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Car Crash: A Memoir
What is it like to survive a crash that kills your best friends, and how do you move on? From an exceptional debut writer comes a stunning memoir about grief, perseverance and courage.
At seventeen, Lech Blaine walked away unscratched from a car crash that killed three of his friends and left two in comas.
On a May night in 2009, seven boys in Toowoomba, Queensland, piled into a car. They never arrived at their destination. The driver made a routine error, leading to a head-on collision.
In the aftermath, rumours about speed and drink-driving erupted. There was intense scrutiny from the media and police. Lech used alcohol to numb his grief and social media to show stoicism, while secretly spiralling towards depression and disgrace.
This is a riveting account of family, friendship, grief and love after tragedy. In a country where class and sport dominate, and car crashes compete with floods and pandemics for headlines, our connection with others is what propels us on. Heartbreaking and darkly hilarious, Car Crash is a story for our times.
At seventeen, Lech Blaine walked away unscratched from a car crash that killed three of his friends and left two in comas.
On a May night in 2009, seven boys in Toowoomba, Queensland, piled into a car. They never arrived at their destination. The driver made a routine error, leading to a head-on collision.
In the aftermath, rumours about speed and drink-driving erupted. There was intense scrutiny from the media and police. Lech used alcohol to numb his grief and social media to show stoicism, while secretly spiralling towards depression and disgrace.
This is a riveting account of family, friendship, grief and love after tragedy. In a country where class and sport dominate, and car crashes compete with floods and pandemics for headlines, our connection with others is what propels us on. Heartbreaking and darkly hilarious, Car Crash is a story for our times.
304 pages, Paperback
Published March 30, 2021
125 people are currently reading
3664 people want to read
About the author
Lech Blaine
10 books91 followersLech Blaine is a writer from Toowoomba, Queensland. His work appears in The Best Australian Essays, Meanjin, The Guardian and The Monthly, among others. His work has been nominated for several prizes and he was an inaugural recipient of a Griffith Review Queensland Writers Fellowship.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
July 19, 2021
A memoir by a talented writer who is also the survivor of a horrific car crash.
I picked this book up because I remembered the news story of the 2009 triple fatality in Toowoomba, Queensland. I suppose I started out a bit like someone slowing down to see an accident but this was much more than gory details and depressing aftermaths.
Blaine's experience is not new, but how he writes about it is definitely not the way I've read about it before. It was enlightening to read about how life unfolds after such a seemingly meaningless loss of life. Blaine is mature beyond his years and manages to encompass thoughts and feelings so many survivors could identify with and how others are left to support them.
The role of social media, when tragedies and dramas unfold, is captured by Blainein an introspective, first-hand way and one we all need to reconsider our roles in. If this is one aspect you take away from the read, it is worth your time. Living vicariously through a drama on social media is not what anyone should be doing.
The search for answers and reasons will never be over for anyone in this type of situation but acknowledging the need for support is another important message in the memoir. An insight into grief, loss, and how to just get up each day is delivered with a typically Aussie dose of black humour. The role of family, sport and class is also analysed with accuracy. I valued the Aussie references, the larrikin prose and his tougher than nails family - no gilded cages here.
Only a survivor of such a horror will be able to say with accuracy whether this is an honest view of survivor’s guilt, but it felt authentic, soul-searching (infinite and unmeasurable) as a reader.
'Car Crash' is so much more than a car accident; it's about coming-of-age, loss, pasts, presents and futures. A haunting, moving and memorable memoir with several important messages.
I picked this book up because I remembered the news story of the 2009 triple fatality in Toowoomba, Queensland. I suppose I started out a bit like someone slowing down to see an accident but this was much more than gory details and depressing aftermaths.
Blaine's experience is not new, but how he writes about it is definitely not the way I've read about it before. It was enlightening to read about how life unfolds after such a seemingly meaningless loss of life. Blaine is mature beyond his years and manages to encompass thoughts and feelings so many survivors could identify with and how others are left to support them.
The role of social media, when tragedies and dramas unfold, is captured by Blainein an introspective, first-hand way and one we all need to reconsider our roles in. If this is one aspect you take away from the read, it is worth your time. Living vicariously through a drama on social media is not what anyone should be doing.
The search for answers and reasons will never be over for anyone in this type of situation but acknowledging the need for support is another important message in the memoir. An insight into grief, loss, and how to just get up each day is delivered with a typically Aussie dose of black humour. The role of family, sport and class is also analysed with accuracy. I valued the Aussie references, the larrikin prose and his tougher than nails family - no gilded cages here.
Only a survivor of such a horror will be able to say with accuracy whether this is an honest view of survivor’s guilt, but it felt authentic, soul-searching (infinite and unmeasurable) as a reader.
'Car Crash' is so much more than a car accident; it's about coming-of-age, loss, pasts, presents and futures. A haunting, moving and memorable memoir with several important messages.
November 30, 2024
4.5 Stars
When you are seventeen you are ten foot tall and bulletproof. On a Saturday night in 2009 this myth is not only dispelled for Lech Blaine, it, along with the 1989 Ford Fairlane that Lech and six of his friends are riding in, is pulverised into a pulp. For three of the boys, life ends, for the others it is changed irrevocably, when they are involved in a head on collision with another car.
Lech Blain writes a brutally honest memoir about his life after the crash. And apart from the tragedy of the accident and loss of life, it is an enthralling read. Through Lech’s eyes we are witness to what happens to the survivors in the aftermath of such a calamitous event. One would expect rumours and innuendo to surround this horror, but to read about events from a survivor is enlightening. The lies and untruths which spring up like weeds, perhaps should not be surprising.
Lech’s life slowly spirals into the depths of depression, each day a step closer to the abyss, and when he is arrested for drink-driving he decides, in his cell trying to sleep, that he will commit suicide when he gets out. Insomnia is now his best friend, and he has plenty of time to contemplate methods. Ultimately, he realises he does not possess the courage to take his life and changes his focus to “disappearing” from society.
Lech does a wonderful job of letting the reader inside his head and is a gifted writer. This is a memoir about feeling insecure, inferior, and misguided assumptions, and a car crash that brings eventual enlightenment and realisation between a father and son, and that while you never forget the survivor guilt, with time you learn to live with it.
An engrossing read that is hard to put down.
When you are seventeen you are ten foot tall and bulletproof. On a Saturday night in 2009 this myth is not only dispelled for Lech Blaine, it, along with the 1989 Ford Fairlane that Lech and six of his friends are riding in, is pulverised into a pulp. For three of the boys, life ends, for the others it is changed irrevocably, when they are involved in a head on collision with another car.
Lech Blain writes a brutally honest memoir about his life after the crash. And apart from the tragedy of the accident and loss of life, it is an enthralling read. Through Lech’s eyes we are witness to what happens to the survivors in the aftermath of such a calamitous event. One would expect rumours and innuendo to surround this horror, but to read about events from a survivor is enlightening. The lies and untruths which spring up like weeds, perhaps should not be surprising.
Lech’s life slowly spirals into the depths of depression, each day a step closer to the abyss, and when he is arrested for drink-driving he decides, in his cell trying to sleep, that he will commit suicide when he gets out. Insomnia is now his best friend, and he has plenty of time to contemplate methods. Ultimately, he realises he does not possess the courage to take his life and changes his focus to “disappearing” from society.
Lech does a wonderful job of letting the reader inside his head and is a gifted writer. This is a memoir about feeling insecure, inferior, and misguided assumptions, and a car crash that brings eventual enlightenment and realisation between a father and son, and that while you never forget the survivor guilt, with time you learn to live with it.
An engrossing read that is hard to put down.
November 30, 2024
3.25 ⭐️— This memoir is one that’s quite different, confronting and honest. The author himself does a solid job of outlining events of a horrific car-crash that by rights should’ve killed him. Instead, it killed his friends and left 3 others in a coma. There was a multitude of allegations, innuendo & rumour that savaged the incident, alcohol, drugs, violence, relationships, abuse and more.. all of which Blaine addresses throughout this gutsy memoir.
There’s a bunch of factors to consider when reviewing this effort and those factors have - for me - wound up giving this a higher rating than perhaps I otherwise would. Why? It’s extremely poignant and sad, doesn’t pull punches & most of all is very well written, by a man who’s clearly got an immense talent.
All the Arabic is true — but I can’t help but feel rude in saying throughout this self-effacing memoir that isn’t told through any tinted lens at all, I was often left a little bored. This is no real fault of the author but it’s like the book, honest. In the retelling and background, I was often enthralled and really thought this was going to be a pearler of a read! But then there was several passages in current time that just didn’t do enough to hold my attention, amidst a plethora of great literature that constantly surrounds me in my home. It really is as simple as that.
I do not doubt many will find this life altering, starkly painful which is, worthy of prizes and praise. Which it is — I’m praising it now. However, I think this is a novel that was coaxed out of writer and therefore feels a little bit too forced. That’s my opinion, whilst coinciding with feelings that it was brave, bold and an innumerate amount of other splendid superlatives. It just wasn’t completely engaging all the time & lacked a certain ‘want’ to be told by the author for me.
It took me a while to write this review as I had no idea how to write it, hence why it’s ultimately a ‘meh’ review and the book deserves better than that, so I apologise in advance I guess this one just really did put me through a bit of a quandary! It’s a LOT to go through and come out the other side of, so I give kudos to Leac Blaine for being able to do that. It’s no mean feat.
There’s a bunch of factors to consider when reviewing this effort and those factors have - for me - wound up giving this a higher rating than perhaps I otherwise would. Why? It’s extremely poignant and sad, doesn’t pull punches & most of all is very well written, by a man who’s clearly got an immense talent.
All the Arabic is true — but I can’t help but feel rude in saying throughout this self-effacing memoir that isn’t told through any tinted lens at all, I was often left a little bored. This is no real fault of the author but it’s like the book, honest. In the retelling and background, I was often enthralled and really thought this was going to be a pearler of a read! But then there was several passages in current time that just didn’t do enough to hold my attention, amidst a plethora of great literature that constantly surrounds me in my home. It really is as simple as that.
I do not doubt many will find this life altering, starkly painful which is, worthy of prizes and praise. Which it is — I’m praising it now. However, I think this is a novel that was coaxed out of writer and therefore feels a little bit too forced. That’s my opinion, whilst coinciding with feelings that it was brave, bold and an innumerate amount of other splendid superlatives. It just wasn’t completely engaging all the time & lacked a certain ‘want’ to be told by the author for me.
It took me a while to write this review as I had no idea how to write it, hence why it’s ultimately a ‘meh’ review and the book deserves better than that, so I apologise in advance I guess this one just really did put me through a bit of a quandary! It’s a LOT to go through and come out the other side of, so I give kudos to Leac Blaine for being able to do that. It’s no mean feat.
