Zed
Jarod Diamonds Guns, Germs, and Steel was a worthy read. His next book Collapse had some things of interest but seemed to be a book written for the sake of writing a book. This one does not seem to be a written for the sake of writing a book, it is a book written for the sake of writing a book. One word describes this book for me, poor.
Presented in three parts and with part one I knew this was going to be a struggle. It contained the Prologue and first chapter. The author proceeding to give the reader rather mushy and long rambling reasons for writing this book on Upheaval How Nations Cope With Crisis And Change. Diamond had lived through his own personal crisis. He also had a relationship with the 7 countries discussed in the book. He thought that it would be useful to compare these countries crisis/upheavals to his own personal crisis/upheaval with some psychoanalytical process that individuals may go through when they are in crisis, write some history on each nation, add his local knowledge and hey presto! write an idiosyncratic book about upheavals. In my opinion the personal reasons for his career upheaval (that could have ended in failure but did not) are hardly worth comparing to a national event such as the death of perhaps millions in Indonesia in the mid 60's. Being discouraged over a scientific experiment or dying over a political upheaval? Hmmm! Go the scientific experiment any day of the week. This is just one of the many poor analogies through the text.
Part two contained the history chapters. It is very populist in the telling. When discussing Chile, the author based his assessment of Allende “...on the recollections of a Chilean friend of mine who knew him..” What? Did I read that correctly? He based all his writings in an entire chapter of a countries leader based on the recollections of a friend? Am I supposed to take this seriously?
I will add that the national upheaval of the 7 nations covered is hardly new territory. Finland from the demise of imperial Russia through to its relationship with the USSR, Japan from the Meiji Restoration, Indonesia in the mid 60's, the rebuilding of Germany after WW2 and Australia's so called upheaval of knowing who we are. The history telling itself lacked depth in terms of being historical accounts. I suppose that could be forgiven as this is a very long book but it was interspersed with personal anecdotal interludes that were nice in a way but just that, nice.
At the end of the chapters each nation was matched against 12 “Factors related to the outcomes of personal crisis” that matched 12 “Factors related to the outcomes of national crisis”. So for example factor 6 in the personal crisis is ‘Ego Strength' and the national will be matched with ‘National Identity'. Each nation was rated against the factor number in a meaningless discussion on how they reacted against the factor itself. I had no idea the connection between the factors for each individual nation when compared to the next nor understood the differences between each of the nation. It just seems to be, to put it bluntly, psychoanalytical BS.
Part three included a “what lies ahead” discussion on Japan, the US and the world in general and was far too long and rambled all over the place. Conclusions were the obvious or non-existent. Strangely the author kind of admitted just that by saying that his suggestions were “....absurdly obvious!” and retorts, with the obvious, that the requirements he has suggested for utopia are being ignored. Well yes and I too will ignore them if I ever have to read the Happy Doll analogy that made me laugh out loud when he discussed climate change.
For the discussions on the historical events pertaining to each country the author has relied on a further reading section. Fair enough but for the other areas of the book when stating statistics we get no footnotes and this is justified by another friend (Jared Diamonds many friends influence on his writings and opinions are very big in this book) complained that his books hurt their neck while reading them “....in bed at night.” So no footnotes as even though the last book had them online no one read them. That I am afraid may say a lot about his readers. If anyone reading this is offended don't take this personally but if you are not prepared to at least check consult footnoted sources in a book than how do you know the source of the information?
The lack of coherence in the narrative, presentation and the analysis is striking. Is this really by from the author of the very good Guns Germs and Steel? Populist writing at its worst. One star.
The Bone Clocks was for me a sublime novel. The addictively crazy mix of realism and fantasy hit my reading spot. Consequently I was always going to like this fun attachment to that absorbing book. Slade House is short and very very readable. It has the usual nods and winks to David Mitchell's characters and events of past books. The cultural and historical mentions that make him such a good read are there as usual.
Slade House will not appeal to those that did not like the fantasy elements of The Bone Clocks as it is an extension of that element. Those that expect Slade House to be The Bone Clocks Part 2 will also be in for a disappointment as it is far less complex. But it should be enjoyed by those that are admirers of David Mitchell and with that I am. I have now completed his oeuvre and look forward to his next release.
For any reader interested in other languages but in need of just a primer this is ideal. I learnt so much. For a couple of outstanding and informative reviews see these linked below.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2835521054?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3081100492?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Mans inhumanity to his fellow man looms large in this raw telling of four years as a POW under the Japanese. Author Russel Braddon tells of his time with nothing left for the imagination. He covers his horrific tale of endurance with all emotions from cynicism through to utter despair and weariness. At the conclusion of this book I was caught by a certain sense that his incarceration may have also become a way of life. He wrote about the breakup of his fellow POWs as they were about to return home and made comment that “The careful fabric of one's personal life, built up over four years, (was) disintegrated at a single blow.” Nostalgia? But as he left for home he wrote “And with that I brightened. After all, the sea was green and dear: the sun was warm and free: there was food aplenty and no need for anxiety as the old ship ploughed her confident way eastwards, away from Singapore. We were all going Home. That, for the moment, must be enough.” Mixed emotions run the full gamut in this book.
Russell Braddon wrote of his experiences while they were still fresh in his mind as this memoir was released 1952. Braddon was someone I had never heard to prior to reading this book and on finishing I read of his life. He became a prolific author but he did at one time suffer depression and attempt suicide. His war time experiences were the issue and his doctors at the time suggested he recuperate away from Australia.
Based on his writing he seemed to me to not have been the military type in the first place. He joined to “kill Germans” but his writing gave the impression he may not of been aware of what that really meant nor the discipline required, he even notes the bad language by his comrades and seemed surprised by it; “I heard sufficient foul language in five days to deter me from ever using anything but the king's English (though not enough to blind me to the fact that on occasions the Australian uses his ‘bloodies' and ‘bastards' with a rhythmic grace which I - in my more orthodox style - could never be capable)”.
His war itself was short as his capture was early. He did describe his first kill though. “...in desperation, I moved alone to the trees in front of me and, as the Jap ran crouching towards it, stepped out from behind it and presented him with a firmly held rifle and bayonet. Upon this he promptly impaled himself with a firmly held rifle and bayonet. At the moment of impact, as I tucked my right elbow securely against my hip and moved to my left foot slightly forward, I found myself thinking ‘Just like a stop volley at tennis' - and spent the next hour musing, rather confusedly, over the unpleasantness of a situation which compelled one to apply the principles of a clean sport to the altogether dirty business of killing”
Not long after he began the rest of his war, POW camps on the Malay Peninsular and on the construction of the Thailand Railway. He actually volunteered for the railway to be with a mate. The descriptions of his time in Thailand are some of the most brutal I have read.
