weary eyes and sardonic sense of humour.
And suddenly Earls takes us in a new direction. It’s unbidden and we’re wallowing in the cynical world of new-found fame and money. So it’s a shock. And Earls does it well.
I re-read the end of the novella when writing this review… and cried again. They were bittersweet tears as it’s as devastating as it is hopeful.
Read the full review on my blog: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...
4.5 stars
May 18, 2016
Really interesting read, a novella for our times. Notions and exploration of celebrity and the power it brings. Brought a wee tear to my eye, even. Looking forward to the others.
March 21, 2017
I expected good things from this novella (and the whole series) after having heard Nick Earls talk about the series at Adelaide Writers' Week 2017. I was not disappointed. This was a really nice and succinct story. I didn't expect Ariel to be sick but when she played on the slide in Central Park, it was beautiful and I felt how brace she was. I like how Nick Earls uses elements of his own life in 'Gotham' - for example, at Writers' Week he said that he went to New York with his son, and whilst there wrote the New York with under 5s article, just like the journalist character did. I can't wait to continue reading the other four novellas in the 'Wisdom Tree' and see how they all subtly connect.
October 8, 2016
From the blurb on the back, I learnt that the book "explore how humans relate to one another". I was interested, but the first part left me wanting more. I followed Jeff as he entered into the self obsessed world of Na$ti. There were small connections between Jeff and the minder Smokey. There were also glimpses of the something more in the relationships of Na$ti with Smokey. However, these are are overwhelmed by Na$ti's immaturity and selfishness, and the shallowness of the fame industry. Then with only 1/6 of the book to go, the whole book turned with the reveal of Jeff's daughter and the interaction at the park. In those few pages, we see the motivations of Jeff and Smokey and the rich and complex relationships in their lives. This is a wonderful book.
March 1, 2017
I like novellas. Short is not always easy. The novella allows the author to explore more than the limited environment of the short story but concentrate the focus in particular area and a particular amount of time. In the hands of a good writer, less is more. "Gotham" is my first sampling of Nick Earls' work and I'm impressed. This narrative is focused pretty much on a twenty-four hour period and it's tight and powerful writing. It's the human condition with limited well drawn characters. Earls delivers here. There is no waste, nothing gratuitous and cheap. The story punches and it punches hard. I was involved in these characters and I was glad that I met them. I will read Earls again. I like novellas and it's been a long time since I've read a good one. This is a good one.
May 1, 2016
Oh dear, I am the wrong person to be reading this, I thought to myself, as I began reading Gotham, Book 1 in Nick Earls’ new collection of novellas called The Wisdom Tree. I have paid so little attention to popular and consumer culture since the late 1960s that I am going to miss all the pop references in this novella. I am not going to know which names are real people/places/brands and which ones are not.
Well, as my subsequent discoveries show, (see my blog, if you too are culturally challenged) my (unrepentant) ignorance didn’t matter. I may have missed some earth-shattering allusion, but it didn’t compromise my reading of the story.
The setting is New York and the narrator is a journalist called Jeff Foster who is interviewing a waste-of-space rapper called Na$ti Boi. Na$ti is nineteen, he revels in his name (and events show that he deserves it), and Australia is about to be graced with his presence at some festival. Foster has sold and re-sold this interview – not just to the festival website. He seems to think that parents will want to read about this uncongenial young person in weekend magazines, and editors have agreed to publish his interview so presumably they think so too.
(People sometimes ask me how I find so much time to read. It’s because I don’t read features across five glossy pages of a newspaper’s Saturday magazine.)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/05/01/g...
Well, as my subsequent discoveries show, (see my blog, if you too are culturally challenged) my (unrepentant) ignorance didn’t matter. I may have missed some earth-shattering allusion, but it didn’t compromise my reading of the story.
The setting is New York and the narrator is a journalist called Jeff Foster who is interviewing a waste-of-space rapper called Na$ti Boi. Na$ti is nineteen, he revels in his name (and events show that he deserves it), and Australia is about to be graced with his presence at some festival. Foster has sold and re-sold this interview – not just to the festival website. He seems to think that parents will want to read about this uncongenial young person in weekend magazines, and editors have agreed to publish his interview so presumably they think so too.
