Karen from AustCrime reviewed One Hundred Years of Dirt by Rick Morton
Review - One Hundred Years of Dirt
5 stars
Less a review and more a gut reaction - I just loved ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF DIRT which was a f2f bookclub book, otherwise it could have sadly become one of those ones on the "so many books, so little time list". I realise that sounds ridiculous that you could love a book that describes a background like Morton's. This is the story of the family of Rick Morton's father and the violence, treachery, and cruelty that ran through generations of them. But it's also the story of a mother with the guts to leave, and a son who is as close to that mother as he could be, without it being cloying, or unrealistic.
It's a sharp, self-aware, often hilarious and always thought provoking analysis of poverty, homophobia, mental health, inter-generational damage and privilege.
"My father was five when his own dad threw him into a wall and ruptured …
Less a review and more a gut reaction - I just loved ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF DIRT which was a f2f bookclub book, otherwise it could have sadly become one of those ones on the "so many books, so little time list". I realise that sounds ridiculous that you could love a book that describes a background like Morton's. This is the story of the family of Rick Morton's father and the violence, treachery, and cruelty that ran through generations of them. But it's also the story of a mother with the guts to leave, and a son who is as close to that mother as he could be, without it being cloying, or unrealistic.
It's a sharp, self-aware, often hilarious and always thought provoking analysis of poverty, homophobia, mental health, inter-generational damage and privilege.
"My father was five when his own dad threw him into a wall and ruptured his spleen. He was sent, alone and afraid, to Adelaide, 1100 kilometres away, where he had emergency surgery.”
Imagine taking a different path from a background like that. When you change it with a mother who guides, but doesn't flinch, with a sense of humour that was obviously inherited by her children, all power to you. The difference between the author here and his older brother is more than enough to show what can happen depending upon exposure, reaction and chance.
Now I really have to read his next book MY YEAR OF LIVING VULNERABLY (published in 2021).