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Over the Top with Jim
"You couldn't get much further away from international politics than to be a child in Brisbane in 1951 but, although I was only nine years old, I knew enough to know that you just don't get Russians called James".
And so it is that Hugh Lunn, already instilled with fear and loathing of the Black and Yellow Terrors, finds himself face to face with the Red Terror, in the form of nine-year-old Russian Jim Egoroff.
What follows is the humorous account of growing up in a working-class family in 1950s Australia - a story of boyhood friendship and adventure.
And so it is that Hugh Lunn, already instilled with fear and loathing of the Black and Yellow Terrors, finds himself face to face with the Red Terror, in the form of nine-year-old Russian Jim Egoroff.
What follows is the humorous account of growing up in a working-class family in 1950s Australia - a story of boyhood friendship and adventure.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 13, 2013
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Lunn has an easy affable style and uses words in the most succinct sense, without extraneous embellishment (the journalist shining through). It is as though the reader is sitting down at the kitchen table with him over a cuppa while he recalls yarns from yesteryear. I certainly related well to this story, even though I grew up on a farm in an isolated area of Victoria and always treated “townies” as aliens in my world. I think it is the fact that I am of a similar era and the Australian culture at the time was not so multifaceted and had not been sullied by so many influences, particularly from the US by way of television. The humour was the “true blue” Aussie style, as yet not hampered by political correctness. Also Hugh’s turn of phrase would be just how my dad would say or do things.
I loved this book, it was so easy to smile and enjoy the nostalgia of my own life as well, brought to life again through Lunn’s tale. One aspect I really enjoyed was his obvious love for his mum and dad, but portrayed in that detached way that I recall when I was a kid and in the no fuss, it’s a given attitude of the times. For the younger generation I think the book would provide great insights into the lives of their grandparents and, if it seems alien to them, it will more than demonstrate how alien the modern world is to their grandparents! I am certainly looking forward to reading more of Lunn’s books.
I loved this book, it was so easy to smile and enjoy the nostalgia of my own life as well, brought to life again through Lunn’s tale. One aspect I really enjoyed was his obvious love for his mum and dad, but portrayed in that detached way that I recall when I was a kid and in the no fuss, it’s a given attitude of the times. For the younger generation I think the book would provide great insights into the lives of their grandparents and, if it seems alien to them, it will more than demonstrate how alien the modern world is to their grandparents! I am certainly looking forward to reading more of Lunn’s books.
October 24, 2017
I thought this was a fantastic book
September 3, 2017
I am certain this book will appeal for generations of new Australians who wonder about the time before they arrived here. NOT ancient times. The more modern underpinnings of the properous post-war White Australia. Which of course, to the working people born and bred or 2nd generation in Australia was simply, their everyday life as it was lived and worked.
I read this book when I was first getting to know some settled, upwardly mobile, 5th generation Australians.
As I read the two books as they were published the laughter from me was audible and the laughter from all of them raucous.
How could I not KNOW that this was their life as it had been until they grew up and still would be, they thought, for their grandchildren. They sincerely hoped that to be the case.
The insights into childhood in post-war working-class and lower middle-class lives are both humorous and educative. Especially if you came from middle-class professional or academic London. Such contrasts.
Being less than comfortably off in developed towns and cities of Northern Europe had for generations of non-bookish children, a sentence for a much meaner, more limited indoor lifestyle. The street-life was ball-games, riding bikes if you had one, or dodging traffic as it increased. An altogether closer awareness of the industrial.
From Hugh Lunn's books I could discern that Northern Europe post war was a far darker,,far more gloomy and earnest place, even on the best of days and in the happiest of homes than in Australia of the '50's and 60's.
THere are insights into the hardships of just scraping by on working wages when women didn't go out to work in the more affluent sense. Of course, there was always cleaning and minding but mostly nothing bringing in a competitive wage. The books tell of sorrows and griefs but within a framework of the long and golden days of playing, adventuring, running and larking or boys for whom school had to be endured til Grade 3 or 13.5/14yrs when they could then be released to begin life in their own right. A wage, an apprenticeship and perhaps for a few a good start 'at the bottom' in banking or retailing.
