Review: A Gentle Journey
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 1, 2013
Place of Many Birds by Jan Merry is a collection of short stories that are slice-of-life vignettes about Australia.In the story “Before Winter Comes,” children just home from school discover a luscious chocolate layer cake left on their doorstep. Their respectful treatment of the delicious treat was a surprise. As adults will do, when their father comes home, he turns the neighbor’s kind act into a poignant reminder of their losses. It felt like I too pressed my childhood nose against the screen door and watched their father’s exhausted trudge up the hill to thank their neighbor.In “Killing Time,” the widower Maurice lives a simple retired life. His well-used Peugeot bicycle whisks him through the lovely countryside and recollections of his lost wife. We see an old man who still has a firm hand on his life’s enjoyments. It was a pleasure to join Maurice on his ride.In “Spirit of Activity,” a lift from an ex-serviceman is a journey into the psyche of an artist. The painter’s description of a black cockatoo flying high, a long dead eucalypt refusing to let go of the soil, and even a pile of 20,000 bags of grain at Dimboola station becomes a fascinating portrait of his kindly heart. He is a bloke whose hand I would like to shake and then share a cold, bitter beer while he paints the Australian outback with his stories.In the story “Place of Many Birds,” five-year-old Earle’s 1932 move from rural Cariboo to Melbourne reveals the complicated relationship between his city-girl English mother and the lad’s Australian father. It also shows his child-like grasp of the humanity between those with modest means, and the wandering swagmen looking for a day’s honest work paid with a hot meal.Jan Merry creates four lovely sketches with immersive descriptions. It is a gentle journey into a well-loved and beautifully rendered rural world.