A Review By Frances Smith

Set in Tasmania in the 1960s with big hairdos and emerging unisex fashions, this is a coming of age novel about Julian Corkle who is sixteen by the end of the book.  Unlike Adrian Mole, Julian Corker is neither particularly intelligent nor articulate.  Discovering he prefers other boys to girls, and having absolutely no interest in cricket or football, Julian is a puzzle both to himself and his very macho father.  His mother is convinced that he has star quality and indulges his fantasies.  The true star of the story is his sister Sharon who frequently rescues Julian from bullies and other awkward situations.  Ironically, she is the tomboy, powerfully built and good at all sports, particularly those such as Cricket and Hockey which involve small, hard, potentially lethal balls. While Julian is a disappointment and embarrassment to his father, Sharon’s butch tendencies are overlooked as she is lauded for her sporting prowess.

 

While finding this book an easy read and quite an amusing story, I am at a loss to quite understand who it is aimed at. Most teenagers would probably find it old fashioned and irritating.  Gay teenagers would certainly not find a hero in Julian, although they may have sympathy with some of the scrapes he finds himself in and the misunderstandings with his family.  Tasmania in the sixties is not an exotic or an exciting place to read about and for more mature readers there is nothing new or different about this particular story. On a scale of one to six, I would give it two!