REVIEW

Sweet Jimmy, Bryan Brown

Reviewed By
Karen Chisholm

Bryan Brown is an actor synonymous in these parts with that sort of dry, pared back, quintessentially Aussie bloke character, much like the ones he's played in THE CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH and for those of die-hard local crime fiction fans, the much missed Cliff Hardy in THE EMPTY BEACH. It comes as no surprise then that he's had a bit of a dabble in crime fiction, and the book is a series of short stories steeped in humour, violence, pathos and inner-city Australian sensibility.

Primarily set in suburban Sydney, there are seven short stories in this book, and they vary enough to give the reader licence to pick and choose from favourite to least so. The blurb will give you a real feel for the tone, and style of this collection, in particular I laughed out loud at this description:

"Fell for the sexy and beautiful Sue May from Hong Kong, Frank Testy did. Silly old prick. What price for ego? A huge bloody price it turns out."

All of these stories appealed on some level to this reader, but to be honest, I think it's probably a collection that may struggle in translation overseas. Unless you're looking for something that will tell you a lot about the way that some Australian's see the world. The tongue in cheek here is planted so firmly on occasions you can see the bulge becoming permanent. The depictions of so many of these characters so spot on, you can't help but wonder who Brown's been mixing with.

It was also possible to see a few homages here - there's shades of Peter Corris in the depictions of place, motive and means. There's more than a hattip to Robert G Barrett's sense of the bizarre and absurd. There was something of the Jon Cleary's in the plotting. And to top that off, I saw recently that the audio version is narrated by Brown, which instantly made it into the listening list even as I read the book. The idea of these stories, in his voice, is delicious.

This entire collection was enormous fun - laughed out loud a lot, and finished up hoping that Brown is contemplating a longer form foray into a genre which he must love. He's definitely good at acting in it, and now it turns out, pretty good at the authoring side as well.

 

 

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I received a copy of this book from the publisher or author.
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
Author
ISBN
9781761065224
Year of Publication
BLURB

It was a gentle knock. Agnes had been waiting for it. Hoping he would be on time. Such a lovely fella, she thought...
'Come on through. Got a surprise for you,' she said.

He had one for her too.

Phil and Sweet Jimmy are cousins. Phil grows orchids . . . spider orchids . . . learnt about them in the nick. Jimmy likes orchids, too, but there are other things he likes even more . . .

Trish Bennett didn't like her life. Hadn't liked it for a long time. Been on the streets. Bit of this for a bit of that. The 'that' wasn't always nice. Then Ahmed found her.

Sam is a tea-leaf, a thief. Likes nickin. . . anything . . . always has . . . until the day he knocked off more than the Volvo.

Fell for the sexy and beautiful Sue May from Hong Kong, Frank Testy did. Silly old prick. What price for ego? A huge bloody price it turns out.

Taut and crackling with character, these gritty, raw and sometimes very funny stories from Australian great Bryan Brown are Aussie Noir at its best. Crime doesn't discriminate . . . it can happen to anyone . . . it could happen to you . . . in any ordinary suburb . . . at any time. 

Review Sweet Jimmy, Bryan Brown
Karen Chisholm
Tuesday, November 1, 2022

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