The Melbourne Athenaeum Book Club

Ath book club June 2007

Alice Pung – Unpolished Gem(Rating: 4)

“This story does not begin on a boat.” So commences Alice Pung’s memoir. This is an original take on a classic story – how a child of immigrants moves between two cultures. In place of piety and predictability, however, Unpolished Gem offers a vivid and ironic sense of both worlds. It combines the story of Pung’s life growing up in suburban Footscray with the inherited stories of the women in her family – stories of madness, survival and heartbreak. Original and brave, this is a girl’s own story that introduces an unforgettable voice and captures the experience of Asian immigrants to Australia.

Ath book club comments:

Alice Pung is painting a word picture what it is like to be a child and an adolesent torn between influences of the family protocol and the culture of the adopted country. Pung relates to family background by telling stories about them and about people around them. She also gives a very honest picture of her own hurts and problems. Alice Pung is a born writer. She has advances from being a “listener” and “watcher” to a “word-spreader”. She does it in detail and paints a very true-feeling picture of “her people”.

The Ath Book Club members recommend Unpolished gem to anyone, but especially to teachers, social workers and all who would like to get a deeper picture of Asian culture. However, Unpolished gem is an enjoyable read for all ages and backgrounds.

Free feel to put your thoughts and comments on this book.

Ath book club May 2007

William McInnes – Cricket Kings (Rating: 3.5)

Step into the lives of a team of regular middle-aged men who meet each week to play cricket in their local park. They don’t seem to be extraordinary – they are just like the rest of us – but like everyone, they each have a story to tell.

Meet the bus driver with no sense of direction; the bride on the morning of her wedding who looks out onto the oval that she has seen from her bedroom window every day of her life and now thinks about marriage and her own home; meet Chris who brings the team together and wears foot-crunching shoes just to please his wife and mother. Meet the cricketer who only plays each weekend because he loves hearing the piano music that wafts out from a nearby hall.

Through William’s ability to spin a yarn, the players, their families and the people who stop to watch the game all come to life. With these characters William will make us laugh and cry. And never again will we think that someone is just a regular bloke – everyone can be a king or a queen in their own suburb.

Ath book club comments:

Cricket Kings is a story about community and ordinary people ineracting through the game. Any prior knowledge of cricket is not required for understanding this book. The cricket match is like a methaphor for life and social interaction; it proceeds from the characters into universal themes as they play the game. Cricket Kings is about average people in suburbian Australia ‘having a go’ and their extraordinary inner beauty that is not straight visible to others. Cricket Kings shows the reader how a simple sentence said or an act of kindness can change somebody’s day. McInnes’ writing is touching and insightful but also very humorous.The Ath Book Club agreed that despite the title Cricket Kings is not specially ‘blokey’ book. The book is recommended to males who need to see that it is ok to show and talk about their feelings.Free feel to put your thoughts and comments on this book.