Reviewed by Rod McLary
‘Soft serve’ as most readers would immediately recognise is a cultural reference to McDonald’s and the servings of soft ice cream available there. But here, in this charming debut novel by George Kemp, McDonald’s also serves [no pun intended] as the social hub of this small country town in which the narrative is set.
Fern and her brother Jacob and their friend Ethan are at the centre of this novel – the missing fourth member of the friendship group, Taz, died in Sydney where he was hang-gliding. Pat – Taz’s grieving mother – runs the local McDonald’s where the friends gather regularly. There they talk about their futures and relationships – even though there is sometimes a disconnect between how each sees their future and what they are doing now. Fern wants to settle down in the township with Ethan and has saved for a house; Ethan has largely unacknowledged feelings for Jacob; while Jacob is restless and can’t really see what his future may look like. Always, the pull of Sydney hangs over them as it seems that only in Sydney will there be employment, brand new relationships and a future.
The narrative moves to another level when bushfires begin to threaten the township and close in on McDonald’s. Then the store becomes much more than the social centre – it becomes a refuge where the firefighters can be sure of food, drink and a brief respite from their back- and heart-breaking work. And the escalating crisis in the town is matched by the escalating tension between the three friends when the status quo is challenged and each of the three begins to see a future different from what they now have.
City dwellers may believe that country people have an easier life but that is not the case. The same issues and tensions face all of us and people’s lives in the country are no different. Anyone can be caught between what is now and what may be in the future. How do you decide – and when? This is what faces Ethan, Jacob and Fern and the realisation that their individual futures may be so different from what they imagine is challenging and a little scary. The narrative captures too the push-pull between the country town where you have lived all your life and the lure of the city – the huge step into the unknown.
George Kemp has crafted a novel which on the surface may appear to ‘soft’ as the title may suggest but, below the surface, there are tensions, conflicts and the struggle for identity and a place in the world. All of which face young people in their late teens and early twenties the world over. Soft Serve is a novel to enjoy while travelling alongside Fern, Ethan and Jacob as they negotiate and re-calibrate the trajectory of their lives.
George Kemp is a writer for stage and screen and has won an award for his play Shack. He is also an actor both in Australia and England. Soft Serve is his first novel.
Soft Serve
[2026]
by George Kemp
UQP
ISBN: 978 0 7022 6943 4
$29.99; 208pp