Losing It

by Moira Burke

In the 1980s in the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner, Josie’s father is drinking himself to an ugly and appalling death. Josie’s mother is a factory machinist, bringing home piecework to keep the family afloat.

And Josie is surviving, or not—self-destructive sex, excessive alcohol, drugs, brutalised friendships.

But her internal monologue—intense, immediate and raw—reveals a heartbreaking portrait of an intelligent young woman desperately looking for a way to make sense of her life, grappling with her feelings of repulsion and love for her father and her longing to be loved.

First published in 1998, Losing It is a vivid and visceral account of 1980s working-class Melbourne and a coming-of-age story that is both familiar and unique, shocking and intimate.

208 pages, Paperback

Published May 29, 2017

Reviews

[Text Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘I read it in a gulp. I seem to know this girl.’
Helen Garner

‘Stark, poetic, truthful, compassionate; self-knowledge comes at a breathtaking pace.’
Carmel Bird

‘While sometimes the past is much better left there, we should be glad that Moira Burke’s Losing It has received a new lease on life…Long before Eimear McBride had the creative spark to appropriate James Joyce and produce her interior monologue masterpiece The Lesser Bohemians, set in London’s dank bedsits and late night bars, it turns out Burke was doing something remarkably similar with Melbourne’s sleazy St Kilda clubs and rowdy Coburg Italian family homes. How could we have missed her?’
Australian

‘Losing It was never a classic but probably deserves to be…Moira Burke creates an arresting sense of place, startling in its familiarity and strangeness, and is a master of cadence. Her prose has a raw poetic rhythm, the power to constantly surprise and drag you into its flow. To lose Losing It would have been a cultural crime.’
Sydney Morning Herald

[B.P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great start to my reading year!

[Kelly (Diva Booknerd) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

I loved Josie's narration but the frantic nature of her thoughts were difficult to connect with.
Review to come.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual and engaging read. I enjoyed the fresh young voice of the protagonist, which took me immediately back to my mid-teen years and all the angst and so on of that time. Josie, the main character, is growing up in 1980s Melbourne with all the innocence and rough-edgedness of that era. She makes plenty of the usual teen mistakes along the way to adulthood, and she also has plenty of life's unfairness thrown her way. I did find I tired of the voice a bit near the two-thirds mark, but was glad I kept reading. Burke does an excellent job of rounding off the story at the end, which I hadn't expected given the life-as-a-diary, stream-of-consciousness style of the book. I also want to add for those interested in writing, this is one of those rare books written from the 'you' pov (it opens, for example, with: "You get to push the trolley little wheels clack-clacking over the footpath ...) - and it works.
Thanks Text! - I won this in a Goodreads competition.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this in a Good reads giveaway and what a read. I may not have brought this book home from the library but I am pleased to have read it and will share with my friends . I don't know how long it took Moira Burke to write this book but the style of writing seemed to make me read this at a pace over 2 nights . I guess I got right inside the main character Josie and her manner and way of thinking was all over the place and everything moved very fast.
There were some dark places for Josie, places I have never been but I think in today's world they will be very familiar for a lot of young people, sex, crime, drugs, alcohol and poverty. But she does live in a family unit with a mother ,father and sisters, and as the book progresses Josie tries to deal with changes and stresses in the family while at the same time learning about love .

[Kat]

Nope can’t do. DNF at under 20 pages and don’t think I’ll bother coming back.
The stream of consciousness is fine I guess tho annoying but the inconsistent grammar just is doing my head in. Stream of consciousness second person no grammar is doable, stream of consciousness with commas in the most random places - in the middle of a list between one word but not six others? Is just. Confusing and annoying and just looks like it’s been misplaced.

I also don’t think this is for me anyway bc it’s just like being dumped straight into a fucked up teenager’s head and honestly, not a vibe.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really struggled finishing this one. Why? Well all 200 pages is stream of consciousness AND second person narrative. It’s my own fault, I’m a sucker for anything that is set in Melbourne and when I read the blurb of this at the library I was all in! I think if Burke had chosen a different narrative style it would have been a much more interesting and enjoyable read. As is though, it’s pretty repetitive and boring in many parts.

[Andrew Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inwon this in a goodreads giveaway. The writing is very straightforward and really has a great sense of place and time. It definitely took me back to the 80's. The main character's voice is strong and frenetic, just like a hyperactive teenager. Very dark and a good insight to working class Australian suburbia.

[Siân Aston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this book through a Goodreads/Text Publishing give away and I'm so glad I did. This book manages to be both very personal and universal. Josie has a strong, distinct voice and beautifully evokes a particular era of Australian suburban life through the eyes of a working class teenager.

[Caroline Poole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a confronting, powerful, fast paced thought provoking read on a teenagers life. Lots of flashbacks for anyone who grew up in the late 70's and 80's. It must have resonated with me as I realized Josie was living in one of my childhood homes as I read this. Makes you think about those choices you made and how outcomes could be very different. Hope Josie is having a happy life!

[Lisa Jewell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a teenager in the 1980s, growing up in South east Melbourne, so I relate to Josie a great deal. I didn't have sisters but I imagined if I had, they would have been like hers. Her experiences especially with boys was very similar to my own. Reading a book that reflects so much of your own experience is always going to be gold. I read Losing It in a gulp.

[Rem Falck · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was hard to follow, however confronting and brilliant at the same time.
I wouldn’t recommend to people look for a light read.

[Katrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like a YA journal from a young girl growing up in Melbourne in the 80s with an alcoholic father. Briefly touches on YA issues, very surface. Poor grammar and little punctuation. Repetitive, rant and raw.