January 7, 2021
It took me a moment to settle into this one. But soon, characters unfolded, as Blaine unfolded himself, and I realised my initial frustrations with character & place descriptions were rooted in helplessness & recognition. The way Toowoomba is described reminds me a bit of where I grew up, in Alice Springs. And in country towns, experiencing the grief of losing young people in tragic accidents is a sort of rite of passage. This book captures that grief. The difficulty of finding yourself in a place grappling with collective mourning, while navigating a confused identity. Brilliant endorsement of embracing psychiatric help too. A great memoir!
February 28, 2021
Blaine is a lovely writer and this is a truly compelling and well-written memoir. I really loved the way, and the complexity with which, Blaine talks about class. My most common complaint about #auslit is most writers’ refusal to even acknowledge class. Modern complications of masculinity in the face of trauma are laid bare beautifully. I would have liked to know more about the driver of the car, Dom, as we only really meet him at the trial for the crash that left three teenagers dead. But that’s a minor point about an otherwise very impressive memoir.
August 19, 2021
Not too crazy about the writing style, tone and voice in this memoir. I found it too poetic for a book covering such a delicate, tragic subject matter and the many metaphors and his views on politics kind of ruined it for me too. I prefer reading memoirs that are a little more straightforward.
June 30, 2021
CAR CRASH BY LECH BLAINE caught my attention from the get go and it’ll now no doubt be a go-to recommendation of mine. Yes, i did pick it up wanting to read about Blaine’s experience as a tragic car crash survivor, but what caught me off guard was the style and quality of his writing. It’s the kind that i absolutely love - pared-back, contemplative, nuanced and exhibits an incredible amount of talent.
This stunning memoir looks at Blaine’s life in the wake of an accident that would define his life from the moment it took place. One 2009 night in Toowoomba, Queensland, 7 boys got into a car that’s designed to only hold 5 passengers. The car never made it to its destination. Some of them died on impact, some ended up in a coma, some had to fight for their lives - but miraculously, Blaine walked away only with minor injuries.
But, of course, the impact of the accident doesn’t end there. What follows were eventual court proceedings and scrutiny from the media as well as the general public, as rumours about the accident began to crop up. Whispers started to travel - were alcohol or drugs involved? Were they speeding? Or was it simply a result of human error?
Blaine tells his story in a matter-of-fact way that also shows such vulnerability, which will make it near impossible for you not to sympathise. The way he talks to grief, toxic masculinity, survivor’s guilt, and the aftermath of trauma is so perceptive and truly captivating. The topic of toxic masculinity in particular was a standout for me as i don’t often see this talked about so candidly, especially from an Australian context. How it’s deeply ingrained and internalised within men and how Blaine sought to tackle this, and other matters, through therapy. Another element i appreciated was how he interweaved his views on class and politics - drawing from his childhood growing up in regional Australia, through to his experience moving away from it.
As you can tell, i have an endless amount of good things to say about this one. Thank you to @lechblaine for sharing your story, and to @blackincbooks for kindly sending a copy my way.
This stunning memoir looks at Blaine’s life in the wake of an accident that would define his life from the moment it took place. One 2009 night in Toowoomba, Queensland, 7 boys got into a car that’s designed to only hold 5 passengers. The car never made it to its destination. Some of them died on impact, some ended up in a coma, some had to fight for their lives - but miraculously, Blaine walked away only with minor injuries.
But, of course, the impact of the accident doesn’t end there. What follows were eventual court proceedings and scrutiny from the media as well as the general public, as rumours about the accident began to crop up. Whispers started to travel - were alcohol or drugs involved? Were they speeding? Or was it simply a result of human error?
Blaine tells his story in a matter-of-fact way that also shows such vulnerability, which will make it near impossible for you not to sympathise. The way he talks to grief, toxic masculinity, survivor’s guilt, and the aftermath of trauma is so perceptive and truly captivating. The topic of toxic masculinity in particular was a standout for me as i don’t often see this talked about so candidly, especially from an Australian context. How it’s deeply ingrained and internalised within men and how Blaine sought to tackle this, and other matters, through therapy. Another element i appreciated was how he interweaved his views on class and politics - drawing from his childhood growing up in regional Australia, through to his experience moving away from it.
As you can tell, i have an endless amount of good things to say about this one. Thank you to @lechblaine for sharing your story, and to @blackincbooks for kindly sending a copy my way.
October 6, 2025
If Lech Blaine wrote the Yellow Pages, I would read them. He writes these sentences that I just have to reread because they’re so beautiful. It’s such a crushing experience and yet he can distill this trauma into this haunting book. I love love loved it.
April 5, 2023
I am a bit trepidatious to write a review that is not glowing of this book given its subject matter - it feels wrong to criticize a memoir that is built around the horrific event that ended the lives of several young men - but unfortunately as a piece of writing I found this somehow unsatisfying. I'd been given a highly positive review and went in expecting very big things but somehow it did not deliver.
Blaine sets up a really interesting idea for a memoir - the horrific car crash of the title as a springboard to examine masculinity in Australia and the cost to young men of trying to live up to these masculine ideals. There are people out there who should read this book and yet ironically the ones who probably should probably won't.
