Reviews

The Push

A premier exploration of the vague boundary between young adult and adult novels. - Ian Nichols, The West Weekend Magazine, 30 August 2008.

This is a fascinating work which evokes the historical setting of early 50s Sydney, via an 18-year-old girl's introduction to 'The Push'. It's also a subtle exploration of the emotional pull between freedom and commitment. This is a riveting narrative in both its subtle ambiguity concerning character and motivation and for its skilful capture of 1950s Australia with such an unerring accuracy. It details one of those pivotal times (like the 1960s and the 'flower children' movement), in Australian society, except that the ideas of The Push were the often unacknowledged precursor to flower power. This little minority group in Sydney was experimenting with political, social and sexual freedom in the context of a very hidebound society. Erica's friendship with Trish, Vanessa and Johnny will change her life forever. The writer makes no judgments but shows how her protagonist is drawn into this daring group and will have to make many sacrifices if she is to survive within it. The ending is left open and offers many resonances for teenagers today confronting similar choices. - 2008 Queensland Premier's Literary Award judging panel.

Lawrinson has done a wonderful job with the characters, Erica's wild and clever friend Trish, the opportunistic Johnno and most of all Erica's sour-hearted mother Ivy are beautifully drawn and instantly recognisable character types. - Sydney Morning Herald.

Julia Lawrinson ... deftly tackles middleclass snobbery and mother/daughter relationships. She successfully pits the conservative mores of the '50s against the allure of the intellectualising students and slackers who were more interested in a well-reasoned debate about communism than in getting married, working and selling their souls for a mortgage. The Push is also good at portraying the limited possibilities for women in that conservative era, with Erica breaking all the rules. Oh, the frisson of excitement that comes from smoking, drinking and wearing trousers in a public bar! - The Age.

Compelling. The Sunday Age.

The Push is a gentle book and its portrait of the convention-challenging libertarians is essentially positive. Michael Wilding, The Weekend Australian.

A marvellously well I written coming-of-age novel set in Sydney in the late 1950s. Each chapter opens with a quotation from a health pamphlet on how to deal with the pressures of adolescence, underscoring the pressures on young women to conform. Erica, 18, is keen to avoid convention but she's stuck in an office typing pool. She's attracted to the fiIthy glamour of Kings Cross and falls in with a bunch of hedonistic ratbags swaggering around Sydney's pubs and racecourses: the Push. In a word: punchy. Herald Sun.

Lawrinson writes with an admirable fluidity. The historical detail situating the novel in the fifties is gently woven into the body of the text and is never over-laboured. Her descriptions of inner-Sydney bring to mind Ruth Park's The Harp in the South (1948), Elizabeth Emmanuel.

The Push is a well-researched document of Sydney in the 1950s [and] a good introduction to a fascinating and largely untapped era full of complex and interesting characters. Chris Thompson, Viewpoint.

Bye, Beautiful

Julia Lawrinson is a marvellous writer ... [Bye, Beautiful] is a mature novel, and a riveting story, that will appeal to a wide audience. The Age

Bye, Beautiful is a sensitive and engaging novel that shows neither the adult nor the teenage world are always what they seem on the surface. The Courier Mail

I welcome Bye, Beautiful as a significant addition to the body of Australian YA Fiction. Judith Ridge

Julia Lawrinson masterfully orchestrates a tense sense of foreboding enhanced by a convincing, compelling portrayal of bigotry set in 1960s Western Australia. Jodie Minus, The Australian

Julia Lawrinson is one of our most honest and confronting writers. She is not afraid to show us the dark side of life, the dangers that bad decisions can lead to, the cruelty of people who abuse their power. If you have read and liked Robert Drewe's The Shark Net, that eerie portrait of 1960s Perth, then Bye, Beautiful is a must. And if you haven't read The Shark Net, it's still a must. It's that good. - Mike Shuttleworth, the Centre for Youth Literature

Bye, Beautiful is a must for upper secondary readers. Sally Harding, Magpies

Bye, Beautiful is a tragic and powerful interrogation of the pain, loss and guilt caused by prejudice, racism and hypocrisy, set in a small WA town in the 1960s. The denouement hits the reader with the force of a physical blow; this novel is an impressive analysis of family and community relations which is tempered by an authorial restraint which makes it all the more powerful. Queensland Premier's Literary Award judging panel

Suburban Freak Show

Julia Lawrinson has written a novel about university life as scabrous as it is hilarious. Cameron Woodhead, the Age

This book is funny, the dialogue is hip, and casual sex abounds ... written with a deft touch, the book will appeal to older teenagers. Ann Briggs, Magpies

The characters of this book are loud ... but Lawrinson rewards her young people with honesty. She expects them to live in a big world. The Sydney Morning Herald

A light, comic read for nervous year twelves and high school students. Viewpoint

Bad Bad Thing

Never have I so badly wanted to put a book down and yet been incapable of doing so. In Bad Bad Thing Julia Lawrinson has so well created a world of harmful teenage relationships it makes your skin crawl. An excellent read, but be prepared to squirm. Annette Dale Meiklejohn, Magpies

Beware! Do not open this book if you want a soft, 'feel good' read. Tough, uncomfortable, at times funny, thought-provoking ... a compelling albeit uncomfortable read for teenagers. Reading Time

There is much to please in Bad Bad Thing. This school is every co-educational secondary school you know, and there is enough tension and crises to keep the reader intrigued and the pages turning. Stella Lees, Viewpoint

Julia Lawrinson draws her confronting characters with a horribly acute pen. Katharine England, the Adelaide Advertiser

A clever plot makes this imaginative story of teenage life worth a read. Ali Beltran, Year 10, Albury High School

Skating the Edge

Imaginatively conceived, skillfully executed ...Buy it for a teenager or buy it for yourself. Neither of you will be disappointed.
Brett D'Arcy, The West Australian

The story rips along at a great pace with occasional flashes of humour and the ending is particularly satisfying. I enjoyed it enormously, even more on the second read than the first. Ruth Starke, Viewpoint

I recommend Skating the Edge ... to anyone who enjoys a bit of a tearjerker(and has a Kleenex on hand) and also to people who enjoy a story with an exciting twist. Renee, aged 15, YARA
From this website

Obsession

An accomplished first novel. Libby Corson, Viewpoint

This is the work of a promising writer. Helen Purdie, Magpies

It's a great page-turner and really keeps you hooked.
Cassey, aged 15, YARA
From this website

Loz and Al

A sensitive account of life as a 12-year-old ... the depiction of classroom dynamics demonstrates Lawrinson's understanding of children and the way in which they view the world. Loz and Al is a well-written, beautifully-oriented story. Natalie Crawford, Australian Bookseller & Publisher