Jetty Rats is a novel about a thirteen year old boy called Hunter Vettori, who has an enormous ambition to catch a mulloway. A mulloway is not just a big fish, it’s a fish that’s going to make him more rich and famous than Rex Hunt! Then Hunter could get away from Dogleg Bay, his boring, small town filled with old fogies. He could also get away from the dreaded M. A. B. (men’s amenity block) in the caravan park. If his dad were here, Hunter could go fishing while his old man scrubbed the toilets and got rid of the U. F. O. s (unidentifiable floating objects). Hunter’s dad went missing five years ago off his favourite rock fishing spot, The Murk. Hunter has his razor ready when he returns, his Mum doesn’t trust men with beards. Everyone else in the town knows that
...Hunter’s dad isn’t coming back, but Hunter won’t come to terms with it. Hunter’s dad’s best mate, Drilla, feels responsible for his disappearance because he was supposed to go fishing with him that day. Drilla has rebuilt his life, giving up drugs and alcohol, but Hunter can’t move on.
His mum, Sandy, now runs the Dogleg Bay Community Caravan Park. She spends her spare time with her friend, Saphonia, or looking at tattoo magazines. Saphonia is a hippydippyteria well let’s just say she likes her jatz and dips. She has two twin daughters, otherwise known as The Photocopies. Fourteen year old Storm and Jasmine are actually very different though. Storm is outspoken and dabbles in ‘magik,’ whilst Jasmine is a beautiful, hippy girl. Hunter is attracted to
Jasmine, although he later learns that looks can be deceiving.
Hunter’s other friends are Miracle and Skullster. Miracle is a young entrepreneur, obsessed with making millions of dollars. He is always completely decked out in ‘mambo’ surf clothes, and tries all different money-making schemes. Skullster is a geeky computer nerd. He spends his days locked up in his bedroom, playing on his computer. His mum is really nice and caring, but he takes it for granted. His dad is a very rich funeral director. Although all of these people are Hunter’s friends, he doesn’t treat them like mates.
I think he feels alone because everyone except him knows that his dad isn’t coming back. If he was a lot nicer to everybody and wasn’t so gloomy, he would have a lot more friends and a happier life. I like this book because it’s Australian and the characters seem very genuine. Phillip Gwynne describes the characters so in depth, it’s like you know them. Even the smallest of characters have lots of detail and stories of their own. Hunter appears to be such a normal, Aussie kid.
It’s hard to believe an adult wrote Hunter. The modern lingo, cheekiness and naivety of him are so honest and contemporary with today’s teenage generation. Something I don’t like about this book is that it drags on in parts. It can become boring in places, which is sad because overall it’s a good book. I think many young readers may find it boring as well. This is a shame because the ending is great. The author should have put more detail into the dreary bits, or
should have just cut them out of the story.
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