And yet it felt like this just didn't quite get to any solid theme or idea - there was some elements at the end about depression that felt slapped on and some general gesturing at the performative nature of masculinity and being a larrikin, but without the kind of deeper examination I felt like the book alluded to in its blurb and earlier chapters. Instead it kind of meanders through Blaine's grieving process, which, because this is about real life, follows little narrative flow - true to life, but not necessarily engaging to read.
The biggest issue I had was how hard it was to follow who the characters were. Blaine did not do enough to distinguish the young men who perished and as a result it was hard to separate them as individuals. There was also for me not enough focus on how the crash has impacted the other survivors, particularly Dom, who at the end goes to court and is acquitted - I wanted to hear more about Dom's story in particular, but he appears as a bare outline of a character in the story.
Blaine himself as a narrator somehow also rubbed me up the wrong way - possibly more because as a reader one can see how he is self-destructing after the car crash and what a waste of his potential this is.
Ultimately a memoir with a fascinating concept that never fully delivers on the ideas it digs up.
Blaine sets up a really interesting idea for a memoir - the horrific car crash of the title as a springboard to examine masculinity in Australia and the cost to young men of trying to live up to these masculine ideals. There are people out there who should read this book and yet ironically the ones who probably should probably won't.
And yet it felt like this just didn't quite get to any solid theme or idea - there was some elements at the end about depression that felt slapped on and some general gesturing at the performative nature of masculinity and being a larrikin, but without the kind of deeper examination I felt like the book alluded to in its blurb and earlier chapters. Instead it kind of meanders through Blaine's grieving process, which, because this is about real life, follows little narrative flow - true to life, but not necessarily engaging to read.
The biggest issue I had was how hard it was to follow who the characters were. Blaine did not do enough to distinguish the young men who perished and as a result it was hard to separate them as individuals. There was also for me not enough focus on how the crash has impacted the other survivors, particularly Dom, who at the end goes to court and is acquitted - I wanted to hear more about Dom's story in particular, but he appears as a bare outline of a character in the story.
Blaine himself as a narrator somehow also rubbed me up the wrong way - possibly more because as a reader one can see how he is self-destructing after the car crash and what a waste of his potential this is.
Ultimately a memoir with a fascinating concept that never fully delivers on the ideas it digs up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 15, 2022
I felt pretty connected to this book as it was about the area I grew up in, at a time I grew up in it. To read a memoir about a tragedy like this one is always fascinating. A morbid curiosity of what goes through someone’s mind and how they cope, whilst never wanting to have to deal with that yourself. Lech Blaine does a great job of baring all. I really admire how he observes, reflects and moves forward.
October 4, 2021
An insightful investigation into masculinity in Australian culture. Loved the writing, even through the intense subject matter. Have already lent to my brothers who I think will benefit from the read
June 4, 2022
So bloody close to home!
August 31, 2022
Every sentence is POETRY. An amazing memoir.
May 17, 2021
This is a different narrative style for a memoir of a tragedy. It was written with some sense of humour and in a slightly light-hearted manner. I sense there is a touch of sarcasm or probably mocking the media and other teenagers trying to take advantage of the tragedy to get attention for themselves. I feel writing a book about the tragedy is another way to express his inner feelings, which probably difficult to just tell it out to others. I hope Lech will live better than the day before as time goes by, even though the tragedy will be painful to remember but difficult to forget for the rest of his life.
Book Review: Car Crash: A Memoir by Lech Blaine.
Book Review: Car Crash: A Memoir by Lech Blaine.
April 6, 2025
Having been a 17 year old mourner myself, after a car accident rocked my graduating class, this book really grabbed me. The unique writing style is like nothing I’ve ever read before and although it seems disjointed at the start, by the end I had fallen in love. Such an emotional and honest retelling of how tragedy affects young people and how lonely grief is. If you read anything this year, let it be this book. Absolutely amazing. I was in tears by the end of it. Happy and sad.
August 22, 2021
Maybe 3 1/2. I really wanted to like Lech more than I did. The crash and ensuing consequences were awful. Some quite poignant moments and lots of great metaphors and powerful symbolism, but I couldn’t quite get over the self-indulgence I felt at times. I did like his Dad. I felt he was well captured.
December 28, 2024
I listened to this as an audio book and absolutely consumed it. I remember hearing about this crash in my first year of university. A very raw & honest memoir of survivors guilt, toxic masculinity, depression & trauma but also of friendship, community & growth. Metaphor heavy, but not in bad way with a thick flare of country bogan. Will make you cry, but there's warmth amongst the tears.
April 29, 2021
I consumed Car Crash in a day. I saw an ad for this book and I knew I had to read it. I hadn’t read a memoir about car accidents – perhaps The Vow by Krickitt and Kim Carpenter was the closest thing – though that book was more about Krickitt’s recovery and adjustment to a new life. There was something a little removed about The Vow – it was set in America and it happened a long time ago when big permed hair was in and the then-courting Carpenters had to run up huge long distance bills. Car Crash was written about a more recent event, a 2009 fatal car accident in Toowoomba and like many readers, I remembered the event being covered widely in the news.
The story that Blaine shares isn’t necessarily a new one: country town rocked by an accident that claims the life of young people. Old enough to pensively reflect on it, and recent enough for the moment to be recalled by some of the Australian population makes it a good fit for today. Blaine’s focus on social media – from scrolling through memorial pages, worrying about what to write, deactivating his Facebook, and then having the courage to come back online again is relatable, and rarely written about by someone who doesn’t make their living from social media.