(People sometimes ask me how I find so much time to read. It’s because I don’t read features across five glossy pages of a newspaper’s Saturday magazine.)
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/05/01/g...
April 26, 2016
A brief but compelling story of Jeff Foster, an Australian freelance Rolling-stone music reporter and his all-nighter gambit with up-and-coming Rap icon Na$ti Boi in the streets of New York. Beginning with the meet cute at an after-hours Bloomingdales, Jeff plays witness to the layers of the rapper, who's seeming self-confidence in his profound lyrical profanity is tinged with glimpses of fear and insecurity as he rifles through four sets of Alexander Wang cargo pants. Standing stoically alongside Na$ty Boi is Smokey, his golden grilled manager whose wife is in labor with their second child. Between controlled and placating exchanges with his charge (Na$ti Boi), Smokey and Jeff bond over children and his imminent family emergency-a sharp contrast to the crack-sniffing Na$ti Boi who demands a visit to his semi-regular lady, an Ivy League Porn-star, followed by a Beef Wellington for dinner.
With glimpses of dry humour, Earls' small vignette of Jeff, Smoky, Na$ty Boi and one night in New York is both grounded, plausible and yet utterly absurd in its glimpse of the alien reality that is celebrity culture.
I was drawn into the narrative, through the eyes of Jeff, who acts in an almost wallflower state, with the ever-so-slight nudges, by which the narrative seems to be taken by the rapper and run wild. Both myself and Jeff become for the most part observers, with pockets of wry humour that become secrets known to us.
With glimpses of dry humour, Earls' small vignette of Jeff, Smoky, Na$ty Boi and one night in New York is both grounded, plausible and yet utterly absurd in its glimpse of the alien reality that is celebrity culture.
I was drawn into the narrative, through the eyes of Jeff, who acts in an almost wallflower state, with the ever-so-slight nudges, by which the narrative seems to be taken by the rapper and run wild. Both myself and Jeff become for the most part observers, with pockets of wry humour that become secrets known to us.
July 21, 2016
Gotham is Nick Earls' first novella in an ambitious series of five to be published under the umbrella title Wisdom Tree. Each represents a place close to Nick's heart; Gotham is set in New York and has suitable batman references. A novella can be a joy to read: more scope for setting, characterisation and plot than a short story, but shorter, punchier and sharper than a novel-length work. And Gotham certainly packs a punch. Nick's eye for detail is consuming and the resulting story - set over less than 24 hours - is almost like reading in real time. I'm not going to give away any of the plot - the novella is too contained for a summary to do it justice without revealing too much. Suffice to say that the book begins in one direction and, once the reader is engaged, carries us along a certain path and then - in the last quarter - it delivers a change of key so cacophonous that it took my breath away. Although the setting and the characters were still the same, I suddenly found myself in a different landscape; my whole world-view had been tipped on its side, and I began to engage with the story in a way I hadn't envisaged or expected. I'm really looking forward to the next in the series.
October 20, 2016
A great novella. I just bought this one when I saw this series at the bookshop this week. I'll run straight out today and buy the others in the series based on this story.
A wonderful story based on New York complete with a heart wrenching Batman theme at the very end.
This is my first Nick Earls book (does that make me unAustralian?)
Without spoiling this. I highly recommend the hour or so it would take you to read this book. Recommend it to non readers.
A wonderful story based on New York complete with a heart wrenching Batman theme at the very end.
This is my first Nick Earls book (does that make me unAustralian?)
Without spoiling this. I highly recommend the hour or so it would take you to read this book. Recommend it to non readers.
October 17, 2016
This is such a unique book. I really felt moved by how real and candid everything feels. I think the shortness of the story allowed every word and moment to be held as importantly as the next.
The book is like a pair of glasses, in that a slice of the world is made clearer through its words.
The book is like a pair of glasses, in that a slice of the world is made clearer through its words.
September 16, 2016
Just terrific - observant, funny, heart-wrenching. A start and finish so unlike what you'd expect. Brilliant.
