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That Thing I Did
Five misfits hit the road in a haunted hearse, on a madcap road-trip from their prison-bordering suburb behind the 'Mullet-Proof Fence' to small-town Mount Gambier.
After Taylor Kennedy makes a fatal Facebook error and is dumped by his best friend, he's befriended by his eccentric next-door neighbour. Aspiring pornographer Chip drives a funeral hearse and talks to dead people, and he wants Taylor's help.
But mild-mannered prison escapee Jackson Rollock has other plans. They're liberating Jackson's beloved, mouthy grandmother from her nursing home and hitting the road to fulfil her dying wish - with beautiful hitchhiker Chloe on board.
They'll break the rules, bare their souls ... and make a shitload of questionable jokes, while inadvertently exploring sexuality, consent, the dark side of social media, mental health and friendship.
Frank, fearless and taboo-breaking, That Thing I Did is a rollicking road trip with a serious side.
After Taylor Kennedy makes a fatal Facebook error and is dumped by his best friend, he's befriended by his eccentric next-door neighbour. Aspiring pornographer Chip drives a funeral hearse and talks to dead people, and he wants Taylor's help.
But mild-mannered prison escapee Jackson Rollock has other plans. They're liberating Jackson's beloved, mouthy grandmother from her nursing home and hitting the road to fulfil her dying wish - with beautiful hitchhiker Chloe on board.
They'll break the rules, bare their souls ... and make a shitload of questionable jokes, while inadvertently exploring sexuality, consent, the dark side of social media, mental health and friendship.
Frank, fearless and taboo-breaking, That Thing I Did is a rollicking road trip with a serious side.
280 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2022
3 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Allayne L. Webster
11 books36 followersAllayne is an author of Junior Fiction, Middle Grade and Young Adult literature. She’s the recipient of multiple arts grants, a Premier’s Reading Challenge Ambassador, and a former literary festival board member.
Paper Planes (Scholastic) was a 2016 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable/shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. A Cardboard Palace (MidnightSun) was a 2018 CBCA Notable and published in Sweden. Our Little Secret (Scholastic) was listed for the Golden Inkys and has recently been republished by Ligature Press. The Centre of My Everything (PenguinRandomHouse) was listed in the 2019 Davitt Awards (crime) and shortlisted in the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. Sensitive (UQP) is published in Russia and was shortlisted in the 2020 Australian Speech Pathology Awards and is a 2023 IBBY Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities.
That Thing I Did (Wakefield Press), a YA comedy, was released in March 2022 to rave reviews, and Selfie (YA, Text Publishing) will be released 4th April 2023. When not writing, Allayne plays guitar and paints.
Paper Planes (Scholastic) was a 2016 Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable/shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. A Cardboard Palace (MidnightSun) was a 2018 CBCA Notable and published in Sweden. Our Little Secret (Scholastic) was listed for the Golden Inkys and has recently been republished by Ligature Press. The Centre of My Everything (PenguinRandomHouse) was listed in the 2019 Davitt Awards (crime) and shortlisted in the 2020 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. Sensitive (UQP) is published in Russia and was shortlisted in the 2020 Australian Speech Pathology Awards and is a 2023 IBBY Outstanding Book for Young People with Disabilities.
That Thing I Did (Wakefield Press), a YA comedy, was released in March 2022 to rave reviews, and Selfie (YA, Text Publishing) will be released 4th April 2023. When not writing, Allayne plays guitar and paints.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 19, 2022
Good fun, great Australian flavour, authentic teen voices.
[bit long maybe]
[bit long maybe]
May 28, 2023
"Oh for heaven's sake! If I'd told you he was dead you wouldn't have come."
This is hilarious, but the roadtrip had too many stops for me.
Read
May 19, 2022This is one of the funniest (and definitely the craziest) YA books I have read in a LONG time.
Taylor has been ousted from his peer group and shunned by his entire year level for the social media crime of speaking his mind. Taylor finds himself unwillingly participating in Chip's business idea. Chip is Taylor's 19-year-old next door neighbour who drives a hearse and can speak to dead people. Things start to get really interesting when Jackson, a prison escapee, takes refuge in Chip's backyard. Chip agrees to help Jackson bust his dying gran (Daisy) out of the nursing home and take her to deal with some unfinished business. Taylor is not impressed, but goes along with it anyway. The group picks up a hitchhiker on the run (Chloe) at a service station on the way. What follows is a wild and irreverent ride of wish fulfilment and police avoidance.
