* HilariousInHindsight: A lot is said about how horrible Surry Hills is a place to live in and that the people who live there have a reputation and not much chance of getting a good job. Nowadays, Surry Hills is a rather expensive inner city area full of yuppies and art types.
* TearJerker:
** Roie losing her baby.
** The sequel when [[spoiler:Roie dies in childbirth]].
* ValuesDissonance: A lot of people accuse this novel of being rather racist in terms of its attitude towards Chinese and Australian Aborgines, but this is what it was like at the time.