{"product_id":"2026200006691-secondhand-the-extra","title":"The Extra","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good             ,              ex-library\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good                  \u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Fair - Bumping on spine and corners. Rubbed edges.\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Jacket protected by mylar sleeve. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA darkly comic and semi-autobiographical novel by one of Australia's most distinctive literary voices, The Extra chronicles the life of its protagonist through a series of vivid, sharply observed episodes that illuminate the absurdities and quiet tragedies of mid-twentieth-century Australian life. Hal Porter brings his characteristically ornate and precise prose style to bear on themes of identity, performance, and the outsider's role in society, presenting his narrator as a perpetual extra — a figure always on the margins of the main action. The novel illustrates Porter's gift for rendering social hypocrisy and human vanity with both wit and a cool, unsentimental eye. Rich in autobiographical detail and suffused with a tone that balances irony with genuine pathos, it stands as a compelling example of Australian modernist fiction at its most stylistically ambitious.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48810614259931,"sku":"2026200006691-SECONDHAND","price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/66c44b27-00a3-4c70-8827-c87df9ae198e.png?v=1779806002","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200006691-secondhand-the-extra","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}