And for you river; it's set in Victoria!
(The suburb is called 'Bairstal', which I think is a made up place, because Google is giving me nothing - but the description could be aligned to a million different bleak suburbs). The only thing that I hate about this novel is - and you'd get this - it's the dumbass English teacher doing all the work about planning, and setting goals, and re-writing those moments in your past. And I'm reading it thinking, 'How does he get through any content? These kids are not going to be ready for their exams!' and that stressed me out every single time!