The novel’s core message is: When we don’ t learn from history we are doomed to repeat.’ PUP explores the stupidity and ugliness of war and the lives it changes. It is a love letter to Australia and particularly inner suburban Melbourne in the 1970s as it matures and loses a little of its innocence. A provoking and in-depth read that explores what could make a good man a monster and what might help a monster regain his humanity. How does a man pick up the pieces with only one arm? A badly injured Terry Shepherd returns from Vietnam and is spat on by war protestors at the airport. Disabled and still reeling from his harrowing journey in Vietnam as a unit medic, Terry finds himself running afoul of the vicious North Richmond Sharpie gang. Pup paints a beautiful snapshot of life in Melbourne’s inner city suburbs of Fitzroy and Richmond, with a cast of characters ranging from endearing to dangerous.