During my (second) gap year from school I found myself entangled in car accident tales. I was in one and has physiotherapy for the next eighteen months. Mid-year I lost a classmate to an accident, and at the end of the year a friend of mine was involved in a serious accident. Like Blaine, I had looked for reasons and diagnoses. Doctors and psychologists didn’t even try a depression scale - and nothing I said seemed to suggest to anyone that I was holding onto some anxiety, no doubt partially caused by this ongoing carnage. News started to upset me, sometimes I’d watch the Victorian TAC ads on YouTube, confused and transfixed by what I saw – real grief, mixed with paid actors, showing what happens after the accidents had occurred.
Blaine’s book showed a part of what happens next, after the after. He cycles through many different ways of dealing with grief: weight loss, spending his savings on a wardrobe, starting uni only to leave soon after, getting caught drink driving, and helping renovate a home with his father.
There are the unexpected weights on Blaine’s shoulders: he suffers from survivor’s guilt, but also he finds the burden of being his parents’ only biological son difficult to bear. Being given role models like Bob Hawke and Banjo Patterson doesn’t always make it easy either. Blaine isn’t sure what kind of man he is – is he a larrikin, like his father would like him to be, or is he the artist that his mother wishes he is? Blaine’s book answers it for us – he truly is both.
Car Crash is about a car accident, but it’s also about how Blaine comes of age. He never gives the accident a higher spiritual meaning, but at the same time, it creates a haunting backdrop to what could have been if the accident never occurred.
The story that Blaine shares isn’t necessarily a new one: country town rocked by an accident that claims the life of young people. Old enough to pensively reflect on it, and recent enough for the moment to be recalled by some of the Australian population makes it a good fit for today. Blaine’s focus on social media – from scrolling through memorial pages, worrying about what to write, deactivating his Facebook, and then having the courage to come back online again is relatable, and rarely written about by someone who doesn’t make their living from social media.
During my (second) gap year from school I found myself entangled in car accident tales. I was in one and has physiotherapy for the next eighteen months. Mid-year I lost a classmate to an accident, and at the end of the year a friend of mine was involved in a serious accident. Like Blaine, I had looked for reasons and diagnoses. Doctors and psychologists didn’t even try a depression scale - and nothing I said seemed to suggest to anyone that I was holding onto some anxiety, no doubt partially caused by this ongoing carnage. News started to upset me, sometimes I’d watch the Victorian TAC ads on YouTube, confused and transfixed by what I saw – real grief, mixed with paid actors, showing what happens after the accidents had occurred.
Blaine’s book showed a part of what happens next, after the after. He cycles through many different ways of dealing with grief: weight loss, spending his savings on a wardrobe, starting uni only to leave soon after, getting caught drink driving, and helping renovate a home with his father.
There are the unexpected weights on Blaine’s shoulders: he suffers from survivor’s guilt, but also he finds the burden of being his parents’ only biological son difficult to bear. Being given role models like Bob Hawke and Banjo Patterson doesn’t always make it easy either. Blaine isn’t sure what kind of man he is – is he a larrikin, like his father would like him to be, or is he the artist that his mother wishes he is? Blaine’s book answers it for us – he truly is both.
Car Crash is about a car accident, but it’s also about how Blaine comes of age. He never gives the accident a higher spiritual meaning, but at the same time, it creates a haunting backdrop to what could have been if the accident never occurred.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 10, 2021
When you have a 19, almost 20 year old son who has recently bought his own car, reading a book about a group of year 12 boys involved in a car accident that end the life of 3 of them and change life for the other 4 significantly is confronting. Add to that the fact it's in an area you are slightly familiar with and it all feels way too close to home.
Lech Blaine walked away from the accident with no physical injuries - the only one of the 7 in the car to do so. What he could not avoid however was the psychological trauma associated with such an event.
Blaine lays himself bare in this book. Through his own experience he explores the way social media allows a virtual rubber necking by everyone, not just those who drove past the accident. People insert themselves into the story ("I was at the party" "My son was offered a ride in the back, he said no. It could have been my son."), often in ways that are not true. (The party was not that big, no one else was offered a ride).
Blaine also explores the role of masculinity, mateship, family, sport and class in how he coped (or didn't cope) with the aftermath of the accident. His insights into his reactions in the years following the accident are brutally honest. His willingness to strip things back and examine them are refreshing and give me hope. If we have people, men especially, who are willing to do this, then it can only lead to good things.
Blaine keeps his analysis to his experience - acknowledging that everyone experiences trauma differently and he can only talk to his own. What he does speak to however is how we as a society respond to it is not healthy and does not encourage survivors to speak about the ongoing impact of what has happened. We need to accept injuries are not necessarily physical and that the psychological impact can be just as devastating.
Lech Blaine walked away from the accident with no physical injuries - the only one of the 7 in the car to do so. What he could not avoid however was the psychological trauma associated with such an event.
Blaine lays himself bare in this book. Through his own experience he explores the way social media allows a virtual rubber necking by everyone, not just those who drove past the accident. People insert themselves into the story ("I was at the party" "My son was offered a ride in the back, he said no. It could have been my son."), often in ways that are not true. (The party was not that big, no one else was offered a ride).
Blaine also explores the role of masculinity, mateship, family, sport and class in how he coped (or didn't cope) with the aftermath of the accident. His insights into his reactions in the years following the accident are brutally honest. His willingness to strip things back and examine them are refreshing and give me hope. If we have people, men especially, who are willing to do this, then it can only lead to good things.
