childhood

by

Post Script: Holidays – William McInnes

A real Aussie larrikin.

Holidays

Holidays

William McInnes

Hachette Australia

ISBN: 9780733633126

 

Description:

‘A holiday is a time when you do lovely things that you never get a chance to really do otherwise.’ So Iris McInnes told her young son, William, as she tried to explain the meaning of a holiday.

 

This book is about the Australian love affair with holidays.

 

It is about going away and staying home. It’s about the relaxing times you had as a kid, escapes you have with your children and the stories you hear from your friends.

 

It can be about a romantic sunset, the spare seat at breakfast being taken by an attractive stranger, a miraculous airline upgrade – or missing bags, unfortunate rashes and wrong turns that lead to places you definitely did not intend to go.

 

But most of all it’s about being in your backyard in an above ground pool, floating in circles, staring at the clouds as you go round and round and knowing that life is sweet because you are on holidays.

 

 

My View: William McInnes – a real Aussie larrikin.

At the beginning of this book I laughed so much the tears ran down my cheeks, at the end I cried silent sad tears. A remarkable book of memories and more.

 

William McInnes writes a beautiful creative memoir; he paints colourful images of the innocence of childhood, life in a small town, growing up, family holidays, and then about the holidays he created with his own family and the last holiday he had with his wife before she died.

 

I especially like hearing the tales written in his childhood voice – his first recollection of a holiday with his mum and siblings that involved the wonder of train travel (some hilarious laugh out loud anecdotes around train toilets…) and memories of school holidays and then the outrageous recounting of “school holiday activities” (I know you will either have your own memories of these type of activities or you would have enrolled your own children in the like), “All across Australia there were schemes, plans, events – activities – that were designed to entertain holidaying children and get them out of their parent’s hair for a few hours a day…Basket weaving, pottery, painting, orienteering, craft design, woodwork and holiday swim camps. Almost any activity that could be thought of to eat up holiday time got a run in the suburbs of Australia.” (p.51) I loved the story of the “Day long body building and health ‘tutorial’.” This particular story is pure childhood, fun and full of fart jokes – a kid’s paradise. This started me laughing once again so much so I had to explain the reason to my husband; I laughed so much explaining the joke I cried.

 

Hidden amongst these hilarious anecdotes are gems of wisdom and astute observations. At one time McInnes is working away from home staying in a hotel, alone in his room he starts to feel lonely then has a revelation: “I realise I am no that lonely. I lie here and think of how much I like my friends. How much I love my family, the one I grew up with and the one I have…Sometimes the best place to realise what you’ve got is the loneliest place.” p.216) This book is filled with such gems.

 

McInnes concludes this charming, fascinating account of holidays and what they mean with these words; “It’s when the memories of a place, and the people who passed the time with you there, all come colliding with the present that the acute feeling of simply being human can be so great. (p. 279)…and “How, if we are lucky and are loved enough, we might become cherished holiday memories, for holidays may be the realest, most sweetest part of life.”(p. 286)

 

Read “Holidays”, laugh, cry, remember…plan your next holiday now.

 

 

 

 

by

Post Script: The Golden Boys – Sonya Hartnett

Evil lurks under the surface.

Golden Boys

The Golden Boys

Sonya Hartnett

Penguin Australia

Hamish Hamilton

ISBN: 9781926428611

 

 

Description:

Sonya Hartnett’s third novel for adults is perfectly formed and utterly compelling, an unflinching and disquieting work from one of Australia’s finest writers.

 

Colt Jenson and his younger brother Bastian live in a world of shiny, new things – skateboards, slot cars, train sets and even the latest BMX. Their affluent father, Rex, has made sure that they’ll be the envy of the new, working-class suburb they’ve moved to.

But underneath the surface of the perfect family, is there something unsettling about the Jensons? To the local kids, Rex becomes a kind of hero, but Colt senses there’s something in his father that could destroy their fragile new lives.

 

My View:

A book that slowly draws you into its grasp into a time of childhood innocence, of BMX bikes and playing in the local storm water drain, of BBQ’s with the neighbours… a time when kids could be adventurers and start to develop their own identity and work out their place in the world. However all is not quite what it seems, the story told through the eyes of the children in the two families that are spotlighted in this narrative are wise for their age but have not yet learnt how to deal with their wisdom. We watch them struggle to cope with realisations that their family is not quite like everyone else’s and that feelings of love and hate are not mutually exclusive within the family unit.

 

The story opens with a display of parental teasing and Colt clearly sees the action for what it really is – a display of power over, her reflects; “There’s always some small cruelty, an unpleasant little hoop to be crawled through before what’s good may begin; here is the gift, but first you must guess its colour.” And so even at this early point in the novel Hartnett foreshadows the power plays that will form the crux of this story, power over and manipulation form the structure this narrative is welded to.

 

This is a finely drawn picture of life in the 70’s in Australian suburbia that does not skimp on domestic detail and family dysfunction. Issues that are “family secrets” are explored and laid bare. I think one of the reasons I felt drawn to this story aside from the poignant characterisations was the ability this narrative had to take me back to my own childhood, I too was a teenager in the 70’s and found life not always that easy. I could empathise with the main characters. I could relate to these times.

 

 

This is a disquieting read. The conclusion is confronting.