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The Family Law
A vivid, gorgeously garish, Technicolor portrait of a family. It’s impossible not to let oneself go along for the ride and emerge at the book’s end enlightened, touched, thrilling with laughter.’ – Marieke Hardy
Meet the Law family – eccentric, endearing and hard to resist. Your guide: Benjamin, the third of five children and a born humorist. Join him as he tries to answer some puzzling questions: Why won’t his Chinese dad wear made-in-China underpants? Why was most of his extended family deported in the 1980s? Will his childhood dreams of Home and Away stardom come to nothing? What are his chances of finding love?
Hilarious and moving, The Family Law is a linked series of tales from a wonderful new Australian talent.
Meet the Law family – eccentric, endearing and hard to resist. Your guide: Benjamin, the third of five children and a born humorist. Join him as he tries to answer some puzzling questions: Why won’t his Chinese dad wear made-in-China underpants? Why was most of his extended family deported in the 1980s? Will his childhood dreams of Home and Away stardom come to nothing? What are his chances of finding love?
Hilarious and moving, The Family Law is a linked series of tales from a wonderful new Australian talent.
254 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2010
71 people are currently reading
2135 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Law
32 books246 followersBenjamin Law is a Brisbane-based freelance writer. He is a senior contributor to frankie magazine and has also written for The Monthly, The Courier Mail, Qweekend, Sunday Life, Cleo, Crikey, The Big Issue, New Matilda, Kill Your Darlings, ABC Unleashed and the Australian Associated Press.
His essays have been anthologised in Growing Up Asian in Australia, The Best Australian Essays 2008, The Best Australian Essays 2009 and the forthcoming Voracious: New Australian Food Writing.
The Family Law (2010) is his debut book, and is published by Black Inc. Books. A French edition will be published by Belfond in 2012. The TV rights have been sold to Matchbox Pictures.
He’s currently working on his second book, a collection of non-fiction looking at queer people and communities throughout Asia. It has the working title of Gaysia.
His essays have been anthologised in Growing Up Asian in Australia, The Best Australian Essays 2008, The Best Australian Essays 2009 and the forthcoming Voracious: New Australian Food Writing.
The Family Law (2010) is his debut book, and is published by Black Inc. Books. A French edition will be published by Belfond in 2012. The TV rights have been sold to Matchbox Pictures.
He’s currently working on his second book, a collection of non-fiction looking at queer people and communities throughout Asia. It has the working title of Gaysia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 243 reviews
February 4, 2016
A few weeks ago I didn't know much about Benjamin Law, other than that he's a journalist and the author of Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East. Then I watched the first episode of the television adaptation of this 2010 memoir, laughed a lot, downloaded the e-book edition, read it and laughed some more. Now I know a lot quite a lot about Law's life, or at least about his formative years.
Law writes engagingly about his childhood in regional Queensland in the 1980s and 1990s, as the middle child in a family of five, the gay son of immigrants from Hong Kong. The memoir takes the form of essays dealing with particular issues in his life and the lives of his parents and siblings. Some of the episodes are laugh-out-loud funny, others are more wryly amusing, some are quite poignant and not funny at all. Not every episode is a gem, but enough of them are to have made it worth the read.
Law was in his twenties when this memoir was published. His youth may have made it easier to capture what it feels like to be a teenager. In any event, he nails it. Not just what it feels like to be a teenager, but to be a gay teenager in a small country town, with a wonderfully eccentric family. A good, light, entertaining read.
January 4, 2021
The Family Law is a charming, funny, and occasionally over-the-top series of recollections about feeling different and family life. Despite what they say about not meeting your heroes, I feel lucky to have done so, and Benjamin Law remains one of mine.
My full review of The Family Law can be found here.
My full review of The Family Law can be found here.
February 6, 2012
What a ripper of a book - I don’t think I have laughed so much ages. These are Benjamin Law’s honest and hilarious recollection of childhood memories growing up in a household of 4 siblings with Asian/Australian parents. The stories can sometimes be crude, vile and confronting. And some I wouldn’t even dream of telling my own children for fear of scarring them for life, but it’s all in good fun and highly entertaining. Some tender moments towards the end with Ben discovery of love for the first time with his current partner – it was beautiful to read.
Ben Law is a natural comedian but the highlight for me was Ben’s mum. I give her 5 out of 5 for being such good sport in allowing her son to write and reveal some explicit details about herself. There is quite a bit of foul language here, so if you’re not offended that easily and want a good laugh, you won’t be disappointed – I highly recommend it.
Ben Law is a natural comedian but the highlight for me was Ben’s mum. I give her 5 out of 5 for being such good sport in allowing her son to write and reveal some explicit details about herself. There is quite a bit of foul language here, so if you’re not offended that easily and want a good laugh, you won’t be disappointed – I highly recommend it.
February 25, 2022
I didn't find The Family Law as laugh-out-loud funny as I'd expected, based on my having watched the SBS television series based on the book. Certainly, the on-screen characterisations are consistent with his family members as described by Benjamin Law and many scenes from the book are related in the adaptation, but the vibe of the book is less slapstick, more reflective.
Australian writer and social commentator Benjamin Law grew up on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, the middle child (and younger son) of Hong Kong Chinese and Chinese-Malaysian immigrant parents. His elder brother and three sisters (one elder, two younger) complete the Law family, and their family stories, experiences and shared idiosyncratic sense of humour make up the linked but not necessarily chronological vignettes that form each chapter of The Family Law.
In many respects, it's a coming-of-age story of the Law siblings, principally Benjamin, as they navigate the interface between Australian society in the 1990s-2000s and their own cultural upbringing. Their father, Danny, is a quintessential workaholic Chinese entrepreneur, while their mother, Jenny, employs a colourful arsenal of guilt-tripping, blunt observations and frequent use of biological and general expletives in both English and Cantonese.
The family face significant challenges - several members of their extended family (originally from Hong Kong) were refused Australian residency and deported during the 1980s, Danny and Jenny are unable to reconcile their conflict and split when the children are teenagers, and the family faces overt racism with the rise of the "One Nation" right-wing political party in the mid 1990s. Nevertheless, their chaotic and cluttered family home is a haven of ribald humour, mutual support and no more than the usual amount of sibling rivalry. Law also details his experience within the religious education system (he attended Buderim's Immanuel Lutheran College) and coming out as gay when a young adult.
I found The Family Law both entertaining and interesting, even if not as overtly humorous as I'd anticipated. Benjamin Law is a gifted writer, with a particular skill for balancing pathos with occasionally dark humour. There's a distinct Australian flavour to the stories, which will resonate with many readers, regardless of their cultural background.
Australian writer and social commentator Benjamin Law grew up on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, the middle child (and younger son) of Hong Kong Chinese and Chinese-Malaysian immigrant parents. His elder brother and three sisters (one elder, two younger) complete the Law family, and their family stories, experiences and shared idiosyncratic sense of humour make up the linked but not necessarily chronological vignettes that form each chapter of The Family Law.