June 1, 2025
Having recently read the second book (Venice) in this series of five linked novellas, I wanted to go back and read this one, which is the first. While Venice was set in Australia, this one features an Australian abroad: our narrator, Jeff, is in New York partly for work and partly for other reasons, as we learn as the story progresses. He's a 40-year-old music journalist interviewing a 19-year-old rapper named Na$ti Boi with a hot debut album; the novella mostly unfolds over the course of Jeff's night with Na$ti Boi and his cousin/manager, Smokey. Jeff meets them at Bloomingdale's, where Na$ti is having an after-hours personal-shopping experience, and things move on from there: we see passersby snapping pictures of Na$ti walking to his chauffeured van; we see Na$ti making Jeff and Smokey wait because he wants to stop for sex and drugs (never mind that Smokey's wife is literally in labor and Smokey would rather be at the hospital with her); we see Na$ti dining on beef Wellington possibly less because he likes it (though I dunno, I think he does) than because, as Jeff puts it, he's "concerned with sounding like an aristocrat, someone who has lived and Wellingtoned anywhere a person should."
At one point in the evening, somewhere on the chauffeured van ride, Na$ti says "I'm all about family now," which is an echo of something Smokey said earlier about how he's a family man. Jeff wonders what Na$ti means exactly, what family he has other than his cousin/manager, why he would say that after having just bragged about the "Ivy League porn star" he's banging, but also concludes that "he means it. In the interview, it's a car-crash non sequitur, but for him it was the next direct unfiltered thought." Meanwhile, Jeff and Smokey have been talking about their own families—Jeff's wife and their four-year-old daughter are in the city with him, and Smokey, who has a four-year-old son of his own, offers a playground recommendation. (Which Jeff, it turns out, remembers: the end of the book takes place partly at that very playground, the next morning, bringing the focus to Jeff and his role as a family man, too.)
Having heard my husband (who's worked as a freelance arts and culture writer) talk about interviewing musicians—how it feels when it's going well, how it feels when it's not—I particularly appreciated the parts of this book where Jeff talks about that. I like how he talks about having a shape in mind for the piece he's working on but having to be flexible, and how he talks about how "it doesn't do to arrive with too many preconceptions," and how "some things are certain in interviews, but not many," which is a lead-in to this great set of sentences: "Chris Isaak will always charm a female interviewer over forty. Chris Martin will charm anyone and make you want to like Coldplay more than you do. Bob Dylan will treat at least one of your questions as if it's been delivered in an alien tongue, or as if he's just that moment determined he's suffered his last fool."
At one point in the evening, somewhere on the chauffeured van ride, Na$ti says "I'm all about family now," which is an echo of something Smokey said earlier about how he's a family man. Jeff wonders what Na$ti means exactly, what family he has other than his cousin/manager, why he would say that after having just bragged about the "Ivy League porn star" he's banging, but also concludes that "he means it. In the interview, it's a car-crash non sequitur, but for him it was the next direct unfiltered thought." Meanwhile, Jeff and Smokey have been talking about their own families—Jeff's wife and their four-year-old daughter are in the city with him, and Smokey, who has a four-year-old son of his own, offers a playground recommendation. (Which Jeff, it turns out, remembers: the end of the book takes place partly at that very playground, the next morning, bringing the focus to Jeff and his role as a family man, too.)
Having heard my husband (who's worked as a freelance arts and culture writer) talk about interviewing musicians—how it feels when it's going well, how it feels when it's not—I particularly appreciated the parts of this book where Jeff talks about that. I like how he talks about having a shape in mind for the piece he's working on but having to be flexible, and how he talks about how "it doesn't do to arrive with too many preconceptions," and how "some things are certain in interviews, but not many," which is a lead-in to this great set of sentences: "Chris Isaak will always charm a female interviewer over forty. Chris Martin will charm anyone and make you want to like Coldplay more than you do. Bob Dylan will treat at least one of your questions as if it's been delivered in an alien tongue, or as if he's just that moment determined he's suffered his last fool."