I read that this book has had multiple reprints and sold over 2 million copies since its release. I understand why. This is a genuine must read for anyone even remotely interested in a firsthand account of the brutality of life under Imperial Japanese forces for those captured. It is raw and emotional, as well as very well written. Highly recommended.
“But when you talk about destruction don't you know that you can count me out” sang John Lennon.
Marc Bolan thought that the Beatle had too much to say on the subject and replied that the Beatle having a Rolls Royce because it was good for his voice didn't fool The Children of the Revolution.
With that author Clive Bloom covers some of the thoughts and actions of The Children of the Revolution in a very stimulating first chapter named as such. Bloom states that the fight for a British republic has had a violent and tragic history; not only because of its failures but that the participants perhaps lost up to 35,000 lives. Nowadays only but a few are half remembered and even then mostly ignored by modern histories. To be a revolutionary one has to have a moral universe, one that will make the future different than that of the present, have a vision of making things better. Revolutionaries fight because others say that there is no hope of changing and all will remain as before. Bloom states that in almost all cases covered in this book he would have “....stood aside and let them get on with their better future...” I indeed relate to that. I may have been a better red than dead type back in the day.
Bloom claims that Britain has a myth of political compromise and consensus and that reform has come through national debate. This is a fallacy as those that fought for a republic were consigned to little but a few paragraphs in history and rarely considered. In truth those such as Luddites, Tolpuddle Martyrs and Chartists were at the forefront of eventual change. As well as the Irish struggles for republican independence there have also there have also been 2 uprisings in Wales, one lowland Scottish civil war and a highlands' rebellion. Add also uprising's in Derbyshire and Kent, five attempts to assassinate the entire cabinet, numerous attempts to take out members of the royal family, 3 invasions from France, an attempt to seize Canada and various revolts in Australia. There have even been shenanigans in the jungles of Venezuela on behalf of the dream of British republicanism.
In the 18th and 19th century these republican revolutionaries often considered themselves “....gentleman who had lost money and fallen into the void between squirearchy and the respectable tradesman class, failures in everything but self-belief.” John Bellingham, the assassin of British PM Spencer Perceval, claimed his business was ruined while working for the government is but one example the author provides. Failure in business was the “...curious thread that unites...” those in the search for Republicanism. Their actions were “clearly defined”, they were happy with those actions as they were certain of their cause and conscious of the outcome. Whenever the leaders were sentenced in court there was calm and even exultant. Though they acted on behalf of those such as the poor but were never in fact of them.
When the revolutionaries used acts of terror the use of “....agents provocateurs, black propaganda, scaremongering, spies and deliberate falsification of history...” was “... almost the prerogative of the British state in its defensive position.” These acts of terror were useful from the time of the Elizabethan age with state involvement of the entrapment of Catholics, democrats, anarchists through to nationalists of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the various overseas dominions. This was required in retaining mass support for the state. The desire of the state was to maintain order and with that property rights. John Lennon was well aware of this with his lyric in Revolution.
Bloom then takes us on a guided tour of the so-called fight for a republic by various Britain's. So-called fight? I suppose that depends on what one calls a fight. The Irish issues are covered in what I would almost describe as “A brief History.” In my opinion this book itself would have been far better called A brief History of British Republicanism. The coverage of the civil wars of the 1640s has been covered in great depth over the years as has the Irish fight for an independent republic and these events take up some long chapters. This sounds like criticism and it is. The author writes in the preface that this is the only book in recent times that is a detailed book on the subject. With that he has to deliver and with that he has written an interesting book but for this reader there must be more surely.
With that in mind I am going to admit to enjoying large chunks of this read for the sheer fascination of the subject. I have come across events and characters, minor in the scheme of things admittedly, that I would enjoy reading about in more depth. The author also gives some serious food for thought along the way as to the export of the republican ideals of Britain to various other parts of the planet with the US, France and Australia to name but a few. Influential were the likes of Thomas Hobbes via Leviathan and John Locke with Second Treatise of Government. Locke was writing as early as 1690 about the “preservation..... of property” as being the end of government responsibility. Later the author covers such luminaries as Thomas Spence and Thomas Paine and their influence on the republican ideals.
Flags as the emblem of republican revolution, or “defiance” as the authors says, made for interesting times for courts over the years.
In 1780 London rioters used black flags along with the young flag of the fledgling republic of the USA to show defiance towards the establishment. The French tricolour was despised by the authorities. That flag was revolutionary and also sometimes Jacobin. A red flag had been hoisted as early as the Nore and Spithead mutinies of 1797 and had confused a judge to no end at the trial of one mutineer. “defiance” and “mutiny” said his lordship but n officer replied that they in fact wished to fight under it as the Dutch had stolen that flag, and they wished to restore it! A dumbfounded silence followed.
A green, red and white tricolour was also known to be used as a flag of republican defiance. It was known to be used at Peterloo, the Charterist had adopted it and as late as the jubilee of George V in 1935, “two maverick households spoiled the celebrations” by flying that flag. There was an elaborate flag at the “...disaster...” of the 1839 at Bossenden Wood. The Welsh use of a white flag in calf's blood at Merthyr Tydfil in 1831 may be the first use of a red flag for “...overtly political purposes”, more so than the naval mutiny mentioned previously. Tricolours owe their origin to revolutionary events hence the Irish taking up a tricolour.
When it comes to the revolutionary's themselves we get a large range of political beliefs from all spectrums be that those from the Internationalist Left through to the Nationalist Right. The fight comes in what are now many long ignored events. The Cato Street Conspiracy with one Arthur Thistlewood and William Davidson are but one example covered. John Nichols Thom and the above mentioned Bossenden Wood another. This was a final peasant's revolt says the author.
I was interested in Australia and its links to British republicanism. After treachery no longer became used against revolutionaries, back then a death sentence if guilty, sedition became the charge in trials and with that many Irish republicans were sent to Australian penal colonies. In Australia one individual received 100 lashes for merely saying that he agreed with Thomas Paine. The transported Irish plotted and eventually Castle Hill at Parramatta was taken with the intention of marching on Sydney. The more famous event of the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat in Victoria during the gold rush was almost a “Boston Tea Party” moment in Australian history. Australia later gets another mention with the attempted assassination of Prince Alfred in 1868 with the author writing that the royal was on a tour of “Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Tasmania” (I laughed, Tassie mistaken for a city?). Loyalism out poured to the point that the royal considered Australia “still” a “colony”. For Australian republicans such as me, it may as well still be!
