Of a Boy

I made a strategic reading mistake.

Having finished the Led Zeppelin tome and followed it up with Stewart Copeland’s memoir – and thus feeling at least temporarily bloated with rock’n’roll excess – I thought a nice quiet piece of Australian fiction might be refreshing.

I chose Of a Boy, by Sonya Hartnett.

Mistake.

Thankfully, it’s a short book because I spent most of the time reading it in tears and by the end was sobbing helplessly. It’s beautifully written and utterly devastating.

It’s not that my actual childhood experiences were anything like poor Adrian’s – although a few incidents resonated very uncomfortably – it’s more that the book captured all too well my (largely baseless) childhood fears and anxieties, not show more all of which I’ve outgrown.

I’m tearing up again now just thinking about it.

So I’ve had to give myself the antidote of reading John Birmingham’s consolingly funny and disgusting “He Died with a Falafel in His Hand” to get back on an even keel.

Risky business, this reading caper. show less

This book was rather dark and depressing. Within the first few chapters, three children go missing, a young boy lists the things he finds frightening (including sea monsters, getting lost in grows, being forgotten at school, and spontaneous combustion), a young man dies in a car crashed by his best friend, and a father dies of cancer. The book is powerfully written — you get a strong impression of who Adrian is and what concerns him day by day — but the conclusion is dark and dreary. I’m not sure that it would really be a good recommendation for younger teens.

How can I rate this?  Beautifully written, pitch perfect, subtly wreaks havoc on a sensitive reader's soul.  But not actually enjoyable.  No HEA.  No 'comic relief.'  Not bleak, not graphic, but still not for the easily traumatized.  Some children need someone like Hartnett to be honest with them, because they know that life is hard and don't like the sugar-coated books that dominate library shelves.  Some children (and adults) can't really be expected to be able to handle this.  I'll be thinking about it much longer than I'll want to be.

Like her other 2 books I've read (Surrender and Thursday's Child), this is pure poetry. Her writing is gorgeous and engrossing; you don't want the story to end (in part because you just know it won't end happily) because the writing is just so lyrical.

This lacks the surreal elements of the two other novels mentioned above, and it's a little harder to get into, but it's worth the effort. This poor kid, with all his irrational fears and his completely rational ones. Hartnett captures the pain and loneliness of childhood brilliantly.

Sonya Hartnett's stories often have a dark shadow lurking, and they don't always turn out as expected. This one is no exception. Her language is concise and poetic and her characters beautifully realised. A poignant story about families, isolation, misadventure and home.

The copy I have is titled Of A Boy and I am still haunted by this book. Sonya Hartnett is masterful with words and there are so many quotes that will stay with me, somehow the author puts a few words together and they then create this physical reaction when you read them - amazing. It touches on many raw nerves as a parent and many memories as a child.

Three children are abducted at the start of the novel. Adrian (9 years old) lives with his Grandmother and Uncle. He is convinced that the new family across the street are the abducted children. Adrian has no friends at school and is worried about everything, especially losing the people closest to him. He befriends the new kids. Eventually they run away as Adrian thinks he is going to be put into a children’s home. They go searching for the lost children in the local swimming centre which is closed for the winter. They walk on top of the swimming pool cover, which rips apart. They fall into the pool and drown.

Easy to read, only short. Beautifully written, very sensitive. The reader gets a real insight into the worries and life of a show more young boy who fears abandonment and is often bullied. Shocking ending. show less