An edition of What Next You Bastard (2001)

What Next You Bastard

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Last edited by Ken Hall
April 18, 2017 | History
An edition of What Next You Bastard (2001)

What Next You Bastard

  • 1 Want to read

Ken Hall is the quintessence of the ordinary Aussie bloke. But there is nothing ordinary about his courage, strength and determination. This is a moving story, but not a tragic one. It reads like a rollicking yarn full of larrikin gusto, occasionally angry, mostly very funny and without a trace of self-pity. One Hell of a good yarn

'One hell of a good yarn.' Sunday Herald Sun

'A distinctly Australian voice.' Canberra Times

'What Next You Bastard may well prove to have more layers of appeal than a mille feuille . . . a narrative packed with incident, villains and comedy. There's nothing of the victim in Hall. His mother was feisty and so is her son. A keen appreciation of the comic, everywhere evident in the story, with a capacity for lateral thinking that enabled him not only to hide his disability but to wreak a poetic revenge on some of his persecutors, keeps him dancing through the narrative. His is certainly a story that needed to be told . . . His collaborator McFerran has demonstrated just the right kind of literacy to tell the tale.'
Mary Rose Liverani, The Australian

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
286

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Edition Availability
Cover of: What Next You Bastard
What Next You Bastard
2001, Hale & Iremonger Pty Ltd
Paperback in English

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Autobiography =. My childhood was very short.
It ended soon after my twelfth birthday in early 1952.
Thus begins a most extraordinary biography. Ken Hall spent much of his early life in hospital - at twelve he was moved from the children's ward to the terminal adult ward, where he was surrounded by old dying men. As a consequence he never learnt to read or write. The doctors insisted he was going to die but he survived. As he grew older he struggled in the face of calculated cruelty to lead a normal life in a society which equates illiteracy with idiocy. His attempts to conceal his reading problems and his determination to make his own way despite continuing ill health make for sometimes hilarious, sometimes painful, but always compelling reading.
Ken Hall is the quintessence of the ordinary Aussie bloke, but there is nothing ordinary about his courage, strength and determination. This is a moving story, yet has nothing of the tragic about it. Rather, it reads like a rollicking yarn full of larrikin gusto, occasionally angry, mostly very funny, and without a trace of self-pity.
Ken, now 6l, is currently developing 'Radio for All Australians', a national radio service for disadvantaged people. He still can't read or write. In one of those once-in-a-lifetime coincidences he met writer Monika McFerran. Together they worked for two years to produce this book. With great skill Monika has shaped the raw material of a life, while fully retaining Ken's unique voice. The result is a spellbinding narrative.

Edition Notes

Published in
Sydney Australia

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
286
Dimensions
9 x 6 x 3
Weight
534 grams

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL26227893M

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History

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April 18, 2017 Edited by Ken Hall Edited without comment.
February 19, 2017 Edited by Ken Hall Edited without comment.
February 19, 2017 Created by Ken Hall Added new book.