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They're A Weird Mob (2000)

by Nino Culotta(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0947116923 (ISBN13: 9780947116927)

languge

English

genre

Humor

review 1: Taught me how to eat spaghetti the proper, Italian way.Later I found out that the book was actually written by an Irishman, and that real Italians over the age of five don't eat pasta that way at all.I read this because of the movie, which was about Sydney in a time when nothing on TV was about Australia except the news, and I had not long before found out that I didn't actually live in America, despite what my TV had so insistently implied. This revelation made, I was intrigued by this place I now knew I lived in, and more than a little proud that Graham Kennedy, that famous Melbourne person, was in the movie, and so therefore so was Melbourne, for about twelve seconds.Apart from that, it's a pretty lame and obvious "satire", and probably more than a little bit racist. So... morert of like Chris Lilley's "Jonah from Tonga" but without the F-grenades.
review 2: They’re a Weird Mob is the first book by John O’Grady writing under the pseudonym Nino Culotta, and purports to tell the tale of Nino, an Italian journalist sent to Australia to write articles about the country and her people for Italians to read. Nino has learned English, so he shouldn’t have a problem, his boss thinks. But English, Nino finds, is not Australian. As Nino experiences true Aussie culture in the form of Kings Bloody Cross, labouring for a brickie, drinking in the pub, picking a fight in the street, almost being arrested, travelling on the train, being invited to tea, a buck’s night, a wedding reception, going shooting and swimming at Bondi, he relates his interactions with Australians and his puzzlement with their language. Some of the conversations he overhears, like the discussion of horse racing in a café, are confusing to me now, after having lived in Australia for 55 years. Nino learns about the attitude of many Australians to migrants, but finds his appearance and his willingness to “have a go” soon defuse this, and finds himself taking part in many Aussie-male rites of passage. He also learns that many words (ticket, drum, shout, before, only) have multiple meanings. This novel is a very long way from being Politically Correct: when Nino decides he wants to marry, the discussion on “sheilas” begins “blondes are easy on the eye, but they get dirty quick”. One needs to remember, though, that it was written in 1957, and reflects attitudes of the day, and if one bears this in mind, there are many laugh-out-loud moments. While O’Grady’s writing does an excellent job of portraying a naïve Italian migrant, his eulogising about the Australian and how to become a good one is a bit transparent. Hilarious! less

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