My first foray into biography has come quite late in life but when a copy of Benjamin Law’s book The Family Law was waved in my face I grabbed it and did a slightly embarrassing jig of joy. Through his writing for frankie magazine I get the feeling that I know him despite not knowing him at all, a mark of a great journalist no doubt.
I laughed out loud (lolled, if you will) before reaching the end of the first page of this book, which set the tone for the whole thing. This family does things a lot of families do, but the difference is their laughing at inappropriate things (think Disney characters and rape, pg 5) and frank dinner table discussions have been immortalised in print. When reading, I started bookmarking funny passages I thought I’d like to reference when I came to review it here. But what do you know 10 pages later I ran out of scraps of paper and thought I’d better focus on reading it and then cross the bridge of writing a concise review when I came to it. Well here we are.
Engaging, intelligent, heartfelt and unfailingly hilarious, there’s a chapter in The Family Law for everyone. From awkward teenage moments to Ben’s innocently and ridiculously entertaining mum Jenny, this book delivers on everything that made you pick it up. I think the best way to illustrate this is as follows;
“The Pardamonte is a dance style my sister Michelle has developed, which compliments something I do called the Dance of Despair. Both resemble rhythmic gymnastics, but instead of using ribbons and clubs in a sports stadium, we use fitted sheets and plastic bags in the living room. It’s really something; you should see us in action.”
That’s page one. Read an interview about The Family Law with Benjamin Law himself here.
– Steph.
ps. We now have twitter. How 21st century.
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