The Family Law

A bit late to this particular party but I enjoyed Benjamin Law's memoir of growing up in a Chinese-Australian family on Queensland's Sunshine Coast in the 1980s. First published nine years ago, Law traces his family's origins from rural Malaysia and mainland China, his mono-maniacally hardworking father and his hilariously unfiltered mother raising five children in the murderous Queensland humidity. They do battle with unkillable cockroaches, go to theme parks, weather marital breakdown and hoarding and still, somehow, love each other and even enjoy each others' company right up until the time of publication and (presumably) beyond.

The Family Law is an amusing collection of anecdotes by Benjamin Law sharing the joys, traumas and candid moments of growing up in his eccentric Chinese Australian family in suburban Queensland. There is a distinct Aussie flavour to Law's reminiscences which are easy to relate to. Law examines his life with a wry sense of humour and an eye for the quirky differences of his family and their experiences. I laughed out loud more than once, particularly with his mother's blunt, if crude, statements. I also appreciated the candour with which Benjamin shares his relationship. This lighthearted memoir is a quick, fun read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. The prose cracks along, at times laugh out loud funny and others poignant. It's smart, honest and real about growing up Asian and gay in Australia. Highly recommended

Benjamin Law is a comedian, writer, radio host and TV producer. I know him primarily for his weekly radio show "Stop Everything" which he co-hosts with Beverly Wang on Radio National.

This book is a comedic memoir as to Law's growing up as the middle of 5 children in a migrant family living for the most part on the (Queensland) Sunshine Coast primarily in the 1980s. It takes the format of a series of vignettes and relies very much on the quirkiness of Law himself and other members of the family, not only in absolute terms (eg Benjamin is gay, slight in build, not sporty at all, interested in the creative arts whereas his older brother is the proto typical sports jock) but also in relative terms (the Law family being one of the few show more Chinese families in the area at the time; they serve up Chinese food at their restaurant (said to be exotic for its times [was it really? I remember chinese food being readily available in the 1980s]; being recent migrants etc.

And there is a lot of humour reliant on outlandish language, not all profane!

A light read, and funny at times (if not laugh out loud). I imagine that the TV series developed from this book (I have not seen it) could be very entertaining if viewed with the right audience.

The one quirk I could not fathom was the story early on when the Law Family moves into their first house but cannot find any way to open any of the windows. I thought that there was going to be a reveal later on when they realised that the windows in Australia opened by sliding up/down or opened out or whatever as compared to whatever they experienced in their previous home family. But that reveal never came (or I missed it). Could a house have been built in Queensland in that era where in fact the windows really could not open? Or was the 'joke' that they could only afford (or were tricked into buying) a defective house with non opening windows?

Big Ship

5 July 2023 show less

A story of a Chinese Australian suburban family, as seen by a younger son who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s. It is funny and coarse and occasionally a bit sad. It reminded me a bit of a gen-Y version of 'He Died with a Felafel in his hand' for the Queensland setting and the descriptions of the crappy family home. Mostly this is about the author's mother, a Malaysian Chinese stay-at-home mum; her fears and quirks, but also the author's. I particularly enjoyed the parts about the crudities of Cantonese language, and the author's ambivalent relationship to his 'mother-tongue'.

I'd highly recommend this book for plane trips, holidays and especially for your family Christmas break. It is funny and poignant at the same time, and gave me pause to reflect on my family and our relationships.

Hilarious and touching.