Gusworld: Share A Secret Reviewed

Share A Secret Reviewed looks at the weekly Share A Secret column in Australia's biggest-selling magazine, Woman's Day. We at Gusworld love it, and we hope you will too. We don't give away the plot (that would be unfair and a possible breach of copyright); we just tell you what the headline is and describe the stunning artwork that goes with it.

Woman's Day dated August 19th, 1996

I WAS A TEENAGE SHOPLIFTER

He turned to petty crime to satisfy his desperate desire to join the fun lifestyle of his rich private school friends

It's very unusual for Share A Secret to have a male as the protagonist -- normally they take a passive role, getting cuckolded or poisoned or being fought over in a vicious battle of deep-fried bananas. Maybe that explains why this story is so lame. Not only does the kid thieve nothing more exciting than a couple of caps to sell to his friends (and we all knew the illicit cap trade was big business), he actually goes back and confesses to his crime. Plus, the narratorial bleats about poverty don't sit well with the private school setting.

They haven't done much better with the picture. Some young scallywag is pictured with a couple of caps (one is red, naturally), and, for no adequately explained reason, a potted fern. Given all this, it's no wonder the whole section's been demoted to page 50, well past the Dear Fiona stuff and the Biscuit Bingo.

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