“I come from the sort of family in which, at the age of ten, I was told I must always say hoi polloi, never "the hoi polloi," because hoi meant "the," and two "the's" were redundant -- indeed something only hoi polloi would say.”

“Hoi, hoi u embleer hrair! M'saion ule' hraka vair!”

“And let’s debunk one bit of writer myth while we’re here: Doing a seventeenth revision on a project does not make a writer an artist or move him above the writer hoi polloi any more than dressing entirely in black or wearing tweed jackets with leather elbow patches or big, black drover coats. These are all affectations, and smack of dilettantism. Real writers, and real artists, finish books and move on to the next project.”

“Nyalamae Un Poar Nyayam Thaanaa?Kaalamae Un Paer Kaayam Thaanaa?Yaaro Yaar Yaaro.. Venpugai Aavaaro..Poi Pola Yaavum Purandoduthey Hoi..Nyalamae Un Poar Nyayam Thaanaa?Kaalamae Un Paer Kaayam Thaanaa?Aetho Nenjukkul Aasai AasaithaanaaEllamae Manmaelae Maayai MaayaithaanaVaazhvaiyae Vetri Kollavae Yaarundu Sollu..Naerukku Naeraai Nijam Mothuthey Hoi..Kaalamae Thee Thaan Thoovalaamo..Yaavumae Maa Yai Aagalaamo..Saerththu Ellamae Veen Veenthaanaa..Paarthathu Ellamae Pogum Pogumthaanaa..Pookindra Poovellam Vaadiyae Theerum..Ul Naakku Kooda Kaaigirathey Hoi..Nyalamae Un Poar Nyayam Thaanaa?Kaalamae Un Paer Kaayam Thaanaa?Yaaro Yaar Yaaro.. Venpugai Aavaaro..Poi Pola Yaavum Purandoduthey Hoi..”

“The boarding school memoir or novel is an enduring literary subgenre, from 1950s classics such as The Catcher in the Rye to Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep. Doust’s recognisably Australian contribution to the genre draws on his own experiences in a West Australian boarding school in this clever, polished, detail-rich debut novel. From the opening pages, the reader is wholly transported into the head of Jack Muir, a sensitive, sharp-eyed boy from small-town WA who is constantly measured (unfavourably) against his goldenboy brother. The distinctive, masterfully inhabited adolescent narrator recalls the narrator in darkly funny coming-of-age memoir Hoi Polloi (Craig Sherborne)—as does the juxtaposition of stark naivety and carefully mined knowingness.’ — Bookseller+Publisher”

“I did know what it meant when you say you promise something. You have to say that you will never do something again and then you must never do it because that would make the promise a lie.”