In many respects, it's a coming-of-age story of the Law siblings, principally Benjamin, as they navigate the interface between Australian society in the 1990s-2000s and their own cultural upbringing. Their father, Danny, is a quintessential workaholic Chinese entrepreneur, while their mother, Jenny, employs a colourful arsenal of guilt-tripping, blunt observations and frequent use of biological and general expletives in both English and Cantonese.
The family face significant challenges - several members of their extended family (originally from Hong Kong) were refused Australian residency and deported during the 1980s, Danny and Jenny are unable to reconcile their conflict and split when the children are teenagers, and the family faces overt racism with the rise of the "One Nation" right-wing political party in the mid 1990s. Nevertheless, their chaotic and cluttered family home is a haven of ribald humour, mutual support and no more than the usual amount of sibling rivalry. Law also details his experience within the religious education system (he attended Buderim's Immanuel Lutheran College) and coming out as gay when a young adult.
I found The Family Law both entertaining and interesting, even if not as overtly humorous as I'd anticipated. Benjamin Law is a gifted writer, with a particular skill for balancing pathos with occasionally dark humour. There's a distinct Australian flavour to the stories, which will resonate with many readers, regardless of their cultural background.
December 28, 2015
What a crazy funny man, who has had a crazy funny irreverent upbringing! Loads of laugh out loud moments throughout this telling.
This memoir reads...or sounds, as I listened to the audio version...like a very funny comedy..though it does have some very cringe-worthy tales to tell as well. Some real OMG moments!
Even so, you can't fail to hear the admiration and love that Benjamin has for his family, and you can't fail to admire their courage.
This was a great insightful audio experience, and I highly recommend the audio version for what I can only imagine is a richer experience of Benjamin Law's life as told by himself.
It was only during the course of my listening that I discovered the tv series of The Family Law!
December 15, 2011
I started reading this while on a bus, sitting next to a middle-aged Asian lady. The more I got into the book, the harder and louder I laughed, and the more I tilted the pages toward the window -- away from the lady in the aisle seat. I could feel her glancing curiously over my shoulder, but there was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to tell her I was laughing at Mr. Benjamin Law's mother's recollections of childbirth and descriptions of her 'dingly-dangly bits' in the aftermath of said childbirths. It was embarrassing.
Seriously, though -- The Family Law is a hilarious and wonderful quick read by one of my favourite people. I have never even met Ben Law, but I found myself relating to him more than I ever thought I’d relate to a twenty-eight year old gay Asian man who jokes about childbirth being like squeezing lemons out of one’s penis-hole.* Maybe it was his large, Asian family with the distant — typically so — father and the crazy-adorable, melodramatic mother that reminded me of my own. Maybe it’s the bit about growing up Asian in Australia. Or the shared experience of waking up in his childhood household to the sounds of various pieces of technology being turned on (minus the rooster clock), of people peeing noisily, and of siblings dry retching as they brushed their teeth because of an “abnormally weak gag reflex”. (Admittedly, the latter sibling would actually be me in my family.) His experience of watching Stephen King’s It wasn’t much different from when I saw The Shining as a kid and couldn’t sleep — or use the bathroom at night — for weeks. He, like his sister, also has scoliosis. (What are the chances of having that in common with someone?)
I would definitely recommend it -- I just probably wouldn't recommend reading it next to little old conservative-looking Asian ladies on the bus.
Awkward.
Seriously, though -- The Family Law is a hilarious and wonderful quick read by one of my favourite people. I have never even met Ben Law, but I found myself relating to him more than I ever thought I’d relate to a twenty-eight year old gay Asian man who jokes about childbirth being like squeezing lemons out of one’s penis-hole.* Maybe it was his large, Asian family with the distant — typically so — father and the crazy-adorable, melodramatic mother that reminded me of my own. Maybe it’s the bit about growing up Asian in Australia. Or the shared experience of waking up in his childhood household to the sounds of various pieces of technology being turned on (minus the rooster clock), of people peeing noisily, and of siblings dry retching as they brushed their teeth because of an “abnormally weak gag reflex”. (Admittedly, the latter sibling would actually be me in my family.) His experience of watching Stephen King’s It wasn’t much different from when I saw The Shining as a kid and couldn’t sleep — or use the bathroom at night — for weeks. He, like his sister, also has scoliosis. (What are the chances of having that in common with someone?)
I would definitely recommend it -- I just probably wouldn't recommend reading it next to little old conservative-looking Asian ladies on the bus.
Awkward.
September 29, 2015
There aren't many books in the world that can talk about something utterly, and entirely, unbelieveably disgusting, and still make me laugh. I usually puke about these things. And believe me, when I say that there were some really disgusting things mentioned in this book--I mean really disgusting, all blood and gore without the blood and gore! because it had been turned into a joke. This whole book is one humourous situation after another, every chapter, there's at least one joke, one line that'll be bound to have the corner of your lips tugging upwards. I was definitely cracking up like a weirdo on my couch and on the train, and it was a good dose of well needed medicine. I haven't laughed so much for so long. I think it helps that he has a sense of humour. If all autobiographies and memoirs were like this, then I would more likely read them. (Since I really don't like how close to home autobiographies can get.)
However. WARNING. contained in this book are a number of scenes that make me never ever want to think about various things again. They are mentally scaring, and if you're a person of visuals, who like to picture their next move, picture the scenes of what they're reading in their head, have an awfully vivid, Not Safe For Work imagination, then you might want to reconsider reading this.
Why?
Because through this novel, predominantly at the start of the narrative, I learnt something about the birth of Benjamin Law and his siblings' mother that I never ever want to read about it again. The thought of stitches and cutting, and well...to say anything more is mentally scarring, and to think his mother actually told Benjamin and his siblings about each birth....it makes me wonder, did that really happen?!? Either way, that was mentally scarring. Just as it was mentally scarring to get so deep into the mind of male--something I've never wanted to do, and hence have always avoided doing in literature because all I ever read when it comes to a male perspective--if written by a male writer--a lot of swearing, a lot of sex, and a lot of immoral yet totally natural thoughts, and when written by a female, all I get is blah blah blah, I have to have her! blah blah blah, the luscious curve of her breast, perky and just right for his hand.... or some crap like that--As you might have guessed, I rarely read fiction written from a male perspective, told well. And because of that, I generally swerve away from the curb of diversity and stick with female perspectives. One more reason why--at least from a female perspective--abhorrent, often shameless presumptuous thoughts of women are easier to handle than when reading from a male perspective about a guy who is putting up with all the crap that we women do sometimes. (I'm horrid, I know as a female, but I've read enough Twi-like-stories to drown me in a lifetime of wondering why females have to be so....that.) In short, I really, generally don't like reading books from a male perspective. Because it confirms all the negative things that generalise the entire male population. But with this book, I actually don't feel uncomfortable sitting in Benjamin Law's mind and reading about his life. And this is not because he's gay, because really, his thoughts and feelings were pretty much like that of any other guys, real and fictional. What made it so comfortable, was the humour. Which makes me think that in reality, he is a really funny guy. So this memoir gets points for not being boring, for having a humourous narrative voice, for having a main character who is likeable and relatable (On a side note, because memoirs are really not my thing, even if Mr Law is a real person, I really can't call him anything else but a protagonist....then again he is a protagonist of his own story....which....oh never mind, clearly I'm not thinking straight! No wait...I know what this is, it's the fact that this is a memoir, and because I don't usually read them, I'm treating this like fiction even though this guy is a real life human being, and he has a book about his family ^^").
