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The
Waiters by Martin Armiger. Text Publishing, 2000.
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'No-one
grows up wanting to be a waiter', states Vivienne Edges
in this unusual love story. At this point, Vivienne, a
student of architecture and a bad waitress, is berating
William Nott, the maître d' at Bistro Franco (a
swish Sydney eatery). Nott decides to marry her the night
he meets her, this decision not prompted by any mad moment
across a crowded room or even unbridled lust, but because
of the fact that Vivienne is looking for a husband. This
unlikely situation provides many narrative possibilities,
only some of which are completely resolved.
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The
story is set almost completely in a series of Sydney restaurants,
bars and cafés, many of them tantalisingly almost
recognisable. The behind-the-scenes life of these eating
and drinking sites, and the waiters, bar staff and customers
who people them, provides an often humorous series of
subplots for Armitage to weave his novel around. Anyone
who has worked in a restaurant will be familiar with the
tales of greed, deception, seduction, betrayal and jealousy
that animate the long nights of those in the service industry.
Real tragedy is mixed with the farcically comic, especially
in the sex and death events which happen regularly at
Franco's — some of these seem likely to achieve the
status of urban myth. 'There is nothing so extraordinary',
Vivienne decides, as 'the secret lives of ordinary folk',
but these extraordinary tales of ordinary lives need to
be told with a Armitage's light touch to successfully
achieve this melding of comedy and social comment.
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The
central relationship between William and Vivienne, which
begins and continues so inexplicably, is all explained,
if not totally resolved, by the end of The Waiters.
William's tragedy, it seems to me, is brought upon himself,
by his fatal flaw. This is a particularly Sydney sin;
he doesn't want much of anything. Everyone swirls around
him, desiring and possessing what they want, while William
really wants nothing more than what he has. Then he meets
Vivienne, who wants a husband, and he is drawn into the
cycle of dissatisfaction and yearning.
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An
earlier version of this review was published in Imago:
New Writing. |
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