Asking for Trouble

by Peter Timms

There are certain things we all wish we could forget. The manner in which we forget can shape the rest of our lives - for better or worse ...there are things in his past that Harry Bascombe definitely doesn't want to remember. But when a nosy journalist with a taste for scandal turns up out of the blue, he is forced to confront his memories... An uncertain and diffident boy, Harry struggles to survive a suburban upbringing in the 1950s - the era of Menzies and the menace of Reds under the bed, the excitement of the Melbourne Olympics and the arrival of television in Australia. Family life is complicated, with an ineffectual father, a highly strung mother who is leading a double life, and an older brother who is 'not quite himself'. School is no easier. Harry is tormented by embittered sports master, Mr van Enst, and his thuggish classmate Derek Knowles. However hard young Harry tries to stay out of trouble, it seems he is always 'asking for it' - Mr van Enst and Derek Knowles certainly think so. Unwittingly, Harry becomes trapped in a spiral of murderous violence and intimidation that he can neither understand nor resist. Darkly funny and brutally frank, Asking for trouble is a surprisingly tender and moving novel about the corrosive power of secrets and the consequences of standing up to bullies.

336 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2014

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asking for Trouble is deceptively simple. Set mostly in 1950s Melbourne, the novel starts out with a crusty old narrator called Harry Bascombe reluctantly agreeing to be interviewed for a TV series investigating old crimes, and then it launches into his memories of childhood. I loved reading this, because this was the Melbourne that existed ten years before our family migrated here. I’ve been here so long now that people just assume I remember Menzies and the Olympic Games and the arrival of TV, but no, that was all before my time and so the rich domestic historical detail was a delight to read.

But even as I enjoyed the childhood dramas – the teachers good and bad, the friendships and the bullying, and the mysterious business of making sense of the adult world around Harry – my readerly brain was reminding me that there had been a crime, one noteworthy enough to interest a journalist over half a century later. The pages whizzed by, (and if there were clues I missed them entirely) until suddenly the book took a darker turn with the death of Harry’s mother in a car accident. Amid the nostalgia, this brought me up short: I had almost forgotten how many people used to die on our roads every year. Victoria’s 2016 road toll was 291 – a terrible number for all those who loved the victims and a number that doesn’t reveal the extend of trauma among the injured – but still an astonishing reduction from 1034 in 1969, the year that The Sun News-Pictorial ran one of the most effective newspaper campaigns waged in Australia. Declare War on 1034 was the slogan and it led to .05 blood-alcohol laws, random breath testing and compulsory seatbelts, and by being effective, changed the mindset that road deaths were inevitable. Since then we now target speed, drug-affected driving and fatigue, and our goal is a road toll of zero. So it was disquieting to see how everybody in Harry’s world just accepts a violent death in a road crash, and Harry, big-noting himself among his friends, knows so much about road deaths that he is able to describe his mother’s death convincingly even though he wasn’t there.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/05/11/a...

[Victoria MC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Asking for Trouble is an insightful book by an Australian author, Peter Timms, about a young boy growing up in 1950’s Melbourne. The story centres around Harry Bascombe, and alternates between his perspective in youth, and in old age. This is an interesting way to tell a coming of age story, as we are constantly comparing how young Harry matches up to old.

The story is filled with many moments of wry humour. It paints a vivid picture of life in the 1950s, from images of his mother’s brand new Hillman to the arrival of television at a neighbour’s house and the Melbourne Olympics.

There are certain passages that seem almost nostalgic, as they so accurately capture the thoughts and feelings of what it means to be 10 years old. For Harry, sources of conflict come left, right and centre, from his sports teacher Van Erst, to brutal schoolyard bully Derek Knowles (turned ambitious politician). Not only that, but poor Harry has a rather trying relationship with his family, an unaffectionate mother who is presumably more preoccupied with her mentally disabled son (Harry’s brother), an aloof father, and a rather vexing uncle.

The novel’s heart-rending realism makes a lasting impression.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book club read. Not one I would have been drawn to , and I found myself delaying to read it, finally realising I only had a week before our discussion. Once I started, the pull towards finishing was more driven by curiosity than an innate compulsion or engagement.

I found the character development was lacking somewhat, although we do certainly get a strong sense of Harry as incredibly emotionally disconnected, the results of such a childhood being evidenced by his social isolation in old age. Some of the events are shocking and disturbing, having to really grapple with concepts of detachment in a young child whilst also trying to put things within context of the 1950's and social norms at that time.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read a series of dismal novels before this one, I opened the Kindle Edition of this story with trepidation. I read it over 48 hour period.

This is a darkly humorous coming-of-age politically incorrect story. It as an absorbing story with an imperfect yet sympathetic central character.

This story is worth it's price.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect writing. Anyone who is this funny, and whose mind thinks in this way, and who knows the value of a pithy sentence is wonderful. If they also know how to use semi-colons and lament the lack of punctuation? Unputdownable. Literally.

[Angelique Simonsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really really like this book