The Stuffed Olive
The most memorable visual imagery in the entire novel is Georgia’s ill-conceived plan to show up at a costume party dressed as a stuffed olive that was intended to be a thematic plan involving her besties. But things fall apart and she winds up being the only one. The imagery is funny as it is being described, but even when not the center of the narrative, it hangs over the entire story. Almost impossible to convey without reading the novel, there is just something about the stuffed olive in all its multiple perspectives that is definitively Georgia. In fact, it becomes almost impossible to imagine her showing up at the party as literally anything else. But one cannot fully appreciate that reality without the surrounding context.
Nicknames
Another sort of imagery is Georgia’s penchant for nicknames. Everybody gets a tagged with a nickname by Georgia; some are very creative while others are just more a shorthand. The latter, for instance, arrives in the shortening of Jasmine to Jas. As for the former, the list is extensive: “Sex God,” “The Laugh,” “Bonfire Boy” and “Mutti and Vati” for Mum and Dad. The imagery is coherent: Georgia exists in a state that is partially in the world we know and partially in the world she creates for herself. It is in the blurring of those lines and the commingling of those worlds that the novel gains its humor and its heart.
Slang
Much of the narrative is a combination of British slang and what have come to be known as Georgia-isms: nicknames for things instead of people. For instance, “nuddy-pants” for being naked. The back of the book contains an extensive—though not overwhelming—glossary: “wally. See prat. A waly additionally has no clothes sense.” And then there’s Georgia’s penchant for co-opting actual people and turning them into a Georgia-ism. According to Georgia, an “Esther Rantzen” is a terrifying big-toothed do-gooder whom you still wouldn’t want hanging around. Esther Rantzen is the name of an actual British TV personality. The slanguage is there to help identify the fact that Georgia, as the movie version of Fantastic Mr. Fox says of his son, is “different.”
Angus
The Angus of the title is the family’s wild but not-quite-feral enormously oversized cat. Much of the best examples of individual imagery serve the purpose of situating how Angus constantly works himself into questionable circumstances. This, in turn, creates ample opportunities for Georgia to engage in imagery-creation:
“Oh dear. I have just seen Angus hunkering down in the long grass. He’s stalking their poodle. I’ll have to intervene to avert a massacre. Oh, it’s OK, Mrs. Next Door has thrown a brick at him.”