There is many more of these incidental events and people of interest discussed throughout this book. The Tartan Army anyone? An Gof in Cornwall and even a few Manx revolutionaries get a mention. “Well, when we're all wiped out, people will blame us for everything, I suppose” said Pádraic Pearce in 1916 during the Easter uprising in Dublin. I suspect though more pertinent for the majority of the republican movement, in England at least, was an officer called to put down a drunken rebellion at the Globe pub in Littleport near Cambridge who was quoted as saying that “Last year we were fighting the battle of Waterloo, and now we think we are going to fight the battle of Hullaballoo” No fooling that child of the revolution.
It has indeed been a worthy read for all my complaints above. I spent my time underlining sections with the thought to eventually reading further about these people and events. That should be what makes a good history book, one that make you want to delve further.
As I have read this book the bush fire crisis in Australia was making news worldwide. Jared Diamond devoted an entire chapter to Australia in this 15 year old book and it made stark reading considering. He hardly covered fire that devours but had a lot to say about water, agriculture and mining. Mining is huge in this country to the point that multi national and local miners can campaign very hard, with the mass media heavyweight assistance of US plutocrat Rupert Murdoch, to get what they want. Governments will fall; some people do become silent as the fear of a smashing in the media as to their thoughts on the degradation of resources for cheap return are generally turned into some cheap point scoring propaganda on behalf of vested interests. Can I complain? Can I hell! Me and my generation, boomers, has made a mint from the resource sector via our superannuation with fast and easy returns and now in our dotage have a lot to yell about at those bludging whining youngsters. Good grief! Who are these people to complain about us receiving tax credits back from the PAYE taxpayer for our 1.9 million dollar worth of shares? 6,000 odd bucks a pop for that little investment. I'm alright Jack.
Which is why, depending on one's point of view, the more interesting chapter in this book is 14 Why Do Some Societies Make Disastrous Decisions? The premise of this chapter can cover the individual as well. There is rational behaviour behind all decisions no matter how (seemingly) poor. And here's (seemingly) one for any of you that read my scribble. Diamond discusses the foolishness of cotton growing in Queensland and northern New South Wales that depletes water resources from the likes of the Murray Darling downstream. This is a big deal and nothing to do with one's political belief. Rural (and with that very conservative) electorates downstream have complaining for years and years about water loss. Google is your friend to read up on this. So with cotton, drought etc. what do we get? Dubbo, a town in central NSW, easing water restrictions for the watering of one's garden. And what a debate! How's this for one news item on the subject pork chops?
https://7news.com.au/news/environment/nsw-towns-plan-to-take-more-water-damned-c-542423
For a more cerebral read look at this.
ttps://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/scrapping-over-puddles-the-desperate-battle-for-water-in-nsw-s-towns-20191105-p537h5.html
Diamond writes that he is hopeful that correct decisions will be made with pressure from the public in general and gives many reasons as to why this has been successful. Again this all depends on ones point of view but after watching the power of the media to support and sway opinion in Australia over the issue of the environment (and tax credits on fully franked shares) I have my doubts.
It was suggested to me that some of the research may have been superseded, and a very quick internet read early on showed there was some thoughts as to the book becoming dated. Be that as it may it has been a good read and worth the effort.
I received some excellent advice. You can read David Mitchell's books as one off reads but it does help to start at the beginning. I took that advice and what a journey it has been.
Firstly I have not done his works any justice such has been the poor quality of my reviews on his books. There are so many reviews around here that just sparkle with imaginative ideas that I have felt I was out of my league.
This review is no different, just a hash of ideas. But I have reached the end of The Bones Clock and the one comment I should make is that it has been revelatory for me personally. I have at last understood a few themes that this wonderful storyteller has been establishing throughout his writings with the obvious one being our connectivity to one another, be that with the past, the present, the future and even mother earth itself. Mitchell's entire oeuvre so far has been one long journey of connecting the pieces in a huge puzzle from the dawns of time to the distant future.
Yes yes the obvious I hear you say but he has given this reader some serious food for thought as to our connected “human nature” through some fine humanist/humane ideas that intermingle with the best elements of Sci Fi / fantasy, be that magical realism, Dystopian writing through to the humdrum lives of various peoples. Holly, the major character of this book, it could be argued, lead an ordinary life but had extraordinary things happen.
I have found the journey enthralling so far but I do have to reread his works from the beginning as I KNOW that I have missed many of the puzzle pieces that have been thrown at me the reader. I thought Mitchell could not match Cloud Atlas but for me he has with this magnificent thought provoking book. I am a huge admirer. I want more.
I looked at my review of a previous Dan Jones history I had read and had made comment that it was “A very enjoyable popular history and hard to be too critical.” And it is hard not to say the same for this very readable installment that he has produced on the madness that was the Wars of The Roses.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/759618592?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
If one likes populist narrative history told with “.....pace and flair...”, as the cover blurb says, this is right up that target audiences alley. It is however not my style of delivery. Far too much subjectivity for me. A few too many “it was a blistering hot day” observations.
And to quote my previous review of the authors work “A pity really as there is a magnificent Further Reading chapter at the end and the (Epilogue) was also a good read.” The footnotes are lot better as well. But.......as much as I enjoyed it is was just a good read.
Page 127 the author states that while watching a “fat Russian” it was the first time that he had seen “ ...a person whose profession was telling lies - unless one counts Journalists” I wonder what the sublimely brilliant writer of this observation, George Orwell, would think if he was seeing the accusations of fake news (lies) that is routinely hurled around today. He himself warns against his own bias while writing about his time in Spain. Trust nothing is the mantra. Indeed.
I first read Orwell in my late teens. I have thought back hard in recent days and I think it was my parents that gave me, for what I think must have been my 17th or 18th birthday, a compendium of books that contained, Animal Farm, Burmese Days, A Clergyman's Daughter, Coming Up for Air, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Nineteen Eighty-Four. I read Nineteen Eighty-Four first and was spellbound. Being very much a reader of Sci Fi in my youth this was something utterly different. It was beyond great and after several rereads over the years and a good few items as to Orwell's ideas behind it I have considered Nineteen Eighty-Four one of greatest piece of English language literature the world has ever seen. I read the other books in the compendium and found Animal Farm to be in the classic mold as well.
So where does Homage to Catalonia fit? In my opinion this is an exceptionally important book for those that have been admirers of Orwell's and look to understand why he wrote both Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. In Spain there was betrayal of the ideals that he held dear by those he thought he could trust. It is not a matter if I or anyone else agreed or disagreed with his political beliefs; he had his ideals but watched them literally gunned down. The narrative of his time in Spain shows an almost naive outlook as he went to the front feeling a part of a working class fight against fascism to a return to Barcelona to discover all he thought exemplar smashed by his own side of the political spectrum. Strangely through all this he could still write about humans being generally decent. Should all that Orwell wrote of those days in Spain be lessons for us all in not trusting those whose profession is telling lies? I think so. Read this book and read the genesis of ideas for the sublime Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Judge a book by its cover? Not generally but image of a bidding of farewell to the International Brigades near Barcelona 1938 by Robert Capa is certainly one of the most striking and apt I have seen.
In passing I would like to thank my great friend Gordon Wilson for his gift of this book on my 60th birthday. As I write may his Welsh team do themselves proud at the world cup and may we have a great time at the sevens.
The first of a trilogy written by noted Australian author Vance Palmer unfortunately fails to deliver what should have been a fine book considering the subject. Golconda is loosely based on the life and times of Ted Theodore and the development of north Queensland mining town Mount Isa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Theodore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Isa
Galconda grows from a sparse district with loose ore for freelance prospectors into a company town and with that all the trials and tribulations that go with that growth when big international capital realises that there is money to be made. The chief protagonist of the book is one Macy Donovan (Ted Theodore) and his story is told as to how he becomes an organiser for the Australian Workers Union and on to his eventual election into State Parliament. Set just after the Great War this should have been great fiction as there is little wrong with the story itself and the themes of change and its effect on the individual is universal. Sadly and to take a quote directly from the authors own writing it “....plodded on, entangling himself in the barbed-wire of his own long sentences”. And that is the trouble. The book just plodded on monotonously. The writing was dense and lacked life. It was hard to get any energy up about the characters and the denseness of the writing was at times stream of consciousness in delivery.
I have the other 2 books in the trilogy and will eventually read them out. The third won the Miles Franklin award just after Palmer died in 1959. Both Palmer and his wife were held in high regard in Australian literary circles during their lifetimes. All three books in this trilogy are now out of print and I personally found them hard to get hold of. Sadly this first book was a disappointment.
Though released by the Robinson imprint under it's “A Brief History of” series this book was originally released in 1977 to accompany a 13 part TV series called The Christians. The edition I have is updated with re-release in 2003. It does read as more “A Brief History of European Christianity” and as such also an accompaniment to the TV series for a British public as opposed to a general primer.
Be that as it may it has been a good read on a subject that is always of interest though one I have not read in any depth on in many a long year. Author Bamber Gascoigne has written with a useful sense of respect towards Christianity but has been clever enough with his humour to highlight the contradictions of its many adherents as to their own interpretations of biblical text for their own purposes.
The early chapters covered, as expected, Christianitys birth and expansion. Once past this stage the book became a little too limited for me personally in terms of the religions growth outside its European base. It does cover the Americas but more the US and it acceptance of the various Protestant denominations. I was interested to read that 1 in 4 Christians, at the time of writing, were of the Pentecostal denominations and I should imagine that is true 15 years later.
The final two chapters were easily the strength of the book for this reader with the coverage of themes such as the fight against Slavery through to the rise of Atheism in the west. It was interesting to read of the UK's proselytising in it colonial expansions. In 1837, as one example, a British missionary reported the conversion of 150,000 south sea islanders to Christianity and at the same time was saying that they were “... few years ago unclothed savages...” who “are now wearing articles of British manufacture” Praise the lord and pass me your credit details please.
A book that was very interesting but also at times frustrating. Author Rohan Rivett no doubt led a life. This link tells of being born into a privileged family and also his extraordinary life.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/rivett-rohan-deakin-11533
This link says that this book, Behind Bamboo “....was written in October-November 1945 while its author was recovering from the rigours of captivity; reprinted eight times, it sold more than 100,000 copies.” That to me seems to make it a huge best seller for its times and no wonder! There is a story to tell.
First the frustrations. As a modern reader it felt that it was written “for the times”. No issues with that per se but I always feel more comfortable with fiction being written for its times when using racist terms as an example. Yes this is autobiographical and written while the wounds were still raw but it can make uncomfortable reading for me personally. I am not going to check how correct the facts and figure are when Rivett discussed, as another example, POW numbers. I doubt he knew the entire facts at the time of writing but a war weary world was probably ready for a first-hand account of the trials and tribulations of an eyewitness to those that had suffered at the hand of their captors so I suppose that one should be aware of that when reading books such as this. I would also suggest that modern editor may have cut this book by a good third as the miniature detail became tedious for this reader. Some of the humorous incidents, and there are plenty told, are also a case of “one having to be there” I suppose.
Is all that Rivett's problem? No, it's mine and all these gripes aside I think this is an important book for anyone with an interest in the life of an eyewitness to the barbaric treatment of POW's by the Japanese Imperial Army in WW2. He wrote for that post war audience and for me to complain is in truth not fair. Rivett wrote this with the wounds still fresh.
If one reads this autobiography of his times from the fall of Singapore to the final surrender and his journey back to his hometown of Melbourne, the sheer banality of the appalling treatment, the lack of food, the terror of being bombed by one's own side through to watching your comrades die is itself a life of tedium I would suggest.
In short Rivett was working for the Malay Radio Corporation at the fall of Singapore and announced the invasion of the Island. With other comrades he ended up on a ship that took him to Muntak in the then Dutch East Indies and from there they rowed a boat in the direction of Batavia, present day Jakarta, but were captured with Rivett being sent from one POW camp to another before ending up on the Burma railway. Rivett was supposedly the only non-military person within the POW camps but this was withheld from the Japanese as they may have considered him a spy. The writing itself is of a literary nature that I could not imagine the average run of the mill digger writing. Rivett for example quotes Kipling. During his time in the camps he held such events as historical discussions to break the tedium. These seemed to be popular with the more well read.
The edition I have read is part of a 4 part compendium called The Australian war Classics Collection and is reviewed here on its own. The cover used in this review is from a Penguin reprint from 2015 and I welcome its republication. I do feel that a modern audience with little interest in the subject will find it a difficult read. None the less I feel this is an important book and is recommended to anyone with an interest in the subject.
I once had the pleasant experience of working in a fly in fly out basis into the beautiful island state of Tasmania. As is my want I used to haunt the bookshops, mostly 2nd hand, when I was able. With that I picked up this novel about a hunter looking for the last existing Tasmanian Tiger, or thylacine as it is also known. Apparently this is a novel of a sub-genre called Tasmanian Gothic, or at least that is what the book seller told me. This read is in a dark descriptive style with the fear and dread that Gothic literature entails and to be honest Tasmania is the perfect place to have such a sub-genre. It has a dark history from the days of British colonialism that made Van Diemen's Land a place of convict dread. Add to that the near genocide of the indigenous peoples up to such recent events as the Port Arthur Massacre. On my journeys through the state I am never anything but amazed at the road kill. I sometime think I have seen just about every native Australian creature dead on its roads and that can be a very disconcerting view of the road considering the sheer idyllic beauty of the vast majority of the country side. And as to the thylacine its extinction is debatably caused by human intervention. The authorities once had a bounty on its head because it was considered a sheep killer. Which leads to this strangely dark novel.
The major character, an individual called M, is on a disturbing mission to take out the last known thylacine. With that we get a chilling take on his hunters mind. He is a cold and calculated individual who, for most of the time, cares little for anything but his hunt. His generally cold and cool dealings with all he comes into contact with, along with his detached inner thoughts, are methodically told in sparse 3rd person prose that could leave the reader disheartened about the innate indifference of a man.
M stays with a family in between hunting that had difficult circumstances. The reader should have had sympathy, and empathy, for the family but a certain cold sparseness in the writing about them made for an almost neutral feeling in terms of any warmth. “A muscular and robust novel, yet with tremendous delicacy.....” says The Australians Book Review. I agree with the term muscular and if I had not known the author was female I would have said this was a very masculine novel. As to delicacy? I have to disagree. The family, for example, were hardly described with any form of delicacy.
This all sounds like criticism but it is not meant to be so. I actually think that the author has set out to achieve the effect it has had on me in terms of understanding the Hunters mind so with that it is a worthy read for anyone interested in the subject and the sub genre. Just don't expect to be entranced.
Geoffrey Hindley has written an easy to read short history that will be of great use to those that have little to no knowledge of the Crusades. I would also suggest it is a fantastic refresher for anyone looking to reread after a long absence from this fascinating subject. As usual with these “A Brief History” series we get things short, sharp but concise. The history is presented in chronological order and we also get some good maps, illustrations, a chronology of events, very useful appendices, competent footnotes and a very good bibliography.
This book was written in 2003 but there is very good comment in the final chapter discussing the various consequences on modern issues that are still relevant nearly 20 years later. I in fact asked myself would this chapter be relevant in decades time and I sadly suspect it will.
When concluding the final chapter proper on the subject the author writes that the crusades had, “...moments of true glory and gestures of hypocrisy, but above all (were) inspired by that confusion of motives and ideals which tends to be in the human condition”. Well said.
This is an excellent Brief History.
I found after finishing this terrific fiction I was looking to read about the events that this book was based on. I came away impressed that David Mitchell could turn an historical event as was a small trading depot on a man made island called Dejima in the middle of Nagasaki harbour in the late 1700's into such an epic but subtle fiction. No Hollywood ending! Fantastic.
David Mitchell is a great story teller and a great writer. I have read his oeuvre in order and have yet to not be anything but enthralled. A damn fine book.
Up to the usual standards of the A Brief History series. I think I have not read about the Vikings since I was in high school back in the mid 1970's so it was very good to have this primer to bring back the memories. Recommended to those with an interest in the short story of the more familiar names but are not keen on the intricacies or too much depth.
Good footnotes and a strong bibliography.
I find writing reviews of very popular books difficult. I know that there are creative reviews that are so good that I have to admit that I not just enjoy reading them but I find myself envious as well. This is my forth David Mitchell book. I have read them from his debut and in order and have had trouble putting forward my thoughts on them to be honest. Ghostwritten and Number9dream were for me very good. Cloud Atlas was verging on genius such was its impression on me. I thought that Black Swan Green would be a considerable let down. Was it hell!
What it proved to me is that David Mitchell is a superb author. He can tell great stories and write them with a magnificent seamlessness even when there are differing styles within the book. I am hooked and dread the day that I might be disappointed with a novel he writes.
I recall one goodreads friend telling me that I did not have to read his books in order but it did help to. I agree with that totally as his ability to weave previous characters from book to book is a joy to this reader. Considering that Black Swan Green is so radically different a novel in both style and substance than Cloud Atlas to me David Mitchell has shown a deft touch in bringing in one specific character from the past that makes for a remarkable chapter.
In the end though this coming of age story is one of the best I have read. Semi-autobiographical, I think, the full gamut of a 13 year olds emotions are to the fore and for anyone who recalls that horrible time in their life there is a lot to relate to. Schoolboy bullying, the opposite sex suddenly looming on the radar, parents have marital problems, all this and more loom large in this fine book. Some memories came flooding back that I had personally not thought of for years such was the power of this Bildungsroman.
Again though the star rating seems meaningless. This is not Cloud Atlas and David Mitchell was smart enough not to attempt another book of that density and delivery. Cloud Atlas should be remembered forever in my view. Coming of age novels are hardly new territory. Be that as it may this is one heck of a good book and recommended to anyone that likes this type of story.
Wow! Can I start with a Wow!? Can I add another Wow!?
Do I need to bother to use superlatives as to how good I thought this book was?
And what can I add to the gushing reviews that has not been said before?
Not much so I had better make this short then hadn't I.
The last pages of this book are philosophical and tie up the ideas that permeate this melange of six stories that cover the very gamut of mankind's nature from the past and into the future.
Genius!
In this excellent book Ian Kershaw scrutinises the fall of Nazi Germany from the Assassination attempt on Hitler in July 44 through to the final unconditional surrender.
Fascinating analysis is given throughout each chapter. Brilliant footnotes through to works cited (bibliography) that should have anyone interested in the subject of the last year of Nazi Germany's demise salivating. For those who may wonder why Nazi Germany fought to the very limits of their capabilities this book covers many possible discussion points. A few follow.
The failed July 20th assassination plot left any possible opposition to the regime utterly leaderless, leading to the further politicisation of the Wehrmacht upper echelons. Any hint of insubordination towards even military tactics was treated as treasonous. With that any thought of political involvement in a movement to discuss the end with the allies was made moot once there was a demand for unconditional surrender. With military power now in the hands of Nazis it was now committed to victory or downfall. Also considered is if the assassination had been successful there could have been another ‘stab in the back' legend.This played on the minds of many.
