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Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite
Life, Luck and Liaisons by John Burgess is a memoir of a young man’s journey into adulthood during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Born into a family with a notable heritage, the author’s parents eventually settled in Tauranga, where his father purchased a clothing and fashion shop in the main street of the town. His ultimate desire, though, was to go into farming and to build a legacy for his children to take over one day. The author began his schooling in a predominantly rural, mainly Maori school in Gate Pa, Tauranga. As a country boy, he learned to ride, work hard, play hard, and stand up for himself. This trait would come in very useful when he attended the exclusive and wealthy Kings Prep and Kings College boarding schools in Auckland. After school, stints of farm work, travel to Australia, and finally, a period of crewing on various yachts cruising the South Pacific followed. The 1950s and 60s proved to be an exciting and educational time to come of age for this enterprising young New Zealander.
Life, Luck and Liaisons is a story that we in New Zealand might describe as a “cracking good yarn.” Although author John Burgess grew up in New Zealand a decade or so before me, much of the narrative, descriptions, characters, and events he described resonated deeply with me. Well-written and flowing, the story has a “Boys’ Own” breathless quality about it that is easy to get caught up in. I appreciated the background information about his lineage that allowed his experiences to be viewed from a knowledgeable perspective. The family circumstances were at times difficult, but there is no doubt that he and his parents moved in the higher levels of New Zealand society, which gave him some advantages. However, it is equally clear that there was a strong egalitarian streak running through both his parents and indeed the author's character. I did enjoy his tales of sailing through the South Pacific and visiting islands and people that few would have had a chance to meet. By the end of the book, when the author was in his mid-twenties, I was asking, "What’s next?" I hope there is a book to come exploring his adult years. This is a great read and one I highly recommend.
