Dark Places [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Kate Grenville (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

Set in Sydney at the end of the 19th century, this novel focuses on the rise and fall of one man: Albion. He is a hateful and cruel man and a misogynist, but the author also shows him as a victim of his class, period and gender.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Louis Braille Audio; Unabridged edition (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0732016266
• ISBN-13: 978-0732016265
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Kate Grenville (kategrenville.com) was born in Sydney, Australia. She's published eight books of fiction, including the multiple prize-winners 'The Secret River', 'The Lieutenant', 'The Idea of Perfection', and 'Lilian's Story'. She's also published three books about the writing process that are classic texts for Creative Writing classes, and a memoir about the research and writing of 'The Secret River'.

Grenville writes about Australia, but her themes are universal: love, violence, and survival. Her characters are often inspired by real historical characters: her own nineteenth century convict ancestor, an early Australian settler; a bag-lady on the streets of 1950s Sydney who quotes Shakespeare for a living; a soldier in the Sydney of 1788 who shares an extraordinary friendship of tenderness and respect with a young Aboriginal girl.

Grenville's international prizes include the Orange Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and a shortlisting for the Man Booker Prize. Her books have been published all over the world and translated into many languages, and two have been made into feature films.

Learn more about Kate Grenville, her books, and how to get hold of them, at kategrenville.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written but one dimensional, November 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Places (Hardcover)

Kate Grenville is a terrific writer. Her prose is clear, concise and flowing, yet never dry or prosaic. Albion Gidley Singer, the subject of "Dark Places", could very easily have become a caricature, but in Grenville's expert hands, he is at once a monster for the evil he perpetrates but also a victim of his parent's grotesque upbringing methods. Brought up to despise the female species - in his eyes, soft, weak, mindless, lacking in intellect and above all, trivial - the cruelty he shows to his society wife Nora and his fat but intelligent daughter Lilian, is a front and a cover up for his own pitifully underdeveloped inner self. He surrounds himself and obsesses with facts simply because he hasn't the ability to offer an opinion or make a common human judgement on anything. Lacking a sense of humour, he is socially inept but retreats behind a picture perfect persona manufactured to fool the world. His unspeakable cruelty and crime against the rebellious Lilian marks the start of his own unrevelling. Even poor weak John finds his vocation and loosens himself from Albion's clutches. "Dark Places" is a fascinating study of dysfunctionality, yet there are times you feel your interest dulled by the sheer deadweight of its predictability in characterisation and its unremitting sense of doom. If not for Grenville's remarkable skills as a writer, some may even find it one dimensional and tiresome in parts. I myself enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it as a text to be studied and discussed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Bizarre Turn of 20th Century Aussie Tale!, July 1, 2005

By 

S. Henkels (Devon, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark places (Hardcover)

The narration/ point of view in this novel is really exceptional as it all takes place in the mind of a supposedly upstanding Aussie citizen, owner of a family stationary business, men's clubbite, and ravenous consumer of all and any facts, especially odd reproductive habits of plants and animals, not exempting the human species. There is so much dark and wry humor in this 1st person narrative that I was laughing almost against my better instincts thruout. Every scene is near perfect from the awkward courtship ceremonies of our slowing maddening hero, through the visits to brothels, business practices, and family life/marriage through to the bitter end.For a truly unique perspective into the mind of a very depraved man, this one is hard to beat. And to think it was written by a woman! Amazing!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear brilliant writing, February 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Places (Hardcover)

This is a novel of outstanding quality in every respect. Grenville knows how to write right across the gender barrier. If one were to remove all details of authorship from the cover of Dark Places, I very much doubt that even the best critic would detect that the author was female. She does a spectactular job of writing from a male perspective. Her main character Albion Gidley Singer, is to all intents and purposes an upstanding male citizen who comes complete with all the accolades of success, but who has a very dark side. He has "... a fear and loathing of the flesh of females." Worse still, he despises himself. What's interesting about Grenville's approach to this character is that the reader somehow becomes Albion; that he/she is transformed into the monster that he is. Ironically, there's no way that Grenville is being anti-male here. In fact, she shows the reader that Albion is a victim of his mother as much as he is a victim of a patriarchal society and ultimately, himself. A fascinating novel that takes the reader white water rafting into the darker realms of their consciousness.