The blame game following the fall of France to the Allies was an event that was a great shock to all Germany. An example covered is that in September 1944 Aachen was the first city in Germany proper to come under Allied attack with the panic of the citizens and inability of the Nazi Party to organise and assist causing a “shambles” to quote the author. 116th Panzer Division arrived and took control of the civilian population by stopping the ‘stupid evacuation'. This evacuation comment by the commander General Gerd Graf von Schwerin lead to his eventual dismissal even with the defence becoming fierce. Hitler ordering an utmost radical defence of the city. Relationships between the Nazi Party and the Wehrmacht Officer class broke down with the Officer Class accused of being ‘saboteurs of war' by even their own soldiers. To quote the author “.....sunk resignation, not burning rebellion....” became the course of the bitter defence.
Operation Bagration may have prolonged the war. Instead of a four front attack “a huge concentrated surge” through south Poland to cut off Centre and North army groups may possibly have allowed the Wehrmacht to be “patched up and fight on.” Inhabitants of East Prussia, with memories of Russian incursions in The Great War, were also more susceptible to Nazi anti Bolshevik propaganda than their western German counterparts. Those that had listened to the troops returning from the east knew that the war had been bitter and that atrocities towards Jews and the civilian populations had now become a serious issue for the average German with the Red Army on the doorstep.
The Battle of the Bulge and the decline of German economic output as the Allies attacks on transport networks etc takes its toll. A Werner Bosch, who worked for Speer, while under interrogation by the allies after the war had ended, was quoted as saying that people in his position “....could do nothing except get on with their own work” even considering that he thought the war lost in the Spring of 1944. He was one of many effective in keeping the war going for as long as it did no matter how desperate the situation. The regime also let the allied Morgenthau plan be known to the public at large. With this the plan to split Germany into a “powerless, dismembered country with a pre-industrial economy” played very much into the thoughts that there was ‘no opportunity' for individuals ‘to take action against the war'.
So called defeatist attitudes were heavily punished. All ranks fought on due to fear of reprisals to their family plus general apathy in some circumstances. Even when most thought the war nearly over an automatic sense of obedience was held as other than family what else was there to do! Fatalism was a major issue with many. For those that deserted there was death. Many received death sentences from flying courts and those left fighting had little more to do than conform or face the harshest of penalties. Added was a propaganda campaign that at this point became shriller than all previous with specific reference to the “Asiatic hordes” as Nazi racial policy since 1933 had been ingrained into the masses. This caused mass panic among the civilian population with the soldiers being bombarded with exhortation to fight against those that would slaughter their women and children. Fear of foreigners was rife and even at the end the public invariably had no issue with the treatment of the prisoners on death marches as they were considered criminals.
At the top level many excuses were used from the duty not to the break loyalty pledge to Hitler, fear of Bolshevism through to the likes of Keitel, Jodl and Kesselring claiming they fought on in hope of the fracturing of the Allies into east and west camps. The state had built a cult around Hitler that was so solid in structure that there was little that could be changed. The elites had been divided and never had the “..collective will nor the mechanisms of power to prevent Hitler taking Germany to total destruction.”
Easily one of the the best books I have read. Highly recommended.
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. Part three.
A great Brisbane Novel? Maybe but again the rating of stars seems a bit pointless as this being a book about my home town, and the third Brisbane novel I have read in recent times, I have now given all three the maximum rating. The reality is that that is my rating because I related to them for obvious reasons. Many may not. The other reality is that the only one that really rates that maximum rating is Andrew McGahan Praise. There is a realistic grittiness in that book that rings true. Boy Swallows Universe is more witty magical realism.
Author Trent Dalton has written a strangely seductive amalgam of family history, fantasy and observation of his childhood that was Brisbane in the 1980's when this terrific novel takes place. Eli is his youthful narrator of this book and Eli observes with a sharp wit, an almost humble self-depreciating attitude as to what goes on around him and what events occur in his young life.
There is a lot of emotion written in this book, from the very witty that is obviously witty to the very sad that is obviously very sad and that is always going to suck any reader from anywhere if the writing appeals. The Brisbane and various cultural references of the times come think and fast, hence the appeal to me. One example is Ribbetts, a takeaway food place that gets a mention in this book.
It still does exist It no longer exists
It was across the road from what did exist but no longer does and that is Boggo Road Jail. Google Maps is your friend when reading this book. There are name-drops galore that the average Brisbane resident would and should relate to. My home suburb gets a mention with both Moorooka and its Magic Mile of Motors. That great Brisbane muso Ed Kuepper had an album called This is The Magic Mile in tribute. Tragically a sign heralding your entrance into this magic mile was consumed in a fire a few years back. A cultural tragedy up there with the demolition of the Buddas of Bamyan and the Bellvue Hotel.
As with all these style of books the wit can be rather infectious. Eli and his family have to go to a Vietnamese restaurant near the Darra train station for business dealings. The owner, Eli observes, has an opinion as to why Australians wallow in inherent misery. Their childhood is so “idyllic and joyous” with the beach, backyard cricket and never ending sunshine that anything beyond that can never match. Hence “junk cures all misery”. This was true then and is now. My generation, the baby boomers, booze ourselves with both legal and illegal drug and self-pity is rife. When some 18 year old minimum wage earner in a bar fails to deliver our drink at the speed of light we will let them know very loudly and collectively with a growl in our voices. We are filthy rich by any standards, are superannuated up to our ears, receive tax credits back from the poorer PAYE taxpayer for our 1.9 million dollar fully franked dividends received and have the government of our choice. But we are not happy and by cripes we will shout about that from the ultra-rich media owned exclusively by our generation. Oh yes and I drove past the Darra train station not long ago and there is still a Vietnamese restaurant.
Firstly Kylie gets no mention in this book. Much to my surprise Joseph Conrad did. It is indeed wonderful to know that through heartfelt generosity many a Saturday afternoon drunk at the Bracken Ridge Tavern is not only looking for a bet on the horses but is discussing the “psychological resonance of Heart Of Darkness.” This and The Delinquents? What is it with the Queensland's lower socio economic group and their need to read Conrad? The fascist state that was Qld existed in this book. This is seemingly a theme for some writers of the street when it comes to the deep north. Hard to steer away from that past in reality. It is part of the historical narrative. There maybe a lot of love in this book but also a lot of Queensland's dark past.
Strangely good fun to read and recommended to Brisbaneites from both sides of the river.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2699060809?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2404004468?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
I do have issues with some of the text not being footnoted in a manner I find useful but there is a fine bibliography and a section of interviews, diary and unpublished accounts.
In the end though an interesting read on the appalling fall of Berlin that showed that the enemies each had no idea as to the humanity of each other. Propaganda by the opposing sides was always fierce and in the end with the Eastern Front being probably the most brutal event in history this book bought to the fore the never ending question of man's inhumanity to man and how propaganda can cause appalling events to happen.
