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Tony Birch

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Shadowboxing Paperback – 23 November 2009

by Tony Birch (Author)

201 ratings

Edition: 1^st

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'Change for us came so unexpectedly. One day my father was stalking the family as he had done for most of our lives, skulking from room to room, accompanied by a menacing silence that we had long ago accepted. And then he was gone.'

Shadowboxing is a collection of ten linked stories in the life of a boy growing up in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy in the 1960s. A beautifully rendered time capsule, it captures a period of decay, turmoil, and change through innocent, unblinking eyes.

Michael's family, led by his long-suffering mother, live as though under siege, surviving his father's drinking and rage as well as the forces of 'urban renewal'. Their neighbourhood is a world of simple pleasures as well as random brutality; of family life and love as well as violence and tragedy. As Michael experiences all this with a combination of wonder and fear, he matures into a sensitive adult who can forgive but never forget.

Shadowboxing is a riveting story of loss and permanence, power and weakness, stoicism and resistance.

'A series of vignettes from amid the Australian lower orders, these tales appear as something of a faux-autobiography, and plain realism is their greatest strength ... Tony Birch's Antipodean setting gives fresh lustre to a familiar genre, while his style is so straightforward that it is almost under-embellished.'
-Joseph Crilly, Irish Times

'Shadowboxing transcends the boundaries between the novel and the short-story collection.'
-Ceridwen Spark, The Sydney Morning Herald

'There's a Hemingwayesque minimalism about this writing, but in Hemingway the pathos was reined in more. In the 10 linked stories in Shadowboxing, the pathos is often barely contained and the effect is quite shattering ... Birch's descriptions of the lower socio-economic world of inner Melbourne in the '60s are brilliant and he evokes, with a curious nostalgia, a claustrophobic world that anyone would be lucky to escape from unscathed. He has a great ability to pare down his prose, laying bare the raw flesh of the matter in the process. Despite their rigours, the stories are engaging, with flashes of larrikin humour. The book is even something of a page-turner at times, although the calamity of one page often leads only to heartbreak on the next.'
-Phil Brown, The Australian

Product description

About the Author

Tony Birch is the author of the books Shadowboxing (2006), Father's Day (2009), Blood (2011), shortlisted for the Miles Franklin literary award, The Promise (2014), and Ghost River (2015). Both his fiction and nonfiction has been published widely in literary magazines and anthologies, both in Australia and internationally. He is currently the the inaugural Bruce McGuinness Research Fellow within the Moondani Balluk Centre at Victoria University

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribe Publications
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 23 November 2009
Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1921640154
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1921640155
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 181 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.7 x 1.52 x 20.32 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 46,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 2,657 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- 6,497 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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201 ratings

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Z I Fergus
An Exploration of Vulnerability and Resilience
Reviewed in Australia on 4 July 2023
Format: KindleVerified Purchase

Shadowboxing is my first introduction to Australian author Tony Birch, being our monthly book club’s nominated read. The novel is a collection of ten short stories that are loosely linked and explores the complexities of poverty, identity and the enduring strength of the human spirit. With delicate prose and a keen eye for detail, Birch takes readers on a journey through the life of Michael, from childhood up to his own adult family.

What I enjoyed about Shadowboxing is Birch's ability to infuse every page with a sense of authenticity and emotional depth. Growing up in Brisbane during the 1960s I found myself remembering and relating to many of the family and urban situations the main character, Michael experiences. Birch sheds light on the challenges faced by marginalized communities, inviting readers to confront uncomfortable truths about poverty, bureaucracy, family violence and teenage rebellion. The main character's naive acceptance of this and his personal resilience are both enlightening and heart-wrenching.

Birch's unsentimental character development of Michael’s father, mother, sister and childhood friend is practically interesting and in many ways one of the triumphs of Shadowboxing. This is particularly true in the last stories where as an adult with his own young family, Michael is dealing with his now ill father’s ongoing issues.

Shadowboxing is an introspective and powerful novel that left a lasting impression on me. Tony Birch's ability to explore profound themes makes this a book recommended for those seeking a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant Australian literary experience.

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Kindle Customer
Melbourne childhood
Reviewed in Australia on 13 October 2023
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
A finely dream picture of a childhood in inner city Melbourne before it became gentrified. Beautifully told in 10 interlinked short stories.

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Kylie Betts
Good buy
Reviewed in Australia on 7 November 2022
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Good buy for school booklist

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Eloise K
A reflection of 1960’s working class Melbourne
Reviewed in Australia on 30 March 2021
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
This novel, full of interconnected short stories, was a great read.

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Trish
An outstanding work. Simple clear telling of the stories ...
Reviewed in Australia on 1 August 2015
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
An outstanding work. Simple clear telling of the stories, but with maximum impact. Very evocative descriptions of Melbourne.

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Libby Black
a great
Reviewed in the United States on 7 October 2014
Format: KindleVerified Purchase

Fabulous, a great storyteller

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MisterHobgoblin
This is Australia
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2016
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Shadowboxing is presented as a collection of ten short stories. In fact, they are ten self contained episodes in the life (mostly the 1960s childhood) of Michael Byrne. It’s the same kind of idea at David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green.

Michael comes from a poor family. His father was a boxer, is now a drinker and a wife-beater; he will go on to have mental health problems. The family grieves the loss of Eve, a special girl who died in infancy. When we join Michael, his family has just moved into inner-city Fitzroy from regional Victoria.

I’m not a fan of the stand-alone chapter narratives. They tend to have a staccato feel, requiring an issue to emerge, happen and then vanish again within the same 20 pages. No two issues can ever overlap, every issue takes just the same number of pages to run its course. It tends also to work against character development. The characters stay the same during each story and the development takes place in the intervals between chapters. On the other hand, it can be a handy device to get around major time shifts without drawing attention to them. In Shadowboxing, for example, the first eight stories have Michael as a child; the final two have him as a grown man with a family of his own.

For all my irritation at the choppy chapters, this is a well told story that shows the cycle of life. It captures the recent social history of Melbourne’s inner suburbs; the demolition of slum terracing and the construction of tower blocks; the domestic violence, poverty and improvisation that has given way to gentrification and million-dollar price tags. We see lack of education, manual labour in factories, bars and hotels that have long gone. And, just as in Father’s Day and Ghost River, there is a section about wagging school and jumping off bridges into the Yarra in Richmond and Collingwood. This theme comes up in Tony Birch’s work so often that it must be autobiographical.

This is a turbulent collection with more than its fair share of death and violence. There are themes of aging and infirmity, friendship, grief, independence. But one theme that is never taken head on is poverty – for all that it is constantly present, it is simply the backdrop and never the story.

This is a short collection/novel and is not as polished as some of Birch’s subsequent works. But it has a rawness and immediacy that carries the day.

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Janet D
Remembering the past.
Reviewed in the United States on 24 January 2014
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
This was a great read, especially for a Melbournion who recognised the locations around Fitzroy and Carlton. A great reminder of the past and how much our inner suburbs have changed in such a short time. The short story format worked well providing episodes in the author's life. A great description of the diificulties of life in the slums of Melbourne.

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Chad
Amazing Australian story
Reviewed in the United States on 14 October 2021
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
What an engrossing and real life story. Tony writes each short (yet connected) chapter so well. A great read.

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Charlie Webb
Great read and insight to living in that era in Melbourne.
Reviewed in the United States on 8 September 2013
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Easy read to the point. History of inner Melbourne living before the high rise housing commision and only a jump across the Yarra to a different world.

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