Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Barry Lee Thompson, Transit Lounge, $29.99.
There’s a certain tranquil reassurance as you become absorbed in this collection of short stories. Thompson has the knack to engross you in a world that’s inhabited by the characters within the chronicles.
It’s quite disconcerting to find yourself looking at moments between events in a life. Things are instances the friendship after it nearly became something else, the doubt before the disclosure and the conspiracy that almost led somewhere.
It’s amazing to be taken back to the terraces, working class communities and vibrant characters of working class Britain.
These interlinked, awards-listed stories vividly capture the small, rarely spoken moments of our lives that reverberate with meaning, with darkness and with light. An adult son and his mother navigate an unnerving relationship based on dependence and ritual. An adolescent son and his parents on their annual holiday at a Bournemouth guesthouse become intrigued with the glamour and otherness of an American family from Boston. A sex worker empathises with the life of an elderly client. A woman transgresses her husband’s rules and his distaste for parties.
These are stories of growing up marginalised and living in working-class England and Australia: from derelict industrial districts, to a lonely highway diner, to the faded charm of a British seaside resort.
For some, it could be a trip down memory lane. Others might find some old wounds opening up. For many, reading Broken Rules and Other Stories will be an engaging, gentle and thought provoking read.
