

Ultimately this implodes and her health and grip on reality collapse in a fatal downward spiral and Jimmy has to then fathom the ways of foster care survival.Īs a story it is well written, flows easily for the reader and is quite entertaining in passages. The story hinges around an unfolding tragedy of a mother trying to maintain some semblance of normality and protect both sons from the reality of periodically erupting violence “Gav, not in front of the children “. Though he also has surprising insights and some quirky ways which are comic and endearing.

He can get obsessive and manic, particularly when over-excited or stressed. To its credit, the book does not give his disability any label but it is clear his intellectual development is out of step with the mainstream and he has many social idiosyncrasies which make him a challenge to his parents, brother and teachers. It is told through the eyes of six year old Jimmy, whom I sense may be at the high end of the autism spectrum.

Sofie Laguna’s “ the Eye of the Sheep” is a disturbing tale of a family from Altona (outer Melbourne suburbs) mired in the dysfunction and deceipt of wife-beating and trapped in a low income cycle dictated by the father’s life long job at the local refinery. This is what I like about TGBC… I read literature I otherwise would not. If someone was to ask me if I wished to read a story about the cycle of domestic violence through the eyes of a young family member further stigmatised by a developmental disability, I would have probably retreated to my current comfort zone of Scandi thrillers.
