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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol 36 No. 5. 29 March 1973

"The God Boy" by Ian Cross. — Whitcombes & Tombs. 180 pp $2.70

"The God Boy" by Ian Cross.

Whitcombes & Tombs. 180 pp $2.70

'A child should have plenty of steep I think, three meals a day, with soft drink now and then in between meals if he feels like it, plenty of room to play about in, and a home that's a little like Christmas morning all the time'.

This is what Jimmy Sullivan wants but he doesn't get it because, according to Jimmy. God doesn't do his job properly. Jimmy Sullivan is the main character in Ian Cross's 1957 novel that has recently been re-issued. He loses the battle of trying not to care about the hate between his weak Irish father who likes a little drink now and then and his manic-depressive mother.

When Jimmy realises that his father gave him a bike not to please the boy but to hurt his wife, he has a furious spate of window smashing and throws stones at his best friend. Jimmy is frustrated when he tries to tell various people about his troubles and is only offered the solution that he should not care. But he obviously does.

The novel is written from Jimmy's point of view but in language which sometimes seems a little advanced. Cross uses the technique that makes events obvious to everyone except Jimmy.

This book is much less depressing than 'Owls Do Cry'. It is witty and although unconvincing, it is a readable account of a sensitive small boy who has to worry about his parents instead of 'how big the world really is and what is behind the sky'.

Cartoon of a man sitting on a seat talking to himself