Customer Reviews

Forefathers

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't let the cover art of this book fool you into thinking it's just a fluffy, inconsequential, melodramatic, romantic novel. This is actually one of the finest, best written, most substantial books I've ever read. This book spans centuries of one family's existence and evolution, from their arrival in Australia during the days of squatters and convicts through to almost the present day, to the days of the Vietnam war.

I read this novel as a teen (although it is not a teen book!) and until this day, I still love it. It's not just a great story, it also really opened my eyes to a whole lot of facts about Australian history I didn't know about until then, facts that are often not even taught in schools, probably because they're so shameful. For instance, I learned that in the past, the north of Australia was a lot like the deep south of America...they kidnapped black slaves from the Pacific Islands and forced them to labour against their will on sugar plantations. These slaves were treated horrendously, and often didn't survive their captivity. And native Australian Aborigines were forced to live in 'reservations', where they had no rights and no freedoms. In fact, Australian Aborigines didn't even legally 'exist' until a few decades ago...before that they could not vote and were not even counted as people in the census. The only right they really had was to join the army and die for their country...but when they came back from the war as heroes, they were still treated just as poorly.

Don't get me wrong, this book isn't just about the struggles that peoples of colour faced in Australia's past. It's also about the struggles EVERYONE who settled in this harsh yet beautiful land went through, whether they were black or white or any colour in between...the convicts from the UK, the beaten rebels from Canada, the gold prospectors, the wealthy squatters, the poor and downtrodden looking for a new and better life, and so on. And yet, in spite of its powerful, confronting storylines, this isn't a bleak book, but rather a wonderful celebration of the triumph of the human spirit. At all times it's poignant, beautiful, exciting and moving, and is penned with such astounding scope and detail that it proves this writer to be one of the literary greats.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Even if you have no interest whatsoever in Australian history, you'll still enjoy this, because it's not just about the history of the country, it's also about the people who made it what it is today...and those people, good or bad, are absolutely astounding.