Book review / Rogue: A fictitious memoir, by Ross Fitzgerald (Goala Books, $29.95). Reviewed by CHARLES WATERSTREET.

The rogue in question here is Raef McAvee, an Australian larrikin with high intelligence, which he uses to great effect, avoiding all work, cutting more corners than Jack Braham and climbing social ladders like a firefighter.

And generally applying his maxims – Raef’s Rules – which are polar opposites to Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life. Raef does not make his own bed but he does lie in it, a lot. 

Raef is an anti-hero in the tradition of J P Dunleavy’s The Ginger Man and Martin Amis’s Money, where character deficits are treated as assets.

At school, he ensnares male and female friends so he can replicate their homework. He invents ways to stay home, such as baby oil up the nose and pepper in the eyes to simulate a cold.

In high school he exploits an encounter with a teacher to get a leg up in the final exams. Later he attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, although he is not an alcoholic, to access classes of society that would not be available without that common denominator.

Despite not completing an undergraduate degree, Raef wrangles his way into post-graduate studies at Harford University (which he pronounces Harvard) on the outskirts of Seattle in the state of Washington (which can be misunderstood as Washington DC with the correct emphasis).

Thereafter his rise in academia and the world of literature becomes unstoppable. He purloins a dead man’s novel and steals poems from friends eventually becoming the author of over 20 books, all aided and abetted by mentees, admirers and aspiring authors willing to do the hard work of researching, drafting, editing and even reviewing.

He eventually becomes regarded as an expert in a diverse range of fields from the sex industry, to prison reform.

As readers race through the chapters following Raef’s apparently inexorable rise, they are searching for clues as to how such a seemingly hideous creature can escape his karma. Will he be undone by his own hand or by his own handwriting? Yet he constantly seems to escape the consequences, even of sexual escapades that would make DHLawrence, Philip Roth, Henry Miller, Vladimir Nabakov and even Donald Trump blush.

Will Raef get his just deserts, or will the great pretender continue to fool everyone?

Carefully crafted, towards the end of this fictitious memoir the author inserts a new book, The Monkey’s Arse, which changes his antihero’s life. Without giving away what happens, there is a hint in Raef’s Rule No 8: “A biography accusing its subject of despicable acts lowers public respect for that person. An autobiography admitting the same acts enhances it.”

Rogue is utterly fascinating. This brilliantly explicit fiction is a remarkable piece of work. The simplest way to purchase Prof Fitzgerald’s best book yet is via Orders c/o Australian Book Marketing: contact@scholarly.info 

Former Australian barrister Charles Waterstreet is the co-creator of the ABC TV series Rake.