Now. Onto the story itself. Like other autobios and memoirs, this book is a collection of well organised stories about Law's life. It's actually structured really well and it doesn't feel awkward with the various time jumps from one period to another. I can see why he's had so many essays published and is a freelance writer for various journals/media/etc. He knows how to begin and end, so that each chapter feels like a well balanced, well rounded story. If you look for a flow or connection between one chapter to another, you won't find it. At the same time, for some authors, the flow of the whole book is broken sometimes by the jump between one chapter to another, but for Law's book, it is almost flawless. I never once felt like I'd missed a whole lot of things in between. Law has a way with beginnings. He knows how to single out one event, narrate it, and then get to a point by the end of the chapter.
What was interesting in the whole telling is that Law doesn't bring in the stories of his family's past until the latter half of the novel. Now I've never really read any other memoirs (something I have to rectify asap before I can really give my opinion on it), but you can really see this story is the story of an Australian Born Asian. Even then, his parents' pasts only play a small role in the whole book, only to give some colour to the various reasons why his parents does certain things. There are also stories about his relatives and how they came to work illegally in Australia, and how they were deported. But when it comes to the main story, the story of his family, this is also a story of Law's experiences growing up. You see him deal with his identity--cultural and sexual--and how his family operates as a whole. The highlight of this little book for me, was seeing these childhood recollections of Benjamin Law. I am still partially in ignorance here about the reality of each and everyone of these experiences. I mean, they have been humourously retold for this memoir, with Law's witty use of language, but man, I don't know if I'll ever believe these things had actually happened! Specially with the things that his mum says--who, admittedly, despite all her frank and vocal descriptions of birth, life, and death, is one of the most amusing people I've ever read about.
For me, this book, like Alice Pung's book, was a very interesting, if but sometimes uncomfortable (because it's not like I always read the stories about other Australian Borns who have a varied and ranged number of experiences growing up that I can and can't relate to at the same time (and just to clarify, I wasn't uncomfortable about Law's experiences with his sexuality--that was actually really interesting, and cute too, I must say)). I would definitely recommend The Family Law as a suggestive read. BUT I also caution, for it is somewhat graphic, and there are some scenes which I wouldn't recommend one read if they are uncomfortable with those sort of things--painfully unnecessarily gorey description of childbirths, gorey descriptions about the things that happen once a month, etc. and admittedly, in this book I see the frank and laidback voice that I would generally see in Australian novels featuring caucasian protagonists--stories which I usually hate reading (whether because it's too close to home, literally and figuratively, or because I just find all the overdone expressions of reality so far from my own and seeming so exaggerated I just can't help but hate it, but it's not like I don't try and read books like that. I just don't like a lot of them, and of the ones I do, there's probably a very familiar pattern or trend.)
However. WARNING. contained in this book are a number of scenes that make me never ever want to think about various things again. They are mentally scaring, and if you're a person of visuals, who like to picture their next move, picture the scenes of what they're reading in their head, have an awfully vivid, Not Safe For Work imagination, then you might want to reconsider reading this.
Why?
Because through this novel, predominantly at the start of the narrative, I learnt something about the birth of Benjamin Law and his siblings' mother that I never ever want to read about it again. The thought of stitches and cutting, and well...to say anything more is mentally scarring, and to think his mother actually told Benjamin and his siblings about each birth....it makes me wonder, did that really happen?!? Either way, that was mentally scarring. Just as it was mentally scarring to get so deep into the mind of male--something I've never wanted to do, and hence have always avoided doing in literature because all I ever read when it comes to a male perspective--if written by a male writer--a lot of swearing, a lot of sex, and a lot of immoral yet totally natural thoughts, and when written by a female, all I get is blah blah blah, I have to have her! blah blah blah, the luscious curve of her breast, perky and just right for his hand.... or some crap like that--As you might have guessed, I rarely read fiction written from a male perspective, told well. And because of that, I generally swerve away from the curb of diversity and stick with female perspectives. One more reason why--at least from a female perspective--abhorrent, often shameless presumptuous thoughts of women are easier to handle than when reading from a male perspective about a guy who is putting up with all the crap that we women do sometimes. (I'm horrid, I know as a female, but I've read enough Twi-like-stories to drown me in a lifetime of wondering why females have to be so....that.) In short, I really, generally don't like reading books from a male perspective. Because it confirms all the negative things that generalise the entire male population. But with this book, I actually don't feel uncomfortable sitting in Benjamin Law's mind and reading about his life. And this is not because he's gay, because really, his thoughts and feelings were pretty much like that of any other guys, real and fictional. What made it so comfortable, was the humour. Which makes me think that in reality, he is a really funny guy. So this memoir gets points for not being boring, for having a humourous narrative voice, for having a main character who is likeable and relatable (On a side note, because memoirs are really not my thing, even if Mr Law is a real person, I really can't call him anything else but a protagonist....then again he is a protagonist of his own story....which....oh never mind, clearly I'm not thinking straight! No wait...I know what this is, it's the fact that this is a memoir, and because I don't usually read them, I'm treating this like fiction even though this guy is a real life human being, and he has a book about his family ^^").
Now. Onto the story itself. Like other autobios and memoirs, this book is a collection of well organised stories about Law's life. It's actually structured really well and it doesn't feel awkward with the various time jumps from one period to another. I can see why he's had so many essays published and is a freelance writer for various journals/media/etc. He knows how to begin and end, so that each chapter feels like a well balanced, well rounded story. If you look for a flow or connection between one chapter to another, you won't find it. At the same time, for some authors, the flow of the whole book is broken sometimes by the jump between one chapter to another, but for Law's book, it is almost flawless. I never once felt like I'd missed a whole lot of things in between. Law has a way with beginnings. He knows how to single out one event, narrate it, and then get to a point by the end of the chapter.
What was interesting in the whole telling is that Law doesn't bring in the stories of his family's past until the latter half of the novel. Now I've never really read any other memoirs (something I have to rectify asap before I can really give my opinion on it), but you can really see this story is the story of an Australian Born Asian. Even then, his parents' pasts only play a small role in the whole book, only to give some colour to the various reasons why his parents does certain things. There are also stories about his relatives and how they came to work illegally in Australia, and how they were deported. But when it comes to the main story, the story of his family, this is also a story of Law's experiences growing up. You see him deal with his identity--cultural and sexual--and how his family operates as a whole. The highlight of this little book for me, was seeing these childhood recollections of Benjamin Law. I am still partially in ignorance here about the reality of each and everyone of these experiences. I mean, they have been humourously retold for this memoir, with Law's witty use of language, but man, I don't know if I'll ever believe these things had actually happened! Specially with the things that his mum says--who, admittedly, despite all her frank and vocal descriptions of birth, life, and death, is one of the most amusing people I've ever read about.
