Alan Crawford’s “A Story or Two to Tell” is a memoir-fiction hybrid that doesn’t apologize for its rough edges. The Australian author follows an aging former Environmental Health Officer reflecting on his career from an aged care facility, spinning tales that range from bureaucratic absurdities to personal mishaps with equal irreverence.
The narrator’s voice carries the book—sardonic, unfiltered, and oddly compelling despite his many flaws. Crawford structures the book as a series of interconnected stories prompted by conversations with a caregiver, creating a unique story structure that feels natural rather than forced. The episodic approach works well for material that jumps between different topics from one page to the next.
Crawford’s strength lies both in his original voice and in his willingness to present his protagonist without heroic gloss. The narrator is crude, politically incorrect, and often self-serving, yet Crawford finds moments of genuine insight within this coarseness. His observations about bureaucratic dysfunction and social hypocrisy land more often than not because they come from someone who’s clearly lived through the frustrations he describes.
The workplace stories provide the book’s best material. Crawford transforms mundane health inspections and administrative battles into genuinely funny scenarios that reveal larger truths about institutional incompetence. The emotional core emerges through the narrator’s relationships, particularly with his partner Michelle. These quieter moments provide necessary balance to the more outrageous anecdotes, though Crawford occasionally struggles to maintain this equilibrium.
Crawford’s prose style mimics oral storytelling effectively, complete with hilarious tangents and asides that feel conversational rather than literary. This approach serves the material well, though it sometimes leads to pacing issues where certain parts drag while others feel rushed. The book succeeds as both entertainment and social commentary, though it’s not subtle about either goal. Crawford clearly has axes to grind regarding government inefficiency and social pretension, and it is clear the line between him and his narrator is somewhat blurred.
“A Story or Two to Tell” will appeal to readers comfortable with profanity, political incorrectness, and narrative experimentation. It’s not particularly deep or transformative, but it’s honest about its limitations. Crawford has written a solid collection of stories that entertain while offering glimpses of larger truths about aging, work, and human nature.
At only 66 pages, the book delivers what it promises—unvarnished stories from someone who’s lived through enough to fill several memoirs. For readers seeking authentic voices over polished prose, Crawford provides exactly that.
You can get your copy of “A Story or Two to Tell” here!