Blaine keeps his analysis to his experience - acknowledging that everyone experiences trauma differently and he can only talk to his own. What he does speak to however is how we as a society respond to it is not healthy and does not encourage survivors to speak about the ongoing impact of what has happened. We need to accept injuries are not necessarily physical and that the psychological impact can be just as devastating.
June 29, 2021
I read Lech’s memoir essay in the Griffith Review years ago and it blew me away. I remember at the time thinking I would make my kids read it before getting their license - maybe it should be mandatory reading for all teenagers. It was so gripping and confronting, you felt the loss of those boys.
Lech’s book is riveting, such an honest and raw account of grief, and the sorrow and the shame of being the lucky survivor. It is pretty incredible to behold his honesty. The humour he uses to explore his past is gorgeous and so Aussie it feels like being coated in Vegemite.
The one thing that struck me with the book was the lack of exploration of the fact that the car was over loaded and the driver was inexperienced- not to attribute blame - but to warn others. It is not the first car to kill kids despite a lack of speed, booze and drugs - inexperience and overloading is just as destructive. But then maybe that wasn’t Lech’s part of the story to tell.
I hope it ends up on the curriculum and all teenagers have an opportunity to reflect on the role of luck and how to keep it on side.
Cudos to Lech for having the guts to write this book and put it all out there.
Lech’s book is riveting, such an honest and raw account of grief, and the sorrow and the shame of being the lucky survivor. It is pretty incredible to behold his honesty. The humour he uses to explore his past is gorgeous and so Aussie it feels like being coated in Vegemite.
The one thing that struck me with the book was the lack of exploration of the fact that the car was over loaded and the driver was inexperienced- not to attribute blame - but to warn others. It is not the first car to kill kids despite a lack of speed, booze and drugs - inexperience and overloading is just as destructive. But then maybe that wasn’t Lech’s part of the story to tell.
I hope it ends up on the curriculum and all teenagers have an opportunity to reflect on the role of luck and how to keep it on side.
Cudos to Lech for having the guts to write this book and put it all out there.
October 1, 2021
4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was an interesting and powerful read, particularly because we have focussed on this particular accident with our senior students the last few years through the Fit 2 Drive program. The Fit 2 Drive Foundation is partnered with Victoria Police, the TAC, Victoria Fire Rescue and Victoria State Government’s Department of Transport to educate students about the associated risks of driving as a young person, making good decisions on the road, and the influences of peer pressure, speed and driving under the influence.
This is Lech Blaine’s memoir of the crash that killed three of his friends and left two in a coma after an horrific road accident in 2009 when he was seventeen years old. Seven boys piled into the car. They never reached their destination. The driver made a routine error, leading to a head on collision. Lech walked away unscathed.
The book details Lech’s upbringing, his family and friendships, the crash and subsequent aftermath, and how Blaine copes with the trauma and grief. Very powerful read.
This was an interesting and powerful read, particularly because we have focussed on this particular accident with our senior students the last few years through the Fit 2 Drive program. The Fit 2 Drive Foundation is partnered with Victoria Police, the TAC, Victoria Fire Rescue and Victoria State Government’s Department of Transport to educate students about the associated risks of driving as a young person, making good decisions on the road, and the influences of peer pressure, speed and driving under the influence.
This is Lech Blaine’s memoir of the crash that killed three of his friends and left two in a coma after an horrific road accident in 2009 when he was seventeen years old. Seven boys piled into the car. They never reached their destination. The driver made a routine error, leading to a head on collision. Lech walked away unscathed.
The book details Lech’s upbringing, his family and friendships, the crash and subsequent aftermath, and how Blaine copes with the trauma and grief. Very powerful read.
June 25, 2021
This book is extraordinary. Initially, I was hesitant to read it. I mean, who wants to be spend time contemplating the excesses and risk taking of privileged young men that ruins (and ends) lives? A friend insisted it wasn't that and I'm glad I listened. This is a coming of age of story where the cataclysmic event is a fatal head-on collision. All the angst and aspirations of youth are amplified by this enormous experience. Family dysfunction and undeveloped emotional maturity are the only scaffold available and they are inadequate.
The question I am left with is what Lech Blaine would have written if this hadn't happened to him. I look forward to reading anything and everything else by him. His writing so good!
The question I am left with is what Lech Blaine would have written if this hadn't happened to him. I look forward to reading anything and everything else by him. His writing so good!
September 30, 2021
“Human beings find creative ways not to speak about the pains that plague us. So many skeletons, where did I start? Our lives as we knew them were over; her marriage, my youth. We hadn’t found convincing enough illusions to replace the old ones, or a vocabulary to convey the loneliness of losing those illusions.”
March 12, 2022
A pretty good book, but some parts felt inappropriate when you are talking about the deaths of other people. I do understand it's a memoir so the author was discussing parts of his life after this event, but it just felt off. The attitude he had at times was off putting as well.
April 15, 2021
I read this in one sitting- it is a well written memoir of how a moment in time can change everything.
August 27, 2021
Stop what you are doing and read/listen/buy/borrow this book right now.
April 17, 2022
If you are a young man, was a young man, work with young men, teach young men, are parents to young men or spend any time with young men, you should read this.