For me, this book, like Alice Pung's book, was a very interesting, if but sometimes uncomfortable (because it's not like I always read the stories about other Australian Borns who have a varied and ranged number of experiences growing up that I can and can't relate to at the same time (and just to clarify, I wasn't uncomfortable about Law's experiences with his sexuality--that was actually really interesting, and cute too, I must say)). I would definitely recommend The Family Law as a suggestive read. BUT I also caution, for it is somewhat graphic, and there are some scenes which I wouldn't recommend one read if they are uncomfortable with those sort of things--painfully unnecessarily gorey description of childbirths, gorey descriptions about the things that happen once a month, etc. and admittedly, in this book I see the frank and laidback voice that I would generally see in Australian novels featuring caucasian protagonists--stories which I usually hate reading (whether because it's too close to home, literally and figuratively, or because I just find all the overdone expressions of reality so far from my own and seeming so exaggerated I just can't help but hate it, but it's not like I don't try and read books like that. I just don't like a lot of them, and of the ones I do, there's probably a very familiar pattern or trend.)
August 18, 2012
In 2010 I had the rare pleasure of loving a book I'd been anticipating for as long as I'd been stalking the author.
Benjamin Law is a freelance writer who first blipped onto my radar when I started reading his pieces in hipster-darling magazine, ‘Frankie’. He also contributes to ‘The Good Weekend’, ‘The Monthly’ and has written for ‘The Best Australian Essays’ and even appeared on ABC’s Q&A. I love him. He’s enviably witty, self-deprecating, and writes brilliant argumentative pieces with first-hand experience as his weapon of choice. I'd been looking forward to his novel debut for so long, and when ‘The Family Law’ came along in 2010 I was not in the least bit surprised by the novel’s brilliance. . .
‘The Family Law’ is a biography in 23 parts – as Law recounts mundane and extraordinary familial events through 23 short stories.
Benjamin Law is gut-achingly funny – so funny he’s sometimes freakin’ painful to read. But he’s at his funniest when describing his family and their weird, endearing mannerisms and quirks – like in ‘Baby Love’, in which he writes about his Cantonese mother’s horror-filled stories about raising Benjamin and his four other siblings.
Mum also said childbirth was unbearably, gratuitously painful. When I once asked her to compare and rate each of our births – which was easier, which was faster – she balked. ‘No birth is easy!’ she exclaimed. ‘Of course a man would ask that question. Men can’t even begin to imagine. Can you imagine a lemon coming out of your penis-hole? Yes, yes! That’s what it’s like! I'd like to see a man squeeze lemons out of his penis-hole. OUT OF YOUR PENIS-HOLE, BENJAMIN. You can’t even imagine, can you? A whole lemon – with the points on each end and everything, except this lemon has limbs. Out of your penis-hole. PENIS-HOLE.’
Going into ‘The Family Law’, I knew it would be a cackling-good read. I've been a big admirer of Benjamin Law’s sense of humour for years now, but actually it was the stories in which he balanced humour with introspection that stood out for me. Even more were the stories that started out lightly humorous, but masked much wider (often political) issues that really bowled me over. Benjamin Law sneaks up on you like that – he comes across as quite the joker, quick with the quips about being the only Asian not good at maths – but he’s masterful at using his personal anecdotes to ask big questions of the reader.
Now, I should also point out that Benjamin Law is gay, and a very vocal supporter of marriage equality in Australia. Law writes beautifully, self-deprecatingly and most importantly earnestly about realizing he was homosexual and coming out to his family. But I was sort of surprised to discover that it wasn’t his story about being gay in Australia that really struck a chord with me (though it did that too). In fact, it was the story ‘Skeletons’ that I think wonderfully illustrated Law’s talent for combining humorous anecdote with striking persuasion. In this short story, he talks about how his mother and her family moved to Hong Kong from Malaysia when she was fifteen-years-old, after they heard reports that ethnic Malays were murdering Chinese people. From Hong Kong, Law’s mother and father decided on Australia to escape the Chinese-run government after colonialism. After his parents arrived in Australia, gained citizenship and started a family, his mother’s family members started migrating to the land down under to start a new life too. As Law explains: “They let their visas expire, quietly and without ceremony” - they started having babies, taking out mortgages and opened a restaurant. And then when Benjamin was just a boy, the Australian Federal Police landed on their doorstep – raided the family restaurant, and arrested his uncles, and later returned to take his aunts and cousins to Villawood Detention Centre to await their fate. The family’s plight made national headlines, but in the end it did no good;
They left in stages, family by family, newspaper report by newspaper report. No matter how any applications were filed, petitions sent or campaigns established, nothing was of any use. Then, only weeks after my mother’s thirty-second birthday, she said goodbye to her two elderly parents at the airport. They were the last to leave, having been asked by the government to go voluntarily after their application for sponsorship was rejected. Mum was four months’ pregnant by then. When they left, her parents asked what the use of crying was.
After his mother’s sixteen deported family members left Australia (and all their worldly possessions behind with her), Benjamin’s mother developed a hording problem. For a long time she kept every family memento and school project; stacks of magazines littered his family home and as Benjamin puts it; “we were sentimental to the point where it became pathological.” His mother couldn’t let go, she kept the last physical links to her family for as long as she could. I love this story for a lot of reasons. Re-reading it now, when the ‘boat people’ debate has sparked all over again and Tony Abbott’s current buzz-word, ‘illegals’, is being repeated by every ignorant asshole, ‘Skeletons’ is a really beautiful and quiet story that puts a face and real heart into the whole debate. Benjamin Law’s family are not what the majority of Australian’s would consider to be the idea of queue-jumpers, and that’s what makes it so powerful and highlights Benjamin Law as a funny guy with a lot to say.
One of the great things about all of Law’s stories is the way he instantly hooks readers and draws them in. All his opening lines are a little bit kooky and fabulous. One of my favourites is from ‘Amongst the Living Dead’:
For as long as I can remember, I've thought about my mother’s death on a daily basis. This wouldn’t be such a strange exercise if she were actually dead, but the thing is, my mother’s alive – perhaps aggressively so.
Like I said, I first read and loved this book in 2010 – but it’s only recently that the book has returned to my shelf, after being passed around to every friend, family member and stranger on the street that I could convince to give Law’s debut a read. My copy of ‘The Family Law’ is now a little bit bruised and battered from being so lovingly read by so many. I’m so happy that Benjamin Law has his second book coming out next month, ‘Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East’ – I can’t wait for his second outing, which will no doubt further my obsession with this heartfelt and humorous writer-extraordinaire.
