English Passengers

Funny, appalling, enlightening, engrossing. A great read.

A historical novel with some characters and incidents that are based on real life events. The author makes mention of this in an epilogue. I was also aware while reading that I was familiar with a lot of the history of the times, the mid 1800's, in Van Diemen's Land / Tasmanian via both fact and fiction. Van Diemen's Land / Tasmanian writers of both history and novels are easily my most interesting and/or enjoyable reads in terms of Australia. This wonderful book just adds to that thought.

Told in the first person by a large cast with the major character's having the most input I found myself racing along as each and every character, be they repulsive or pleasing made this plot driven book a kind of pleasure and pain. The sheer buffoonery of the English colonialist made me laugh out loud at times. On the other hand, the genocide committed on the inhabitants by the English colonialists left one aware that there is that stain on English history. English? I think some may ask. Yes English as this is the point of the story.

My favourite characters were Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley the Manx speaking captain of a smugglers ship and Peevay, the aboriginal man who plays a big part in this story. He is the voice of his peoples sad and slow death via genocide and illness. In this reader's opinion, the author Mathew Kneale has done an exceptional job of giving each and every character their own distinctive voice throughout the story told.

Recommend to both the lover of historical fiction and fact.

Originally posted on the Motley Fool UK Bookclub board

I'll start off by saying that I enjoyed the book, and enjoyed the feeling of being part of the [Motley Fool UK] book club. I wouldn't have read this book otherwise.

Narration

I found the style of narration easier to follow than I expected. Then again, a multi-person narrative isn't uncommon in the fantasy genre which is where I'm usually to be found. Such narratives generally lead to a more-favoured and less-favoured but in the case of this book, there weren't really any narratives that I dreaded. If I had to pick a more- and less-favoured, the former would be Peevay and the latter, Potter. More on that to follow.

I think the author had to do a little toying with time in order to bring the narratives together and it seemed a little contrived to me. Jack Harp's demise was a bit sudden and the minor thread pertaining to the prison system seemed to vanish. I guess they were minor parts and supplemented the story both in terms of its plot and to add a bit of historical significance.

Characters

The three English Passengers were quite obviously caricatures with little depth to them but they played their parts well: Wilson on the “religious” end of the scale, Potter on the “scientific” and Renshaw sort of in the middle. I agree with Greatrakes that Renshaw could have had more to do. He should at least have been given a bit more airtime to allow us to see an Englishman's view of the other two.

I found that Potter's style of narration gave a good impression of the sort of character he was, but it did get annoying to read.

The scene with Potter and Wilson battling it out on the ship's pulpit was a particular favourite of mine and showed just how ridiculous both characters were. Potter got his just desserts, with his remains being showed at the exhibition; I found that to be most satisfactory for the reader.

Wilson did seem to have a bit more depth than the other two but not much; it was funny to note that his “unselfish” wife encouraged him on his quest - no doubt she couldn't see the back of him quick enough!

The Manxmen were my favourite characters in the book, although for a crew who were as unfamiliar with a ship as they were at the beginning, they seemed to handle such a long voyage with some ease.

The Manxmen's attitude towards the English was well done.

I found Peevay's style of narration quite endearing and him a likeable fellow. I think it was a good choice to make the spokesman of the natives a half-caste as it showed from the outset the horror of what the colonials did.

Overall, I found myself strangely compelled to read this book and I got through it quicker than I thought I would. That said, it's now two or so weeks since I finished it and it's not a book that will remain in my mind as one of my favourites but I'm glad to have read it. It's a shame my location means that I have to buy each book rather than borrow it as this one will take up shelf space and I'm quite sure I won't read it again.

The main thing I'd say I got from the book was an idea of a part of history about which I knew absolutely nothing. If the conversation of the history of Tasmania ever comes up, I'll now be able to hold my own! Or indeed, a Trivial Pursuit question about the former name of Tasmania!