September 4, 2023
There’s a photo on an article about this book of three boys who climbed into a car one night. Seven boys in total got in and three were killed when the car crashed on the outskirts of Toowoomba. The boys look so young in the photo but they are on the verge of leaving school. The middle boy is pulling a faux defiant face, the boy who was the driver looks as if he wants to look tough and Lech, the author carries a half challenging half diffident face to the world. You can see the photo here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
Lech Blaine, the front seat passenger, walked away physically unharmed from the car crash. Rumours (which were subsequently proved wrong) abounded about speed and drink driving causing the crash. There was intense scrutiny from media and police. Lech used alcohol to numb his grief and social media to show stoicism, while secretly spiralling towards depression and disgrace. He was swamped with friend requests on social media: “Hundreds of acquaintances and strangers sought a subscription to the ongoing soap opera of my survival.”
The book expands out of the crash into an exploration of relationships – Lech and his Dad, his parents’, his first girlfriend, and into the ways in which he could not sustain relationships afterwards. I think I agree with this reviewer who said: “The portrait of the father, and Blaine’s relationship with him, I think, is the most tenderly sketched element in Car Crash.” (https://www.smh.com.au/national/screa...) His Dad is an interesting character – a Queensland publican, he named Lech after Lech Walesa. I also enjoyed the writing about Toowoomba itself and the social demographics at play.
The car accident triggers “a recurring dissociation – a severing from his identity, feelings and memories that feels like being “scraped out and put back in the wrong place” – as well as a pervasive atemporality, a sense of being “stuck outside of time, always plummeting back towards the lone event that mattered”. Memory becomes pliable and fickle, with trauma acting as a “firewall” that prevents Blaine from remembering his friends’ faces, or his recent words to them.” (https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/c...)
In an interview, Blaine says: “I first started writing the book in 2016, and when I wasn’t really part of like a literary community, I had a big chip on my shoulder about that. And so I was trying to prove through my prose that I, that I was, you know, a smart literary writer. And so it was just…it wasn’t, it might not even be as noticeable as what it sounds, but like it was just these little flourishes where, that I’d subconsciously put in there to be like, oh, you know, ‘this is a literary book’. (https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/p...) You can see this in parts in the memoir still. It can be a bit over-fancy. For example – of Schoolies week which followed the accident: “For an uncomfortably long time, I stared glumly at my fellow graduates kissing gleefully on the sand and pissing knee-deep into the sea, wondering what in the hell was wrong with me, what it’d take to be recruited into this cult of carefree breathing…” Too many adjectives – and what the hell is gleeful kissing? And this: “It was one thing to discuss the prospect of incarceration but we still couldn’t talk freely about what it was like to be in a collision that killed three people. Death eclipsed the animal technology of lungs and tongues and lips.” When I was reading it, I thought it might be a deliberate strategy of capturing the ways in which young writers (in their teens) often try to impress by using convoluted language and elaborate heavy metaphors. Baine sent the manuscript to Helne Garner who apparently helped cut the prose and make it simpler: “another thing she [Garner] kept saying was like, you’re like, ‘you’re being a smartarse.’
There’s a long review in the Sydney Review of Books and I am going to quote at length from it:
“After fellow passenger Henry’s death, Blaine posts a grieving message on Facebook (‘grief expressed with the depth of a radio jingle’) and changes his profile photo to a picture of them together. ‘How else,’ he wonders, ‘could I prove what I had lost?’
The question ends a sequence, and in doing so demands an answer from the reader, leading us to occupy either the perspective of the memoirist or the perspective of his remembered self.
Aligning with the memoirist would entail the reader engaging with the irony, the implication being that this example of social media posturing is a superficial, hollow performance that may provide fleeting catharsis but not enough to work through the kind of heightened mourning Blaine was experiencing.
Aligning with the remembered child, however, who is scrabbling for ‘proof’ of his grief, would mean seeing that, at seventeen, having witnessed a kind of violence that many of us, mercifully, go our entire lives without, sensitive insights were likely unavailable, and would have been so even absent the cumulative burdens of social media, competitive masculinity and the amplificatory hormonal buzz of mass adolescence.
The quality of a memoir depends on the arrangement of these competing visions, and Blaine’s narrative beats frequently draw attention to this multiplication of perspective, but the attention is hurried. Reading Car Crash often feels like engaging in conversation with someone who, when on the verge of delivering revelation, retreats to attack their subject from some new angle or to castigate themselves.” (https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/revie...)
And finally, I think this is interesting: “I was left considering why we seek out writing on trauma. Throughout the book, Blaine touches on the parasitic voyeurism that leeches off tragedy, with so many strangers drawn to his accident that it becomes impossible to distinguish “the rubberneckers from the genuinely bereft”. Blaine’s memoir seems to hold up a mirror, asking of the prying reader: What is it about the site of a crash that draws us in?” (https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/c...)
Lech Blaine, the front seat passenger, walked away physically unharmed from the car crash. Rumours (which were subsequently proved wrong) abounded about speed and drink driving causing the crash. There was intense scrutiny from media and police. Lech used alcohol to numb his grief and social media to show stoicism, while secretly spiralling towards depression and disgrace. He was swamped with friend requests on social media: “Hundreds of acquaintances and strangers sought a subscription to the ongoing soap opera of my survival.”