Benjamin Law is a freelance writer who first blipped onto my radar when I started reading his pieces in hipster-darling magazine, ‘Frankie’. He also contributes to ‘The Good Weekend’, ‘The Monthly’ and has written for ‘The Best Australian Essays’ and even appeared on ABC’s Q&A. I love him. He’s enviably witty, self-deprecating, and writes brilliant argumentative pieces with first-hand experience as his weapon of choice. I'd been looking forward to his novel debut for so long, and when ‘The Family Law’ came along in 2010 I was not in the least bit surprised by the novel’s brilliance. . .
‘The Family Law’ is a biography in 23 parts – as Law recounts mundane and extraordinary familial events through 23 short stories.
Benjamin Law is gut-achingly funny – so funny he’s sometimes freakin’ painful to read. But he’s at his funniest when describing his family and their weird, endearing mannerisms and quirks – like in ‘Baby Love’, in which he writes about his Cantonese mother’s horror-filled stories about raising Benjamin and his four other siblings.
Mum also said childbirth was unbearably, gratuitously painful. When I once asked her to compare and rate each of our births – which was easier, which was faster – she balked. ‘No birth is easy!’ she exclaimed. ‘Of course a man would ask that question. Men can’t even begin to imagine. Can you imagine a lemon coming out of your penis-hole? Yes, yes! That’s what it’s like! I'd like to see a man squeeze lemons out of his penis-hole. OUT OF YOUR PENIS-HOLE, BENJAMIN. You can’t even imagine, can you? A whole lemon – with the points on each end and everything, except this lemon has limbs. Out of your penis-hole. PENIS-HOLE.’
Going into ‘The Family Law’, I knew it would be a cackling-good read. I've been a big admirer of Benjamin Law’s sense of humour for years now, but actually it was the stories in which he balanced humour with introspection that stood out for me. Even more were the stories that started out lightly humorous, but masked much wider (often political) issues that really bowled me over. Benjamin Law sneaks up on you like that – he comes across as quite the joker, quick with the quips about being the only Asian not good at maths – but he’s masterful at using his personal anecdotes to ask big questions of the reader.
Now, I should also point out that Benjamin Law is gay, and a very vocal supporter of marriage equality in Australia. Law writes beautifully, self-deprecatingly and most importantly earnestly about realizing he was homosexual and coming out to his family. But I was sort of surprised to discover that it wasn’t his story about being gay in Australia that really struck a chord with me (though it did that too). In fact, it was the story ‘Skeletons’ that I think wonderfully illustrated Law’s talent for combining humorous anecdote with striking persuasion. In this short story, he talks about how his mother and her family moved to Hong Kong from Malaysia when she was fifteen-years-old, after they heard reports that ethnic Malays were murdering Chinese people. From Hong Kong, Law’s mother and father decided on Australia to escape the Chinese-run government after colonialism. After his parents arrived in Australia, gained citizenship and started a family, his mother’s family members started migrating to the land down under to start a new life too. As Law explains: “They let their visas expire, quietly and without ceremony” - they started having babies, taking out mortgages and opened a restaurant. And then when Benjamin was just a boy, the Australian Federal Police landed on their doorstep – raided the family restaurant, and arrested his uncles, and later returned to take his aunts and cousins to Villawood Detention Centre to await their fate. The family’s plight made national headlines, but in the end it did no good;
They left in stages, family by family, newspaper report by newspaper report. No matter how any applications were filed, petitions sent or campaigns established, nothing was of any use. Then, only weeks after my mother’s thirty-second birthday, she said goodbye to her two elderly parents at the airport. They were the last to leave, having been asked by the government to go voluntarily after their application for sponsorship was rejected. Mum was four months’ pregnant by then. When they left, her parents asked what the use of crying was.
After his mother’s sixteen deported family members left Australia (and all their worldly possessions behind with her), Benjamin’s mother developed a hording problem. For a long time she kept every family memento and school project; stacks of magazines littered his family home and as Benjamin puts it; “we were sentimental to the point where it became pathological.” His mother couldn’t let go, she kept the last physical links to her family for as long as she could. I love this story for a lot of reasons. Re-reading it now, when the ‘boat people’ debate has sparked all over again and Tony Abbott’s current buzz-word, ‘illegals’, is being repeated by every ignorant asshole, ‘Skeletons’ is a really beautiful and quiet story that puts a face and real heart into the whole debate. Benjamin Law’s family are not what the majority of Australian’s would consider to be the idea of queue-jumpers, and that’s what makes it so powerful and highlights Benjamin Law as a funny guy with a lot to say.
One of the great things about all of Law’s stories is the way he instantly hooks readers and draws them in. All his opening lines are a little bit kooky and fabulous. One of my favourites is from ‘Amongst the Living Dead’:
For as long as I can remember, I've thought about my mother’s death on a daily basis. This wouldn’t be such a strange exercise if she were actually dead, but the thing is, my mother’s alive – perhaps aggressively so.
Like I said, I first read and loved this book in 2010 – but it’s only recently that the book has returned to my shelf, after being passed around to every friend, family member and stranger on the street that I could convince to give Law’s debut a read. My copy of ‘The Family Law’ is now a little bit bruised and battered from being so lovingly read by so many. I’m so happy that Benjamin Law has his second book coming out next month, ‘Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East’ – I can’t wait for his second outing, which will no doubt further my obsession with this heartfelt and humorous writer-extraordinaire.
November 16, 2019
Trigger warnings: racism, homophobia, animal death, death of a family member (in the past).
I bought this on a whim because it was cheap and the sample was quite funny. And then I ended up reading this cover to cover in a couple of hours because it was so funny that I was laughing out loud on public transport.
A lot of the stories about Law's childhood were so funny that I had literal tears going on. The sibling dynamic is perfect throughout, a mix of weird in-jokes that make sense to literally no one outside the family, intense support, and I CANNOT STAND BEING AROUND YOU FOR ONE MORE SECOND OH MY GOD GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAK.
My one minor complaint is that it's more of a series of essays without a coherent overarching structure and as such it kind of just...ends. But on the whole, it was thoroughly enjoyable and I will very much look forward to Law's writings in the future.
I bought this on a whim because it was cheap and the sample was quite funny. And then I ended up reading this cover to cover in a couple of hours because it was so funny that I was laughing out loud on public transport.
A lot of the stories about Law's childhood were so funny that I had literal tears going on. The sibling dynamic is perfect throughout, a mix of weird in-jokes that make sense to literally no one outside the family, intense support, and I CANNOT STAND BEING AROUND YOU FOR ONE MORE SECOND OH MY GOD GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAK.
My one minor complaint is that it's more of a series of essays without a coherent overarching structure and as such it kind of just...ends. But on the whole, it was thoroughly enjoyable and I will very much look forward to Law's writings in the future.
January 13, 2011
The Family Law is an amusing collection of anecdotes by Benjamin Law sharing the joys, traumas and candid moments of growing up in his eccentric Chinese Australian family in suburban Queensland. There is a distinct Aussie flavour to Law's reminiscences which are easy to relate to. Law examines his life with a wry sense of humour and an eye for the quirky differences of his family and their experiences. I laughed out loud more than once, particularly with his mother's blunt, if crude, statements. I also appreciated the candour with which Benjamin shares his relationship. This lighthearted memoir is a quick, fun read.
