A review by archytas
Midnite: The Story of a Wild Colonial Boy by Randolph Stow

5.0

Re-reading this after many years, it is both of its time and yet startlingly modern: Stow manages a nuanced view of police, law, theft, monarchy and authority all within hilariously simplified/overblown humour. The portrait Aboriginal people (who are treated as mysterious shadowy forces rather than actual people, separate to white society - unknowable is certainly better than stereotypical, but it still depersonalises them in some chapters), and women (who are mostly capricious and silly - although Mrs Chifley, a key exception, is one of the great characters of Australian fiction) doesn't necessarily survive as brilliantly, but inevertheless, this is a wonderfully Australian tale which both celebrates and subverts our key myths.