Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony: An Australian Autobiography

by Hal Porter

A classic among Australian autobiographies, The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony is Hal Porter's masterpiece. Recreating the rhythms of small-town life between the wars, it covers the author's first... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571081797
• ISBN13: 9780571081790
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 255 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Life in Australia in the early 1900s

What struck me most about this book is the density of both the language and the detail of Hal Porter's life in the first decades of the 1900s.This is a classic Australian book. It is a beautifully written autobiographical work that one presumes was based on an extensive diary. In short, this book is like reading primary historial sources based on the first two decades of what was then a quite ordinary life. Hal Porter starts with his earliest memories, about his parents at their house in inner suburban Melbourne - including watching life in the street from his cast iron balcony. Then the family packs up and moves to Bairnsdale in country Victoria. His vivid account of how to adapt to a new life and people around him is very enjoyable reading.After his schooling he goes back to the city as a teacher. He is socially active and provides us with more detailed descriptions of life in Melbourne. Even the menus of exclusive restaurants are reported - for example, at The Latin, he eats tomato soup, lamb and apricot pie.This book will not appeal to everyone. It will appeal most to Australians and some may have to persist at first to get used to the richness of the expression.I would rate it as one the most engaging books I have read.