Five Boxes

by Mark MacLean

Thirty years after leaving his home in the Lake District of England for life in Australia, Mark MacLean gathers together the remnants of his youthful possessions and ships them back to Australia. Five Boxes is the hilarious tale of unpacking those boxes of a story of lame trophies, medieval dentistry, boring diaries, the village haircut, mopeds and submarines, school wine-tasting trips, politics, punk music and big sisters. But, mostly, this is a story of finding yourself. Following on from his bestselling A Year Down the Drain, Mark MacLean's new book is a delightful record of life then and now. With illustrations by Trevor Dickinson. PRAISE FOR FIVE "Insightful, charming and genuinely funny – Mark MacLean is a natural storyteller and Five Boxes unpacks an adolescence that Readers of a Certain Age will find engrossing from start to finish." – Nick Earls, writer "Funny, quirky and heartwarming." – Tim Ferguson, comedian and writer "MacLean deftly weaves the past and the present in this disarmingly humorous and unsentimental reflection on growing up." – Rosemarie Milsom, Newcastle Herald

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2015

About the author

Mark MacLean is a writer and editor who lives in Newcastle, NSW.

His book "A Year Down the Drain", based on his popular blog about his exploration of Newcastle’s stormwater drains, became a surprise bestseller in 2013.

The stories in his collection "The New Landscape" drew upon his time living in locations as diverse as Cumbria, where he grew up, and Alice Springs, where he lived for several years and worked as the publisher at an Aboriginal adult education college.

His new book, the memoir "Five Boxes", looks at our connection to the past through our possessions.

Reviews

[Mark Glover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great insight into how we deal with the past, the author spurred on by the delivery to his Australian home of said boxes that encapsulate his childhood and teen years in the UK. Opening these boxes allows Maclean to sketch a portrait of how he grew up viewed through the eyes of an adult whose own father(the caretaker of the boxes) is reaching the end of his own life's journey. There are some delightful insights in this story and a lot of humour drawn from the distant examination of the feckless teenage years we all inflict on our families and friends. As the film Magnolia so beautifully notes, we may be done with the past, but is the past done with us. This book is an examination of history, both social and personal, our own complex relationship to it.

[Pegaunimoose · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Really enjoyed the first bit but at about 2/3 I lost interest a bit (I’m just not into punk or politics). My mum devoured it too- even Australian 70s kids can relate. We loved the porcelain animal section- so hilarious!

[Peter Greenfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, very opinionated about life's little struggles with the past. Delves into a world of longing for a future that also includes the past when reflecting. The author shows a lot of class when delving through his life with the memories of the past stirred up by the opening of boxes from a period of his childhood.