With the recent release of his latest book
of short stories Common People,
Melbourne writer Tony Birch has consolidated his position as one of the best
fiction writers in Australia. If you are new to Birch’s work the obvious place
to start with is his first book SHADOWBOXING
(2006), which is a collection of ten self contained but closely linked short
stories, set mostly in inner city Melbourne during the 1960s.
SHADOWBOXING is a coming-of-age story narrated by Michael Byrne told from the
perspective of a young adult looking back at his life in Fitzroy, Carlton and
Richmond. The first eight short stories cover his years while at school whereas
the last two stories “Redemption” and “The Haircut” act as a sort of epilogue
ten years after the events described in the earlier stories have taken place.
The sad, tough family life of the Byrne
working class family is the central focus of the collection. Mick, Michael’s
father works as a tar layer for the local council. He is a heavy drinker and a
morose and physically violent man. He is selfish and distant and unyielding but
ultimately “family” who needs to be cared for. The unnamed mother is a stoical
and wise woman who works in a crumpet factory to help support the family. She
shows courage, dignity and resilience against all odds.
The title “SHADOWBOXING” derives from the
short story “The Lesson” in which Mick decides that his son Michael at 13 is
old enough to start training to be a professional boxer. In the lead up to his
son’s thirteenth birthday Mick tells Michael more than once, “I reckon we’ve
had enough of this shadowboxing.” From a young age Mick has taught his son how
to spar bare fist to open hand with him in the backyard and now it was time for
Michael to step up. As a birthday present he receives not one but two pairs of
boxing gloves and his heart sinks, “I dreaded the prospect of going even one
round with my father, although it seemed likely that I would soon have to.”
The opening short story “The Red House”
quickly establishes the setting and tone for the collection. The Byrne family
rent a house from an Italian immigrant Mr Carboni in Fitzroy after a move from
the regional town of Clunes. On the surface the story is simple but it provides
the reader with a series of narrative arcs to help us better understand the
family’s dynamics- the father’s “explosive anger”, the tragic sudden death of
May, aged 2, the history of “the red house” and the mother’s courageous attempts
to make a go of a difficult situation.
Other family stories of note include the “The
Return” which starts off as a portrait of the eccentric Aunt Billie but which morphs
into Michael’s evolving youthful notions of Father Christmas, before he is
attacked by the psychotic Lawrence brothers. “Ashes” is set much later when
Michael and his family are forced to move into his grandmother’s house in
Carlton after his father is hospitalised. Grandma’s close relationship with a
boarder, Jack Morris is elaborated on. Importantly, it is Jack who encourages
the young Michael to read & discuss books which later leads to his career
as a copy boy and eventually as a sports journalist.
There are also a few interwoven stories which
provide interesting character studies of people within the struggling working
poor community. “The Butcher’s Wife” is based a true story about a battered
woman, Mrs Ruth Goodall, who sets out to revenge her violent husband. Probably
more notable is “A Disposable Good” about Wilma Carson, a local abortionist who
cares for the needs of distressed women during a time when the medical
procedure was illegal.
The stories are between 16 and 20 pages
each. The writing is unembellished and very easy to read. There are elements of sentiment and sensationalism,
but overall, the writing is highly credible and emotionally engaging.
The two stories which clearly stand out are
“The Lesson” and “The Sea of Tranquility”. These are brilliant stories which best show
the obstacles that Michael must confront & overcome on his journey to
manhood. “The Lesson” combines fiction with autobiography, with Michael, like
Birch, having to partake in compulsory boxing lessons because “he had
increasingly talked about me having a career in the ring, just as he had done
when he was younger.”
The father's advice to Michael is candid, in your face: "When you're getting your head knocked off, that's when you'll find out how big the heart is. But most of all you got to have that instinct, a killer instinct. If you don't have that, it doesn't mean nothing: how fast you are, how hard you can punch. You'll get killed in the end, fucken killed. You got to hate the other bloke. Really hate him. Because if he's any good, when he gets in that ring with you, all he'll be thinking is how he's going to punch the shit out of you. Just one sniff from him that you haven't got it and well, it's over, all over. He'll fucken eat you." The climax to the story is brutal and agonisingly real.
The father's advice to Michael is candid, in your face: "When you're getting your head knocked off, that's when you'll find out how big the heart is. But most of all you got to have that instinct, a killer instinct. If you don't have that, it doesn't mean nothing: how fast you are, how hard you can punch. You'll get killed in the end, fucken killed. You got to hate the other bloke. Really hate him. Because if he's any good, when he gets in that ring with you, all he'll be thinking is how he's going to punch the shit out of you. Just one sniff from him that you haven't got it and well, it's over, all over. He'll fucken eat you." The climax to the story is brutal and agonisingly real.
“The Sea of Tranquility” is a more complex
story and reveals Birch’s love of the Yarra River which we see in his later
novels & ends in the tragic death of Michael’s friend Charlie after they flog
a Mercedes & drive blindly along a curving road with the headlights off.
This sense of ennui, of extreme carelessness, is captured by Birch in a few
short captivating sentences:
‘Good night, Michael, it’s lights out.’
And with that Charlie switched off the
headlights at the same time that he pushed the accelerator flat to the floor. I
felt the rush. I wound the side window down. A cool gust of air hit me in the
face. And I could smell the river coming up to meet me.
Charlie yelled and beat the steering wheel
with his fists as he pushed the car around the curves of the boulevard
following the river. I looked out of the front windscreen. All I could see was
a black sheet. The car roared, Charlie screamed, and the radio thumped a bass
guitar riff at me.
And then there was nothing. No sound. No
feeling. Nothing.
Although Tony Birch is an indigenous writer
he is more interested in class than race. There is only one specific references
to race in the text. In “The Bulldozer” the government has decided to knock
down a few acres of sub-standard inner city buildings and relocate the tenants
elsewhere. Michael watches the destruction of his father’s family home and a
contractor yells at his workmate:
“The sooner the whole place is gone the
better. It’s full of no-hopers, dagoes, and fucken Abos, They’ve even got
Indians here, fucken Indians. You seen the temple down the road, or whatever it
is? Should knock it down. Should knock the whole fucken place over.”
This is a solid and interesting first
collection- well worth the read!
Interview with Tony Birch: Shadowboxing-
The Book Show ABC 12 March 2006 with Ramona Koval: Click on 'show transcript' in this link: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bookshow/tony-birch-shadowboxing-transcript-available/3305538
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