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Good Reading : November 2011
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biography / memoir Captain Thunderbolt and His Lady Carol Baxter Carol Baxter is doing for Australian history what our athletes are doing for sport: she’s making it exciting, interesting and world class. An Irresistible Temptation was her first book, about a moment of scandal in the early days of the colony, and her second, Breaking the Bank, dealt with a bank robbery of epic proportions in early colonial times. Now Baxter follows up with the most colourful moments of early colonialism in her tale about the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt. America has its wild west, yet Australia, just as wild and amoral, has always been portrayed by writers as grey and insipid. But Baxter’s vivid descriptions and exciting narrative are set to change all that. Her Captain Thunderbolt – whom she defines as a magnificent horseman, skilled bushman and colonial Robin Hood – seemed to be a hero among the people, including his victims, even though he was hunted and hated by the authorities. But it is in her description of Thunderbolt’s ‘companion’ and chief lieutenant, Mary Ann Bugg, that Baxter excels, giving us the most intense understanding of life outside civil colonial society. Bugg was Thunderbolt’s eyes and ears. Skilled, intelligent and knowledgeable, she dressed and rode like a man to help him keep ahead of the troopers. This beautifully told story may change the way we see our history. Allen and Unwin $32.99 Reviewed by Alan Gold Waiting for a Wide Horse Sky Elaine Kennedy Australian teacher Elaine Kennedy travelled to Korea to work in a bizarrely regimented, government-sponsored teaching program. Along with antique temples and exquisitely proportioned gardens, she discovers a netherworld of abuse and neglect of third-world guest workers. It is difficult to like the Korea depicted in Waiting for a Wide Horse Sky, and the author’s own conscience troubles the reader in turn. The parallels between her own bullied and overly controlled existence as a foreign worker and the overt exploitation of the Filipina women she encounters there are interestingly drawn, and I was left deeply troubled by the globalised word of labour that Kennedy describes. This glimpse into the life of the English teacher abroad is frequently fascinating, as is the rich life of tormented friendships and intrigue that the author seemed to attract. The book also serves to detract from some of the supposed glamour of the expatriate life. The people who have chosen to start a new life in a country where they don’t know the language, history or customs are frequently difficult, escaping messy lives at home or being otherwise unemployable. Even more complex are the relationships with the Koreans themselves, as Kennedy attempts to navigate paths of friendship in minefields of mutual incomprehension. Transit Lounge $29.95 Reviewed by Walter Mason e 38_39_WOM_d.indd 39 5/10/11 9:51:15 PM
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