This book was passed to me by my Mum, and I have to admit to not really knowing what to expect from it. Andrew McGahan’s The White Earth is a complex story, told by two of the book’s main characters, John McIvor and his nephew William.
Following the death of William’s father, he and his mother go and live with his Uncle at Kuran Station, a once grand typical Australian station in the plains. Here the history of Kuran Station and of the areas previous Aboriginal residents comes to light.
The book certainly taught me a fair amount about what happened in Australia to the Aborigines, something that I have to admit to not knowing much about before. (In fact I’m not even sure if I’ve read any other books set in Australia…) At times the tale does become quite dark, so it’s certainly not a read for the feint hearted, however I do thoroughly recommend it if you like a book that ‘s bit “different” and challenges to you think about what has happened in the past.
Amazing co-incidence? This URL: 15 Jun 2008 … http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/3017400/30180586 was the 5th entry that came up on my google search for the number 30180586. It led to this site. I was trying to track a landline number with an 07 prefix that had called my mobile and played me an annoying recorded competition message.
BUT
I am a big fan of Andrew McGahan, or at least the three books of his I have read. I really liked The White Earth, but there were things even worse that happened to the aborigines in some areas. A lot of it is documented, but most is personal memories. On another note, his earlier books Praise (was made into a pretty good movie) was about a screwed-up barman and his girlfriend living in Brisbane. I later became a screwed-up barman living in Brisbane.
The next book I read of his was 1988. It was set, of course, in 1988 (I was 15 then). It began in Brisbane (I lived there when I read it) and involved moving away to live on a remote weather station. I didn’t do that, but I did travel alone, and spent up to two weeks at a time cycling solo.
As you can probably tell, I loved his books and identified with them quite a lot 🙂
Check out his earlier books, but maybe not if you are squeamish about sex & drugs, because they are a bit more full-on than White Earth.
He has two other books, Last Drinks, which I think is a crime novel, and Underground, which I know nothing about. It appears, on my own recommendation, I should check them out.
Thanks for your comments Glenn. It’s particularly interesting to hear about the other Andrew McGahan books. He was not an author that I had heard of until my mum passed on this book to read (as you can probably tell my reading tastes are very mixed and often depend on what I can get my hands on at the time!), but based on your comments his other books sound really interesting. I’ll try and seek some of them out definitely!
Thanks for the details. Also, please pop back if you do read his others (Last Drinks and Underground) and let me know what you think.