Tuesday, 1 October 2019
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
by Nancy
Alexis Wright, a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, she is one of Australia’s most acclaimed writers.
Steeped in myth and magical realism, Wright’s hypnotic storytelling exposes the heartbreaking realities of Aboriginal life. Carpentaria teems with extraordinary, larger-than-life characters who transcend their circumstances and challenge assumptions about the downtrodden "other." The novel "bursts with life" (Daily Telegraph) as Alexis Wright re-creates the land and its people with mysticism, stark reality, and pointed imagination.
Here are a few questions to ponder as we make our way through this rather large book.
Carpentaria is a lyrical novel full of interwoven histories and myths. What do you think this story is ultimately about? Mozzie tells his men on page 426, “Nothing must stop our stories, understand?” What does he mean by this? How is the novel itself a response to this edict? or fail.
There is great irony in the poverty of Desperance, a town full of greedy people sitting on top of an underground fortune in minerals. How does the Gurfurrit mining company use their situation to its own advantage?
1. Most of the main characters in this novel are male, except for Angel Day, who blows through the lives of the Pricklebush mob like a cyclone. What makes her a Queen instead of an ordinary woman? Why does Norm Phantom have such disdain for his three daughters, who are his only children to remain home and relatively trouble-free? Do you feel any sympathy for these women? Discuss the role of the female in this novel.
I think we are in for a challenging read Ladies, I hope it is also interesting and informative also.
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Hello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteWell I am sorry to say I am writing this post in defeat. I am really struggling with our book this month and have been trying to wade my way through it, especially as I know Sue, you have made a huge effort to finish this story.
I have tried to read this book as a series of stories with each chapter the beginning of another tale, and that seems to work out OK.
I have enjoyed Ms Wright’s descriptions of the Gulf country and the ancient legends that accompanied them.
I feel deeply for the injustices perpetrated against the Aboriginal people by outsiders believing they know better and the horrific crimes white Australia has committed against its native people.
I just found Carpentaria very difficult to follow and found myself lost many times. I guess I still have a long way to go in understanding Aboriginal culture and voice.
I felt, as much as I have read , that it was such a sad story with so many different threads, political, social, business interests and dispossession.
I have grown up in a small town with a large Aboriginal community and in so many ways, I recognised the truth behind the stories of Uptown and the conditions of the Pricklebush.
Aboriginal people are struggling with many problems within their communities and quite often are let down by their own representatives, throwing money at these problems never seems to work without a basic framework of initiated programmes. I guess another symptom of our white guilt is we think money will fix everything, yet deeper questions need to be asked and Aboriginal people given the tools to do this for themselves. I am never sure of the answers, I just know we have gone to far to go back and so we all need to try understanding each other.
The main thing I have come to realise in trying to read this book is just because I am Australian does not mean I understand Aboriginal culture, their thinking or their life philosophies, if any thing it has shown me how little I know.
I am sorry I have chosen such a difficult book, and Sue I am in awe of your diligence to finish it.
I hope all is well with you both, and I hope Norway is all you hoped for Sue.
Much love Nancy
ps. I would also like to change my selection of There There in January to Queenie by Candice Carty- Williams if this OK with you both.
ReplyDeleteHello Ladies
ReplyDeleteHope Gracie is happily back in Australia, Nancy, and that everything is going well. Katie, I trust the colder weather is not adversely affecting anything. We were exceptionally lucky with the weather in Norway. For the first ten days or so, it was sunshine all the way: snow capped mountains and blue fjords were spectacular. Then we had a real storm, which briefly gave us winds of over 160 kilometres an hour and waves around 10 metres high. (105 m.p.h. and 33/34 feet is more meaningful to me!) In order to get into the fjords, the ship was a relatively small cruiser, and it was even older than me. So we bounced around a bit. There were amazing views of heaving water and ferocious waves from the porthole, the deck having been placed out of bounds. It had calmed down by the time we reached sunny Stavanger - though I’ve no doubt some of us will be dining out on the experience for some time to come. Certainly took one’s mind off Brexit!
I very much enjoyed the beginning of ‘Carpentaria’: ‘Picture the creative serpent . . . which once crawl(ed) on its heavy belly, all around the wet clay soils in the Gulf of Carpentaria.’ The serpent’s breathing controls the tides, its angry thrashing, its writhing and wrenching, impacts on the environment. Wonderful writing.
Sadly, despite Carpentaria’s Aboriginal peoples’ awareness of their surroundings, enshrined in Aboriginal Law, they live in a ‘human dumping ground’, Pricklebush outside Desperance. Much of the rest of the novel is set here. And much of it is horrific. For example, though Kevin’s history may well be reflected in the lives of many Aboriginal boys, it was very hard to read.
The plethora of characters and multitude of events also made the novel difficult to follow. This is not to denigrate the multi-layered text. But I floundered through sections which I did not fully understand and which I could not always order into a coherent narrative. And many events seemed like fantasy, for example the whole story of Elias Smith. (One of the few strands that made me laugh in places.)
The Griffith Review “On ‘Carpentaria’ by Alexis Wright”, comforted me a little, telling me, “The temporal structure of the novel has traumatic characteristics: it features a non-linear and nonsensical circulation of mixed-up history that captures and authentically conveys how the traumatised, colonised mind struggles with ‘unacceptable history’.” So I forgave myself for my confusion. And felt huge sympathy for the Aboriginal people confronted by my empire-building forefathers.
I took the book out of the library three successive times, so it lived in our house for three months. In that time I was appalled, frustrated and filled with admiration. I think the librarians were filled with admiration for me, too. (Over the years our book club has been running I’ve got very friendly with the librarians!)
Nevertheless, I have to admit failure. I didn’t really understand the novel at all, but there were sections of the narrative that will stay with me for a long time: Norm, powerless while Truthful took Girlie to bed; Aaron Ho Kum’s Aboriginal mother remaining in a tiny dark room until she turned white; Aaron, whose father was white, ‘treated as though good white sperm had been falsely procured by a lesser kind and produced a snake.’ The mine explosion, one result of which was pipeline partially embedded in the ground and looking like a postmodern sculpture. And all the deaths . . .
I’d never have picked this to read, Nancy, but it has surely stretched what remains of my imagination, comprehension and determination. And your own comments on the Aboriginal community’s relationship with the white Australian community are very insightful. Thank you.
Hello Ladies!
ReplyDeleteHope you are both doing well. Sue your Norwegian adventure sounds magical! I know a lot of people who have been visiting the Scandinavian peninsula lately. Seems to be the "it" place to visit right now. We just had a very at unseasonable Halloween which worked out well for the trick-or-treating. The kids have acquired more candy than I think they could ever eat. Luckily Benjamin has willing donated some of his candy to our troops overseas. Certainly made his mama proud!
Nancy, I am sorry that you were unable to finish this novel but also I am a little grateful. I couldn't complete this month's novel either. I found it to be as difficult as a Brief History of Seven Killings. It got to the point were I was skimming paragraphs and skipping entire sections trying to get through it. I was never completely sure which portions were Norm's imagination and which parts were meant to be taken more literally. It was just overall very difficult to read.
Sue, I admire your drive to get through this novel. I believe that you may have been the most successful of us. Nancy I am open to what ever book changes you'd like to make! I am on my way to the library now to get my copy of Reservoir 13. I hope I have better luck with this one!
Hello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteVery sorry about this months book, I agree with you Katie it was as difficult as Seven Killings, another of my poor choices.
I will happily change my next pick to Queenie which I am hoping we will all enjoy.
Glad to hear Halloween was a success, so much fun for the children.
Love Nancy