Kinsella’s short stories are testament to his powers as an astute observer and a brilliant communicator. The 35 short stories in this noteworthy collection pull at the heartstrings; reading them one after the other is like a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs. But unlike the roller coaster ride, not all the stories finish with a safe stop; some of them leave you with a bang, others with a whimper.
At least one of the stories in this collection deserves to be ranked among the best ever of the genre. To name it is tantamount to being a spoiler; suffice to say it has horror, fear, schadenfreude, good versus evil, youth versus old age and more in one breathtaking mix.
‘The 35 short stories in this noteworthy collection pull at the heartstrings; reading them one after the other is like a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs.’
Singling this story out in no way diminishes the other stories. What they all have in common is a depth of characterisation more commonly found in a full-length novel. Even the bit players are not puppets animated by the author’s strings but convincing characters captured from reality.
The aptly chosen title of Pushing Back is also the title of one of the stories. It underscores one of the themes to which Kinsella frequently returns – resistance, whether it is fighting back against bullies, overcoming adversity or revolting against imposed norms. The stories don’t take you down the misleading pathway of categorising the value of the push-back but rather seek to paint the reality of differences.
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The book cover by Peter Lo depicts a number of red-tailed black cockatoos in full flight. Book covers are doubtless designed to help maximise sales and this one might well do that, but it is also a sensitive tribute to the stories in which these wonderful birds appear as if overlooking the vicissitudes of Australian contemporary life.
We are all subject to the lures of positive reinforcement so I make no apology for sharing this quotation from ‘The Purchase’:
The student . . . was a little overawed by these brazen loud-mouthed plum-in-the-mouth men who bragged about what they owned, who they’d fucked, and how fit they were for their age. He couldn’t work out if they were self-ironising, taking the piss, or just ugly braggarts.
Occasionally they’d draw him into their rivalry as a circuit-breaker, but mostly it was two older men showing off in front of a younger man.
What an example for a young person, an artist, a painter, to follow! And yet one of these men knows a lot about art and leaves the student with new insights.
‘What Kinsella does so well is take his readers off the edge of the map of human existence.’
In the story ‘Here be Lions’, a young boy says to his father, ‘Dad, we are going off the edge of the map to see creatures taken from their homes’. He is speaking of the mangy lions in an open zoo park the family is visiting. What Kinsella does so well is take his readers off the edge of the map of human existence. He does it mostly in an Australian rural or suburban setting but the application of these stories is universal.
Rating: 5 stars out of 5 ★★★★★
Pushing Back by John Kinsella
Publisher: Transit Lounge
ISBN: 9781925760712
Format: Paperback
Categories: Fiction, Australian
Pages: 336pp
Release Date: 1 February 2021
RRP: $29.99
