Book Review
Pictures of You
by Tony Birch
If I had to pitch Tony Birch’s newest book with a single phrase, I’d just say it’s the best of the best: the best stories from across the career of one of Australia’s best working writers. Spanning three decades of publication, Pictures of You is a treasure trove of tales, filled to bursting with skilful prose, compelling characters and quiet moments of release.
Framed, in many ways, by the sombre title story – the most recent contribution included – the collection’s depth and breadth invites a reflective tone, as each individual story builds towards an understanding of Birch himself and his long-held preoccupations. Family is always central, whether it takes the form of deep sibling bonds, fierce maternal figures or, most strikingly, fathers who are drunken tyrants, fragile ghosts in old age or simply absent. In each case, Birch’s stories capture his characters at their most volatile, caught at crossroads and filled with potential: a boy watches as his neighbourhood – and by extension his father’s history – is demolished around him; a brothel owner risks her world for an abandoned child; or a police officer picks up a wandering Aboriginal man on the outskirts of town and spends a long day with him.
This is a book that will find an easy place on many a bedside table. It’s perfect for dipping into for the occasional morsel of beautiful narrative to end a long day, but it also works well when taken as a feast. Reading it cover to cover draws Birch’s favourite themes into clear relief – family, as mentioned above, but also dichotomies of faith and vice, violence and peace – while also celebrating the variety of his oeuvre, from the linked stories of Shadowboxing to the rare moments of magic amid his realist sensibilities. Whether you’re a nibbler or feaster, a newcomer or long-time Birch fan, Pictures of You is a book worth having.
