Temper, Phoebe Walker
‘Sometimes I think all anybody wants is to know one place better than anywhere else’
As Jessia Andrews rightly says, Temper is ‘a must read for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider’, and haven’t we all?
Poet and debut novelist Phoebe Walker writes from the perspective of an unnamed narrator who has relocated to the Netherlands with her partner, whose multinational job comes with social benefits, a ready-made community, and a certain sense of belonging. The narrator, on the other hand, is a freelancer in an unknown place who –without the structures and constructs that often hold us together – is confronted with feelings of dislocation, dissatisfaction, and existentialism.
‘The loneliness I know more about, or feel an affinity with, is real solitude hitched to everyday dejection, no place to meet other minds, and sometimes no inclination to even do that.’
Temper is a unique meditation on a woman attempting to build a life to her own rhythm and her multiple failed attempts to connect with those around her, which result in unsettling interactions, dysfunctional friendships, and social isolation. Written in a uniquely poetic style, littered with acerbic wit and masterfully created observations, Temper captures the lingering frustration that is so widely felt; the need, the inability, and the pain of finding a place to belong.
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