Stories from Suburban Road

by T.A.G. Hungerford

T.A.G. Hungerford’s highly acclaimed, bestselling autobiographical short stories recount his childhood in semi-rural suburbia in the 1920s and 1930s. Bird-nesting and school days, crabbing and swimming in the Swan River, Chinese market gardens and the old corner store are all brought to life through the eyes of an inquisitive, adventurous boy.

Genres: Short Stories, Australia, Biography Memoir

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Thomas Arthur Guy Hungerford AM, popularly known as T. A. G. Hungerford, was an Australian writer, noted for his World War II novel The Ridge and the River, and his short stories that chronicle growing up in South Perth, Western Australia during the Great Depression.

Reviews

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories were an absolute joy to read, capturing the essence of childhood and adolescence on the southern fringes of Perth in the 1920s and 30s. The style of the earlier stories, beginning when Tom was about five, is much simpler than the later ones, when young Thomas is on the verge of his later career as a writer then journalist. The book ends at the outbreak of World War II.

Hungerford uses the vernacular with easy familiarity - it's the language he drew up with - and we can see as his education and reading take hold that he is using a more formal language, still easy and fluent.

One of the things I particularly liked about this collection was that although his family was poor and the period in which we spend most time is the great Depression, the stories reflect liveliness, adventure, humour and the texture of family life with affection and humour. So much memoir and fiction I find myself reading seems to relish the misery of hard times.

It was a relief to find myself smiling and even laughing out loud.

Thanks to Goodreads friends for pointing me in this direction.

Here is the publisher's blurb.
T.A.G. Hungerford’s highly acclaimed, bestselling autobiographical short stories recount his childhood in semi-rural suburbia in the 1920s and 1930s. Bird-nesting and school days, crabbing and swimming in the Swan River, Chinese market gardens and the old corner store are all brought to life through the eyes of an inquisitive, adventurous boy.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite story is called Coodie Crab Co. On a day that was a real scorcher, one day during the Christmas holidays when he was down at the river by himself, he had a good day’s crabbing and a gent came along and offered to buy his catch. He bargained for a good price, – old enough now to be able to calculate 33 crabs @ threepence each – but he had to deliver them, and he’d forgotten that he didn’t have the money for the ferry until he was paid. The hard-hearted ferryman wouldn’t let him on board, so…

I thought about it for a moment, and decided what I’d do. I pulled my canoe around to the steps and promised another kid thrippence, when I got paid, to steady it for me while I put the crabs in – onw bag at each end to balance it. Then I got in myself, very carefully, and settled myself in the middle, between them. Then I paddled away from the jetty.
‘Gawd!’ someone yelled out after me. ‘You gone barmy, or something? Paddling to Perth!’
I didn’t think it was all that much to shout about. We used to run canoe races out to the second and third channel posts, and it was nothing. I reckoned to paddle to Perth would be just like doing maybe five or six races out to the third post. I looked around me. The water was as smooth and shiny as our dining room lino, and when I looked over the side of my canoe it was so clear I could see the bottom as plainly as if I was looking at it through a pane of glass.
It would have been different if it had been like the floods last winter when the waves had been as high as the sea, and the current in the middle of the river was like the rapids in Canada, and the water was dark brown with mud… (p.118)

It takes him an hour to paddle to Perth, and his shoulders were aching and he had pins-and-needles in his leg by the time he got there. The Fremantle Doctor came in on the return journey – which made the water choppy and he had to bail with a jam tin. But the real danger was waiting for him at home, when he had to explain about the money he’d flourished on the kitchen table!

‘A bloke,’ I said. ‘A real toff. He offered me thrippence for each of them if I took them in to that place, the Weld Club. You know? In town?’ I suppose I was too full of myself to see how dangerous it was getting. ‘I took them over in my canoe.’
‘You what?’ My mother sat down suddenly and leaned her head in her hands, hiding her eyes. I stared at her. I wondered what had happened to her. After a moment or two she took her hands away and stared back at me.
‘You paddled right over to Perth, in your canoe, with two bags of crabs in it?’
‘Yes, mum.’ All of a sudden I knew what I’d said, and what I’d be in for. ‘It wasn’t…’
‘Jesus God!‘ my mother said. She almost never swore… (p.124)

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/03/26/s...

[Sean Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books, as it shows me a side of my town that is long gone but is highly evocative and lets you see what the city and its people were like back in the twenties and thirties.

[Coral Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful group of stories there are in this beautifully written book. I now understand why there is a writing prize called the T.A.G. Hungerford Prize in Australia. Too long to read in one go unless you are on holidays, it is easy to pick this book up and read a few stories of Hungerford's youth in the 20's and 30's in Perth,Western Australia. A real snapshot of what childhood and adolescence was like in a time where no electronic device existed! These are real gems, delightfully funny, sometimes sad but always insightful and intelligent. A great book given to me by a friend, thank you.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, nostalgia-filled stories of growing up in South Perth in the 1920s and ‘30s. As always, reading a book set in a place you’re familiar with adds an extra layer of significance to the experience, and set in another era, it feels about the closest you can come to time travel. This book gives me the warm fuzzies!

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in high school for an essay, and I vaguely recall enjoying it. But it's been so long I had better add it to my TBRR pile (to be re-read).

[Pippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely well written stories. I have used these as models of good writing for students. A touching evocation of childhood in the 1920s and 30s, in Western Australia too.

[Zed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked these short autobiographical stories about growing up in Perth in the 1920's and 30's. The writing is really evocative of place and people and you get a true sense of being in Perth at this time, the landscape, sights and sounds. I enjoyed these childhood and coming of age stories for the history and just the wonderful writing.

*I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways*

[Sarah Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy is a cheeky shit, stealing bantams from the zoo and crossing the river in a funny, but he's endearing and the city I know becomes layered in the past.
Really evocative, but he turned into a pretty boring adult (in the last few chapters, at least) for all that exciting childhood.

[Deborah MacMurchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of short stories about growing up in Perth pre WW2