The book expands out of the crash into an exploration of relationships – Lech and his Dad, his parents’, his first girlfriend, and into the ways in which he could not sustain relationships afterwards. I think I agree with this reviewer who said: “The portrait of the father, and Blaine’s relationship with him, I think, is the most tenderly sketched element in Car Crash.” (https://www.smh.com.au/national/screa...) His Dad is an interesting character – a Queensland publican, he named Lech after Lech Walesa. I also enjoyed the writing about Toowoomba itself and the social demographics at play.
The car accident triggers “a recurring dissociation – a severing from his identity, feelings and memories that feels like being “scraped out and put back in the wrong place” – as well as a pervasive atemporality, a sense of being “stuck outside of time, always plummeting back towards the lone event that mattered”. Memory becomes pliable and fickle, with trauma acting as a “firewall” that prevents Blaine from remembering his friends’ faces, or his recent words to them.” (https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/c...)
In an interview, Blaine says: “I first started writing the book in 2016, and when I wasn’t really part of like a literary community, I had a big chip on my shoulder about that. And so I was trying to prove through my prose that I, that I was, you know, a smart literary writer. And so it was just…it wasn’t, it might not even be as noticeable as what it sounds, but like it was just these little flourishes where, that I’d subconsciously put in there to be like, oh, you know, ‘this is a literary book’. (https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/p...) You can see this in parts in the memoir still. It can be a bit over-fancy. For example – of Schoolies week which followed the accident: “For an uncomfortably long time, I stared glumly at my fellow graduates kissing gleefully on the sand and pissing knee-deep into the sea, wondering what in the hell was wrong with me, what it’d take to be recruited into this cult of carefree breathing…” Too many adjectives – and what the hell is gleeful kissing? And this: “It was one thing to discuss the prospect of incarceration but we still couldn’t talk freely about what it was like to be in a collision that killed three people. Death eclipsed the animal technology of lungs and tongues and lips.” When I was reading it, I thought it might be a deliberate strategy of capturing the ways in which young writers (in their teens) often try to impress by using convoluted language and elaborate heavy metaphors. Baine sent the manuscript to Helne Garner who apparently helped cut the prose and make it simpler: “another thing she [Garner] kept saying was like, you’re like, ‘you’re being a smartarse.’
There’s a long review in the Sydney Review of Books and I am going to quote at length from it:
“After fellow passenger Henry’s death, Blaine posts a grieving message on Facebook (‘grief expressed with the depth of a radio jingle’) and changes his profile photo to a picture of them together. ‘How else,’ he wonders, ‘could I prove what I had lost?’
The question ends a sequence, and in doing so demands an answer from the reader, leading us to occupy either the perspective of the memoirist or the perspective of his remembered self.
Aligning with the memoirist would entail the reader engaging with the irony, the implication being that this example of social media posturing is a superficial, hollow performance that may provide fleeting catharsis but not enough to work through the kind of heightened mourning Blaine was experiencing.
Aligning with the remembered child, however, who is scrabbling for ‘proof’ of his grief, would mean seeing that, at seventeen, having witnessed a kind of violence that many of us, mercifully, go our entire lives without, sensitive insights were likely unavailable, and would have been so even absent the cumulative burdens of social media, competitive masculinity and the amplificatory hormonal buzz of mass adolescence.
The quality of a memoir depends on the arrangement of these competing visions, and Blaine’s narrative beats frequently draw attention to this multiplication of perspective, but the attention is hurried. Reading Car Crash often feels like engaging in conversation with someone who, when on the verge of delivering revelation, retreats to attack their subject from some new angle or to castigate themselves.” (https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/revie...)
And finally, I think this is interesting: “I was left considering why we seek out writing on trauma. Throughout the book, Blaine touches on the parasitic voyeurism that leeches off tragedy, with so many strangers drawn to his accident that it becomes impossible to distinguish “the rubberneckers from the genuinely bereft”. Blaine’s memoir seems to hold up a mirror, asking of the prying reader: What is it about the site of a crash that draws us in?” (https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/c...)
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December 12, 2024I don’t feel like I can rate this as a memoir. It walks through a survivor’s life after and guilt of a huge crash that killed some of his mates.
It’s a slow meander through the aftermath - heavily detailed on the author’s life between the crash and the court case.
I wouldn’t think this would be for everyone - it feels a bit wrong to say considering the subject matter but the book just did not deliver the way I thought it might.
It’s a slow meander through the aftermath - heavily detailed on the author’s life between the crash and the court case.
I wouldn’t think this would be for everyone - it feels a bit wrong to say considering the subject matter but the book just did not deliver the way I thought it might.
May 4, 2025
This book will sit with me for some time.
It’s raw and intense, traumatic but with humour thrown in too, so it’s not all dark all of the time.
While the car crash is the central event, this story could apply to any number of major events, tragedies, and traumas that occur in a young person's life. It illustrates how lives orbit around these moments, each in their own way—both immediately and forever after.
Lech’s writing is beautiful - some words I read twice just to take them in.
Having recently read Australian Gospel I was familiar with Lech and some of the background and family, which gave some nice context.
Not an easy read but definitely worth it. 5 stars.
It’s raw and intense, traumatic but with humour thrown in too, so it’s not all dark all of the time.
While the car crash is the central event, this story could apply to any number of major events, tragedies, and traumas that occur in a young person's life. It illustrates how lives orbit around these moments, each in their own way—both immediately and forever after.
Lech’s writing is beautiful - some words I read twice just to take them in.
Having recently read Australian Gospel I was familiar with Lech and some of the background and family, which gave some nice context.
Not an easy read but definitely worth it. 5 stars.
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