June 6, 2020
A sardonic and insightful look into Malaysian-Australian early 21st century life. The vignettes are short and do not particularly go anywhere, but Law's humourful voice and gift for turning a sentence make the book a worthwhile read. Interesting for people who are looking for Sedaris-esque writing in an Australian context, but some of the essays could have used better endings and internal development.
May 23, 2016
A good easy light read. I love how he doesn't hold back on exposing his families silly idiosyncrasies. I really loved the mother in this. She's hilarious.. vulgar but hilarious if you can handle some lowbrow humour than this will get you laughing out loud.
November 7, 2015
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So this book has been sitting on the backburner for a while. Goodreads tells me that I finished it at the end of May this year...so that's five whole months where I didn't review it. Heh...oops? And this isn't the only book still waiting to be reviewed either. Eep.
You guys know my love for audiobooks these days. If you don't — well I love it. When I started full time work back in April, I found it extremely difficult to get much reading done (lel this hasn't changed much let's be real). Even during my daily train travels, I just wasn't in the mood. Then along came audiobooks and I found a saviour to my TBR.
The Family Law is very different to my usual reads, which I'm sure you can tell. I'm not a huge fan of autobiographies, but heck it was free on Audible (I think it was a Christmas promotion?) so I decided to give it a go.
And I'm so, so glad that I did!
I was not familiar with Benjamin Law when I started this book, so I basically went into his story blind. I didn't even read the blurb beforehand...I mean it was an autobiography...how much can the blurb really tell me?
Turns out, Benjamin is a pretty well-known Australian journalist and author. And he himself narrates the book, which added the authenticity that I didn't even know I wanted.
The Family Law is a memoir of the Law family, a collection of 23 short stories from Benjamin's time growing up on Australia. He recounts his childhood through to young adulthood, sharing some great snippets into what life was like for him, his siblings and the whole Law family. Being an Asian family living in Australia, many of the everyday trivialities was definitely relatable for me — especially the mum, who was just hilarious and I laughed in public more than once because of her antics.
For example, Benjamin recounts in detail about her sharing stories about the birth of her children with him and his siblings, despite protestations from everyone.
The Law family was crazy and funny and each chapter just got more hilarious than the one before. I think it was accentuated by the fact that he himself narrated the book, and did a brilliant job of playing up the voices and emotions required from each story he shared. Most of the stories shared was light-hearted, but there was occasionally a few moving moments too.
Even if you're not a fan of autobiographies, I highly recommend The Family Law. If you've always wanted to start reading autobiographies but have no idea which one to pick up, then this is a good place to start.
January 21, 2016
As the half australian-half chinese offspring of a Hong Kong born and raised mother I could relate to so many excruciating and downright cringeworthy things from my childhood in this wonderful memoir and I loved it- although I don't think mum could ever develop a secret love for the word c**t. More's the shame.
What I appreciate most in these stories, aside from the laughs, is the tenderness with which Ben looks back at the sometimes bizarre moments of his childhood. As I've gotten older, and gotten over myself, I've become a lot more conscious of the sacrifices made for me by mum (and dad, but less so) which is an epiphany I think many adults experience at some point.
To sum up, thanks to this book for reminding me how great family can be.
What I appreciate most in these stories, aside from the laughs, is the tenderness with which Ben looks back at the sometimes bizarre moments of his childhood. As I've gotten older, and gotten over myself, I've become a lot more conscious of the sacrifices made for me by mum (and dad, but less so) which is an epiphany I think many adults experience at some point.
To sum up, thanks to this book for reminding me how great family can be.
February 3, 2011
Loved it. Had me literally laughing out loud - clearly I have a warped sense of humour as well. Other times it really touched me and was quite sweet. Lovely combination of the complexity of life. His description of discovering he was gay and meeting his partner and all the stages he went through was simultaneously hilarious, so familiar (been there, done that) and sweet. I've inflicted it on friends already.
April 25, 2016
Big fan of Ben Law for ages but somehow hadn't read this book yet. I really enjoyed the tv show and for the most part, enjoyed the book too, save for the gross rape jokes. I did find that I had to give it a rest every couple of days because it got a bit samey but the good stuff was really good - some really affecting chapters, like the one about hoarding and family history. Not a perfect book but a very sweet one that is easy to read and often laugh out loud funny.
January 5, 2013
Superbly witty, observant and close cutting. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry; it ended all too quickly for me. Kudos Ben for sharing so succintly your raw, sometimes tragic and always hilarious reflection on life.
August 25, 2019
I went into this book a bit blind. I have never read anything by Benjamin Law before, and I had never watched the TV show that has now been created based on this book. I only really knew of him from his various guest appearances on TV, so I didn't really know what I was getting myself in for. However, after finishing this book, I can now say that I am a massive fan of his.
The best word to describe this book is "delightful". It's a truly wonderful collection of stories that blend perfectly together to form a complete narrative. The stories flow perfectly, and are full of humour despite occasionally being a bit sad. It really left me with a feeling of immense affection for the family (particularly Benjamin's Mum - what a woman!). Benjamin is a brilliant writer and an even better storyteller.
I particularly enjoyed "Tone Deaf" and "So You Are A Homo". The first because it really demonstrates how you can find commonality with your parents in sometimes unexpected ways, and the latter because the love story of Benjamin and his partner is one of the loveliest things I have read in a long time.
The best word to describe this book is "delightful". It's a truly wonderful collection of stories that blend perfectly together to form a complete narrative. The stories flow perfectly, and are full of humour despite occasionally being a bit sad. It really left me with a feeling of immense affection for the family (particularly Benjamin's Mum - what a woman!). Benjamin is a brilliant writer and an even better storyteller.
I particularly enjoyed "Tone Deaf" and "So You Are A Homo". The first because it really demonstrates how you can find commonality with your parents in sometimes unexpected ways, and the latter because the love story of Benjamin and his partner is one of the loveliest things I have read in a long time.
February 13, 2024
Benjamin reads the audio book and his recounting of his mother is the best! So funny. I think this one definitely needs to be heard. ❤️💜🧡💛💚💙
February 4, 2013
So this was recommended to me by my dear brother who said "I nearly pissed myself laughing reading this book."
This piqued my interest as it has been a while since I pissed myself laughing.
So I picked it up after reading the torturous works of Kafka and gobbled this easy-to-read book in little under 3 days.
Benjamin Law is an ABC (Australian Born Chinese), homosexual, writer/comedian from the Gold Coast, QLD. I too share many of his qualities (not a homosexual, but I am ABC and an accomplished comedian of sorts) and was interested in discovering more about his childhood experiences.
In this book he writes about his dysfunctional family, where he is one of 5 children of a workaholic father and immature housewife of a mother. He writes about growing up in a predominantly white, working class area where he never seems to quite fit in.
