Summary
A powerful reflection of early 80s working-class Melbourne, Losing It is set in a time of tight jeans, blue eyeshadow and Countdown—and of risky underage sex and drugs.
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 friends…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781925498363 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1925498360 |
| Author: | Moira Burke |
| Publisher: | Text Publishing |
| Imprint: | The Text Publishing Company |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 208 |
| Release Date: | 29 May 2017 |
| Weight: | 202g |
| Dimensions: | 196mm x 129mm x 20mm |
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Critics Review
‘I read it in a gulp. I seem to know this girl.’
‘Stark, poetic, truthful, compassionate; self-knowledge comes at a breathtaking pace.’ – Carmel Bird
‘Addictive, powerful and raw, Losing It lays bare the unflinching realities for a teenager trapped in a spiral of self-destruction. Who does not see some of herself in Josie, a heroine for our uncertain times?’ – Rebecca Starford
‘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 *
‘Incredibly insightful…A meditation on life and how to live and, in the end, how to die.’ * Australian *
‘[Riggs] doesn’t gloss over what lies ahead, and the results are at times hilarious. Heartbreaking, honest and uplifting.’ * Woman’s Day *
‘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 *
About The Author
Moira Burke
Moira Burke is a Melbourne writer. Losing It is her first novel.
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