Old Bucky and Me: Dispatches from the Christchurch Earthquake by Jane Bowron

Jane Bowron is a freelance journalist based in Christchurch. She had been living there for three years when, on February 22nd, the city was struck by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, just five months after a 7.1 earthquake rocked the city. The first quake was further away, with less damage and no fatalities, but this time it was a real horror story, striking in the middle of the day, collapsing buildings, crushing vehicles, starting fires, causing landslides and causing swiftly rising liquefaction.

As the historic city lay in ruins, Jane managed to find a phone, get through to her newspaper and deliver a moving human account of the scene around her. This however wasn't an event that was gone in a day, and for the next three months she continued to deliver regular columns about everyday life lived in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

Old Bucky is the name Jane gives to the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. As this might suggest, the book about Old Bucky is an entertaining read with wry observational humour and insight of what it was like to be in Christchurch during this time. She doesn't focus on her emotional state, but the pain, bewilderment and determination to keep going felt by all Cantabrians is evident within the pages.

This book is a great read not only for those from Christchurch who want to see some humour in the devastation of the city, but more importantly for those from elsewhere around the country who are wondering just what life was like after the quake and also why most of the city chose to stay.

RRP $33.00
Published by AWA Press