The mud signifies bandages and the dozens of black buckets, graves. And carrying the entire opera on his shoulders is Jim, played by Mitchell Riley, who gives a vigorous and plucky performance. The moment of phantasmagoric death — when he stares in sinking incomprehension as his arms and legs and hands are blown apart — is particularly moving. Fly Away Peter aims for interiority. Yet there is little pace, tempo or texture in the score to carry those large emotional changes; it felt like one long song in different guises.
Unlike the great operas in the canon, I could not remember a single tune on leaving the theatre. Order by newest oldest recommendations. He does so without too much real thought, and Imogen his photographer friend, an older woman who lives by her own dreams and defies rumour is dismayed. Ashley similarly is sent overseas, but he joins up as an officer. The horror drags on for months, and little by little Jim comes apart. His narrative is fixed, focused, like a record snagged on the same groove. The book is shorter than I imagined it would be, and in some places it seems scant, devoid of detail.
The ending leaves a bitter aftertaste and a realization of truth. May 18, Carolyn Mck rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a gem of a short novel, which I first read in the 70s after my father died. At that time I was reading whatever I could about experiences of World War One as my father had spent three years in the trenches as a signaller. Like many of his generation, he was profoundly altered by that experience but rarely spoke of it. Through literature, I was trying to understand him better than I had when he was alive. I re-read the novel recently as my grandson was studying it in his Year 11 English c This is a gem of a short novel, which I first read in the 70s after my father died.
I re-read the novel recently as my grandson was studying it in his Year 11 English course. I'm pleased to say that he found much to appreciate in the book unlike some other students whose reviews I see on Goodreads. We talked about family history as well as literary techniques. His maternal grandfather is a bird watcher and so the sections about Jim and his bird watching in Queensland were meaningful to him too. We both liked the character of Imogen Harcourt, the photographer of Jim's birds and the one who is left to mourn for him. Jim is an absence in her photographs but none the less real for that.
These apparently simple people are able to show great sensitivity, fortitude and endurance in the face of the horrors humans can inflict on themselves and others. Apr 28, Kris McCracken rated it liked it.
Fly Away Peter
Set in Queensland in the lead up to the First World War, the mystery of the migratory patterns of birds symbolically echoes the journey of the central character to the other side of the world to fight in a war he knows little about. I liked the book. Even though it is a little heavy on the symbolism for my tastes, I can see why it makes ideal fodder for students of the form.
You can tell that Malouf has a fair history of poetry behind him, as the book is rich in poetic imagery.
Consider that a recommendation! Beginning in Queensland, Ashley Crowther returns home to manage his father's land. Malouf here creates a sort of Australian Eden with the detailed nature of birds. Ashley works with Jim Saddler, a woodsman, and Imogene Harcourt, a British wildlife photographer, to create what is referred to as The Book, a researched collection of the birds of Queensland. The second part of the book is the exact opposite of the first part.
In the second Jim is in southern France during WW1 in the muddy trenches wi Beginning in Queensland, Ashley Crowther returns home to manage his father's land. In the second Jim is in southern France during WW1 in the muddy trenches with rats, not birds. The Eden of Queensland that he knows and loves is gone and instead he is confronted by his experiences in the war, some of the most dramatic and horrifying passages I have read quite honestly.
This is a story of dualities - life and death, war and peace, heaven and hell. It's a quick read and nicely written. It's the first Malouf I've read but it's evident to see even before I looked up the author that he was first a poet. There are long periods of non-action, only to be followed by perhaps a line or two of amazing detail, giving the book a nice balanced reading. Sep 05, Kerry rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: This is a beautifully written novella which uses bird imagery to capture the horrors of WW1.
It is superb in describing the strange ambivalence that Australians have about getting involved in other people's wars on the other side of the world. I really enjoyed the main character's refections as he tried to understand why he was headed for a war in places he knew nothing about and didn't really understand why he needed to go. A very interesting comparison when read alongside a novel like Birdsong This is a beautifully written novella which uses bird imagery to capture the horrors of WW1.
A very interesting comparison when read alongside a novel like Birdsong. David Malouf is one of Australia's best. Dec 26, Andrew Lucas rated it really liked it. An early work by David Malouf, short but dealing with important themes, juxtaposing a the peace of bird sanctuary and industrial scale death in the trenches in WW1. The book needs to be absorbed thoughtfully, but it's rewarding for those who take the time, recognising that there isn't a word of it that is careless or superfluous.
I found this book quite boring. Even though description is good, there was too much for my liking. It would have been more interesting if there was more dialogue. I also found the storyline boring. But apart from that, it's an extremely well written book. The use of writing techniques was excellent, and the description of the war was excellent.
May 11, Victoria Circelli rated it did not like it. Please don't do this to yourself, unless your English class makes you Oct 05, Cazhezy rated it really liked it. Jim Saddler is at first an innocent man living in Queensland. Soon enough, World War I arrives and feels he needs to join. A once innocent man who lived a life passionately observing birds, was now on the Western Front living in trenches, fighting in the war.
After being accustomed to the harsh reality, the continuity of life and time becomes a prominent theme. Additionally, Malouf utilises death and fate to show that life goes on by showing it is uncontrollable. When Jim is crawling through the trenches, he stumbles across several bodies at different points in time. Initially, he was scared, sympathetic and sentimental. But later, he encounters one and dismisses it like nothing at all: He had stopped being scared of the dead. He had realised fate was out of his control, and time was ceaseless.
