Deadly, Unna? [Paperback]

Phillip Gwynne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 30, 1998

Fourteen-year-old Gary Black's life in Australia centers around his large family and footy (Australian football), until he becomes friends with an Aborigine boy and realizes how horrible prejudice can be.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (April 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141300493
• ISBN-13: 978-0141300498
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,962,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartening, Sensitive, and Hilarious, February 26, 2004

By 

Laura Lynn Walsh "gt-teacher" (Fairbanks, AK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deadly, Unna? (Paperback)

I am a bit dismayed at the other reviews of this book. I found it to be a sensitive, insightful, and hilarious observation of culture and youth. Blacky is growing up in a remote town where footy (Australian rules football) is the only entertainment around. The whole town focuses on footy, but since the town is so small, in order to field a team, both Gunjas (whites) and Nungas (aboriginals) are needed. The aboriginals have an entirely different style of play, and one of them, Dumby, is an outstanding player. Blacky, the narrator, is not an especially talented footy player, but he is an excellent observer of adolescence and small town life. He and Dumby start out as enemies, but become friends, when Blacky is forced to respect both Dumby's excellent play and his honorable behavior.

The book on the surface is about footy, small towns, and adolescence, but there is a deeper exploration of racial, family, and community relationships, and the tragedy that throws a flood light on everything.

I am not sure where the other reviewers are coming from, but I recommend this book highly, along with its sequel Nukkin Ya, which is even more outstanding.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight into the other Australia, September 4, 2005

By 

Marcus P. Bussey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deadly, Unna? (Paperback)

I can understand many of the young reviewers who have struggled with this book - it is very much an insight into the Australian Psyche. The dialect and humour are Australian and the concerns over race and identity and the development of relationships between indigenous and white Australians require a sense of maturity, a capacity to handle language that is not so mainstream and also an appreciation of the effects of colonisation on both the Aborigines and the poor whites. Magic book and well worth the effort if you stop fighting it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The true review of deadly unna?, September 30, 2005

By 

The reader (Carol) (Vic, Aus) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadly, Unna? (Paperback)

First of all, I would like to say that this book is not for everyone. This book is not well-understood by those who gave it horrible reviews- Deadly Unna? is worth much more. This book is quite deep, and has many metaphors.

Neither is this book for those who prefer fairy-tale endings. This book is the truth, about issues and morals that are hidden from sight.
The only thing that I didn't like, was the amount of stereotypical people that were introduced- though this did make the book better understood.

Phillip Gwynne has put something special into this book. I cannot describe what this special thing is, because there are no words in the English language to describe it. That special thing leaves you awestruck, feeling that you are there, watching and listening the happenings, instead of reading them off paper. It makes you cry with the characters, and laugh.

This book does have plot. It just takes a deeper eye to understand it. Don't try to fight it.

I would advise the reader to read the sequel, Nukkin ya, because you will be asking for more.