December 4, 2023
I try not to start books that I know much about. What I think I understand about Gotham is that this is the first in a series of five novellas that are in some way interconnected. That's actually the reason I picked it up, because the summary of this one did nothing for me. That said, I'm glad I read it. Earls has a style I quite admired: lean prose, but beautiful, and with a certain quality that is suited more for literary fiction than story-driven. It had an unexpected sweetness and depth to it, and one of the characters was surprising, although the character of Na$ti Boi felt flat and shallow despite the obvious attempt to make him more. As to where the connections lay between this and the other novellas, it's fun to guess, although such connections might not be overt. (So as not to confuse future readers looking to reviews for shopping guidance, I'll not speculate here.) Gotham was a quick read that I quite enjoyed by the end, and it has me looking forward to reading the rest in the series.
December 2, 2016
If ever there was a series of novellas to take your breath away the one going under the collective names of the Wisdom Tree by Nick Earls is it. Gotham is the first in the series and was my first introduction to Nick's writing - I must have had my head under a rock to have missed this man's books!! (The great joy of discovery - I now have lots of his books to catch up on). Read Gotham and be moved to tears of laughter and sadness as he reveals a compassionate story of a man juggling the demands of being a journalist and father in New York city. Writing at its best. Do yourself a favour and buy the entire series - you'll want to keep them to read again.
November 30, 2017
Nick Earls does a great job with an unusual format, creating a story that's light and accessible but with more depth than a short story could have allowed. The character of Na$ti Boi is brilliant, engaging as much for the subtle details as his over-the-top extravagance. He is brought vividly to life with the help of a well-developed supporting cast that gradually comes to take center stage as the story progresses.
November 7, 2024
The change of direction about 3/4 through this short story made it all make sense and also made it a very worthwhile way to spend 2 hours.
Currently free on Audible, as are the other novellas in the series. I read this one first simply because it was labelled as #1 - not yet sure whether reading order matters.
Currently free on Audible, as are the other novellas in the series. I read this one first simply because it was labelled as #1 - not yet sure whether reading order matters.
November 23, 2017
This was my first venture into audiobooks read superbly by Rhys Muldoon. An interesting tale of a journalist in New York interviewing a rapper. It’s a wonderful character portrayal with great characterisation and dialogue.
Rhys Muldoon does a terrific job with his accents.
Rhys Muldoon does a terrific job with his accents.
June 5, 2024
There’s nothing better (apart from deep human connection) than randomly selecting a book from someone else’s shelf, not knowing a thing about it, and that book then changes your life (outlook- or trajectory-wise). This was one of those.
A top-tier ‘tram book’, which I finished on a single Armadale-Carlton ride. Can’t wait for Earls’s next novella.
A top-tier ‘tram book’, which I finished on a single Armadale-Carlton ride. Can’t wait for Earls’s next novella.
August 5, 2017
Yes!!
December 31, 2017
3.5 stars
May 14, 2022
3.5 stars
July 15, 2025
really good
August 15, 2020
4.5* Gotham is the first in a set of five subtly linked novellas called The Wisdom Tree, by Nick Earls. I have been searching on and off for these for years and I am beyond excited to finally get my hands on them. Gotham did not disappoint and I found myself whisked away for twenty four hours in New York where I became totally lost in the ‘untethered’ world of a rockstar rapper, then emerged the next morning into the painful realities of the journalist’s life. Earl’s writing is real, direct and ‘simple’, in that these stories could be anyone’s life. It’s just the way it is, it is human. Looking forward to seeing where Book 2: Venice takes me.
October 15, 2016
A powerful last act redeems this short story. The vast majority of the story is an interesting tale of three characters - a naive rap star desperately seeking connection and meaning in all the wrong places, the trusted manager with a surprising depth, and the music journo who has insider access to an unreal world. It was a good character study for the most part, but lacking a point - until the interview ends, and real life for the more interesting characters begins.
September 26, 2016
'Gotham' is the first in 5 novellas in Earls's The Wisdom Tree collection. A great little piece about a music journalist's over night interview with a rapper. An exploration of the superficial, consumerist world and it's propensity to shut out anything of real meaning - and the cost involved in that.
