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The Glass Canoe

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( 289 ratings, 43 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Glass Canoe by David Ireland explores the life of a young man working as a groundskeeper at an Australian pub. Through his eyes, we experience a vivid portrayal of friendship, masculinity, and the fabric of working-class society. The novel delves deep into themes of identity and belonging, using the pub as a microcosm for broader Australian life.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy a gritty exploration of Australian pub culture, presented through richly textured prose and vivid depictions of working-class life. You might appreciate its raw honesty and innovative narrative style that captures the complexities of human relationships and individual identity within a distinctive setting.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

The story of a man who sees life through his beer glass--his 'glass canoe'.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

On hot days we jumped fully clothed into our bottomless beer glasses and pushed off from shore without a backward look. Heading for the deep, where it was calm and cool.

Meat Man is a regular at the Southern Cross pub in Sydney. With his tribe, he sits and drinks and watches as life spirals around him. David Ireland's novel tells his stories, about the pub, its patrons and their women, and about the brutal, tender, and unexpected places his glass canoe takes him.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Glass Canoe by David Ireland is often praised for its vivid and raw depiction of Australian working-class life. Reviewers highlight the novel's unique narrative style and immersive storytelling, which captures the essence of pub culture. Some readers find the characters deeply compelling and the themes insightful, though others feel the story might appeal more profoundly to those familiar with such settings.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781921922411

Publisher: Text Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 April 2012

Country: Australia

Imprint: Text Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 274g

Pages: 384

About the Author

David Ireland started out writing poetry and drama but then turned to fiction. His first novel, The Chantic Bird, was published in 1968. In the next decade he published five further novels, three of which won the Miles Franklin Award: The Unknown Industrial Prisoner, The Glass Canoe and A Woman of the Future. Ireland was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1981. In 1985 he received the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for his novel Archimedes and the Seagull.

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  • A Woman Of The Future
    A Woman of the Future, first published in 1979, was David Ireland's best-selling sixth novel and his third to win the Miles Franklin Award. An imaginative tour de force, it is the story of the young life of Anthea Hunt - from conception to sexual awakening. It is controversial and brilliant, and unlike anything else in Australian literature. Now published...
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  • The Chantic Bird
    The Chantic Bird is the confession of a teenage anarchist, who combines contempt for contemporary society with a great tenderness and warmth for his younger siblings and for Bee, the girl who looks after them. The first of David Ireland's masterful novels, The Chantic Bird contains the same characteristic indictment of the bovine mindlessness of collective humanity, and the home-owning...
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  • The Unknown Industrial Prisoner
    On the shores of Botany Bay lies an oil refinery where workers are free to come and go, but they are also part of an unrelenting, alienating economy from which there is no escape. In the first of his three Miles Franklin Award-winning novels, originally published in 1971, David Ireland offers a fiercely brilliant comic portrait of Australia in the...
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  • The Fifth Step
    Nominated for Best New Play at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards 2026 The point is to divest yourself of shame. Anything that'll make you pick up a drink in the future. It's about getting clean. After many years in the 12-step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous, James agrees to become the sponsor of newcomer Luka. On the journey to sobriety, the...
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  • The Glass Canoe
    The Glass Canoe The Glass Canoe by David Ireland is a classic work of Australian literature. It centres around the pubβ€”a refuge where male workers aggressively shelter from their wives, their work, and their everyday lives. This 1976 novel offers a graphic illustration of the alienation of labour under modern industrial capitalism, providing insights into the suburbs surrounding Australian cities....
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  • David Ireland Plays 1
    'Playwright David Ireland challenges people to draw lines between what they find funny and what they find outrageous' (Sydney Morning Herald). This first collection of plays by David Ireland brings together three of his most successful hits that have enjoyed numerous productions around the world, alongside two previously unpublished plays: Half a Glass of Water: 'The dialogue is brutal and...
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  • The Extraordinary Life of the Wildlife Man: Death-defying encounters with crocs, sharks and wild animals
    "In my line of work, knowing when to obey fear and when to ignore it is often the difference between life and death." David Ireland has handfed bull sharks, filmed inside the jaws of a saltwater crocodile, looked into the black eyes of a great white shark, and felt the breath of a lion devouring a wildebeest. In working with...
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