Aaron Fa’Aoso
So Far, So Good
‘I am a descendant of the Samu and Koedal clans of Sabai Island. My people are warriors, but we are storytellers too.’
On his long path to success – from aspiring professional footballer to actor, director and producer – for every opportunity Aaron Fa’Aoso had, there were setbacks and heartache.
He was six when his father and grandfather both died. His fiercely proud mother and even fiercer grandmother dug deep to raise Aaron and his brothers. Belief in himself as a warrior – literally and metaphorically – made him into a fighter, for better and for worse.
A month into Aaron’s second marriage, and just as his acting career was flourishing, his new wife took her own life. In the dark years that followed, Aaron eventually found strength and meaning in his family and in his beloved Torres Strait community.
In So Far, So Good, he talks frankly about love, pain, making mistakes and finding happiness again, as well as the impacts of racism and the challenges of remote communities. A rich and vivid reflection on life told with generosity, humour, emotion and optimism.
About Aaron Fa’Aoso
Torres Strait Islander Aaron Fa’Aoso, father and now grandfather, has earned a living as a professional footballer, a Kings Cross bouncer, a remote community health worker, an acclaimed actor and—for the last decade—as the owner and manager of his own media production company.
You might have seen Aaron on TV: in food show Strait to the Plate; in the Torres Strait documentary Blue Water Empire; or as the star of ABC’s Black Comedy. Or maybe you’ve seen him in dramas: The Straits; Remote Area Nurse; or East West 101.
Aaron is also on the boards of SBS, Screen Queensland and Supply Nation and he was the co-chair of the Queensland Government’s Interim Truth and Treaty Body.
A Collaboration
Aaron elected to produce his memoir in collaboration with me, Michelle Scott Tucker. Frankly, it’s a privilege and an honour to work with Aaron (and I wrote a little about the process here). Like him, his story is smart and funny and full of emotional complexity and depth. I’m thrilled that we found a publisher who is as ambitious for this important memoir as we are.
So Far, So Good is the first memoir to be commercially published by a Torres Strait Islander. Aaron’s story therefore provides an important contribution to the rising and very welcome tide of First Nations voices in Australia, addressing the under-representation of Torres Strait Islander perspectives in Australian life.
Definitely not a footy memoir, it’s a candid and courageous book about truth-telling, racism, trauma and violence. And it’s also about love and family and community.
Crucially though – and not incidentally – it is also a cracker of a read.
Aaron received this long, moving text from a young man:
I just wanna give you your flowers. I just read “So Far, So Good” and man it was a great read, it had me in a head lock ahah. I finished the book in 3 days and I’m not even much of a reader, that’s actually only the 2nd book I’ve read.
The cultural insight, untold history of our country, racism, living between 2 worlds, insight into an industry that is so foreign to Indigenous people especially TSIs, relationships, mental health awareness, suicide awareness, taking accountability, pushing through and facing the storm and to just being an average man that said yes to an opportunity that changed his life.
This was brilliant. I commend you for putting your life on paper for the world to see the good, the bad and ugly, it’s very brave and admirable. Your love for our culture and community is next level and how you’re moving and what you’re planning in King-like.
I thank you and Michelle Scott Tucker for this read, it’s so inspiring. I’m not ashamed to say this but I actually idolise you and wish to be a strong leader and voice for my/our people one day as well. If you talk I will follow if you ever need me.
Big Esso.
And here’s an example of the sort of emails Aaron regularly receives from readers:
Hey Aaron, I just wanted to say THANKS HEAPS for writing ur book SO FAR, SO GOOD. I haven’t read a book in a very long time but I found myself unable to put down your book! I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it was to write ur book and relive many of those events/things/traumas/memories that you’ve endured, experienced for most of ur life! I’m still blown away by ur story and that of ur family’s!
I’m not going to say I know how it feels to go through what you’ve gone through but I can relate to a few of the things you’ve shared and touched on in your life but as you would know, we all have our own individual journeys and paths we live/take/walk/experience and it definitely doesn’t define us. Nah it doesn’t aye!
They’ll always be the knockers and people who think they know you, those quick to judge unfairly and are still stick in the past and not to forget that tall poppy syndrome that exists! Aaron, ur honesty, rawness, openness and owning ur mistakes is to be admired and applauded! Not many people would be as brutally honest and open as you have been.
You can definitely hold ur head up high and know 100% that all the good things that comes ur way now and into the future is so blardyyy deserved! From this Blekgal to you, Aaron (a deadly/smart/talented/hard working/culturally strong and proud man), I say thanks again to you for ur book!
Thanks for being insightful, thought provoking, and for inspiring me and motivating me on so many levels with how I want to live my life and what I want to achieve and do personally and professionally. Stay deadly but take care of urself and keep enjoying country, culture and time with family and friends 🙂
Some early feedback from literary agents and publishers, about the manuscript:
- This manuscript ripped my heart and guts out and then put them back together, and the heart at least is ten times bigger. Incredible!
- What a triumph! The book is incredibly moving, disarming, honest, funny, entertaining and so damn compelling. I couldn’t put it down.
- Aaron, you have truly put your heart on the page and are so brave to do so, and I commend you for it – it can’t have been easy. This honesty and vulnerability adds so much to the emotional pull of the book and I think readers will connect with the highs and lows of your journey due to the generous spirit in which it is told.
- Michelle, you have so beautifully captured Aaron’s voice. I also feel like I know his Mum and Nan really well! It’s filled with warmth and humour and the insights into Torres Strait history, culture and community threaded throughout give it an extra layer of richness.
- Truly something special here. Honestly, these are the books we got into the biz for and can’t wait to get it into the hands of Aussie readers everywhere.
- Listen to Aaron talk about his life, and his memoir, on ABC Radio’s ‘Conversations’ with Sarah Kanowski.
- ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’ Arena Magazine’s review of Aaron Fa’Aoso’s So Far, So Good.
- ‘There are SO many layers to this book, some dark, some light and fun, some entirely inspirational and beyond beautiful. Five stars.’ Good Reads Reviews.
- Podcast: Secrets from the Green Room. Irma chats with Aaron Fa’Aoso and Michelle Scott Tucker about the process of ghostwriting (or co-writing) Aaron’s memoir, how they tackled sensitive subjects like suicide, racism and Aaron’s domestic violence history, the decision-making process on what to include and what to not, why Aaron almost pulled the project many times but ultimately never did, how Michelle captured Aaron’s voice, and why recording the audiobook sent Aaron into a dark place.
- Read an edited excerpt, published in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Body & Soul lift out.