Key discourses within the novel are identity, friendship, dying wishes, and empathy. The book is peppered with ironic humour and through this device, Allayne Webster blasts certain stereotypes and tropes. Much of the dialogue is delivered through in-jokes, witty one-liners, puns and anecdotes that could easily pass as jokes, so reader beware.
Taylor has been ousted from his peer group and shunned by his entire year level for the social media crime of speaking his mind. Taylor finds himself unwillingly participating in Chip's business idea. Chip is Taylor's 19-year-old next door neighbour who drives a hearse and can speak to dead people. Things start to get really interesting when Jackson, a prison escapee, takes refuge in Chip's backyard. Chip agrees to help Jackson bust his dying gran (Daisy) out of the nursing home and take her to deal with some unfinished business. Taylor is not impressed, but goes along with it anyway. The group picks up a hitchhiker on the run (Chloe) at a service station on the way. What follows is a wild and irreverent ride of wish fulfilment and police avoidance.
Key discourses within the novel are identity, friendship, dying wishes, and empathy. The book is peppered with ironic humour and through this device, Allayne Webster blasts certain stereotypes and tropes. Much of the dialogue is delivered through in-jokes, witty one-liners, puns and anecdotes that could easily pass as jokes, so reader beware.
April 18, 2022
RTC tonight, thank you Wakefield Press for kindly sending me a gifted copy of this wonderful, refreshing LoveOzYA gem!
February 25, 2022
This is a road trip story to end all road trip stories.
Take one would-be Hugh Hefner, his neighbour who has just been dumped by his best friend, a prison escapee and his outrageous grandmother, and a runaway who is not sure where she is running to.
Put them all in a haunted hearse and send them on a mercy dash from Adelaide to Mt Gambier to fulfil the dying wish of Daisy, our nursing home escapee.
Whilst this book is full of laugh-out-loud humour, questionable jokes and lots of toilet humour, all this is underpinned by heavier themes of youth suicide, toxic friendships, the perils of social media, and domestic abuse.
So be prepared to snort-laugh, but also have your heart broken just a little bit too.
Our cast of characters may not be the role models our parents want us to hang out with, but they are real and they are all incredibly loveable.
And come, on.... who could resist a haunted hearse? I was hooked right from the start
Thanks to Wakefield Press for the advance copy of this book to read and review
April 11, 2022
Gosh, this is an utterly cheeky read! It is fast-paced, witty and filled with endless laugh-out-loud moments. It features a chaotic road trip and lots of naughty comedy, and I whipped through it so fast, it’s really such a fun read!
March 7, 2022
Loved, loved, loved this....times a million!
I actually had a feeling this would be fabulous and it really truly was!
What a cool, funny, fun ride.... in a haunted hearse.
We follow Taylor, his friend Chip, prison escapee Jackson, his grandmother Daisy and hitchhiker Chloe on a roadtrip in a haunted hearse as they attempt to fulfil Daisy's dying wish.
These characters are unforgettable. Their personalities stick to you and follow you around long after you've finished the book as you remember something random one of them said.
Allayne Webster you are a hilarious writer- actually truly, really so very funny! I laughed out loud...like really, really loud!
Certainly there are some sad, serious moments in this that Webster has created so be prepared for this also.
Best book of 2022...and I know I've read a bunch of awesome books but this one is a stand out. From start to finish this book rocks!
If you are going to read just one book...like ever...this is it my friends!
Thank -you for sending me this Wakefield Press in exchange for an honest review and honestly its so very awesome!
I actually had a feeling this would be fabulous and it really truly was!
What a cool, funny, fun ride.... in a haunted hearse.
We follow Taylor, his friend Chip, prison escapee Jackson, his grandmother Daisy and hitchhiker Chloe on a roadtrip in a haunted hearse as they attempt to fulfil Daisy's dying wish.
These characters are unforgettable. Their personalities stick to you and follow you around long after you've finished the book as you remember something random one of them said.
Allayne Webster you are a hilarious writer- actually truly, really so very funny! I laughed out loud...like really, really loud!
Certainly there are some sad, serious moments in this that Webster has created so be prepared for this also.