His family, particularly his siblings and mother are bursting with love and restless energy. Their interactions are so carefree and open. I cannot imagine my own family acting like that. I would never talk about my vagina with my brother. He'd headbut and kneecap me. In fact, the Law family (apart from the father) are all immature, which makes for an entertaining read.
The book is fuelled by hilarious tales involving his mother, Jenny, who simply steals the show with her outlandish personality, bizarre reasoning, politically incorrect statements, and melodramatic reactions. Benjamin's tales of his experiences at his overly religious primary and high school are also good fun.
There are two issues however which I wish he dwelt on in more detail. His absent father is quite an intriguing character who Benjamin deals with in the book with a sense of confusion, hopelessness and dismissiveness. It is clear he still isn't able to reconcile with having parents who are the polar opposites of parental affection. The other issue I wish Benjamin delved into more was the exploration of his sexuality. He seemed to gloss over this issue with humour and wit and left me wanting more. But at the end of the day, this is his story and I appreciate that he may not want to go into too much detail about his sexual exploits whilst in a steady and long-term relationship with his boyfriend Scott. This is not 50 Shades of Gay (haw haw haw).
I'm really happy to have read it and I applaud him for writing a book that has awaken me from my Kafka coma.
This piqued my interest as it has been a while since I pissed myself laughing.
So I picked it up after reading the torturous works of Kafka and gobbled this easy-to-read book in little under 3 days.
Benjamin Law is an ABC (Australian Born Chinese), homosexual, writer/comedian from the Gold Coast, QLD. I too share many of his qualities (not a homosexual, but I am ABC and an accomplished comedian of sorts) and was interested in discovering more about his childhood experiences.
In this book he writes about his dysfunctional family, where he is one of 5 children of a workaholic father and immature housewife of a mother. He writes about growing up in a predominantly white, working class area where he never seems to quite fit in.
His family, particularly his siblings and mother are bursting with love and restless energy. Their interactions are so carefree and open. I cannot imagine my own family acting like that. I would never talk about my vagina with my brother. He'd headbut and kneecap me. In fact, the Law family (apart from the father) are all immature, which makes for an entertaining read.
The book is fuelled by hilarious tales involving his mother, Jenny, who simply steals the show with her outlandish personality, bizarre reasoning, politically incorrect statements, and melodramatic reactions. Benjamin's tales of his experiences at his overly religious primary and high school are also good fun.
There are two issues however which I wish he dwelt on in more detail. His absent father is quite an intriguing character who Benjamin deals with in the book with a sense of confusion, hopelessness and dismissiveness. It is clear he still isn't able to reconcile with having parents who are the polar opposites of parental affection. The other issue I wish Benjamin delved into more was the exploration of his sexuality. He seemed to gloss over this issue with humour and wit and left me wanting more. But at the end of the day, this is his story and I appreciate that he may not want to go into too much detail about his sexual exploits whilst in a steady and long-term relationship with his boyfriend Scott. This is not 50 Shades of Gay (haw haw haw).
I'm really happy to have read it and I applaud him for writing a book that has awaken me from my Kafka coma.
July 10, 2011
This was good. The funniest bits involved his mother (the footnote regarding her and her vagina on page 11, her reasoning as to not needing to go to an onsen in japan as. "I know what old pussy looks like. Why would I need to see Japanese ones?". But then there was also an epic incident involving him unintentionally defacing the pop-up genitalia in a school sex-ed book. And his memories of traipsing around theme parks with his family; including a sad deer park with a lone emu that, desperate for food, "screamned like veliciraptor" before propelling its head through the car window. He writes about growing up on the Sunshine Coast, living life as a weedy, clarinet-toting homo with a deceptive baritone voice. He curses a fair bit. If I haven't won you over then you are dead to me.
Benjamin Law is hilarious, which isn't news to me because I've been a fangirl since he first appeared in Frankie magazine. Which I have been buying from newsagents since the very first copy fyi. Having been such a dedicated Frankie fan, I've seen it turn from a little, loved-with rabid-fervour-by-the-devoted-few magazine into a hell-fucking-popular publication. I got a bit jealous. The Frankie family were MY family. YOU love Benjamin Law? I loved him FIRST. I loved him before he even knew he was awesome. Yeah, complete hipster fury.
Anyway, then he went and published this book and everyone loved it and the whole time I was like, duhhh, I don't even have to read it because I KNOW Benjamin Law (not really really, I'm not one of the privileged. I just have this one-sided starry eyed love that will never die unlike reciprocal relationships which always end up mutilated and dead). Then a few days ago I couldn't bear it anymore and tucked my tail between my legs and went to the Avid Reader to get myself a copy. It was just as good, if not better, than I expected. I hear they're turning it into a tv show and the content is perfectly suited to one. I just hope that they do it right. I'm a little protective.
Best of all is that Law is a Brisbane author. I have a love hate relationship with Brisbane having lived here most of my life. I continue to live here and while the bright lights of New York and the misty streets of London tempt me, having people like this to make me proud of my home town makes living here more bearable.
I'll be a Law fangirl for life. I was probably the first btw.
Benjamin Law is hilarious, which isn't news to me because I've been a fangirl since he first appeared in Frankie magazine. Which I have been buying from newsagents since the very first copy fyi. Having been such a dedicated Frankie fan, I've seen it turn from a little, loved-with rabid-fervour-by-the-devoted-few magazine into a hell-fucking-popular publication. I got a bit jealous. The Frankie family were MY family. YOU love Benjamin Law? I loved him FIRST. I loved him before he even knew he was awesome. Yeah, complete hipster fury.
Anyway, then he went and published this book and everyone loved it and the whole time I was like, duhhh, I don't even have to read it because I KNOW Benjamin Law (not really really, I'm not one of the privileged. I just have this one-sided starry eyed love that will never die unlike reciprocal relationships which always end up mutilated and dead). Then a few days ago I couldn't bear it anymore and tucked my tail between my legs and went to the Avid Reader to get myself a copy. It was just as good, if not better, than I expected. I hear they're turning it into a tv show and the content is perfectly suited to one. I just hope that they do it right. I'm a little protective.
Best of all is that Law is a Brisbane author. I have a love hate relationship with Brisbane having lived here most of my life. I continue to live here and while the bright lights of New York and the misty streets of London tempt me, having people like this to make me proud of my home town makes living here more bearable.
I'll be a Law fangirl for life. I was probably the first btw.
October 13, 2020
I think Ben Law is one of the best things about Australia at the moment. His insights regarding culture, race, sexuality, and how this impacts on our institutions, and therefore on us is incredibly important, particularly as one of the few media voices that is not from the majority background. Full disclosure, I have a little crush. We met him and his sister Michelle the day I bought this book, and as he signed it I was speechless. This is still teased about in this house, as it's been the only time in Lexx and my 16ish year relationship that he has seen me completely lost of words.
I really, unbiasedly, enjoyed The Family Law series as well. So I was really looking forward to picking up the book that it was based on.
If you are looking for a blow by blow replica of the show, this is not it. This is a jumble of short stories and musings about the Law family in random order. Some content matches with the show, some does not. Some feels like family in jokes I just cannot ever understand, some had me snorting with laughter.
