The Harp in the South in Aussie Readers

Oct 22, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-author

I think I was about eleven when I first read this Australian classic and I decided to reread this year it to fulfil my Eclectic Reader challenge requirements after it was named in the First Tuesday Book Club's Top Ten Books to Read Before You Die.

The Harp in the South is a glimpse into the everyday life of inner Sydney's poorest post war community and introduces the Darcy family who live in Sydney's slums at Twelve-and-a-Half Plymouth Street, Surry Hills. The Irish Catholic Darcy's are an avera
I think I was about eleven when I first read this Australian classic and I decided to reread this year it to fulfil my Eclectic Reader challenge requirements after it was named in the First Tuesday Book Club's Top Ten Books to Read Before You Die.

The Harp in the South is a glimpse into the everyday life of inner Sydney's poorest post war community and introduces the Darcy family who live in Sydney's slums at Twelve-and-a-Half Plymouth Street, Surry Hills. The Irish Catholic Darcy's are an average family in their neighborhood, working class battlers struggling to survive in their damp, flea infested home. Mumma does the best she can with the little she has while her feckless husband Hughie drinks away much of what he earns. Sweet natured and naive eldest daughter Roie longs for romance while quick witted Dolour dreams of escape.
To supplement their meagre income the Darcy's rent rooms to the irascible Miss Sheily and her illegitimate disabled son, and Mr Patrick Diamond, a protestant who baits the family each St Patrick's Day. They take in Grandma when she needs extra care, a lively character who knows her own mind. They are neighboured by a Chinese grocer, Mr Lick, financially assisted by the local madam in time of need and attend church in their Sunday best.

The Darcy's are resigned to the grinding poverty and immune to the violence, finding joy where are able - a New Year's bonfire, a school trip to the seaside. They face heartbreak with stoicism and though their home is often chaotic, there is plenty of love within it's peeling walls.

Though perhaps more properly a series of vignettes rather than a cohesive narrative, following the Darcy's over a period of about a year, the story is well written. Park has an eye for authentic detail, character and dialogue- not surprising really since she lived in Surrey Hills with her husband at the time. The Harp in the South is a social commentary and brutally honest examination

Later followed by Poor Man's Orange and Missus, tracing the Darcy family's past and future
The Harp In The South is an engaging tale of the triumphs and tragedies amongst the poor working class in Australian cities. A must read for her every Australian who needs reminding just how lucky they are.

...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2013 Brenda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-authors, library-bookclub-reads, classics, 10-aussie-books-to-read-before-you, literary-fiction

Set in the 1940s and first published in 1948, The Harp in the South is a well renowned Aussie classic. Author Ruth Park (who passed away in 2010) was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia in 1942. After marrying writer D’Arcy Niland they moved to Sydney where she wrote full time, with over fifty books to her name, and she also received many awards including a Miles Franklin Award.

The Harp in the South is a story of the Darcy family, living in the slums of Sydney, extremely poor and struggl Set in the 1940s and first published in 1948, The Harp in the South is a well renowned Aussie classic. Author Ruth Park (who passed away in 2010) was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia in 1942. After marrying writer D’Arcy Niland they moved to Sydney where she wrote full time, with over fifty books to her name, and she also received many awards including a Miles Franklin Award.

The Harp in the South is a story of the Darcy family, living in the slums of Sydney, extremely poor and struggling through their day to day lives. Hugh Darcy had a drinking problem, and many times he came home drunk, suffering from a terrible hangover the next day. When Margaret (Mumma)’s mother (Grandma) came to stay with them, (as Margaret’s sister, who had had Grandma for the past eighteen months and was now unwell herself, could no longer care for her), their small dwelling at Number Twelve-and-a-half Plymouth Street, Surry Hills, became even more congested.

The story of Thady, Hugh and Margaret’s son who vanished from their front yard at only six-years-old was a prominent one, with the grief they both felt at not knowing what happened to him one that wouldn’t let up. Rowena (Roie) and her gradual emergence into adulthood, her mistakes, loves and desperation and Dolour, the younger daughter and her puzzlement of life; then there were the boarders who helped the Darcy family make ends meet – Mr Diamond and Miss Sheily and her retarded son Johnny.

These wonderful characters mingled with other lesser characters to make an amazing day to day look at life in Sydney back in the ‘40s when all they had was each other; their love for each other meant when Grandma began to lose her memory, slipping into the depths of Alzheimers, they brought her home for her last days, after a brief stint in a nursing home. When Roie suffered terribly, she was nursed at home.

I enjoyed this novel, though at times I found it a little slow. But overall it is a classic which should be read by all (Aussies) and definitely earned its place in the Top 10 Aussie Books to read before you die!
...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2013 Tracey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical, classic-lit, australian, book-club, 2013

As soon as I started reading, I realised, yes, I have read these words before. It did not matter because this book is a wonderful look at Australian life.
The Darcy family are the epitome of the Aussie battler as they are poor with little prospect of improving their position in life. They live in the slums of Sydney during the 1940s when sly grog houses, prostitution, razor gangs and drugs where a way of life. You are drawn into this world as the Darcy's face each day with a decision about how ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 03, 2010 Aphie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: period-novel, literature, australian

I liked this well enough up until chapter 19, when Roie gets married and things get terribly sentimental and "natural world order, under God, forever and ever amen" ish. ...more

1 like · Like · see review