Zed
Masturbation: The Difficult One. Some find it difficult to talk about. Others find it difficult to do.
Not in this books case. 15 year old Adrian Sherd had no issue with either talking about, thinking about or practising this ancient art.
Adrian made many visits (at night) to America where he had many a romp with the starlets of the times, Jayne and Marilyn and Susan. He wondered how other regular sinners dealt with having to confess to so many visits to America. He worried about what the Saints knew. Was there news flashes in heaven that announced he had “...abused himself at 10.55 this evening”? Did his granddad see him and if he broke the habit would he have to hide from his granddad once in heaven.
He borrowed books from the library to see what female parts were really like. Famous statues were no help at all and this was of great disappointment. He was that caught up with the entire subject he was convinced that the protestant reformation was started by a priest who could endure celibacy no more. He gave serious thought about Irish lads doing it tough because there was nowhere to hide in the open fields of their treeless land.
But things changed as he met a girl on a tram and this changed his life as he sinned less and less and gave serious thought to his marriage to her, how they would live and how he would be the ideal Catholic husband that would work hard to protect her and Australia from communists and Protestants. He had deep meaningful discussions about Adam and Eve and how as a couple it would aid their sexual needs and wants and that would make them the ideal Catholic couple.
Gerald Murnane has written a very good book indeed that covered not only the very funny side of this issue but was an exposure of the fear drummed into young boys of the Catholic faith in an age gone by. Poor Gerald Murnane. If this was his youth at 15 years of age the poor fella must have been this quivering mess. Maybe writing this book was therapeutic. A gold star to whomever knows where I plagiarised the first line of this review from and another gold star to whomever brought this brilliant author to my attention. Recommended to Catholic men who recall the fear and guilt.
Kylie Minogue, Joseph Conrad, the fascist state that was Queensland and how I came to realise that the star rating system may not be appropriate for this book.
At a Lifeline Bookfest in Brisbane a while back I picked up battered copies of both this book, The Delinquents by Criena Rohan and The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, both for only a dollar. Conrad's classic was known to me and had always been on my TBR. The Delinquents on the other hand was a spur of the moment purchase based on the cover blurb. Brisbane being the location was a lure. I also realised, after a look at the www, that the pop diva Kylie Minogue has played the lead in a movie based on the book. Not that I am particularly a Kylie type of fella but what did that matter.
Both of these short books I earmarked for a 12 hour flight I was making mid last year. After taking my seat I half slept just about the entire trip so read little. On leaving the flight I proceeded to leave both battered books on the plane.
I was a little annoyed with myself so once back in Brisbane I purchased new copies of both and decided to start with The Delinquents. With that let's be utterly brutal. The Delinquents is a badly written book. The writing has the appearance of being rushed and with that the need of a good editor. It was almost juvenile in delivery at times. The romanticism was so poor at times I imagined a high school kid writing this after too much Mills and Boon such was some of the narrative. Events blended into each other so rapidly that it was almost as if the author had had so many ideas to tag to the story but knew not how. Some parts are so badly written as to be almost funny. At one point, completely out of character to the way the story is told, we get several sentences of possums peeking into a room deciding as what were the actions of either Lola or Brownie, the main characters of the story, in deciding as to who had cleaned the room they were in. The sympathetic style towards the pair of “delinquents” was also just a little too much. It lacked, for me, the grit required.
But! And a big BUT.
Written in 1962 this novel may be a bit more observant of street life in Brisbane in the 50's than my complaints about poor writing and delivery deserve. The author is observing the subculture that was Australia at the time called Bodgies and Widgies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodgies_and_widgies
Being Queensland, historically the most reactionary state in Australia, the authorities frowned upon this subculture just as much as the emerging Punk culture of my youth in the late 70's. The tale itself covers under age sex, contraception and abortion, living on the street and squatting amongst others themes. Migrant communities are a big part of the narrative. These, I would suggest at the time of writing, were radical in terms of what Qlders (and maybe Australians in general) were reading in the early 60's. The Bush was seemingly the ideal topic with the only critical writing being by likes of the brilliant Thea Astley writing about the reactionary bourgeois middle classes. Books on subcultures? I know of none and if there are any out there can someone let me know please?
I was once witness to a policeman beating up a punk rocker in King George Square in the heart of Brisbane in the late 70's and hearing the cop say to the boy that he should not “be allowed to dress like that.” I heard the same at a gig I attended. “They shouldn't be allowed to listen to stuff like this.” said a big burly policeman standing next to me. It gets no more innocuous than the pop pap of a band that is called Mental as Anything but they may have been subversive for all I know. Perhaps he thought the nips were pornographic as opposed to alcoholic!
Interestingly the government at the time was elected via gerrymander and had at best a 30% popular vote. They were authoritarian and used to discuss how they did not like southerners (people from NSW and Victoria I kid you not) and as late as 1989 they raided a record shop over supposedly obscene record covers. From the Rocking Horse Records Facebook we get the following.
“On this day in 1989 - Police raid long time 4ZZZ supporters Rocking Horse Records, then located at 158 Adelaide Street in the city. An undercover officer from the Licensing branch, came into the store seeking out rude records for a “wild valentine's day party”, followed later that day by four uniformed police who raided the store. Owner Warwick Vere was charged with exhibiting and selling obscene material under the Vagrants, Gaming and Other Offences Act, but ultimately found not guilty. Albums included The Dead Kennedys “Give me Convenience” (featuring the classic ‘Too Drunk to Fuck'), Guns n Roses “Appetite for Destruction” (available at many major chain stores at the time), the Hard-Ons “Dick Cheese” and The Champs “Do the Shag” (an instrumental album from the early 60s). In an interview with Gavin Sawford for Time Off Magazine, Dead Kennedy's Jello Biafra commented: “if these attempts to shut down record stores because an instrumental band mention a type of carpet on their record helps to galvanise people to vote out the present administration, then by all means let's see some more raids”. That government went soon after such was their lack of understanding that the world was the late 1900s and not the mid-1600s.
For me for all the poor writing and delivery that the book delivered it is a very important piece of writing. Let's be utterly brutal again, Brisbane and Qld in general was verging on a reactionary fascist state from birth until the early 90's no matter the side of politics that governed. The 50's were no different from the past and the future. For all the ham-fisted writing, poor delivery, lack of character development etc. this is probably an early observation of the fascist state that was Queensland and maybe a plea for help.
Strangely at times the author showed some literary smarts. We got the following after boyfriend Brownie had come back from a stint in the merchant navy.
“it puzzled her that a little seaman, with all the wonders of the wonders of the world just a voyage away, in a manner of speaking, should take an interest in the impossible marvels of the more lurid type of historical fiction – what Brownie called ‘lusty busties.' ‘Wouldn't you think they would read Joseph Conrad?' said Lola innocently. She had just discovered Conrad, and had decided he was her favourite Author. ‘Who's he?” said Brownie. Lola explained. Brownie snorted. He said that if Joseph Conrad was a sailor he should have known better than to go writing about the sea – and who wanted to read about the sea anyway”
We also get a great line that resonated right up until the early 90's considering Qld's police state credentials. “‘If you ask me, all Brisbane's full of coppers and all of them are bastards,' she said expressing in one concise sentence the full theory of central government in the sunshine state”.
For me this sentence from a relatively obscure 1962 novel was an astonishing observation considering what was to come once the corruption in the Sunshine State was exposed during the Fitzgerald Enquiry of later years.
Interestingly I was telling a work college about this book the other day. He laughed and told the yarn of when he and 3 mates were making a short film for their studies while at Art Collage when the film of this book was being made in the late 80's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Delinquents_(1989_film)
In a lane in the middle of the central business district they were setting up their cameras. When he was asked what they were doing he being a smarty said they were filming a scene for the movie The Delinquents and expected Kylie to be along later. Next thing there were about 100 people watching and waiting for Kylie to appear. He had to lie later and say they had word that she could not make it that day. Kylie is still very popular in this part of the world and as I write she plays in Brisbane this weekend. Let's hope the rain holds of for her and the fans.
So a couple of things. Would I recommend this to others? I recommend it to no one. It is poorly written. Does it deserve to be read? Yes if one has an interest in Queensland literature and needs to understand its youth subculture and that it was a cultural backwater that the authorities were keen to keep that way. Thank goodness we have moved on from the days of watching a kid with a funny haircut get bashed for being just a kid with a funny haircut. With that I need to read Conrad's Heat of Darkness. If 1950' delinquent Lola was impressed I will be disappointed if I am not.
Star rating? No idea. How about five for the fun of it all.
A thought provoking book that covers the parallel lives of a post WW2 ABC (Australian Born Chinese) and his ancestor, Shan, who came to Australia to seek his fortune during the gold rush of the late 1850's to early 60's. Seamus, the ABC, is born and bred in Australia and speaks no Chinese language at all but from the beginning senses his differences to Anglo Australians. When he, coincidently, finds some writing from an ancestor he ascertains to understand what it means and with that takes a parallel journey that leads to a frantic end.
The major theme running through the novel, for me at least, was one of Seamus searching for his identity and his past. The double narrative had me enthralled as the past and the present took similar routes. Both protagonists have to deal with their own fear and states of uncertainty as they deal with the inherent and violent racism of the past by Anglo Australians or the cultural misunderstandings of the modern equivalent.
Released in 1983 this was a fantastic debut by Brian Castro and I look forward to reading him further.
My first Janette Turner Hospital and will not be my last.
15 short stories with some very good indeed. As the blurb on the back covers says”....all experience moments of crisis and illumination” with the past and present ever part of each story.
A couple are absolute stand outs for me.
The Last of the Hapsburgs has had me thinking days after initially reading the story. I went back for a 2nd read so impressive was its themes. A school teacher, Miss Devonport, reflects on her life in North Qld and her assistance and compassion to a couple of girls less fortunate. Certainly, crisis and illumination dominated this story that had a sad and bitter ending.
Eggshell Expressway was the story of a drug addict prostitute who actually cares more for her client, a noted judge, than she realises. Crisis and illumination dominated her thoughts as she attempts to save her client from her repulsive pimp.
Recommended to those who like short thematic stories.
A killer is on the loose and as some locals are murdered the reader is dragged into the paranoia and fear of those that think they know, those that just live in fear and those that may or may not have reasons to kill. The layers of each chapter has one thinking about the human condition. The dark side of the psyche is revealed by some excellent writing that had me reading late into the night.
Though a cold and grim read this is a very good book. Randolph Stow: a great unknown Australian writer.
A Hong Kong family history covering a time frame of 70 years that involves both Chinese and expats that is ideal for those that want an interesting but easy to read story.
One small error was the author calling the Jacaranda Tree flame red when it is purple. I think he meant Flamboyant Flame Trees as they are known in Hong Kong.
I have not enjoyed this book one bit. After 90 pages I thought to myself that it would kick on.
Nope! It got more and more monotonous.
I got to the 250th page and had had enough. Page after page of waffle that is so repetitive as to be the literary equivalent of Chinese Water torture.
But I soldiered on to the end. Why? I asked myself. I have many books sitting round my house and I kept reading on for some unknown reason. The same meaningless boring chat back and forth by the same boring people from beginning to end and I kept reading. Not one of the characters was of interest. The narrator boringly explains page after page not very much at all. Yeah she is head over heels in something or other with a failed actor who is is is.... I don't know what, a dull boring mind screw? I don't mind the challenging but this was not challenging. It was dull. The same repetitive stuff page after page.
Thea Astley's debut novel the story of a young girls last day in a town that is far too provincial for her wants and needs. Though a simple story it is pulled along by some mesmerising writing that has grabbed my imagination as to the people and place.
The Girl with a Monkey. The title is possibly condescending but then the author would have been aware of that. Is it a metaphor for Elsie, the leading characters troubles and fears be that with her relationships with her profession, provincialism, the snobbish middle class or with men?
Else admits that she is strangely entertained by her last day. She despises herself for this but makes excuses. She enjoys her own observations of the local middle class, the prints of Gauguin and Millet on their walls for example. Enjoys her own despising of the education system that took her to provincial Townsville where she has to deal with a school principle who has little time for her. But most of all she despises having to deal with her relationship with Harry, an older and less educated road worker who is the major key to Elsie and her monkey. Elsie may just be enjoying her intellectual superiority over Harry but as she says at times Harry shows native shrewdness and humour with Elsie even at times finding him a “dark horse”. But on the last day her relationship with Harry comes to a head. She fears violence but may not have really wanted to avoid Harry as she “craved the dramatic”. This craving for the dramatic comes to a fitting end when the reader decides as what the monkey is.
Thea Astley is an outstanding writer! Four eventual Miles Franklin awards prove that. Being my third novel by Thea I know that she is a writer who appeals to my own reading wants and needs. This is a really good novel.
Populist in presentation and not a definitive history of The Coast Watchers but a very readable book none the less. I would suggest that for the novice on the subject, such as myself, this is a good place to start.
Following a few of the individuals and the events that surrounded their Coast Watching, author Patrick Lindsay has presented a well-researched book with good footnotes and an excellent bibliography.
Many of the watchers were in fact civilians prior to the Japanese invasion of the south Pacific Islands and one has to admire their tenacity in the face of grave danger. Lindsay states that 36 died in action. As US Commander Admiral Fitch wrote “Your constant, efficient, courteous work with (his) staff has been of great value to me and all Air Services engaged in the South Pacific. Your efforts have been worthy of your superb coast-watching organisation which since the start of the campaign has merited the deep gratitude and the highest-possible admiration of all Air Forces and specially all Flyers”
Recommended to any that have an interest in a small Force that played a vital role in the war in the Pacific.
Written in the third person the reader gets a magnificent child's eye view of his world that covers, among other things, birds, colours, horse-racing, school, sexual awakening, religion, family life and more. At times so totally lyrical in delivery but then so stream of consciousness. But it just works! Imagine being able to write with such a childlike view of your life but making it relevant to an adult reader. I am in awe. I don't pretend that this review can do this magnificent book justice.
This is my first Gerald Murnane book but it will not be my last.
Peter Ryan wrote this memoir not long after his time in New Guinea as an intelligence operative behind enemy lines in 42/43. It was finally published in 1959 to much acclaim. Why? As easy to read as the memoir is it is astonishingly repetitive to the point of being tedious. At 300 pages long it could have been cut by some judicial editing to half the size and been a far better book for that.
The first half is basically time spent by the author alone in the New Guinea jungle with the natives and explaining how they lived and how he learnt the local pidgin dialect.
The second half of the book is much the same except he has a fellow Australian for company and along with some faithful natives go tramping across the Jungles and Mountains in pursuit of intelligence on Japanese movements. Yes some of the locals made life difficult by being uncooperative and even working with the enemy but this is written about in such a nonchalant way that it seemed to hardly be a problem.
In the entire book Peter Ryan was shot at twice by the enemy. Once in rather strange circumstances when the Japanese took pot shots from too far away and near the end of the book in what were no doubt very sad and difficult circumstances where he showed amazing endurance.
Throughout the book I had no idea as to times and dates. Most of the time I had no idea as to what intelligence was gathered. Many claim who have read this that he showed courage in isolation and fatigue. Well yes to a degree but the author gave the impression that he enjoyed every minute of the country side and in fact relished his isolation from other whites and had nothing but praise for the local New Guineans to the point that he made many visits after the war.
As a lad in the 1970's I worked with an old PNG veteran who told me that his entire war was 99% boredom and 1% absolute fear. That summed this very pedestrian book up.
The 3rd Volume of Peter Pinney's WW2 trilogy sees Johnno near to the end of his secret war.
Author Peter Pinney gives the reader a fascinating insight into the foot soldiers dealing with a pointless campaign. There are still the patrols that give little other than rare action, grim humour and resentment to both the enemy and the brass. The racist language of the common soldier is still heavy but Johnno is getting a bit deeper in his thoughts as to what this all means to the Bougainville Islanders. One of his mates gives over a primus to one of the Islanders who has been a superb guide for the squadron.
“Masta, pight ‘e pinis, true?”
“Pight ‘e pinis true, Kirishu”
“Masta, alla white boss go ‘long sodawater now? ‘Long Australia?
“That's right sport.”
“Masta I can go too?”
As Johnno writes “No he couldn't”. Johnno contemplates all that Kirishu had done for them in the fight against Japan but going to “our island was unthinkable. He was not worthy. He was too black, customs would never let him through” “Nice of you to help us. Goodbye.” he writes bitterly.
Johnno wondered about what would happen to the natives and he was troubled by this. For their broken villages and shattered families they deserved more than “ a battered old primus and half a bag of salt” The island was theirs but would the absentee landlords return? Rebuild the ravaged plantations and begin recruiting local labour? “......and will anything have changed?” he thoughtfully writes. Johnno has gotten older and more thoughtful after 27 months in the tropics. He turned 23 in this the end times of the 2nd World War and that was considered middle aged by some of his comrades. Older than the “bum fluffed” officers foisted on these veterans of the jungle wars. But home has become a yearning for him and all his mates. Time to go and let's do what it takes and do what it takes some of them did. What a terrific trilogy.
The 2nd Volume of Peter Pinney's WW2 trilogy follows Johnno to Bougainville Island.
Pinney has shown what a fine writer he is with this 2nd novel. Johnno's observations are sharper, he has honed his skills from the days of his secret diary in the New Guinea campaign. While others come back from the line and play up, getting drunk, raiding and trading for contraband, Johnno is “..... always bloody writing“ a young comrade states, annoyed that he will not go on a raid to steal an officers liquor with his mates. Johnno though is also sensible enough not to seem too big for his boots by occasionally joining in the fun. He is changing. The racist language of the New Guinea campaign is still heavy in his speech but his observations of the peoples of Bougainville Island are now of a more curious nature.
He even contemplates the human nature of the Japanese enemy. At one point a fellow digger, Silver, confides in Johnno his love of art and his own talent. Silver states of the Japanese that they are “....extraordinary artists” with the “...discovery of real beauty a goal in itself”. Johnno writes that it was “...strangely disturbing, the compassion in his voice; as if he was inviting us to consider something which, we instinctively knew, was best ignored”
Though there are lots of patrols the enemy is rarely met and this leaves the troops frustrated. Discipline is poor. Rumours run rife; Western Australia is going to be invaded! They are fighting in a “second rate show” one of their officers confides at one point. Philosophical discussions on killing become part of the banter. For some it is the best time of their lives but for others? It hits the men hard when a newspaper from home is received and the public know that Bougainville Island campaign is but a sideshow.
The Barbarians was always going to be a hard act to follow but Pinney has done more than enough to make this a must read for anyone wishing to read his prose. Again rich in Strine and observation of the Australian soldier at war but this time on Bougainville Island, an even less known theatre of war than was the previous novels settings in Papua New Guinea. This is Johnno's (Pinney's) observations of his own “limited experience” but as he states in the preface “An attempt has been made to eliminate factual error, but bias and prejudice remain,....” “This book is in no sense a unit history, nor is it meant to be. If it gives even a marginal notion of men on Bougainville, it will have served its purpose” It's purpose has been served with this reader. Superb!
Australian author Peter Pinney is now largely unknown sadly. He is mainly known for his travel writing. I have read The Road to Anywhere and was impressed enough to start looking out for Pinney's works. They are hard to find and so far have only been able to secure his wartime trilogy and Dust On My Shoes.
This book, The Barbarians, is in fact the first part of his wartime trilogy Signaller Johnston's Secret War. Pinney was an active diary writer all his life and these three books are the result of that activity. The keeping of a diary was a military offence in WW2 by Australian soldiers hence the title. This novel has a biographical feel to it. To say this book reeks of authenticity would be an understatement. Written in true strine we are presented with a foot soldiers view of the war in Papua New Guinea in 1943 and what a warts and all account. With nothing but contempt for the vast majority of the officers and the Japanese enemy, Signaller Johnston gives us his contribution to a little known war zone.
Johno observes his peer group. “Well, there's some pretty hard cases in our mob too; and some are as old as twenty-seven, twenty-eight” he says. One of his mates, Wacker, he describes as “pretty old”. Over 25 and you are old! Johno writes about food a lot. Soldiers dream of food. An old Women's Weekly is a treasured item where the recipe section gets a good look when the boys are eating their sparse rations. Rather a roast than Betty Grable muses Johhno at one point. The cultural reference brought back memories of my youth as a young apprentice working with old soldiers. Corked tipped Adaths are the cigarette of choice, I recall an old bloke smoking these as he told me a few tales. At one point an officer is reading a Pix magazine. Now long gone it had pinups galore.
The attitude of Johnno and his fellow soldiers towards the Japanese is a regular discussion. At one time he asks if the Japanese are genuinely human and that though history would judge the war as just it “....may consider out attitudes as malign, vindictive and unfeeling” That the men who would have once “grieved” the death of a sparrow now had a “casual, inanely grinning” genocidal attitude towards their enemy. Contempt about officers is prevalent. At one point a seconded Johnno has an officer on his tail over solo attacks on the enemy position and sarcastically retorts to the officer as to what the penalty is “in your outfit for shooting at the Japs”
The battle scenes are some of the best I have read. We are even given maps to assist the reader with the troop movements. This is a top of the shelf read.
Problems? I suspect that the language of this book may not assist with a wider reading audience. The narrative make use of racist language. Not just towards the Japanese but also the local people who have been caught up in this war not of their making and that can make uncomfortable reading. In my opinion a modern audience may not be keen on this but the truth is that this was the way of the world in those times. The language of this book was the language of the older workers in my youth.
This is as good as the brilliant The Long Green Shore by John Hepworth. These two books are the best Australian War novels I have read. Highly recommended.
A clever book that has plenty of good news in explaining 10 reasons why the vast majority of us are wrong in thinking the worst. I recommend this to those that prefer their reading less than dry. Hans Rosling's style is very folksy, not for me personally, but I understand why others may enjoy this style of presentation.
What an interesting read! If the idea is to give the reader food for thought this book more than nourishes.
My approach to this book was a bit different than is usual. I have tended to write a review and then read others. Not in this case. I read many good reviews and few that were critical so was very open to being a critic. I am of the opinion that a few did not take note of what Pinker wrote. He got some numbers wrong was a fairly common complaint. He may have and admits as much. A few times he made it clear that his numbers were estimates based on researchers who are respected in the field. “.... so there is no single correct estimate” he writes on page 60 of my copy. Page 168 “..... no one knows exactly how many were killed.....” when discussing holy slaughters. In fact Pinker supports scepticism as he suggested on page 217 when discussing the Enlightenment.
As a westerner living a very comfortable life in Australia I was intrigued to read a comment by US politician John Kerry on page 417. “We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorist are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance. As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organised crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life” He was right of course but he became “unfit to lead” and had to back pedal as the reality is that the authorities may well have reduced and contained crime, by cripes don't tell the people that because the media will not be happy unless they are able to make you feel bad about just about every part of your life. Less violence? How dare that be considered when there is news to sell. And take it in your stride as you are not going to get hit by the Mafia? Bah!
This book covered a variety of female issues and after conversation elsewhere I even read On Rape by Germaine Greer. Hardly an area I knew much about. Glad I did. Perhaps blokes my age, 60ish, need to get of their fat arses and not think they rule the world as Pinker has given a very good case that the rise of feminist thought has been good for our collective health. While reading this I came across this item on the repulsive practise of female circumcision. Yes the item says caution is required but it is good to read that progress is taking place.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/nov/07/fgm-rates-in-east-africa-drop-20-years-study-shows
This book has some fascinating sub chapters and one on page 572 called Whence The Rights Revolution? should thrill the hearts of all book readers. Among other things is a fivefold increase in books published from 1960 to 2000. The information we are getting seems to just make us collectively smarter when it comes to treating each other with a little bit of respect and not get on our high horse and want to smash the face in of our neighbours be they next door or in the nation next door.
So does Pinker say we are in for even less violence in the future? No! In fact he makes it abundantly clear that one bit of lunacy can change everything. I personally am very unsure we have rosy future. I am like the next father of children and worry about the environment, that a loony with a nuke will go mad but the book itself is in fact not really about that. It is about the data that shows violence has dropped and gives several reasons why. Disagree with the reasons by all means but also enjoy the fact you have more chance of dying in a car crash than by a terrorist attack no matter what the newspapers tells you.
How I came to read this essay. I am a subscriber to the excellent ANZ LitLovers LitBlog.
Blogger Lisa wrote her as usual compelling review and while reading I made comment as to the subchapter from Steven Pinker's The Angels Nature of Our Nature that covered “Women's Rights and the Decline of Rape and Battering.” We both decided to read each other's suggestion on the interrelated subject.
https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/11/09/on-rape-by-germaine-greer-bookreview/
Pinker discussed the issue from a historical point of view and he came to the conclusion that from the statistics available that rape has declined over the last 30 years. He writes tellingly that the decline has “...gone virtually unremarked” and that”.... anti-rape organisations convey the impression that women are in more danger than ever.......” Pinker praises the Feminist movement for the trend downwards.
With my recent reading of Pinker and the ANZ LitLovers LitBlog's review of Greer I realised that other than my reading of the use of rape in war and a month spent on a rape case jury about 20 years ago this was a subject I had really been shielded from.
This is the first time I recall reading Germaine Greer so I really have no opinion as to her past writings on feminism. On this subject I also don't particularly feel qualified to pass judgement on the essay itself. I tend to write my reviews without looking at other points of view but in this case I have made a rare exception. I have tended to need guidance I suppose. There are many both praising and attacking on Goodreads and the same applies in the world of professional reviews and the blogosphere. I am none the wiser.
With that this essay, as Lisa from ANZ LitLovers LitBlog writes “...has created quite a furore.” And I have to wonder why because in a sense I was offered as reader little in the way of solutions to the subject and more or less commentary as to what constituted Rape through to comment on the various legal issues. The thing that I found of interest was one of her few solutions and that was to actually cut back on the sentencing time for those found guilty. It is interesting that in some jurisdictions rape receives a larger punishment than murder. This was covered by Pinker and I have come to the conclusion that just maybe male lawmakers over the years have been not only influenced by the outcry of the women's movements, rightfully so, but may have been persuaded (subconsciously?) by the fact that historically women were property of men.
In the end though I am glad to have read this essay. It is a subject that I do not feel comfortable with and have to leave the debate to the far more knowledgeable than me. As to this hamfisted attempt at a review of an appalling subject my apologies.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/07/germaine-greers-on-provocative-victim-shaming-compelling-ambivalent
Marlon James debut novel. Having read the brilliant A Brief History of Seven Killings this pales in comparison. Be that as it may I enjoyed it. A crazy mix of Jamaican voodoo (Obeah), religious fundamentalism, a fight between good and evil (never sure who or what was good or evil but part of the tale I suppose), lots of violence and fantasy this could make a good film for anyone that likes horror.
Author John Hepworth wrote this novel after he returned from a stint in Papua New Guinea towards the end of World War 2. Lloyd Jones writes in the introduction that he won an award in a literary competition in 1949 but was later rejected by one publisher, so he put the manuscript away and got on with his life. Jones states that Norman Mailer persisted with The Naked and The Dead and as they say the rest is history. I read The Naked and The Dead for the first and only time in 2015 and could not work out the praise. It seemed so forced. Long pages of fairly meaningless banter between the two major characters, and the end just seemed ridiculous.
Years later, this novel The Long Green Shore was published not long after the author's death in 1995 and to some much acclaim, deservedly so in my opinion. As Lloyd writes in his Introduction, “Between moments of barbarity and banality are occasions of great beauty, and for much of the time The Long Green Shore is young solders paean to the puzzling thrill of being alive.” I got that while reading the book. The Australianness of the banter between mates, the way they articulated “the puzzling thrill” of both the fun times and the bad times. It all came together in mostly short vignettes that seamlessly led us through these young men's lives in a pointless action at the end of WW2.
At one point, the boys discuss foreigners of the allied type.
“There was a good deal of discussion about the Yanks. They are all right – they fight well, when they can throw a couple of hundred tonnes of high explosive into a position. They live too well – compared to us, that is. They get too much money – compared with us. They talk as though no one else was fighting the war. They take our girls. ‘Over-dressed, over-paid, over-sexed and over here'”
Foreigners of the enemy type.
“The enemy is always strange and there is a faint awfulness about the place he has been. For you can never imagine the enemy as just a man – if you could, perhaps you would never kill him.”
Being attacked and watching a mate get hit.
“The innocent, pattering of rain run across the water and patters over Fluffy's body. He is still laughing – he drops his rifle- it splashes into the river – he is holding his stomach with both hands – laughing or screaming - he staggers on – laughing or screaming. He falls as he tries to run up the muddy bank – his hands still under him, the mud – the mud is in his mouth, but he is still laughing – or screaming...it goes on and on.”
How their war is viewed by those not there.
“You who know war in a romantic dream, or in the sob stories of newspapers, might imagine it is only the thunder of bombardment or the terrors of the charge which breaks a soldiers will and manhood; but the slow burning acid of monotony and sterile days can be bad, or worse. You live constantly with a small fear that can never be spoken, and never become real, but can never be dispelled.”
Watching someone lose their mind.
“He moaned and cried.... on and on it went.... you couldn't shut your ears to that sound-it seemed to swell somewhere from inside you, yourself, and on and on, horribly, inanely, and forever.”
It is a novel that packs a punch. It is beautifully written, it has its moments of humour and profound sadness, it is the right length at only 183 pages, it does not overstay its welcome, it is highly recommended.
Trap is the eponymous antihero whose story is told in the first person by the doltish David David, the epitome of the dithering bureaucrat sent by the authorities to find out what Jack Trap is actually up to. With that we get the life and family history of the infamous mixed-race part Aboriginal, Irish and Tierra Del Fuegian as personally told to David by Trap himself. David presents the story in diary form. We find that trap is everything that the authorities distrust and fear, and an individual that outraged the nation and those that knew him. Trap was everything from a hangman to a green activist and plenty in-between. He had contempt for all in certain parts of society.
Winner of the 1966 Miles Franklin Award and now seemingly long forgotten. I found a much worn copy at Liflelines Bookfest. It is the only time I have seen it anywhere and in such poor condition was this copy it fell apart after 20 pages. I had to glue the spine to make comfortable reading.
Why is it seemingly long forgotten? Lisa at the ever superb ANZ Lit Lover blog may nail it with the following comment, “I found this prose style wearisome after a while, and the plot is hard to follow. Mathers is so busy having a go at the objects of his scorn that he leaves the hapless reader floundering in a morass of characters and sub-plots from Trap's sordid family history. The book was probably innovative in 1967 and it had an important message for its time – but it hasn't worn well, in my opinion.”
And fair enough, in fact it is very hard not to disagree that the prose style is rather overtly idiosyncratic, the plot is hard to follow and the author's scorn? Scornful sums this book up. Be that as it may, I personally think this to be a hidden gem. Fiercely satirical, dripping with sarcasm and wildly comedic, it had me laughing out loud several times. This is one almighty attack on the idiotic policy of White Australia and Terra Nullius so entrenched in Australia at the time of writing. Author Peter Mathers smashed this inane doctrine to smithereens, with no fears as to whom he may have offended. Maybe that was the attraction to the judges.
Interestingly, where Lisa found the book dated I thought that there was a lot I could relate to modern Australian society. The race and migration debate seems little changed to me from the 60's (and 70's). Australia just seems to have just changed the names. No longer Italians and Greeks to be sneered at, we have just moved on from East Asians and at this point in time we fear now those from the Middle East. And as to the Chinese and the UN being a threat to our way of life? If one read the only national daily these fears have not much changed. At one point Traps interrogators condescendingly enquire of him.
.....Trap, man, it has been rumoured that you are organising a threat to the country. First, by petitioning the United Nations; second, by signing a secret agreement with the Red Chinese. Do you admire the United Nations? Do you see yourself a Red Agent?.......
.......Ours is happy land, strife free and rich. (They coaxed.) Please help us keep it that way.
Lisa's outstanding review gave me food for thought when giving this book consideration and I recommend it and her outstanding blog. https://anzlitlovers.com/2010/07/18/trap-by-peter-mathers-bookreview/
I will try and reread Trap one day. Most enjoyable.
A good read on the carnage that was the first five days on Peleiu for the 1st Marine Regiment. One has to question the point the exercise and Brig. Gen. O P Smith said as much in an interview with Associated Press years after the battle. Why not just take the airfield as had already happened when one third of the island was captured, hence assisting MacArthur in his operations in the Philippines and leave the enemy to the highlands and just bomb them from offshore? The author is critical of both Maj. Gen. William Rupertus and Col. Lewis Puller for the appalling casualty rate.
For those such as myself who have certain demands on how our history reading is presented I would have liked the author to have used footnotes. There are a few too many anonymous quotes for my liking. The publishers put some at times pointless fact boxes that would have been better served as appendix. The pictures throughout were far too difficult to see in any detail as they were printed on the text uncoated stock and many lost detail. A 16 page section on coated stock in the middle of the book would have assisted greatly. The captioning of some pictures was also pointless.
The bibliography is outstanding and a veritable treasure trove for anyone who wants to read further.
Recommended to anyone that has an interest in the subject.
While reading this harrowing but ultimately fascinating history of the KL system a newly elected senator made a speech to the Australian Senate saying “....the final solution to the immigration problem of course is a popular vote” As was pointed out to him at the time the use of the phrase by Nazi Germany had certain connotations that do not bear thinking about. The newly elected senator was unrepentant and defended the phrases use. At the time I was saddened to think that in this day and age a senator from a minor political faction had had to resort to the outrageous to get attention.
With that incident in mind, and reaching the end of this book, I am now of the opinion that the entire KL system and all the consequences of its existence must be part of the education curriculum in Australia. It is a historical event that must be told and understood.
With that in mind this may not be the book to be part of that curriculum and that is not criticism. The reality is that this amazing work of scholarship is for the individual that is aware of the Holocaust and the treatment of those that the Nazis deemed as enemies of their moribund ideology. The depth of research is superb. The mix of analysis, statistics and first-hand accounts make a compelling, though very tough read. I admit to having a rest several times from when I first began this in early May to finishing now in late September. The subchapter “Killing the Weak” was profoundly mind numbing and I repeat what I have said before to others, man's inhumanity to his fellow man never ceases to amaze. As I get older I am still none the wiser.
Author Wachsman has written his history in chronological order. I found his footnotes excellent and was constantly scurrying to research the new information covered in this book. There is a very good abbreviations section to assist with the various acronyms. The sources section covers archival, electronic and printed sources and if at this point in time I wished to read further on the subject it would be the ideal resource to refer to.
To quote goodreads friend Sharn ‘I cannot recommend this book highly enough, though it is of course with a heavy heart. Monumental.' With that I also recommend Sharn's superb review that has articulated this brilliant tome far better than I could ever conceive.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1295690066?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Author Clinton Walker has written a personal history of his involvement in the Australian underground/independent music scene. From the impact of The Saints on the Punk Rock / New Wave scene of the late 70's through to the rise of Nick Cave in the 90's Walker was there. With that he has covered the many excellent bands and individual artists that made a small splash as doing something unusual in an independent scene that was far more interesting than the boredom that the major labels and public at large seemed to revel in.
On a personal level I caught The Saints in their early days in a hall somewhere in the western suburbs of Brisbane. My mates hated them but they left enough of an impression with me that when Sounds mag in the UK declared “(I'm) Stranded” as “Single of this and every week” I knew who they were. And with that they changed my musical listening and life. Over the last few months I have actually given away or sold a fair bit of the vinyl I collected from those days. The Leftovers are an infamous Brisbane Punk band and get a mention in this book. I sold a copy of their Cigarettes and Alcohol single for the rather considerable sum of $1,200 aus and the Go-Betweens 2nd single People Say for $500aus. While reading the book a Sydney band was mentioned called The Lipstick Killers. One member was the son of family friends and back in the day he gave me a copy of their single Hindu Gods of Love. I have no idea what happened to that, maybe given away as has been my wont but I see that that has been sold for as high as $500aus. I still have a few more from those days that fetch a few dollars, 77 Sunset Strip by The Riptides, a couple of Razar singles among others. Offers?
A must read for anyone with an interest in the subject.