The thing that I got from this book, which is echoed in the show and the social media profiles (@mrbenjaminlaw on twitter and instagram. Warning, there is a lot of snark and pithy remarks, and some butts on instagram) is this family is just content on being themselves. I feel some of this is personalities, but also part being the first ethnically Chinese (parents are from Hong Kong) family in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast in QLD. You can apologise for who you are, or you can just carry on.
And I think carrying on and being themselves is what the Law Family really do best, which we can all learn from.
I really, unbiasedly, enjoyed The Family Law series as well. So I was really looking forward to picking up the book that it was based on.
If you are looking for a blow by blow replica of the show, this is not it. This is a jumble of short stories and musings about the Law family in random order. Some content matches with the show, some does not. Some feels like family in jokes I just cannot ever understand, some had me snorting with laughter.
The thing that I got from this book, which is echoed in the show and the social media profiles (@mrbenjaminlaw on twitter and instagram. Warning, there is a lot of snark and pithy remarks, and some butts on instagram) is this family is just content on being themselves. I feel some of this is personalities, but also part being the first ethnically Chinese (parents are from Hong Kong) family in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast in QLD. You can apologise for who you are, or you can just carry on.
And I think carrying on and being themselves is what the Law Family really do best, which we can all learn from.
September 12, 2020
I’d highly anticipated this book, Benjamin Law being one of my favourite writers in the lovely matt pages of frankie and while I’m sure they’re good mates of Law, Marieke Hardy and Alice Pung’s high praise on the cover also raised my expectations.
The Family Law is a series of stories of surviving childhood in a Chinese-Australian family on the sweaty Sunshine Coast with 4 other siblings, a workaholic father and a mother who is perhaps more open than most in regards to personal gynecological information.
As expected, Law’s writing is mostly humorous and there are many moments where you can’t help smiling to yourself or laugh out loud. It seems Law always manages to see the funny side of even the most poignant family moments – his mother’s response to his coming out is priceless.
There are also however very candid, touching chapters like So, You Are a Homo which beautifully capture Law’s feelings and experiences and In the Mood, where he finds his Cantonese isn’t enough to understand his elderly grandma.
The structure, with some chapters being previously published elsewhere, does at times create a feeling of a disjointed story with some repetition. However if read as ‘a series of linked tales’ as intended The Family Law is an incredibly enjoyable insight into life in the Law family.
The Family Law is a series of stories of surviving childhood in a Chinese-Australian family on the sweaty Sunshine Coast with 4 other siblings, a workaholic father and a mother who is perhaps more open than most in regards to personal gynecological information.
As expected, Law’s writing is mostly humorous and there are many moments where you can’t help smiling to yourself or laugh out loud. It seems Law always manages to see the funny side of even the most poignant family moments – his mother’s response to his coming out is priceless.
There are also however very candid, touching chapters like So, You Are a Homo which beautifully capture Law’s feelings and experiences and In the Mood, where he finds his Cantonese isn’t enough to understand his elderly grandma.
The structure, with some chapters being previously published elsewhere, does at times create a feeling of a disjointed story with some repetition. However if read as ‘a series of linked tales’ as intended The Family Law is an incredibly enjoyable insight into life in the Law family.
March 12, 2017
A quick funny read in which Benjamin Law looks back on life with his kind of crazy family with love and humour. In a collection of essays he covers serious issues like the cultural differences he had to navigate as an Australian child of immigrant parents from Hong Kong and figuring out how to be gay and silly issues like the heinous farts protein shakes create and cockroach smashing. He's less cynical and more gross than David Sedaris but there are a lot of similarities here. I liked it a lot but it is not for the squeamish - my husband made me stop reading the essay on childbirth to him and I almost barfed reading the cockroach one.
March 21, 2012
Very funny book of anecdotes of growing up and living in a modern asian family in Australia. I can really relate to the mother and I suspect one or more of my 5 sons could relate to benjamin and his 4 siblings.
Love the description by the mother about childbirth ...so true ... and what a brave woman to divorce her husband, but still hold the famly together.
There is no holding back in this book, some parts wanted me to cringe, especially the description of the gay nightclubs and the farting episode.
Love the description by the mother about childbirth ...so true ... and what a brave woman to divorce her husband, but still hold the famly together.
There is no holding back in this book, some parts wanted me to cringe, especially the description of the gay nightclubs and the farting episode.
July 12, 2014
Some of this was very affectionately funny regarding his family, some of it was moving, and some of it was pretty juvenile. I found it interesting to read, mainly just because it really gave me a sense of living in a family quite different to mine - much more open than mine, for one.
I particularly liked the parts where he described going to live with his grandmother for a while, and where he gets together with his boyfriend. Those parts were very cute.
I could have done without the rape jokes though, ffs. I really don't understand why he felt it was okay to include them in the book.
I particularly liked the parts where he described going to live with his grandmother for a while, and where he gets together with his boyfriend. Those parts were very cute.
I could have done without the rape jokes though, ffs. I really don't understand why he felt it was okay to include them in the book.
February 28, 2016
I read this in anticipation for the tv series starting a a couple of weeks. This book is hilarious! But also touching.
While each chapter is specific about it's subject it does mean that stories are not in chronological order and you'll be reading one story of him as an adult and the next as a child.
My only complaint is that we do not have any closure on the chapter called Among the Living Dead... Ben tells a story where none of the children can get in touch with their mother. But we never find out where she was.
While each chapter is specific about it's subject it does mean that stories are not in chronological order and you'll be reading one story of him as an adult and the next as a child.
My only complaint is that we do not have any closure on the chapter called Among the Living Dead... Ben tells a story where none of the children can get in touch with their mother. But we never find out where she was.
January 22, 2016
Benjamin Law is apparently a senior contributor to Frankie Magazine but I suspect that he hankers to be a stand-up comedian. This raw, rude miscellany of tales about his family would probably go over quite well in an inner-city pub filled with Gen X & Ys who’ve had a couple of wines and are in the mood to be amused.
To see the rest of this review please vicit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...
To see the rest of this review please vicit http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/201...
June 4, 2016
There is nothing not to love about Benjamin Law's series of personal essays and memoirs from this life as one of six children who were first generation migrants living in QLD. An Asian-Australian version of David Sedaris with somewhat more explicit language and references to body parts. Maybe a cross with Lena Dunham?
I highly recommend this read for my friends who are time poor - just pick it up and read one story at a time.
Not for the easily shocked.
I highly recommend this read for my friends who are time poor - just pick it up and read one story at a time.
Not for the easily shocked.
January 4, 2016
It's only the 4th of January but The Family Law is probably one of the best books I'll read all year. Devoured it in a day. Actually laugh out loud funny (don't suggest reading it while on a plane or public transport to avoid embarassment). Despite not being a 30 something homosexual Chinese male from Queensland Benjamin Law's childhood/family life is incredibly relatable, honest, and hilarious.
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