Pumping life, the teenagers in this novel jump off the page. From the intelligent but physically abused Gray Morrow, to his heroic but temperamental older brother, Gordon, and his tragic relationship with the city-wise but sexually abused Dusty Jones, this is a world many of us fail to recognise as very much our own. Often dark and sometimes cold, bloody and brutal, it is also filled with pathos, love and humanity.
Moving between the fringe town of Ipswich and affluent Brisbane, we also find people of the ‘normal’ world: Ruth Hannah, the shelter supervisor who offers comfort and support to the kids, but who has her own past to contend with, and the Juvenile Aid Bureau’s Senior Detective Constable Watno Thornes who tries to befriend the kids but lives with a dark agenda in the back of his head…
Levy’s novel immerses us in this world. Once in, we see that the way out is no simple journey.
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
“Gordon and Gray Morrow are growing up with little sunshine in their lives; rising fast and, inevitably, crooked. Their parents are on a rolling roster of drunkenness, their best friends are a bunch of scruffs, their town chromosomally challenged. They live with their “homies” on a bank of the Bremer River in Ipswich, where they think of themselves as “born to no one, known to no one”. The boys dream of turning their backs on this life but their plans are waylaid first by a violent crime and then by the self-serving actions of a bent detective constable. We are led through the story by the crippled and asthma-afflicted younger brother, Gray, on whose slight shoulders rests the brothers’ only hope of escape.
As you might expect, As If! is a read full of grit, and light on hope. It is necessary and illuminating and valuable, not least because it is set in and around Brisbane’s back yard.
It is compelling, because author Barry Levy writes well and pegs his fiction to observations made when he was a reporter for the daily newspaper in Ipswich in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
A series of feature articles he wrote on homelessness during that time put him in the running for a Walkley Award. He holds an Australian Human Rights Commission award and an Anning Barton award for regional journalism on social issues.
You’ll be rewarded with an insight into a subculture whose presence is often felt by society at large, but whose voice is rarely heard.”
– Sharon Doyle, The Courier-Mail
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
“Former Queensland Times feature writer Barry Levy has penned his second fictional novel delving into youth homelessness in Ipswich.
As If! moves between the fringe city of Ipswich and affluent Brisbane. Characters include Ruth Hannah, the shelter supervisor who offers support to the kids but who has her own past to contend with, and the Juvenile Aid Bureau’s Senior Detective Constable Watno Thornes, who tries to befriend the kids but lives with a dark agenda in the back of his mind.
The teenagers in the novel jump off the page. From the intelligent but physically abused Gray Morrow, to his heroic but temperamental older brother, Gordon, and his tragic relationship with the city-wise but sexually abused Dusty Jones, this is a world many of us fail to recognise as very much our own.
Often dark and sometimes cold, bloody and brutal, it is also filled with pathos, love and humanity.”
– Josephine Gillespie, The Queensland Times
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
“This book is a good read for those sensible enough to buy it. It is racy, with a pace reminiscent of an early Henry Miller, getting you involved in its poetically drawn world, and then lulling you into a sense of complacency, when WHAM, it hits you that this is no ordinary novel, something to be evidenced in both the content and style of writing as much as the universal themes of love, loss and need that are so brilliantly portrayed through the energetically alive, complex and richly drawn characters.”
– Dr Robert Schweitzer, Associate Professor in Psychology, Queensland University of Technology
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
“This novel is set in Ipswich, the satellite town situated west of Brisbane on the banks of the Bremer River. Levy writes pithily and well about his characters, and we are drawn unwillingly into the horrors of their adolescent world – a world of alcohol, drugs and vandalism, where disenchanted youth congregate under bridges, avoid attending school, and become involved in random destruction for its own sake. The parents of Gray and Gordon Morrow, and the brittle Dusty Jones, are neglectful, self-obsessed, ill-educated, and physically and/or sexually abusive towards the young people in their care. The teenagers respond with alienated behaviour that threatens to ruin their young lives before they’ve even begun.
The character of Gray Morrow provides a window into this world. The teenager has been crippled from an unwarranted and vicious beating by his biological father, who has then abandoned his family. Gray suffers from severe asthma. He is frail and frightened, but also astute, perceptive and deeply feeling – a memorable character with a unique way of seeing the world around him. He looks up to his older brother, Gordon, an out-of-control thug, who frequently takes Gray out on his motorbike to Mount Moon, the only place they have to escape from their chaotic home life and find any kind of short-lived peace. Alcohol is a catalyst for family violence. Most of the adults in this novel are as childish and irresponsible as the teenagers.
Levy paints a realistic picture of what life is like for this generation of neglected youngsters, and it’s a bleak picture indeed. Bored, promiscuous, and frequently high on drugs and booze, they break into houses in groups to steal and vandalise. They are so disconnected from society that they feel no empathy for their victims, or shame over their actions. They act with a sense of entitlement made poignant by the fact that they have few rights, even within their own families, and little to look forward to.
One ray of hope is Ruth Hannah, an older woman who operates a shelter for wayward and homeless youth. Ruth is the only solid parental figure in their world, but her efforts to provide solace and sanctuary are brought down by a bureaucracy that demands qualifications she does not possess, leading to a public shaming that horrifies the loyal young people she has been trying to help.
As If! presents a sad and all-too-common scenario for which there are no easy answers. It is memorable, disturbing, frightening and certainly not pleasant to read, but its realism cannot be denied.”
– Liz Hall-Downs, Compulsive Reader