As the Red Army crossed into East Prussia and had seen German wealth in comparison to their own homes, towns and cities Senior Lieutenant Klochkov said he could not understand why Germany had attacked them and risked such a prosperous life. Zhukov's divisional commander General Maslov said “What was surprising was that they were crying in exactly the same way as our children cry” as he watched these children weeping for their lost parents. Revenge propaganda had convinced its citizens that all Germans were ravening beasts wrote the author. The same was true of the Nazi's propaganda.
The Nazis use of “soft faced children” in the final battle was an utter indictment on their moribund ideology and latter attempts to blame the Nazis by Wehrmacht officers holds no water with this reviewer. The final toll of rape, as well as the death and destruction, that the eastern front was from the start to the fall of Berlin is not pretty reading in this very competent telling.
Gertraud “Traudl” Junge once said of Nazism after WW2 had ended “...........at that moment I actually sensed that it was no excuse to be young and that it would have been possible to find things out.” Quite.
I recently read and reviewed The Delinquents by Criena Rohan .
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2699060809?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
As I wrote in that review Brisbane being the location was a lure for my read. As was this book Praise by the late Andrew McGahan. The Delinquents is a love story about 2 teens in the 1950's. Brisbane was a much changed city by the time McGahan's Praise was released in 1992, exactly thirty year later than Rohans view of the street. Praise is no love story between a pair of rebellious teens. Praise is a very sparse and gritty story of an individual alienated totally with life. I suspect that this kind of social realism will not be popular with most but has hit the spot with me as I do recall knowing individuals such as protagonist Gordon Buchanan, people who just did not fit no matter what, people who were tired of having to think too hard about what it was they really wanted and what it was that society wanted from them.
Gordon comes from Dalby, a two and half hour drive west from Brisbane. Dalby is the quintessential rural Queensland town, deeply white, conservative and religious. Large families abound with well-meaning parents who tend towards a rural outlook with a friendly attitude but a fear of outsiders and change. I worked with a man who was homosexual who came from Dalby and he had no choice but to move as coming out would have been a disaster for him and his family. Author McGahan is from Dalby as is his character Gordon. I wonder if there is a little bit of the author in Gordon. Gordon left Dalby and wandered into pub work in Brisbane. He eventually left that to go on the dole and with that fell into the sparse world of boarding house living, unenjoyable sex and unenjoyable drugs. He occasionally attempted to be a poet but found his own poetry a chore.
The difference from The Delinquents 30 years prior is stark. Set In the fifties and situated not long after the troops came home from WW2. The young protagonists of that book, Lola and Brownie were, for all their trials and tribulations, mostly optimistic about their future. Gordon seems to be a character that had no skerrick of optimism, the ultimate member of the No Future generation. With that author McGahan makes this feeling of nothingness work superbly well with a narrative led tale that suits the lack of warmth in any of the characters that appear in the book.
One final thought. With The Delinquents released in 1962 and Praise in 1992 will there be a Brisbane novel of the streets released in 2022 and as thematic? I hope so. Sparse and grungy this is a great Brisbane book.
My wife and I had been discussing a trip to Japan and had told her father. He suggested Norfolk Island. This was not what we particularly wanted to do but he made regular comments as to how he would like to visit the Island. I decided what the heck! He is in his late 80's and one never knows the future. So we went over Easter 2019. No regrets. It is scenically beautiful and has an astonishingly superb world heritage area that would be a delight to anyone with an interest in Australian convict and colonial history. It's very friendly locals also have a complex attitude towards Australia that I found rather fascinating.
While on the island I purchased this history of the island. It was the only comprehensive one that I could find. Unfortunately it only goes up to 1998. There is an excellent chronology, fine maps and illustrations, a good index and it is footnoted very well indeed. The bibliography is superb.
The narrative is in four parts. Part one covers from 1774 when Cook became the first European to step foot on the island through to 1814 when the first penal colony was closed. Part two covers the second penal colony from 1825 to when the convicts left the Island in 1856. Part three is from 1856 when the Pitcairn Islanders arrived through to the end of World War 2 in 1945 with the final part from the end of the war to 1998.
Parts one to three are the most interesting in terms of the colonial aspect and the coming of the Pitcairners. Part four covers mostly administrative issues and the islands relationship with Australia.
Norfolk Island itself is the quintessential speck in the ocean. 8 kilometres by 5 kilometres with an average height of 110 meters and a high point of about 305 meters. There are two uninhabited offshore islands Nepean, where the sandstone for the buildings was quarried and Phillip. Visitors can go for a tramp on Phillip as its slow regeneration takes place after the original colonists allowed pigs, rabbits and goats to denude it natural flora and fauna. The main island itself lacks natural harbours as it is virtually cliff face the entire island with only the Kingston area and 2 other bays being suitable for sea craft and even then with limitations. The Kingston area is home to beautiful Emily Bay that due to its protective reef is the only ideal place for a swim in the very warm waters. Outside the reef we watched a 2 meter swell that the 2 surfers had fun with. I was told that the surf could reach great heights. 2 meters looked enormous to this land lubber.
The site of Cooks first landing is where the present Monument to that event is located in the National Park. This is a place of scenic beauty and there I had the pleasure of watching the rare and endemic Norfolk Parakeet fly into a tree near me. Cook made a report that the island was ideal for the harvesting of endemic Norfolk Pine and flax manufacture. He was wrong on both accounts but the island did make for a brutal penal colony. After the First Fleet had arrived at Port Jackson NSW the colony was established on Norfolk Island at Kingston on March 1788, only 2 weeks after. This makes Kingston the second oldest town in Australia. Some key issues in the early colonial history are covered including the first penal colony and its brutal history, its eventual closure due to cost, the sinking of the Sirius in 1790, the reoccupation of the island and its second penal colony and the again brutal history that included both uprisings and executions.
After the Pitcairn Islanders had outgrown their own speck in the ocean they were offered Norfolk Island as a new home by the British government so with that offer the entire population of 194 moved lock stock and barrel to Norfolk in 1856. Some never adjusted to the larger islands lifestyle and there was movement back by some families as early as 1858 with others following later. The Melanesian Mission built St Barnabus in 1880. We had the pleasure of a visit to this church and I recommend it to any traveller to the island. In 1902 the Pacific Cable came to Norfolk Island with a station at Anson Bay. This had the outside world closer than ever before with the next major event being WW2. The allies built the first aerodrome with the RNZAF stationed and doing patrols. This was a huge change for the seemingly insular islanders as they also had US and Australian military personal stationed on the island. Air travel became the major form of transport from then on.
The author writes at the start of Chapter 2 in part III “By contrast, the action filled decades highlighted by the violence, injustice and misery that preceded 1856, the pattern of Norfolk history after the arrival of the Pitcairners seems rather unspectacular. This is inevitable. The Pitcairners were a quiet, inoffensive people, much given to psalm singing and not at all to brawling-there was not a criminal amongst them. Whatever the future held in the way of disputes with the government, there was no bloodshed. If the story of Norfolk after 1856 seems prosaic by comparison with the stream of unrest that went before, it is still a better narrative. Commonplace affairs, though less exciting, are preferable to disasters.” I could not agree more. In fact what I found interesting to read from this book was that from 1945 onwards the administrative and political discourse covered may well be pedestrian to some but having been there for a week and listened to the Islanders thoughts on their relationship with the Australian Federal government I actually found the more mundane discussions on administrative disputes and even talk of succession interesting. A definitive case of “you had to have been there” I suppose. Part IV covered such items as aviation, harbours, education, law and administration among other such mundane topics. But in the end it all came down to constitutional issues and with that the relationship with the Australian Federal government.
Since this book was written a lot has happened in terms of Island status within the Commonwealth. As this book explains from the time of the Pitcairners arrival there has been dispute as to their status. The Pitcairners (who to this day dominate) claim they were ceded the island as self-governing under the British crown. The Australian Federal government disagree. As recently as 2016 the Federal government changed the status of the island and incorporated it into local government status. With that comes all the federal goodies such as welfare and voting rights. And then comes things they don't like such as taxes etc. While there the islanders had a tent embassy to explain their case to visitors such as myself. This item will explain in detail.
https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/resource/norfolk-islanders-take-bitter-independence-row-to-un/
This item writes “It is fair to say most Australians would be surprised by the news that indigenous islanders have gone to the United Nations in their campaign for restoration of the self-government stripped by Canberra in 2016.” and that is very true. When I told family and friends of this dispute they were amazed. An example I gave was the young girl working at the apartments we stayed at making it abundantly clear she was not an Aussie and had in fact “backpacked around Australia”. She was less forthcoming when I asked her about how she applied for a visa. “I have a passport” she said. It made my wife and I think that there was a little bit of wanting the cake and eating it as well. The request for grants to the Feds to assist with such things as the pier at Cascade Harbour seem a little too regular to me. I do understand some issues would rile though. The airport runway needs upgrading and it is suggested that rock will be imported in with that project. The islanders are correct when they say this will be an ecological disaster if such things as frogs, cane toads and various other nasties appear and devastate an already hurt ecosystem. This is a tough subject for the islanders in general and they have my sympathies. They are seeing their population drop and there are several empty shop fronts in the main settlement of Burnt Pine. They, for example, only have an optometrist turn up from the mainland periodically. The shelves of the supermarkets were beginning to empty when we were there as the long expected ship had not turned up. We could get no eggs for example. Milk is all long life unless one is fast to the butcher to get fresh milk from the only supplier on the island. We heard that one of the two butchers was in fact closing and there are many for sale signs everywhere.
But in the end so what I suppose. If one wants an isolated lifestyle one must accept the trials and tribulations that come with that. The slowness is a pleasure. The Kingston world heritage area is one of most interesting places I have ever been to. I made visit every day. The cemetery it contains is a must see for the sheer beauty alone and also its brutal history is fascinating. The museums are very good. It contains a lovely wind swept golf course and Emily Bay is magnificent for a swim and dive. The quarks of seeing the names from the Mutiny on the Bounty, the Christians and the Quintals for example, just about everywhere gives the island a unique feel. The cattle having right of way over cars is fun, the chance to take some great pics in some very isolated places is a must for those with that bent and the local fish The Trumpeter is delicious. Don't miss the weekly Fish Fry, well worth the price.
Would I go back? Yes but I suspect it will be later in life. A book recommended to those that have been there and found it interesting.
Renowned historian Antony Beevor's D-Day The Battle For Normandy is an easy to read book written in populist style that should appeal to the first time reader or those that who have little knowledge on the subject. Copious footnotes, good maps and a very useful bibliography. The footnotes are not numbered, I wish they had been. 3 sections of plates. Obviously well researched.
My biggest complaint was that nearly half the book was not about D-Day nor the battle for Normany but covered events after the breakout. I also caught a few typos and the River Rance was at one point called the River Cance. My edition is the 70th anniversary edition and I would have thought that a few minor corrections would have been noted and corrected.
I found the criticism of the various commanders both Allied and Axis interesting. The effect on the Norman civilian population made very sad reading. The little covered (or cared about) treatment of civilian population is in my opinion not covered well enough in the vast majority of military history. The treatment of women accused of Collaboration Horizontale is an unfortunate stain on the French nation and I agreed with the authors comment that it was “jealousy masquerading as moral outrage” considering that vast majority of the populace really did little to hinder the invaders.
In the end a good read for me without reaching great heights.
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. Part two.
As I have reviewed elsewhere in The Delinquents "https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2699060809?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1"> Lola (Kylie Minogue in the film of the book) liked Joseph Conrad and so do I, but not as much as some. I suspect that Lola was reading Conrad as boyfriend Brownie was away at sea in the early days of their relationship and perhaps she was attracted to the fact that Conrad wrote about the sea and sailing. This book of 3 short stories was all about that subject. One could imagine Lola wondering what it was about this attraction to the sea hence her reading Conrad. What I find interesting is that the author of The Delinquents, Criena Rohan, should have her books heroine reading such a dense author. I mean let's be true to ourselves here, Conrad is no easy read. I came into this book expecting what I got, dark and dense paragraphs that had me rereading constantly. Is having to reread a good thing? Yes and no. Typical of books like this they can tend to pass over my tiny mind, the nuances as it were. Of the three tales Youth and The End of the Tether were easy to read and interesting stories in themselves without having me think I was reading classics. The Heart of Darkness on the other hand......... dense and deep. I was happy to reread passages but I wish it was not so. It can take away from the experience I suppose.
Though a noted classic in truth not for me personally. I get the reputation but something just did not grab me. Again it makes the star system kind of redundant in truth. How can I not give it 5 stars considering what it makes one think about? I finished The Heart of Darkness a good few days ago and have been thinking about it. In fact I played an audio version (something I had never done before) after finishing the read so as to get another voice as it were. In The Delinquents Brownie had snorted 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? Brownie would not have had the patience to even get past the first few pages I suspect. I can find no reference to Heart Of Darkness in the banned books lists in Qld. I presume that Lola may have got it from the library. I am going to give my copy to a young lass who I work with who is studying English Lit with a view to getting into the publishing industry. Hopefully she enjoys it.