The Australian, 12-13 Aug 2000

If you can believe everything you read, the latest assessment seems to be that males in their teens need a literature of their own – something ‘lite’ or remedial to lure them into literacy. Having grown up reading both Biggles and Little Women, I remain wary about gender ghettoes in libraries, so I was pleased to come across books by, and about, blokes that push the limits of style and structure.

The first rule for those remedial boy’s books would probably be ‘Never describe the scenery’. In his young adult novel MAX … Michael Hyde breaks this rule gloriously. Hyde describes rivers and beaches like a fast-lane thriller writer; conversely, he describes canoeing disasters and desperado graffiti raids like an artist.

In one sense, MAX is the painful but lyrical exploration of a boy whose best friend has just committed suicide. In another, more general sense, the book shines a light on age-old rites of passage where young men test themselves against their environment. Whether Max is running from the cops or falling for Mai, Hyde records his inner dialogues with rare honesty and wry humour.