February 1, 2017
Great!.
Goodreads: Where is the compendium edition? This review is for the series / all 5 Novellas rather than any specific one.
I've struggled to enjoy Nick Earls works in the past. Maybe its the old Brisbane Northside / Southside rivalry - when it comes to Brisbane authors who made their start writing quintessential share house books, I gravitate to John Birminham. Possibly I couldn't deal with the cringing awkwardness of the young blokes looking for love in Zig Zag street and 48 Shades of Brown - too close to home? Possibly Birmo's wild gonzo pary houses were aspirational. Ironically it was probably a nod from JB's golden hovercraft that put me on to this collection in the first place.
The awkarness of those earlier books is gone, but Nick still manages to throw a few gut punches and pull the heart strings. Possibly i'm more mature now and can deal with a bit of judgement of my parenting skills. Possibly all the judgement is my own magnified by looking reflefctions of bad habits through the lense of someone elses eyes? In any case these Novella's got feelings in them and it puts some serious power into the story.
Whilst I listened to the whole package which meant i sort of expected a big reveal at the end where everyone came together, but I did consume them like novella's - so i didn't mind that there wasn't. These are seperate stories, with a visible thread linking the families back to Brisbane, and a subtler subtext. But you don't need to read them in a particular order to enjoy them.
In some ways as a Brisbane local, the thread that ties them is an in-joke. Here its not implausible that all these characters in the far flung reaches of the world from a town of 2.3million could be linked in that way. Despite Brisbane's relative size, it not unusual to meet someone random in a bar and work out that they're uncle was your brothers swimming coach.
Novellas: Nicks rant at the end has a point. They are the perfect size for a couple of bus rides during the week. I'm a convert. Not soley through this series, but Nick shows that it works just as well for literary fiction as for genre fiction. Those pulp guys have been sneaking Novellas into their short collections for years, but until the advent of audible I found anthologies tedious.
Goodreads: Where is the compendium edition? This review is for the series / all 5 Novellas rather than any specific one.
I've struggled to enjoy Nick Earls works in the past. Maybe its the old Brisbane Northside / Southside rivalry - when it comes to Brisbane authors who made their start writing quintessential share house books, I gravitate to John Birminham. Possibly I couldn't deal with the cringing awkwardness of the young blokes looking for love in Zig Zag street and 48 Shades of Brown - too close to home? Possibly Birmo's wild gonzo pary houses were aspirational. Ironically it was probably a nod from JB's golden hovercraft that put me on to this collection in the first place.
The awkarness of those earlier books is gone, but Nick still manages to throw a few gut punches and pull the heart strings. Possibly i'm more mature now and can deal with a bit of judgement of my parenting skills. Possibly all the judgement is my own magnified by looking reflefctions of bad habits through the lense of someone elses eyes? In any case these Novella's got feelings in them and it puts some serious power into the story.
Whilst I listened to the whole package which meant i sort of expected a big reveal at the end where everyone came together, but I did consume them like novella's - so i didn't mind that there wasn't. These are seperate stories, with a visible thread linking the families back to Brisbane, and a subtler subtext. But you don't need to read them in a particular order to enjoy them.
In some ways as a Brisbane local, the thread that ties them is an in-joke. Here its not implausible that all these characters in the far flung reaches of the world from a town of 2.3million could be linked in that way. Despite Brisbane's relative size, it not unusual to meet someone random in a bar and work out that they're uncle was your brothers swimming coach.
Novellas: Nicks rant at the end has a point. They are the perfect size for a couple of bus rides during the week. I'm a convert. Not soley through this series, but Nick shows that it works just as well for literary fiction as for genre fiction. Those pulp guys have been sneaking Novellas into their short collections for years, but until the advent of audible I found anthologies tedious.
December 30, 2022
I had no idea what I was getting with this one, but I really enjoyed it.
Earls takes us on a ride from the slick, and somewhat sickening, surface of fame through the eyes of a music journalist and then beyond into relationships on a much more profound level. Left me teary, which is impressive for a slight novella.
