Customer Reviews

Over Forty in Broken Hill : Unusual Encounters in the Australian Outback

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My son, bless him, dropped this gem into my Christmas stocking when it was first published. With no idea where he'd found it, this book was gleefully snapped up and read to the last page. It was my introduction to Jack Hodgins, who has produced some terrific work; too little considered even in his native Canada. Central Canadian urban-based critics have foolishly panned him as a 'regional' author since he places most of his work on Vancouver Island. Strange you rarely hear such appellations applied to writers stuck in the concrete canyons of New York. Whatever 'regional' qualities Hodgins carries, he's certainly broken that mould with this book.

With a background in wet, forested and sea-girt Vancouver Island, Hodgins confronts the vast, sparse deserts of western New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. He brings to light some of the wonders of the Australian language and culture. He feels exposed as a stranger: "Jacko, there's a Canadian boofhead out there begging for trouble!". After discovering a pick-up truck is a "ute" and a "bound" roast has had the bone removed, he even seeks to identify a row of trees. Surely, there's an Australian term for Weeping Willows. "Oh, those? They're Weeping Willows." He goes crook.

Hodgins isn't a stranger to Australia. He'd been there before, often enough to become acquainted with the Australian literary scene. This book is a dual tour: the physical one of following the desert roads to Outback towns and villages is joined with the literary journey introducing us to the fine array of Australian authors. While the physical tour of the desert depicted here is an education in environment, bizarre weather and unusual language styles, it is the discussion of writers and writing that captures the attention. Over Forty doesn't refer to age, of course, but temperature - a typical desert condition. While the Darling River overflows to lock them in the town. Water can travel a long way in Australia before settling into the sand. No matter, it gives Hodgins more time to tell us about writing and authors. He has a book bag full of Australians, and an Itty Bitty Book Lite to illuminate their works.

The physical journey has a bigger purpose than mere tourism. Hodgins' companion is Roger McDonald. North Americans will raise questioning eyebrows at the name, but any Australian can tell you that after Thomas Keneally, McDonald is near the top of the literary hierarchy in the Lucky Country. Although his MR DARWIN'S SHOOTER brought him into the North American scene, the purpose of this pilgrimage is the completion of a work never seen here - SHEARERS' MOTEL. McDonald spent a year as a shearers' cook in researching for this book about Maori shearers. It is one of the finest examination of a man and his values ever put in print. All we see of it here is a taste of who McDonald is and who the people are he worked with in bringing the book about. Hodgins does a fine job of portraying the people and the writer who related their work to us.

Anyone who's read Hodgins will admire his descriptive powers and his ability to portray characters. Throughout this book we are given glimpses of the writer's methods of creativity. We see how once a story is begun, it tends to run away with the writer, whose job suddenly transforms from 'creator' to 'recorder'. This isn't 'journalism' but the ability of a real writer to put his experience and talents into to the written word. The description of a speech by William Golding on 'inventing' characters and plots is an outstanding episode. Jack Hodgins has never been a woman running away from her husband, but he shows us the beginnings of such a tale and how it might develop. I've been waiting to read that book, but it remains in Hodgins' notebook.

Over 40 in Broken Hill is probably Hodgins's most original work.It is the account of Hodgins' visit to the outback sheep-shearing stations of Australia.The reader is presented with the colourful world of Kangaroos, sheep-shearers and outback bars.The rare encounter of a novelist from the green, wet world of Vancouver Island with the dry, red outback turns out to be very entertaining. In this novel Hodgins manages to combine magic with realism, and imagination goes hand in hand with accurate descriptions. In contrast to in Hodgins' better-known works,we get to know the author,and his views on the world, in this one. Over 40 in Broken Hill is simply a wonderful book with many personalities: it's an autobiography,it's a magical book, and-as Hodgins to his own surprise discovers-it's even a travel book. A very well-written one!