Ultimately, the novel uses all these elements to portray the message of the ever-continuing cycle of life, and at the same time, making it enjoyable to read.
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Jun 05, Forest rated it it was ok. This book is written like poetry, not a novella; this is not surprising since the author is quite famous for his poetry, but it did not make for a very interesting book. This book really dragged on and I did not personally enjoy how it took pages and pages to describe very simple things. I felt as though the first 70 pages of the book were pretty worthless and while I can acknowledge that the war part of the story was well-written and interesting why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 , I do not th This book is written like poetry, not a novella; this is not surprising since the author is quite famous for his poetry, but it did not make for a very interesting book.
I felt as though the first 70 pages of the book were pretty worthless and while I can acknowledge that the war part of the story was well-written and interesting why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 , I do not think to get through the majority of the book, just for that small amount of good writing was worth it. Jim was not particularly interesting as a character to me, he seemed to just go on and on about birds, and apart from his relationship with his dad and what was said about that, Jim's personality wasn't very well established and all the book seemed to say about him was that he, in fact, liked birds.
The first half of the book seemed to say only that, birds, birds, birds; when it could have established so much about him as a person. I also found the one later chapter about Ashley during the war to be extremely pointless to the story. This book was hard to read and not enjoyable at all with the exception of maybe 20 pages later in the book.
My advice, unless you have to read this book for school, don't do it, it's not worth it and just ends up coming off as somewhat pretentious. Mar 05, Senna Black rated it liked it Shelves: Fly Away Peter is a novel well… novella by David Malouf. What to say about "Fly Away Peter"?
First, a little background. I also recall that I was extremely snide about the "poetic language" which made passages of this really obscure to my sixteen-year-old self. Jim and Ashley are both charming and eccentric characters who are interesting to read about. I liked the facets of their characters that came out in the section set in Australia, and the contrasts and continuities between that and who they became when they went to war. Reading "Fly Away Peter" as an adult, I thought it was pretty decent.
Couple of really memorable parts, very good description of the mud mud more mud part of the story. Beautifully written, very poetical, and manages to lift you above the mess while still somehow plunging you deeper into it take that, snide sixteen-year-old self.
I can summarise it as birds, birds, Queensland, class distinctions, more birds, mud, death, mud, mud, more mud, fight, fight, death, without really spoiling anything. Although I am usually a bit irked by books with no driving force behind the plot i. Decent book - well worth the comparatively minimal time it takes to read it. And I support any writing about the AIF on principle.
Sep 14, Victoria rated it liked it Shelves: This feels very unfinished.
Fly Away Peter
While the stream-of-consciousness style of writing around Jim's experiences in the trenches especially toward the end is lovely and very evocative, to me it feels that there's still a sense of lacking something to tie the whole narrative together. Admittedly this is the first David Malouf I've read, so it might be part of his style, but I found it worth noting.
Feb 23, Lovisa rated it it was amazing Shelves: Why are people hating so much on this book? First read it wasn't the best, but it was still good, and then I did a heavy analyze on it and now it's one of my favourites. On the Queensland coast Imogen grieves Jim's death, and reflects on the meaningless but beautiful continuity of life. Fly Away Peter is an important work in Australian literature, and is on the Senior English curriculum in some states. The novel touches on a range of themes which are common in explorations of Australian identity. Its setting in the First World War draws our attention to the ANZAC legend, and gives us a powerful sense of the experience of the men who forged that legend.
The relationship with land is explored; Jim feels he belongs to the land as much as Ashley, who owns it; Ashley accepts this with laconic good humour. The boundaries of class and experience are palpable - Jim has grown up with a hardworking but violent and resentful widower father, and Ashley has had a privileged schooling in Europe - but they have a quiet rapport which transcends their differences. The central motif of birds gives the author the opportunity to explore a range of themes. The miracle of bird migration becomes symbolic, echoing Jim's journey across the globe to the war. The notion of the 'bird's eye view' is explored.
Like a migratory bird, Jim holds a 'map' of the swampland in his mind, whilst also seeing the detail of grass, undergrowth and water. A flight in Ashley's biplane gives him a view of the landscape which confirms his mental map.
Fly Away Peter by David Malouf - Penguin Books Australia
Later, in the trenches, he seems to go out of himself and see the battle as a map - while he is present in the mud and heat of battle, part of his perception observes, detached, from above. Time - and the meaning of how we exist in time - is also a key theme in the novel. Imogen's comment that "A life isn't for anything; it simply is" is reinforced throughout. Her photographs of birds capture them in time, and give them a permanence they do not have in nature.
The skeleton of a woolly mammoth, which rotted where it was killed with flints by early humans, lies where it fell and is unearthed as the trenches are dug. In this context the seemingly all-consuming 'machine' of war becomes merely a blip. As Imogen watches a surfer who repeatedly falls from his board, which rises behind him like a tombstone, at the end of the novel she cannot help, in spite of grief, to see that life goes on in all its power, exhilaration and tragedy.
Some readers identify a link between Jim and Imogen and Adam and Eve, with the estuary as the garden of Eden. This subtle parallel is used by Malouf to explore the key theme of innocence and experience.