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Review: The Boy From The Mish

Author: Gary Lonesborough

Genre: Young Adult

Rating: 5/5

Main topics:

Indigenous Australian Cuture

Sexuality

Family and Friendships

REVIEW:

The Boy From The Mish is a heart-warming and lovely novel about two Aboriginal boys dealing with discovering their sexuality, interspersed with their culture and the highs and lows of teenage life. The novel is beautifully written, with intersections of sexuality and culture being explored gracefully but messy, a realistic scenario. 

When Jackson first meets Tomas, he has no extra thought for him. If anything, he feels negatively towards him. But as they spend more time together, and share some interesting experiences, their relationships blossoms and spirals into something special and unnamed, a burning secret for the two of them. This relationship struggles through self-acceptance, cultural acceptance and the issue of family, friends and community attitudes. The development of the relationship is chaotic at times, delicate in others. These intersections of life are a too-real thing, and seeing them on the page is amazing. 

The development in the protagonist, Jackson Barley, is a relatable experience for myself, as well as many others. His confusion on his own feelings are expanded by his Aboriginal culture, living in the Mish, a place where he feels he would never be accepted. He tries to convince himself his experiences with Tomas mean nothing, but acknowledges that something is different about himself in the dark shadows of his mind. The insight into Jackson’s mind shows a nuanced and loveable character. His thoughts are complex and sometimes betraying to his real desires, showcasing the fact that even when you ignore a part of yourself, it will always be there. His various interactions with family, culture, friends and sexuality are an interesting read, as he is simply a teenager living his life. His interactions with family show a very different side to him than when he is with his friends, and that differs from when he is with Tomas or romantic interests. All in all, Jackson is an amazingly complex character, and seeing his development through the book is inspiring.

Not just Jackson is complex though. All  characters have distinct personalities. From Jackson’s Mum’s harsh-but-loving demeanour to Jarny’s humorous but hard-headed personality, all characters are given a fleshed-out self. One of my favourite side characters was little cousin Bobby, who had a big experience early on and as kids do, continued on only slightly wary. Jackson’s Mum is a great character, she is shown to be a multi-talented and lovign woman, displaying her culture proudly.  Tomas himself is a great character. The first impression given is very different to the actual boy. He has had some rough experiences, but his changes and character show that first impressions cannot be trusted.

The culture descriptions in this book are fantastic. As a non-Indigenous Australian, it was great reading about the traditional culture of this country, especially given it was written by a queer, Aboriginal author. The depictions of Aboriginal family and friend relationships is a great show of how culture can affect personal identity. Obviously the best way to learn about culture is in real life, but seeing a book explicitly about Aboriginal people and culture is a wonderful thing to see. The book also deals with racism and prejudice, displaying the rampant racism in Australian society. This cultural appreciation is very interesting to read and well woven into this novel.

In conclusion, this book is a must-read. The interspersed culture and sexuality along with the typical human experiences is a wonderful read, and the excellent writing style is a wonderful addition.  This book is a great part of Australian literature, Gary Lonesborough created a fantastic work.

Note: This book is named ‘Ready When You Are’ in certain countries.

[bookswithairs]

Last Night at the Telegraph Club Review

Author: Malinda Lo

Genre: Young Adult

Rating: 5/5

Main topics:

Sexuality

Chinese-American culture

New experiences

Review:

I have read this book multiple times. And it seems to get better each time. Malinda Lo has created such a fantastic novel that I could go back to it again and again. The protagonist, Lily Hu, is a complex and loveable character. Her experience is a mixture of culture and personal identity. Reading her journey through struggles, with culture, sexuality and changing relationships demonstrated how complex her character is, and showcased the intersection of different faucets of life when contemplating who you are. 

Lily’s journey in this book was, at parts, exciting, in others, tense. When she first meets Kath, her love interest, she dismisses anything odd. She soon begins thinking differently, a breakthrough in her self-image. Lily’s emotions are clear on the page. It is hard not to project yourself into her shoes, feeling her racing heart through the page. At various points of the book, Lily has conflicting emotions and this is clear in the writing. Lily is a great character, and I loved seeing her character develop into who she really is.

Secondary characters are fleshed out well. Kath is a character I really see myself in, which probably explains why she is my favourite. Her experiences are also detailed in the background, showing a different experience to Lily’s. Lily’s family and friends are frustrating but overall good characters. Shirley especially is nuanced, her outward demeanour shows cracks at points and exposes her true character. This shows how people can have very different personalities and not be who you once thought they were. The change of the friendship of Lily and Shirley was very interesting to read.

The setting of the book shows a society that made it difficult for Lily. Living as a Chinese-American in the 1960s subjected her to a society that did not appreciate her for who she was. Adding in her queerness, this society seemed it would never accept her. But as she finds the underground community of queer women, she finds a place she can fit in. However, her race plays a part in this fitting in. At times, she feels out of place in the Telegraph Club, or when with other lesbian women. She also feels out of place with her friends, knowing they are different to her. She eventually hates society’s expectations and tries to be proud of herself, even if only some people know her as her true self.

This book has me in a chokehold. The setting, cultural details and exploration of sexuality that seems oh so familiar creates a fantastic book worth reading.