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Josh

Ivan Southall

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Dec 20, 2015 Anne Hamilton rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: australia-nz, children, ya

His great-aunt insists on calling him 'Joshua'. But his name is 'Josh'.

Fourteen-year-old Josh begs his parents to let him go for a holiday with his mysterious and eccentric great-aunt Clara. His cousins have gone. His dad went when he was fourteen. Everyone but Josh has gone. It's a kind of family rite-of-passage. His parents eventually give in.

And so begins a holiday that starts out confused and ends up violent. The tension is racked up in scene after scene as Josh struggles to comprehend his a His great-aunt insists on calling him 'Joshua'. But his name is 'Josh'.

Fourteen-year-old Josh begs his parents to let him go for a holiday with his mysterious and eccentric great-aunt Clara. His cousins have gone. His dad went when he was fourteen. Everyone but Josh has gone. It's a kind of family rite-of-passage. His parents eventually give in.

And so begins a holiday that starts out confused and ends up violent. The tension is racked up in scene after scene as Josh struggles to comprehend his aunt and her relationship with the kids of Ryan Creek, the town founded by his great-grandfather.

It's 1936 and the Depression has hit rural Victoria hard. Josh Plowman is exhausted by the time the Saturday evening train from Melbourne reaches Ryan Creek. He falls asleep without supper and wakes to find his privacy has been violated in multiple ways. His bag has been unpacked and his clothes hung up - but, worst of all, his journal of poems has disappeared. Poems he's shown no one. Poems he would be embarrassed to show anyone. His mother knows of them but even she hasn't invaded his privacy.

Sunday morning and he's off to church with Aunt Clara. Sunday School for the first time in his life. He discovers the children of the town adore Aunt Clara but, to him, she's got a dark side. Rage builds inside him over his journal. He escapes the house, only to be bewildered by the reaction of the kids he encounters. He's the first of her relatives ever to be allowed out on the Sabbath.

The tension builds as Josh tries to fit in and fails. Everything he does is misinterpreted by the locals. A girl tries to impress him by jumping off the 'famous' bridge built by a Plowman forbear - a dangerous stunt because the last person who tried it was killed. Josh is accused of egging her on - when in fact he did all he could to stop her. One of the smaller kids, Sonny, follows him around, spying on him - and lying about what he does whenever Josh fails to pay him a penny. Josh loses his money and the little blackmailer goes off, wailing that Josh has threatened him. The build-up towards a violent confrontation is rapid.

Josh can't figure out the local attitude to his aunt. On the one hand, everyone seems to be sneering at her. On the other, they seem to worship her.

He wants to leave town. The kids want him to leave. But - furious that he hasn't told his aunt - they want to drag him back.

Aunt Clara wants him to take part in a cricket match. But the rules are serious - white duds have to be worn. The only whites Josh is offered are too short, leaving his legs exposed, and too wide - so they have to be pinned in. The acute embarrassment is too much for Josh and he explodes in anger.

The powerful, compelling writing of this classic book - its pacing and fragmentary sentences - seem way ahead of their time. Riveting.
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