Best book of 2022...and I know I've read a bunch of awesome books but this one is a stand out. From start to finish this book rocks!
If you are going to read just one book...like ever...this is it my friends!
Thank -you for sending me this Wakefield Press in exchange for an honest review and honestly its so very awesome!
April 11, 2022
Heartwarming, funny, tender, sad, and beautiful, 'That Thing I Did' pulled me along with an ensemble cast of interesting and rounded characters until the last page.
Although I would have liked to know a fair bit more about the backstory of a couple of the group that accompanies the story's narrator, 17 year old Taylor on their madcap roadtrip, Webster's decision to not delve too deep into all of the characters ensures the story never lags - a problem that can often beset any story with many strong characters.
I was always engrossed in the story, always curious to know where it was going - surprised when things took unexpected turns (literal and metaphorical) more than once, and delighted by the way the narrative unfolded, sad bits and all.
A great read!
Although I would have liked to know a fair bit more about the backstory of a couple of the group that accompanies the story's narrator, 17 year old Taylor on their madcap roadtrip, Webster's decision to not delve too deep into all of the characters ensures the story never lags - a problem that can often beset any story with many strong characters.
I was always engrossed in the story, always curious to know where it was going - surprised when things took unexpected turns (literal and metaphorical) more than once, and delighted by the way the narrative unfolded, sad bits and all.
A great read!
October 23, 2022
I'm not sure where to start with this book - it was that good! Taylor the guy who did that thing he can't take back and is now a social outcast. Chip the eccentric next door neighbour who talks to dead people. Jackson the prison escapee who really just has a heart of gold. Daisy the coolest Granny going around, but don't get on her bad side. Daisy the runaway just along for the free ride. This eclectic cast of five all end up on a road trip to fulfil Daisy's dying wish. But the road trip becomes so much more than that along the way. This was laugh out loud funny! Seriously quick witted and entertaining and so mad capped it was impossible to put down. Webster's writing style is so enjoyable and easy it read that it felt like I was in the hearse along for the ride!
November 21, 2022
My god, I loved this. Such an unapologetic voice, fierce as fuck and uncompromisingly Strayan, like fuck any overseas market trying to understand the slang and the cultural references. It’s also classic Australiana in that way of relentless absurdity and bordering on inappropriate humour and then whamming you with emotional truth. I love that so damned much, it comforts me, it makes me feel seen.
Only two tiny blemishes: the slight misnaming of From Here To Eternity which of course as a Montgomery Clift fan and a lover of the original novel, I feel quite strongly about. And the mispelling of Jolene which bewildered rather than offended me, heh.
It would make a perfect movie. No, a Netflix series. Upright meets Heartbreak High sort of. That needs to happen.
Only two tiny blemishes: the slight misnaming of From Here To Eternity which of course as a Montgomery Clift fan and a lover of the original novel, I feel quite strongly about. And the mispelling of Jolene which bewildered rather than offended me, heh.
It would make a perfect movie. No, a Netflix series. Upright meets Heartbreak High sort of. That needs to happen.
September 23, 2022
This book this book THIS BOOK!! That Thing I Did by Allayne Webster is a madcap YA road trip novel and honestly one of the *funniest* book I’ve ever read (genuine lols!) - BUT it’s also so full up with beauty and heart and poignant insights into life and death and being a teen that by the end I was in tears! These characters feel absolutely real and I did not want to let them go at the end. Love love loved it (especially the super rude bits). If you need a laugh with heart right now, this is your book!
March 5, 2022
THAT THING I DID is a rollicking, funny YA novel with twists and turns so frequent that the pages practically turn themselves. This book is a wild ride from start to finish: it’s witty, hilarious, hectic, manic and unabashedly irreverent.
November 16, 2023
This was such a refreshing read. It was witty, vibrant, funny but also wholesome and reflective.
I will read more of Allayne L.Webster’s books as this was the first one of her novels I have read.
5 stars!
I will read more of Allayne L.Webster’s books as this was the first one of her novels I have read.
5 stars!
May 21, 2022
This is a wild ride. Comical with some nuggets of wisdom thrown in. Definitely for 15+ readers. Very Australian.
Read
December 14, 2022This hit one of my hard limits, so DNF.
Read
July 18, 2023Dnfed at like 60% i stopped caring abt story tbh
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews