The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong
A suspenseful book about rivalry, masculinity, family, sports, and the costly cost of achieving your goals. The tough and brave single mother of Darren Keefe and his older brother. Cricket and trouble-making are Darren’s two main strengths. It should come as no surprise that he develops into a bad-boy Australian sporting celebrity—a man who consistently gets away with wrongdoing.
Up until the day we finally encounter him—a middle-aged man—in a car’s trunk. Cable-tied, gagged, and with a bullet in his knee. There are many signs that point to a shallow grave. This ambitious literary effort, which is narrated by Darren from the boot of a car on his way to what is undoubtedly his own murder, is impossible to put down.
The Rules of Backyard Cricket
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Two brothers, Darren Keefe and his older brother Wally are the subjects of the book The Rules of Backyard Cricket. It starts off extremely well with us meeting Darren in the trunk of a car at a middle-aged age. He has a bullet in his knee, is cable-tied, and has been gagged. You simply think, “Hello.” In The Rules of Backyard Cricket, the majority of the tale is delivered through flashbacks, which may severely bog down a book because the reader is aware that the plot is accelerating toward an unfavourable conclusion. Going back in time, we get to know Darren and Wally and see how their relationship—as well as larger society—is characterized through the backyard cricket match.
Various households have various rules for backyard cricket. In the case of Darren and his brother, it’s a brutal, aggressive game of one-upmanship. Their single mother, who is fairly feisty and independent yet far too forgiving of Darren, is the mother of their two sons.
The Rules of Backyard Cricket is a book about cricket, but it’s also much more than that. The combination of criminality, corruption, and family sorrow is masterful. Without a doubt, this is the best book. I think that was part of the beauty of Serong’s storytelling as well; it was frequently on the verge of being over the top but always kept a gritty realism. Serong’s depictions of characters are fantastic, caricatured and stereotyped to the border of plausibility. This book is full of drama and action.
