Book reviews

Posts tagged ‘Stephen Orr’

Sincerely, Ethel Malley by Stephen Orr

Sincerely, Ethel Malley is by Australian writer, Stephen Orr, who wrote a collection of short stories called Datsunland that I read a few years ago.

First up, I should tell you about Ethel Malley. During the 1940s two Australian writers, James McAuley and Harold Stewart hated modern poetry, so they wrote what they believed were ridiculously bad poems then posted them to Max Harris, who was one of the editors of an Australian journal at that time called Angry Penguins. McAuley and Stewart included a cover letter from ‘Ethel Malley,’ saying that her late brother ‘Ern Malley’ had written them, and asked Harris if the poems were any good. Harris and his follow editor, John Reed loved Ern Malley’s poetry so much they dedicated an entire edition of Angry Penguins to Malley’s poems. McAuley and Stewart then exposed the hoax, while the publishers of Angry Penguins continued to assert that Ern Malley’s poetry was the real deal, in that the poems were actually ‘good’. To add to the drama, Harris was later convicted and fined for publishing Ern Malley’s poems, because they were deemed to be obscene.

Sincerely, Ethel Malley tells the story as if Ethel were a real person who had written her memoirs about this whole time, with her memoirs landing in Harris’ hands after her death in 1981. The memoir tells of Ethel finding her brother Ern’s poems then travelling to Adelaide to stay with Max, where she did her best to promote Ern and his poetry. When McAuley and Stewart claimed authorship of the poems, Ethel was determined to prove that Ern existed and wrote the poems and that McAuley and Stewart were lying, and when Harris ended up in court charged with publishing obscenities, Ethel supported him, while defending Ern and his reputation.

Ethel’s character was flighty, difficult to like and even harder to trust. I believed in her completely, but I was never sure if she was who she said she was. In keeping with the Ern Malley affair, Ethel was the very definition of an unreliable narrator.

I thought the story over-long, but still enjoyed Sincerely, Ethel Malley very much.

Category:

Australian author, Author, Book Review, Orr - Stephen

Tagged with:

Datsunland by Stephen Orr

datsun.png

Stephen Orr, where have you been hiding? Somewhere in Adelaide, I’m guessing, due to the distinctly South Australian flavour of the short stories that make up Datsunland. Many thanks to Whispering Gums for bringing this book to my attention.

Stephen Orr, Datsunland (#BookReview)

The following stories were my favourites;

Dr Singh’s Despair. This story is a ripper. The title character, Dr Singh, came to Australia to work as a doctor in Coober Pedy, an outback town in South Australia, with the intention of bringing his wife and son to Australia once he settled in. (Australia has a shortage of doctors in remote and rural areas, so the Australian government offer overseas doctors working visas to fill the vacancies). What Dr Singh didn’t know in advance was that Coober Pedy was no place for him (or for any civilised person, you would think after reading this story). After a traumatic (and hilarious) three days in Coober Pedy, Dr Singh writes to the South Australian Health Commission to tell them he has returned to India and to stick their job up their jumper.

The Shot Put is a tragic account of an elderly couple in a remote farming area who are doing it tough. Their dearly loved son Tom went missing during World War 1 at Fromelles and never returned, and is presumed to be a coward. After the war the Department of Defence advise they intend publishing the Coward’s List and naming the deserters, self-mutilators and cowards, causing Tom’s parents to try to have his name removed from the list.

The One-Eyed Merchant is the story of a young boy working as riveter in a ship-building yard. I felt a physical jolt when the ending of this story was revealed.

The Adult World Opera was for me the stand-out story in the collection. I suspect the story of six-year old Jay Foster, who is neglected and mistreated by his weak mother and her no-good boyfriend will haunt me for some time to come. The author didn’t spell out how things worked out for Jay, but I felt uneasy and sad for Jay and other children in similar homes as I read this story.

Datsunland is the longest story in the collection and tells of the friendship between teenage Charlie and his music teacher at Lindisfarne College, William Dutton. Charlie’s musical talent comes to the fore as William introduces him to the blues and punk rock, but Charlie is not always ready for the experiences he seeks out. Datsunland itself is the used-car lot where Charlie’s father struggles to make a living selling cheap second-hand cars. Although I had the feeling that William had already settled for a similar numb life to Charlie’s father, there was still hope for Charlie to live a fuller life.

There is a strong religious flavour through this collection of stories. The stories are all about men and boys, many of whom are Catholic. Quite a few of the stories refer to or have characters with links to Lindisfarne College, an elite school where the boys are taught by the Christian Brothers. There are religious zealots and mad priests everywhere you look in these stories.

I liked Stephen Orr’s plain writing style, which led me clearly through a variety of emotions, from laughing at (and with) poor Dr Singh’s failure to see the funny side of things in Australia (!), to feeling horror, sympathy, pity and joy. The stories have a very Australian feel about them, but as a Victorian, the stories also felt ‘South Australian,’ which I enjoyed. I’ve been told by friends who live in SA that there is a rivalry between the Crow-Eaters and the Vics, but as a Vic, I’ve never heard of it. Possibly Goliath hadn’t heard of David before the big fight either.

I’m looking forward to working my way through this new-to-me author’s works soon.

 

Category:

Australian author, Author, Book Review, Orr - Stephen

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started