Bloke

by Bruce Pascoe

'The story of an ordinary man who discovers he's not so ordinary.  Pascoe is one of our finest writers.'Ray LawrenceJim Bloke's your typical Aussie, sort of.  Being an orphan he's done it tough in the past, but he knows how to take care of himself and he has an affinity with life's important things.  So when he takes a job as a sea-urchin diver on a stretch of coastal paradise, he's right at home with the morwong, pearl perch and butterfish.He's less at home with the people – apart from the woman who works as his deckhand – since the industry's crookeder than your average banker.  And because Bloke's already done a season in the big gym, he makes a perfect fall guy when things go wrong.That sends him running again, by a roundabout way into the arms of his real family.  But Jim's not sure that's where he wants to be.  He wants love and that's hard, he wants his identity and that's even harder.Bloke is an achingly funny novel about coming to terms with who you are, where you belong, who you love.  Jim has a weakness for women that leads him into trouble, and then to salvation.

310 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Bruce Pascoe was born of Bunurong and Tasmanian Aboriginal heritage in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond and graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Education. He is a member of the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative of southern Victoria and has been the director of the Australian Studies Project for the Commonwealth Schools Commission.

Bruce has had a varied career as a teacher, farmer, fisherman, barman, fencing contractor, lecturer, Aboriginal language researcher, archaeological site worker and editor.

He won the Fellowship of Australian Writers´ Literature Award in 1999 and his novel Fog a Dox (published by Magabala Books in 2012), won the Young Adult category of the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.
Source: http://brucepascoe.com.au/about/

Reviews

[David Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a style that is suited to the character - a man who is ultimately defined by the women that he loves. Pascoe has very colourful and descriptive prose - some images leap off the page at you.

I have written a brief review as linked: https://ozhamada-observes.blogspot.co...

I particularly enjoyed the use of metyonmy; where swim-fins where referred to as slippers.

[Vicki Tyley · Rating 5 out of 5]

“This is the truth.” And so opens this captivating tale of Jim Bloke, an orphan without any sense of belonging. This is his journey…

It’s no wonder Pascoe’s work has garnered such critical acclaim. His prose sings, the words leaping off the page. Added to that is his vivid turn of phrase:

“When I woke up that first morning in Nullakarn I was in someone’s holiday house that was beyond holidays. The stumps at the back were trying to lie down, they were sick of it, eighty years of kids and dogs, just sick of it. They rested, sighed, reclined so that you walked uphill from the back of the house to the front. The walls had been painted in a green someone five decades ago thought was sea-green, but which now, aged and with damp rising from where the floor kissed the earth, looked like the vomit of a dog who’d been eating grass. Deliberately. To achieve this very effect.”

…

“I picked up the kettle and something sloshed. So I emptied it and noticed a hint of rust and a few blubby bits that could have been anything – corpse particles, mouse shit.”

And that’s just in the first two pages.

I laughed, sighed, winced and gasped my way through this poignant and deep novel. Highly recommended.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Gritty, heartwarming and real. Bloke is romance and comedy and cops and robbers and inclusive of all sorts of Australians, both past and present. It is also tender and honest and genuine. I loved the wry, dry no fuss humour present on nearly every page. The part that stays in my memory though are the characters Munt and Aunt Cookup, what the book shows of the strength of the Koori social network and how it works, and the quiet idyllic perfection of the bushman traditional lifestyle. The descriptions of the coast and the sea and inland country were also magnificent.

[WildWoila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy money lands a fisherman in hot water off the coast of SE Aus. The love of a good woman and a the Indigenous community help him through. I loved the narrative voice: a distinctive gentle and self-aware masculinity.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the authors most recent book Dark Emu, and loved it. I then stumbled across this fiction title, which I didn’t know existed and I was pleasantly surprised.
The author is a really good writer. Didn’t love passages of this book but still worth a dip!!

[Robert Ditterich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to see this made for TV.. It is a rollicking yarn beautifully delivered. Bruce not only explores notions of identity and belonging with thorough authenticity, he brings an intimate understanding of place to a wonderful story. In amongst all of this we are given tasty glimpses of the positives that can permeate an indigenous culture which survives at the perphery of the mainstream. There is so much here that I found appealing and satisfying.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takes you into his world

This book draws you into the world of the fishermen, the half-life of the men who slip in and out of jail and the close ties of koori society. It is an intimate glimpse into a world of knowing and of unspoken ties. The characterisation is warm and believable, the story gripping and the writing punchy and real. A total immersion experience and a thoroughly engaging read.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

A copy of They're a weird mob and a bad one at that. Pascoe has simply changed the narrator to an Australian and the woman to an Italian, and set in the contemporary era on the NSW south coast. Jim Bloke (says it all) works in the fishing industry and has a reliable grasp of 1950s vernacular.

What seemed strained in 1960 now sounds utterly ridiculous.

[Claire Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bruce Pascoe is my new favourite author without a doubt. Unbelievably beautiful, simple and yet so complex stories. Brilliant stuff. This book is masterful