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Useful

By Debra Oswald
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3.65 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 993 ratings, 152 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In Useful by Debra Oswald, protagonist Sullivan Moss faces a turning point after surviving a suicide attempt. With a new lease on life, he decides to make himself useful by donating a kidney. This decision sets off a journey of personal transformation, cinematic mishaps, and the unlikely bonds he forms with those around him.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're drawn to stories about self-discovery and redemption, highlighting a character's determination to make amends for a wasted life. Explore profound themes of friendship, love, and finding purpose in unexpected places, all wrapped in an engaging narrative.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Sullivan Moss is useless. Once a charming underachiever, he's now so hopeless that he even fails his attempt to end it all. Waking up in hospital after falling the wrong way on a rooftop, he comes to a decision. After a life of regrets, Sully wants to do one useful thing. If he can't make something of himself, maybe someone else can. He's going to donate a kidney to a stranger.

As he scrambles over the hurdles to become a donor, Sully almost accidentally forges a new life for himself. Sober and employed, he makes new friends and begins to patch things up with old ones. But altruism is not as easy as it seems. Just when he thinks he's got himself together, Sully discovers there are more temptations than ever to fall apart.

From the creator of Offspring comes a smart, moving and wry portrait of one man's desire to make a difference.

Debra Oswald is the master of character. — Eddie Perfect

Brimming with insight, mesmerizing, and above all, true. — Geraldine Brooks

With characteristic charm, wit and humanity, Debra Oswald has crafted an irresistible story of metamorphosis. — Nick Earls

An expert storyteller ... Useful is a very funny and entertaining novel that also gets you right in the heart (and in the kidneys). — Malcolm Knox

Wry, moving and clever, this is an interesting and funny rumination on life, friendship and people's capacity for change. — Weekend Post

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780143573739

Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 February 2016

Country: Australia

Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 199.0mm

Weight: 254g

Pages: 320

Collections

Debra Oswald Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books

About the Author

Debra Oswald is a writer for stage, television and fiction. She is co-creator and head writer of the successful TV series Offspring which recently finished its fifth season. Debra won the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Award for the Offspring tele-movie script and the 2014 AACTA for Best TV Screenplay for the final episode of series 4. Her other television credits include award-winning episodes of Police Rescue, Palace of Dreams, The Secret Life of Us, Sweet and Sour and Banana in Pyjamas. Debra's stage plays have been produced around Australia. Gary's House, Sweet Road and The Peach Season were all shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Award and Dags has had many productions. Gary's House has been performed in translation in Denmark and Japan. Mr Bailey's Minder was produced in Philadelphia in 2008. Debra has written three plays for young audiences - Skate, Stories in the Dark (NSW Premier's Play Award in 2008) and House on Fire. She is the author of three 'Aussie Bite' books and six novels for teenage readers, and the novel Useful, published in 2015..

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