Being happy to receive spoiled goods from shop-keepers or to queue on a Saturday morning for the rejects or tailings from biscuit factories or confectionery workshops. These were the highlights compared with 'chores' of cleaning and clearing poultry and pig yards, mowing or woodchoppping. All accepted as tasks which had to be done.
And yes, there are the inevitable tales which I was assured were accurate, of standing in warm cow pats to warm bare feet on the way to school when milking before school.
The friendships between families and their boys seem mostly to have survived because, in the end, they were community first and foremost. Very Australian communities of their time. Proud of their work, proud of their families and their ability to enjoy everything around them without harm to others. The range of humankind was varied as ever and seen as just that. The regularly occurring range or natural spread of people, abilities and pleasures. Nothing at which to be alarmed. She'll be right was a prevalent saying and a feeling which prevailed.
Uplifting, moving and funny in a manner on par with Clive James. Thoroughly recommend for young people and adults alike. Treat yourself to a spot of laughter alongside those who felt they knew everything they needed to know about the pleasures of the small and everyday things in life.
I read this book when I was first getting to know some settled, upwardly mobile, 5th generation Australians.
As I read the two books as they were published the laughter from me was audible and the laughter from all of them raucous.
How could I not KNOW that this was their life as it had been until they grew up and still would be, they thought, for their grandchildren. They sincerely hoped that to be the case.
The insights into childhood in post-war working-class and lower middle-class lives are both humorous and educative. Especially if you came from middle-class professional or academic London. Such contrasts.
Being less than comfortably off in developed towns and cities of Northern Europe had for generations of non-bookish children, a sentence for a much meaner, more limited indoor lifestyle. The street-life was ball-games, riding bikes if you had one, or dodging traffic as it increased. An altogether closer awareness of the industrial.
From Hugh Lunn's books I could discern that Northern Europe post war was a far darker,,far more gloomy and earnest place, even on the best of days and in the happiest of homes than in Australia of the '50's and 60's.
THere are insights into the hardships of just scraping by on working wages when women didn't go out to work in the more affluent sense. Of course, there was always cleaning and minding but mostly nothing bringing in a competitive wage. The books tell of sorrows and griefs but within a framework of the long and golden days of playing, adventuring, running and larking or boys for whom school had to be endured til Grade 3 or 13.5/14yrs when they could then be released to begin life in their own right. A wage, an apprenticeship and perhaps for a few a good start 'at the bottom' in banking or retailing.
Being happy to receive spoiled goods from shop-keepers or to queue on a Saturday morning for the rejects or tailings from biscuit factories or confectionery workshops. These were the highlights compared with 'chores' of cleaning and clearing poultry and pig yards, mowing or woodchoppping. All accepted as tasks which had to be done.
And yes, there are the inevitable tales which I was assured were accurate, of standing in warm cow pats to warm bare feet on the way to school when milking before school.
The friendships between families and their boys seem mostly to have survived because, in the end, they were community first and foremost. Very Australian communities of their time. Proud of their work, proud of their families and their ability to enjoy everything around them without harm to others. The range of humankind was varied as ever and seen as just that. The regularly occurring range or natural spread of people, abilities and pleasures. Nothing at which to be alarmed. She'll be right was a prevalent saying and a feeling which prevailed.
Uplifting, moving and funny in a manner on par with Clive James. Thoroughly recommend for young people and adults alike. Treat yourself to a spot of laughter alongside those who felt they knew everything they needed to know about the pleasures of the small and everyday things in life.
May 21, 2014
Hugh Lunn's childhood was anything but spectacular, he had an average childhood in an average family living in an average middle class city. So it begs the question, what is the relevance of Hugh's memoir?
Anyone can write a memoir and if you are average, which Hugh is, you would not get an audience in comparison to a memoir of downbeat or successful childhood. However, Hugh's memoir is important, it is a snapshot of a time and a place which is a bigger story than Hugh's childhood.
This book gives a good insight into growing up after WW2 and during the Cold War in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where technology such as radio, TV and cars are not common. Hugh's explains his difficulties with school, friends, religion and sport which can be related to by any boy, at that time concisely that does not leave out minor details.
The inclusion of slang and colloquialisms from his mother and father especially, and other characters make this book an important reference. Tempo was hot and cold, but this could have been due to chapters which were less exciting / relevant (for me).
