Girls Like You By Paul Sheehan

[Panda]

Has anyone read this book and if so what are your thoughts,
I was shocked, I thought things were bad but not as bad as this book portraits

comments from anyone who has read this would be appreciated

Tony & Panda

[p38arover]

Now I'll have to Google it to find out what it's about.

Ron

[Mick-Kelly]

AuthorPaul SheehanGenreSociety/PoliticsPublisherMacmillanPages400RRP$24.95
As the extended title of Girls Like You ( Four Young Girls, Six Brothers and a Cultural Timebomb) indicates, Paul Sheehan weaves together several interrelated narratives. The first relates the criminal activities of the K brothers, including a fatal road-rage assault, workplace fraud, perjury and gang rapes. The second follows the story of four teenage girls who are horribly assaulted by the brothers and whose suffering is compounded by their experiences with the courts.
The two stories are compellingly grounded in police documents and courtroom transcripts, reinforced by Sheehan's observations of the court process and his interviews with those involved.
Sheehan is a Herald journalist and his style is that of documentary journalism - court transcripts are presented in compressed and extended versions, and juxtaposed with timelines and references to media commentary on the high-profile cases.
His tone is mostly that of a reporter, but the narrative passages that frame the documentary material evoke the hard-boiled style of crime fiction, as in this passage preceding the first account of the gang-rape trials: "More than a trial was about to begin. The proceedings would turn into cultural warfare. Parliament had already intervened. Public passions were inflamed. Women had been raped. And men were going to die."
In addition to providing chilling accounts of the courtroom processes, Sheehan provides extended accounts of the crimes themselves. These present the clearest accounts of Sheehan's own editorial perspective. The rapes are deeply distressing and the depth of the injury against the young women is compounded by the added insult they suffered in the adversarial court system. The chapters that record Sami K's arrogant and remorseless attempts to prolong this process, and cause the judge to declare a mistrial, are particularly disturbing.
Yet Sheehan's framing of the cultural time bomb narrative is disturbing, too.
He links the Cronulla riots to the rape cases and asks "how many other cultural time bombs were ticking amid the Muslim male population living within the liberality of Australia". This seems to imply that Muslim men are more prone to violence, sexual or otherwise.
Yes, the K brothers (who are Pakistani) tried to claim they had been framed by a police system biased against Muslims. Yes, they identified themselves as "Lebs" to some of their victims and presented themselves as following the fashion of Lebanese gangsters. They are from an area of Pakistan described by an expert witness, Dr Michael Humphreys, as "the most rigidly tribal, puritanical and patriarchal".

[Xavie]

Yeah, I know a few ppl from the book as well. Which part are you refering to as worse then you thought?

Xav

[tony]

Yeah, I know a few ppl from the book as well. Which part are you refering to as worse then you thought?

Xav

1- Even though most of the family were in jail, immigration still saw fit to allow other members of the family resident status

2- The Justis system let them manipulate the system to the ninth degree

3- The coppers had been having reports about there behavior for months Manley due to there distinctive number plate and could do nothing

T

[Xavie]

Yeah. And I think it is important to note to that although written by a journalist etc... it wasn't sensationalised or manipulated and it was told how it was.

I think what the book portrayed the best I have ever seen at least was how floored the justice system is and how all these people who have to go through this because they were victimised are just victimised again and again because of the court system. And so many people drop out of cases because of this behaviour so all those jerks never get sentenced.

Xav