The White Earth

by Andrew McGahan | Entertainment |
ISBN: 1741146127 Global Overview for this book
Registered by livrecache of Hobart, Tasmania Australia on 11/17/2007
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by livrecache from Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Saturday, November 17, 2007
From: http://www.aussiereviews.com/article1611.html

William is only eight when he sees a huge smoke cloud erupt on the family farm. He is confused by the events that follow - the smell of smoke, the ringing of the telephone, the appearance of neighbour's vehicles. But eventually he realises his father has been killed in a tractor fire. William and his mother are left destitute by his father's passing, and with the unstable mother unable to either care properly for William or work for a living, they are forced to accept the charity of an uncle William didn't know existed.

Moving into his uncle's home, Kuran House, does not provide the stability William needs. His uncle has spent his life in an obsessed quest to own Kuran Station and now needs an heir to continue his life's work. He is not, however, prepared to simply name William in his will. He wants the boy to prove himself. William's mother, desperate for security and a better life, expects William to perform for his uncle. And, while William works to try to balance the competing needs of these two unbalanced adults, he is also battling a health problem which no one around seems at all concerned with.

Alongside the personal struggles of William and the unstable grown ups who seem to occupy his world is the story of the Mabo case and the land rights debates of the late 20th century. The novel is set in 1992, the year the Mabo case was playing out in the nation's courtrooms and television sets. William's uncle is involved in the White Australia movement, through the Australian Independence League and has William assist him in his work. William is a boy desperate for love, acceptance and order and he is drawn into what he sees the League offering him. It is much later in the novel that he is forced to question both the League and his uncle's beliefs and action.

The White Earth is a complex story, with parallel plots involving William's present and his Uncle John's past. As William's story unfolds we also learn what has brought his uncle to this place in his life - both physically and emotionally. It is a novel with many shocks, gripping the reader with its sheer awfulness. Those who have read Dickens will draw parallels between Uncle John and Miss Havisham and be aware of the Dickensian feel to both the progression of the tale and the overall tone.

That said, this is a very Australian novel, with a very Australian setting and cast.

Shattering.


Different cover from that shown


Journal Entry 2 by livrecache from Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Saturday, November 29, 2008
Reserved for freelunch.

4 December

Just to add to the impersonal book review, after a slow start, I found this book totally grabbed me. The guy can write. (What he was doing with Underground I don't know. ) It's a pretty bleak book, but so evocative in its description of the landscape, and the eerie things that were being carried over from the past. Somehow it reminded me of Great Expectations.

I'll be buying a copy for my PC. Andrew, of course, you do what you like with it, but I'd really be interested in what others think. (No pressure)

PS: Oh, I re-read the Dickensian stuff in my first entry after I'd filed my JE. I'm not even original!

Journal Entry 3 by freelunch from Cairns, Queensland Australia on Tuesday, December 9, 2008
received today, thanks livrecache :o)

Journal Entry 4 by freelunch from Cairns, Queensland Australia on Saturday, January 31, 2009
I've been putting of reading this book because I believed it was a post-apocalypse tale, and I've read a couple of those recently. Once I got started on it, it was quickly clear I was mistaken, and I was quickly drawn into the story.

I've never read Dickens (I know, shame on me, etc, etc, etc) but this book did remind me in parts of Peter Carey's work, and as I've seen him compared to Dickens I guess that amounts to the same thing :)

this book has been selected by DrCris from VBB Oz, I'll be sending it with a couple of travelling companions soon.

Journal Entry 5 by DrCris from Templestowe, Victoria Australia on Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Looking forward to this. I avoided signing up for a bookring, because, well, you know... Anyway, I will read it at my leisure. Maybe when I am 50. :)

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.