Will seek other other work by the author.
Earls takes us on a ride from the slick, and somewhat sickening, surface of fame through the eyes of a music journalist and then beyond into relationships on a much more profound level. Left me teary, which is impressive for a slight novella.
Will seek other other work by the author.
May 12, 2016
I have read this book as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2016. http://bookloverbookreviews.com/readi...
Gotham is the first novella in the Wisdom Tree series, about what family means to us in the 21st century. Nick Earls is one of my favourite Aussie authors – I have read just about all his books, and this novella of 20 000 words really showcases his skills.
It’s the story of the encounter between music journalist Jeff Foster and famous rapper Na$ti Boi. Jeff has flown to New York to interview him but has also brought his wife and his ill four year old daughter Ariel so that she can receive treatment.
Gotham is a nickname for New York but is also the fictional hometown of Batman. There are no superheros in this story – just ordinary people trying to do their best with what life has thrown at them. Na$ti Boi, despite his emotionally impoverished upbringing, is a totally unsympathetic character, a perfect representation of the superficial, narcissistic culture of celebrity.
Smokey, his manager who is also his cousin, has to sacrifice the needs of his family to those of Na$ti Boi. He and Jeff bond over their children and in an encounter in the park, Smokey helps Jeff to let go of his fears for Ariel’s safety and allow her to experience the adventure of being a normal child.
The style of writing is deft, yet evocative. Earls is superb at conveying the subtle undertones and layers of relationships, putting into words what we have often unconsciously experienced ourselves. As an author myself I fully appreciate the skill involved in novella writing – every word has to earn its keep.
I liken Gotham to a baked custard – it looks light, but it’s full of texture and depth and leaves you satisfied for hours – until your next craving for a baked custard/novella.
Gotham is the first novella in the Wisdom Tree series, about what family means to us in the 21st century. Nick Earls is one of my favourite Aussie authors – I have read just about all his books, and this novella of 20 000 words really showcases his skills.
It’s the story of the encounter between music journalist Jeff Foster and famous rapper Na$ti Boi. Jeff has flown to New York to interview him but has also brought his wife and his ill four year old daughter Ariel so that she can receive treatment.
Gotham is a nickname for New York but is also the fictional hometown of Batman. There are no superheros in this story – just ordinary people trying to do their best with what life has thrown at them. Na$ti Boi, despite his emotionally impoverished upbringing, is a totally unsympathetic character, a perfect representation of the superficial, narcissistic culture of celebrity.
Smokey, his manager who is also his cousin, has to sacrifice the needs of his family to those of Na$ti Boi. He and Jeff bond over their children and in an encounter in the park, Smokey helps Jeff to let go of his fears for Ariel’s safety and allow her to experience the adventure of being a normal child.
The style of writing is deft, yet evocative. Earls is superb at conveying the subtle undertones and layers of relationships, putting into words what we have often unconsciously experienced ourselves. As an author myself I fully appreciate the skill involved in novella writing – every word has to earn its keep.
I liken Gotham to a baked custard – it looks light, but it’s full of texture and depth and leaves you satisfied for hours – until your next craving for a baked custard/novella.
February 24, 2017
Quite an interesting novella! This novella, the first in a series of 5, is beautifully written and thoroughly enjoyable.
A music journalist, Jeff, spends an evening with rapper Na$ti Boi. Although the story only covers a short amount of time, we get a really good insight into both characters and their lives, both personal and professional.
Nick Earls has a way of writing novellas with a great amount of detail. The descriptive language and the characters are fantastically written, and you really get drawn into the story. I felt like I was there, observing the character interactions! Gotham is a touching story that still sits with me.
A music journalist, Jeff, spends an evening with rapper Na$ti Boi. Although the story only covers a short amount of time, we get a really good insight into both characters and their lives, both personal and professional.
Nick Earls has a way of writing novellas with a great amount of detail. The descriptive language and the characters are fantastically written, and you really get drawn into the story. I felt like I was there, observing the character interactions! Gotham is a touching story that still sits with me.
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