Anyone can write a memoir and if you are average, which Hugh is, you would not get an audience in comparison to a memoir of downbeat or successful childhood. However, Hugh's memoir is important, it is a snapshot of a time and a place which is a bigger story than Hugh's childhood.
This book gives a good insight into growing up after WW2 and during the Cold War in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where technology such as radio, TV and cars are not common. Hugh's explains his difficulties with school, friends, religion and sport which can be related to by any boy, at that time concisely that does not leave out minor details.
The inclusion of slang and colloquialisms from his mother and father especially, and other characters make this book an important reference. Tempo was hot and cold, but this could have been due to chapters which were less exciting / relevant (for me).
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March 24, 2010A RABCK from Skyring.
Gives heartwarming new meaning, with an Aussie accent. Reading about his early days in the convent school, could have almost been set in the US during that time. Easy to see Wally and The Beaver in situations like this (if they had been Australian and named Jackie, gone to Catholic School, and not been squeaky clean characters on the very American TV Show Leave it to Beaver). On second thought, it's perhaps more like Bill Bryson and his The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.
Must admit I didn't cotton to the fact that the Jim in the title was the Dimitri/Jim in the beginning of the book. Ah well. I loved reading on the internets how Egoroff came knocking on Lunn's door after the publication of the book, saying, "Open the door Lunn, you Bastard Boy, so I can punish you for your sins." Ah, boyhood friendships.
Gives heartwarming new meaning, with an Aussie accent. Reading about his early days in the convent school, could have almost been set in the US during that time. Easy to see Wally and The Beaver in situations like this (if they had been Australian and named Jackie, gone to Catholic School, and not been squeaky clean characters on the very American TV Show Leave it to Beaver). On second thought, it's perhaps more like Bill Bryson and his The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.
Must admit I didn't cotton to the fact that the Jim in the title was the Dimitri/Jim in the beginning of the book. Ah well. I loved reading on the internets how Egoroff came knocking on Lunn's door after the publication of the book, saying, "Open the door Lunn, you Bastard Boy, so I can punish you for your sins." Ah, boyhood friendships.
November 4, 2016
Hilarious memoir of a guy growing up in Brisbane, Australia in the 1940's and 1950's.
April 28, 2021
A great read on Brisbane in days gone by.
November 23, 2021
I loved this book so much that I went to a talk by Hugh Lunn in Brisbane some years ago.
I highly recommend his hilarious, poignant, faded watercolour memoir of growing up in Brisbane.
Human, laconic, gentle, and a time machine on an iconic time in modern Australian history. Lunn had a knack for involving himself with other notable characters from the period.
I highly recommend his hilarious, poignant, faded watercolour memoir of growing up in Brisbane.
Human, laconic, gentle, and a time machine on an iconic time in modern Australian history. Lunn had a knack for involving himself with other notable characters from the period.
December 31, 2021
very entertaining stories of growing up in Australia; well-written - conjuring an Australia which has largely disappeared; well worth the effort
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February 25, 2023Didn’t actually finish this … too outdated for me with heaps of info on growing up in the catholic system, which didn’t appeal that greatly to me.
September 5, 2015
Can't say I loved this book, wouldn't have bothered with it only a dear friend asked me to read it. I think it would more appeal to someone from the same era as I couldn't relate to a lot of what he was talking about. I found I wanted to skip pages and chapters although I didn't and found the structure of his writing too wordy. As for jim, he's not the most regular character in the book which I found annoying given the title. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood for this book as I love reading about people's lives but this one just didn't do it for me, 2 1/2 stars
October 29, 2016
A charming window into a bygone era, "Over the Top with Jim" describes growing up in Brisbane during the 1940/50s. Hugh Lunn was a white suburban Catholic boy who struggled at school, served customers in his parents' bakery, and grew to become best friends with Jim, an immigrant Russian boy. If you lived through the 1950s, went to a Catholic school, or just want to spend time in a more innocent age, this book is for you.
June 9, 2014
This is a delightful selection of interlinked short stories, about an Australian childhood and growing up, that are very much part of their era in both language and values. A fun read, but probably have more resonance for Australians of a certain age.
May 27, 2018
Describes well the life at the time in a very amusing set of anecdotes
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews