Review of Joey
Posted: 10 Sep 2021, 13:29
[Following is a volunteer review of "Joey" by Jennie Linnane.]
Joey is the third book in Jennie Linnane’s Ironbark Series. While the others concentrated on the Chapman daughters’ stories, this one centers around their loveable brother, Joseph John Chapman, nicknamed Joey. Due to a complication at his birth, Joey is left with only limited intellect and rudimentary communication skills, but contrary to that hardship--or maybe because of it--he grows into a guileless man of boundless love.
Although Joey is certainly the main character, Linnane lets other characters tell his story. The Prologue, told from an omniscient point of view, sets the scene of Joey’s difficult birth, the love between his young parents, and the frustrated life of Alex, the farmhand, who is secretly in love with Joey’s mother, Irma. The successive chapters are told in the first person, from the perspectives of people in Joey’s life. Several main events are described by a multitude of characters. The plot of the novel covers Joey’s challenging childhood, the death of his father, both the physical and the mental abuse by his step-father, his romantic relationship with Alice, and finally, the birth of his daughter. However, it isn’t really the events that create the drama of this novel; it’s the varying interpretations of those events that allow readers to appreciate Joey from multiple points of view.
Readers get to know Joey mostly from his older sister Natalie, who is ostensibly Joey’s voice throughout the book, explaining the struggles that her “unlucky-at-birth brother” goes through trying to navigate his everyday life. The other prominent voice throughout the novel is from Alice, Joey’s eventual wife and the mother of his child. Ten other characters have their own chapters, eventually coloring a charming picture of Joey’s life. The novel ends sweetly with a chapter penned by Joey himself, with some helpful editing by Natalie, which becomes an endearing love letter to Alice.
There are so many reasons to appreciate this book. First, it’s impossible not to fall in love with Joey. He is described as “film-star handsome,” and his unfettered honesty is delightful. Although Joey doesn’t narrate until the final chapter, we do hear his limited voice through dialogue in the other chapters. Linnane manages Joey’s character development beautifully throughout the novel. Also, the prose style is simple without being simplistic. Linnane’s graceful wordplay slips by so easily, readers who don’t pay specific attention might miss some very clever witticisms. Finally, although I found no earth-shattering themes in this novel, I fully appreciated Linnane’s use of artistic literary devices: the pitting of “plain fat” Alice against her rival, sexy and flirtatious Stacie, and the subtle link drawn between Irma’s dementia and Joey’s limited intelligence.
I am reluctant to express any negatives about Joey, except, perhaps, for Linnane’s unnecessary efforts to create a thematic message concerning racism. The novel touches periodically on the disadvantages that the aboriginals face in Australia, but it never goes far enough to make racism a clear theme. Had Linnane done a more thorough accounting of the forms of discrimination some of the characters experience, Joey would have turned into a very different, less satisfying book. Removing those distractions from the novel would have allowed the simplicity of Joey’s humanity to be the full focus of the novel.
I enthusiastically rate Joey 3 out of 4 stars! I love the character of Joey and the format Linnane used to create him. Even the supporting characters were varied and well-drawn. I recommend this novel to adult and adolescent fans of realistic fiction, who are looking for an uncomplicated, yet profound story of genuine human goodness.
******
Joey
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Joey is the third book in Jennie Linnane’s Ironbark Series. While the others concentrated on the Chapman daughters’ stories, this one centers around their loveable brother, Joseph John Chapman, nicknamed Joey. Due to a complication at his birth, Joey is left with only limited intellect and rudimentary communication skills, but contrary to that hardship--or maybe because of it--he grows into a guileless man of boundless love.
Although Joey is certainly the main character, Linnane lets other characters tell his story. The Prologue, told from an omniscient point of view, sets the scene of Joey’s difficult birth, the love between his young parents, and the frustrated life of Alex, the farmhand, who is secretly in love with Joey’s mother, Irma. The successive chapters are told in the first person, from the perspectives of people in Joey’s life. Several main events are described by a multitude of characters. The plot of the novel covers Joey’s challenging childhood, the death of his father, both the physical and the mental abuse by his step-father, his romantic relationship with Alice, and finally, the birth of his daughter. However, it isn’t really the events that create the drama of this novel; it’s the varying interpretations of those events that allow readers to appreciate Joey from multiple points of view.
Readers get to know Joey mostly from his older sister Natalie, who is ostensibly Joey’s voice throughout the book, explaining the struggles that her “unlucky-at-birth brother” goes through trying to navigate his everyday life. The other prominent voice throughout the novel is from Alice, Joey’s eventual wife and the mother of his child. Ten other characters have their own chapters, eventually coloring a charming picture of Joey’s life. The novel ends sweetly with a chapter penned by Joey himself, with some helpful editing by Natalie, which becomes an endearing love letter to Alice.
There are so many reasons to appreciate this book. First, it’s impossible not to fall in love with Joey. He is described as “film-star handsome,” and his unfettered honesty is delightful. Although Joey doesn’t narrate until the final chapter, we do hear his limited voice through dialogue in the other chapters. Linnane manages Joey’s character development beautifully throughout the novel. Also, the prose style is simple without being simplistic. Linnane’s graceful wordplay slips by so easily, readers who don’t pay specific attention might miss some very clever witticisms. Finally, although I found no earth-shattering themes in this novel, I fully appreciated Linnane’s use of artistic literary devices: the pitting of “plain fat” Alice against her rival, sexy and flirtatious Stacie, and the subtle link drawn between Irma’s dementia and Joey’s limited intelligence.
I am reluctant to express any negatives about Joey, except, perhaps, for Linnane’s unnecessary efforts to create a thematic message concerning racism. The novel touches periodically on the disadvantages that the aboriginals face in Australia, but it never goes far enough to make racism a clear theme. Had Linnane done a more thorough accounting of the forms of discrimination some of the characters experience, Joey would have turned into a very different, less satisfying book. Removing those distractions from the novel would have allowed the simplicity of Joey’s humanity to be the full focus of the novel.
I enthusiastically rate Joey 3 out of 4 stars! I love the character of Joey and the format Linnane used to create him. Even the supporting characters were varied and well-drawn. I recommend this novel to adult and adolescent fans of realistic fiction, who are looking for an uncomplicated, yet profound story of genuine human goodness.
******
Joey
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon