Reviews

• Poetic novel about identify, fear, and compassion

  The writing of David Malouf is always poetic, full of sensation and unique perspective. This makes him a joy to read, for he brings the reader to their senses with his vibrant evocation of smells, tastes, touch, and sound. Whereas we grow so accustomed to reading novels where plot and character development are the two primary concerns of the author, Malouf takes a different strategy. He enhances both plot and character development with dreamlike forces of nature and society and environment that act upon both the plot and character to such an extent that these forces become dominant themes. This is certainly the case in Remembering Babylon where fear of the unknown becomes a major force that captures every character and entraps them in their thoughts and social interactions and consequences of their thoughts, words, and deeds. It is also a book about identity, claiming identity, inheriting identity, developing identity, and losing identity. Jemmy, a London street child, cleaning under sawmills at age 5, is a cabin boy at thirteen, set adrift in the Pacific by sailors who fear his fever. He lands on the northern shore of Australia and for sixteen years survives as a fringe outsider to a tribe of Aborigine nomads. When he hears about white people his interest is peaked and he soon tries to locate them and live with them. But he is the `other', an outsider that never fits the community mould of these suspicious struggling Scottish pioneers who fear the unknown Aborigines and fears that Jemmy will somehow increase their vulnerability. Janet, the child of pioneers who take Jemmy into their home, is perceptive and intelligent and finds her life work among the first bee keepers in Australia. She experiences the pain that fear can cause in a community and even in her senior years, as a scientist nun with a study of bee sign language, she is again introduced to the effects of fear on the fabric of a community. Such a novel may frustrate some readers for characters talk past other characters, never really understanding or making connections. Malouf portrays this chronic world of misunderstanding with accuracy and pathos. In his books we see that we humans never really know each other, we have difficulty getting past our own projections and the projected defenses and masks of our contacts. We are vulnerable to the forces of fear which act like a contagion and spread quickly in human society. We have very few resources and defenses other than common sense which often fails in the face of fear, and compassion, which is a private solution in the face of public fear. Jemmy evokes fear in many of the farmers and compassion in a few. It is this mystery of human life that Malouf explores with such exquisite penetration and which makes him a joy to read.

• A classic

  A brilliant book. A classic and well-worth reading, though emotionally hard at times. A powerful story of how our culture has treated other cultures and minority people in the past will hopefully shed light on how we treat people so badly today.

• Alta qualità

  Ben fatto esteticamente (margini giusti e caratteri chiari) al contrario di The Great World impossibile da leggere senza farsi venire un’emicrania per la bassissima qualità di stampa

• Recomendable 100%!

  Baratisímo! Libro de segunda mano, casi como nuevo excepto por varias de las páginas del principio que tenían anotaciones pero que no molestan en la lectura. Repetiré sin duda!

• Four Stars

  Interesting book bought as a gift and friend enjoyed, as did I.

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