Death, denial and uncertainty define Andrea Goldsmith’s heartfelt new novel, The Buried Life

In her ninth novel, The Buried Life, Andrea Goldsmith explores ambitious themes of death, denial and uncertainty. She examines the illusion of emotional security among the educated middle classes of inner-city Melbourne. Familial dysfunction and destructive relationships define the intersecting lives of Adrian, Laura and Kezi, as each struggles with the anxiety of the unfamiliar.

These are grand topics, but Goldsmith treats them with grace rather than high drama. She employs an emotional, rather than a political lens for her universal concerns, investigating the fear of death as a fear of the unknown, and she shows how this fear can prevent the necessary rupture of change. Hence the title of the book, which is taken from a poem of the same name by Matthew Arnold.

Review: The Buried Life – Andrea Goldsmith (Transit Lounge)

Goldsmith is gentle with her flawed protagonists as they navigate their privileged worlds, quietly messing up in ways that are both frustrating and relatable. And she is generous with the reader. She skilfully employs a third-person perspective to keep us close to her characters, granting us insights they do not possess for themselves. The result is an impressive and astute reflection on the finitude of life, the boundaries of bodies and time, and the notion of living consciously.

Eventually, this all boils down to the question of immanence. Is heaven only to be found through faith and death? Or is it the definition of a fulfilled and loving life?

Regret, resentment and defiance

Professor Adrian Moore is a renowned scholar of contemporary death studies at a high-ranking university. Orphaned as a child, Adrian refuses to accept the significance of his past. He stubbornly attributes his research interests to a fascination with religion, spirituality and Epicurean ideas.

Adrian is secretive about his upbringing, even among friends. But as he turns 43, he remains lonely and depressed, following the unexpected breakdown, the year before, of his long-term relationship with Irene.

His close friend and neighbour is 28-year-old paper-maker Keziah Ferguson, who lives alone in a terraced cottage. Kezi works at a call centre to pay the rent for her home and art studio. She has been rejected by her family’s strict religious community on the grounds of her sexuality and is grappling with the grief of her excommunication.

Veering between regret, resentment and defiance, Kezi relies on Adrian for comfort. Theirs is an unlikely relationship, which is nevertheless both convincing and touching. Adrian’s affectionate support enables Kezi to search for a creative way to resolve her broken situation. Ultimately, she needs to find a way to communicate her love for her family, without compromising the independence she has fought so hard to establish.