COAST VIBES
BOOKS on the WAVES
Reviewed by ANGELA BENNETTS and MANDI MCINTOSH
THE IMPROBABLE LIFE OF RICKY BIRD by Diane Connell Prepare to fall in love with the ‘practically-13’ Ricky Bird, a decidedly unordinary girl trying to survive in a council estate in London. Ricky is fuming that her mother has dragged her away from her beloved garden and can-do-no-wrong father. What’s worse, the new flat comes with a new boyfriend, Dan, who Ricky is fervently hoping will fall off a roof sometime soon (after all, he is a tradie). A community writing workshop and a new vegetable plot provide welcome distractions for Ricky, until her little brother suddenly falls ill and even her most imaginative tales can’t mend the deepening cracks in her reality. This is a heart-churning, sob-inducing novel with equal shades of dark and light in the vein of Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine; you will race through the pages, just itching to jump in and befriend (and protect) the most singular Ricky Bird. AB
QUARTERLY ESSAY: TOP BLOKES by Lech Blaine Lech Blaine’s articles have been published everywhere from The Guardian to The Good Weekend and for good reason. Hailing from country Queensland and having survived a horrific car accident as a teen, Blaine has turned his experiences into a memoir (Car Crash) and his studies into this compelling Quarterly Essay (Top Blokes). Blaine looks at our prime ministers of recent history (primarily from Hawke to Morrison) and the reinvention that many of them have undertaken to appear as battlers and larrikins to appeal to working-class Australians. The discussion around larrikinism and who that title may apply to today is fascinating; Blaine asks whether the larrikins of today are more likely to be female, Indigenous or people of colour. This essay weaves current politics with family politics as it examines the masks politicians don and doff as they downplay their privileged backgrounds and education and switch sporting codes. MM
THE ISLANDS by Emily Brugman Based on the author’s family history, The Islands is an evocative debut following a group of Finnish migrants who work the cray boats on the wild and remote Abrolhos Islands off the coast of Western Australia. They are many miles from the cold lowlands of Finland, and yet the ocean is a tangible if perilous link between their past and future. Through a series of vignettes, we circle the interconnected lives of the island-dwellers: Onni, Alva and their hardy, adventurous daughter Hilda; gruff and watchful ‘Latvian Igor’; troubled boys Mika and Ismo; little Lauri and his artist mother Helvi. Australia is a distant concept, and yet amid the loneliness and harsh beauty, there emerges across the generations an ache for home – whatever that may mean. A literary talent to watch! AB
MY FRIEND FOX by Heidi Everett This is a lyrically told memoir of the author’s childhood, her battle with schizophrenia and depression and her time in and out of the psych ward in her 20s and 30s. Everett is able to give some insight into the chaos she experienced and the difficulties society poses for those who are not seeing the world in the same way. The chapters are brief windows into her experiences and the fable-like story of the wild fox weaves its way through her story, along with the gorgeous line drawings that Everett herself has drawn. This is well worth a read and emphasises the power of music and the love of a good dog along the way. MM All of the reviewed authors will be appearing at the Words on the Waves Writers’ Festival, June 3-6. wordsonthewaves.com.au
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