Allan Square

by Shirley Murphy

Allan Square is a dark yet humorous coming-of-age story about a young girl growing up during the 1940s and 1950s in one of the roughest neighbourhoods in St. John's. Shirley Murphy was only seven years old when her father died and life as she knew it changed forever. Poor and often hungry, she lived with an alcoholic stepfather, a combative mother, and four brothers who treated her the way only brothers can. In Allan Square, Shirley vividly describes attending wakes at the homes of the deceased (for the food), trading kisses with ushers for admission to the Capitol Theatre, soaking up the sights and sounds of Water Street, and surviving a dysfunctional family in the St. John's urban playground of Livingstone Street, Allan Square, Theatre Hill, and Queen's Road.

From adventures in a school run by strict and unforgiving nuns, to heated battles with an angry mother, to nightly Acts of Contrition, this memoir is Shirley Murphy's laugh-out-loud tale of childhood antics and misspent youth in Newfoundland and Labrador's capital city.

229 pages, Paperback

First published April 27, 2009

Reviews

[Harold Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up in St. John's.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a memoir, the coming of age story of Shirley Murphy a young girl growing up during the 1940s and 1950s in one of the roughest neighbourhoods in St John’s Newfoundland. Shirley was happy child and didn’t know she was poor living with her adored father and her brothers in a small tenement. But when she was only seven years old, her father died and her life changed forever. She worshipped him and missed him dearly, but his death also meant the family was suddenly without an income. Life was rough and the family was often hungry. Her mother remarried a combative alcoholic and life seemed to go downhill from there.
Shirley fought constantly with her four brothers and her mother. She recounts times when her mother yelled at her constantly, locked her in the coal storage closet as a punishment and even banged her head against the wall. When the yelling subsided, life seemed to continue as usual as if the “battle” had never happened. Shirley says it almost seemed like her mother looked forward to the fights as something to do. But Shirley admits her relationship with her mother was not all bad nor was it just one sided. Shirley tended to be “lippy" and “mouthy”, and she acknowledges her part in the fighting. Shirley says when she left the house to marry, her mother complained to a friend she had no one left to fight with. And later as her mother lay dying, she appreciated Shirley's ongoing and constant humour. On the whole, Shirley feels her mother was at heart a good mother and did her best. But this devastating portrait was a real affront to one of her brothers who no longer speaks to her because he thought Shirley portrayed their mother unfairly.
Shirley describes a time growing up when you could be away from home all day without anyone worrying. When simple pleasures like swimming, riding a bike, walking to Signal Hill or Bannerman Park were great adventure and fun. She writes at the surprise of seeing her first toilet seat when she went to school, of going to the mortuaries to keep warm and attending the wakes at the homes of the deceased so that she could gorge herself on the food. She traded kisses with ushers at the theater for free entrance to the movies and even pan handled for a while. And every Saturday night she would have to secretly call police to come and collect her stepfather when he came home drunk and wreaked havoc in their home. It was never an easy life, but Shirley survived it with her humour, determination and personal strength.

This volume is written in a series of short chapters, each about six pages long. It is often funny but also gritty, a little reminiscent of books like Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. In both books you are at a wonder how these people ever survive such rough childhoods.

This is not necessarily well written but is still enjoyable. You feel as if you are sitting at a kitchen table having a “cuppa” tea as the author uses a conversational and very straight forward style. But it is definitely a heart rendering survival story about a determined young girl.

[Jerry Cranford · Rating 5 out of 5]

"[Allan Square] is a dark but very funny account of growing up in the 1940s and 1950s in what was then a rough neighbourhood." -- The Telegram

"Allan Square is also an absorbing tale of stubborn survival by an individual who posses the ability to see the humor in the darker aspects of poverty." -- Suite101.com

"Forthright and humorous . . ." -- The Packet

"Murphy vividly evokes the grimy, gritty town I remember from my own youth . . ." -- The Telegram

"A poignant story of a life." -- The Chronicle Herald

"Peppered with [Murphy's] trademark sense of humour." -- Clarington This Week

"[Shirley Murphy's] writing style is conversational and straight forward, and fortunately she manages to infuse even the dark memories with a touch of humour." -- Atlantic Books Today

"This book is compulsively readable and arranged in short chapters, full of momentum." -- Newfoundland Quarterly

[Susan]

Oh,I so enjoyed this book and didn't want it to end!! I am also from Nfld. and lived in St. John's for a while,so I know the area well. It reminded me of "Angela's Ashes" ,only with humour. Shirley Murphy could have very easily made this into a dark memoir ( what with her father dying so young, the family's intense poverty and her mother's abusiveness) ,but chose to focus on the funny-side and all the rich characters in her family and neighbourhood. Her writing style is easy and vastly enjoyable. A great,interesting read.

[Rosalind · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is a darkly humorous look at growing up in depression era St. John's. Highly recommend!