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eireannlalor's review against another edition
4.0
3.5* - Rlly enjoyed the commentary on ‘masculinity’ in Aussie culture. Some stories I abso loved and made me feel things and others just didn’t land for me personally. A hard one to rate. I’d defo like to read more of his work. Faves were ‘The Hearing’, ‘Levitation’, ‘Our Year Without Footy’, and ‘Weekend in Albury’.
henrymarlene's review against another edition
3.0
A small book of big short stories, all of which are not what they seem and quirky, oddball and peculiar in nature. I had to double-back several times in my reading each story just to make sure I was actually reading what I was reading correctly. And that what I read - something wild and far-fetched -was actually before my eyes. 'Shirl' was a book of stories akin to aussie myths and legends, but with almost plausible twists, like the yowie. And banning football and cricket. And mermaids. And Wendy Thompson in Albury. I think this book grew on me as I read it. It wasn't instant love, but I could always feel it, like something in the corner of your eye - you're not sure if whether if you acknowledge you will make it come true.
kimswhims's review against another edition
4.0
A really blokey true blue collection of short stories.
Combining Slightly supernatural elements with bloke culture.
A mermaid caught on a group of mates fishing trip, a mail-order bride style kangaroo, fish-faced aliens enforcing a ban on footy experiment in a small town (no footy, no remorse), a Yowie coming into town on a S&B ball bender finding more than he bargained for, amongst a number of other wild stories. Quite a bit of fun. One I wouldn't normally pick up except I've been trying to add reading a short story collection to keep my covid19 attention deficit disorder supplied with good reading material when a novels seems like too much effort concentration wise.
Combining Slightly supernatural elements with bloke culture.
A mermaid caught on a group of mates fishing trip, a mail-order bride style kangaroo, fish-faced aliens enforcing a ban on footy experiment in a small town (no footy, no remorse), a Yowie coming into town on a S&B ball bender finding more than he bargained for, amongst a number of other wild stories. Quite a bit of fun. One I wouldn't normally pick up except I've been trying to add reading a short story collection to keep my covid19 attention deficit disorder supplied with good reading material when a novels seems like too much effort concentration wise.
brigitteb's review against another edition
2.0
This was an interesting read... there was something quintessentially Australian about it, which I LOVED. But I found the stories to be a bit far fetched and struggled to find the ability to suspend my disbelief. I found after many of the stories i had to put the book down and step away from it, as something about the stories unsettled me and I would find it difficult to pick the book back up. The ideas in it where very original and wild, it was also written well.
I can defiantly see why people love this book so much but was just not my cuppa tea.
I can defiantly see why people love this book so much but was just not my cuppa tea.
bookedandborrowed's review against another edition
2.0
The titular story is excellent, surreal and funny and original, but the rest failed to captivate me. Marshall’s voice felt very much like a combination of Tim Winston and Peter Carey, and there’s an obviously masculine feel to the book with plenty of sheilas and fishing and sport: unfortunately I am not a fan of any of these things. I can see what he’s trying to do here in terms of using ironic stereotypes and Aussie-isms in a playful way to comment on masculinity in our culture, and he probably achieves it, but again, this is just not my kind of book. Didn’t really like the way Marshall used cancer in the stories either - I found it a bit hard to swallow, but appreciate this was probably a way for him to process his own experience of cancer.
gisellenguyen's review
3.0
3.5
I first read Wayne Marshall in the 2019 KYD short fiction collection, and was struck by his story The Hearing, which built on a simple premise to deconstruct toxic masculinity in an original, creative way. I was interested to read more of his work, and was sent this collection as a gift by Affirm Press during the lockdown.
This wacky, absurdist collection of short stories was a lot of fun, deconstructing tropes of Australiana and masculinity. It's much more blokey than anything I'd normally read, but there's real heart at the centre of these stories that I connected to. Some of them I wasn't too sure what the point was, and sometimes I wondered what the message or attitude towards women was, but for the most part I enjoyed this and would recommend it as a good way to switch both on and off during this time of isolation.
I first read Wayne Marshall in the 2019 KYD short fiction collection, and was struck by his story The Hearing, which built on a simple premise to deconstruct toxic masculinity in an original, creative way. I was interested to read more of his work, and was sent this collection as a gift by Affirm Press during the lockdown.
This wacky, absurdist collection of short stories was a lot of fun, deconstructing tropes of Australiana and masculinity. It's much more blokey than anything I'd normally read, but there's real heart at the centre of these stories that I connected to. Some of them I wasn't too sure what the point was, and sometimes I wondered what the message or attitude towards women was, but for the most part I enjoyed this and would recommend it as a good way to switch both on and off during this time of isolation.
mawaridi's review
4.0
I described this collection to my partner when I was halfway through as “Paul Jennings for grownups,” and the collection took a bit of a darker turn after that point but it still feels sort of accurate. These are wild outlandish tales with a surprisingly emotional heart, full of nostalgic country Australiana and a (mostly) affectionate skewering of a certain kind of stoic blokey (white) masculinity. It’s a playful collection with a few dark twists and poignant moments and I really enjoyed it.
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