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jazzy_daveDavid Malouf "Remembering Babylon" (Vintage)
This is a novel filled with strong characterizations, an interesting narrative told in several voices and written in poetic prose. Yet I was only lukewarm about it until the final chapter. It was there that Malouf braided his strands together and presented me with a coherent picture. Though it's subtle, he compares the natural, gentle world of the Aborigine, their Jerusalem, with the Babylon of the European settlement with all its complications of human nature, including aggression, duplicity, and bigotry.
It's not so much a fall from grace, though Gemmy does just that, as it is a fall into grace by members of the white community as they come to recognize how well and naturally the Aborigines fit into the environment. He sees the Aborigines as belonging to the land and being a part of it and is concerned in part with the loss of Eden. The novel's about the opposition of the natural world with that of civilization. Much of the novel focuses on words and their power, and on naming. Words are the products of and stand for civilization. Their dissolving in the redeeming rain of the penultimate chapter is a return to grace. Though it wasn't as dense as I'd expected, it's a very well-written novel with something interesting to say about the interface between the primitive and modern societies.
Throughout, the pages are filled with startling insights and memorable images making each paragraph a delight. I especially loved the passages describing how some characters became able to see, really see, the world they had lived in and struggled to subdue for so many sweat-blind years. It’s a novel of emerging consciousness told with grace and charm and compassion. I recommend it highly.
This is a novel filled with strong characterizations, an interesting narrative told in several voices and written in poetic prose. Yet I was only lukewarm about it until the final chapter. It was there that Malouf braided his strands together and presented me with a coherent picture. Though it's subtle, he compares the natural, gentle world of the Aborigine, their Jerusalem, with the Babylon of the European settlement with all its complications of human nature, including aggression, duplicity, and bigotry.
It's not so much a fall from grace, though Gemmy does just that, as it is a fall into grace by members of the white community as they come to recognize how well and naturally the Aborigines fit into the environment. He sees the Aborigines as belonging to the land and being a part of it and is concerned in part with the loss of Eden. The novel's about the opposition of the natural world with that of civilization. Much of the novel focuses on words and their power, and on naming. Words are the products of and stand for civilization. Their dissolving in the redeeming rain of the penultimate chapter is a return to grace. Though it wasn't as dense as I'd expected, it's a very well-written novel with something interesting to say about the interface between the primitive and modern societies.
Throughout, the pages are filled with startling insights and memorable images making each paragraph a delight. I especially loved the passages describing how some characters became able to see, really see, the world they had lived in and struggled to subdue for so many sweat-blind years. It’s a novel of emerging consciousness told with grace and charm and compassion. I recommend it highly.
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