Like many, many Australians, I’ve loved Magda Szubanski for a long time. I grew up on D-Generation and Fast Forward and Kath and Kim and have always thought she was wonderful. And then came this book and my respect for her has grown. This is the story of Magda and of her family – especially her father. Magda came to Australia as a small child from Scotland with her Scottish mother and Polish father. Only years later did she start to understand his past – as a teenager, he was an assassin in the Second World War. Eventually, she began to understand what this meant to her and how it influenced her own life. And she tackles lots of other things including fame, body issues and her own sexuality.
In itself, it is a pretty interesting story. But what makes it compelling is Szubanski’s writing itself – she writes beautifully, with humour and self-awareness and I could have read it forever. I hope she writes more in the future – I’d love to see what she does for a work of fiction. I suspect it would be nothing that we would expect.
ireckonthat 