The father witnesses his son gradually distancing from both him and his culture as he grows older. ... Although not entirely thrown off her yearning for Australian informality and spontaneity, her years in France teach her to reach some understanding of an old and complex civilisation, and to savour a way of life capable of enriching even the perpetual outsider. ... As she asks an obnoxiously rude salesman in a "lolly voice laced with arsenic" if he"d "forgotten to take (his) Prozac today", Turnbull recognizes the difference she now views such encounters with. ...

• Word Count: 1749
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate