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The Great World
 
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The Great World (Paperback)

by David Malouf (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Customers buy this book with Remembering Babylon by David Malouf

The Great World + Remembering Babylon
Price For Both: £11.98

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  • This item: The Great World by David Malouf

    In stock.
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Product details

  • Paperback: 332 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (20 May 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099273861
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099273868
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 290,059 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > M > Malouf, David

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Product Description

Product Description
For the two men in this novel, war was supposed to be a testing ground. But it proved to be an ordeal of a different kind. Spanning 70 years of Australian life, from Sydney's Cross to the backwaters of the Hawkesbury River, this is a novel of lost innocence and witness.

About the Author
David Malouf is the author Dream Stuff (‘These stories are pearls,’ Spectator) and of acclaimed novels including The Great World (winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize) and Remembering Babylon (shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award).

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Great World
57% buy the item featured on this page:
The Great World 4.0 out of 5 stars (2)
£5.99
Remembering Babylon
28% buy
Remembering Babylon 4.8 out of 5 stars (6)
£5.99
An Imaginary Life
14% buy
An Imaginary Life 4.8 out of 5 stars (5)
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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Takes His Time, 23 Nov 2002
By taking a rest - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
Mr. Malouf is a gifted communicator, creator, and conjuror. I am even tempted to use literary alchemist for he does not just take words and arrange them, he selects words, assembles them with care and thought, and truly creates writing that is altogether new. This holds true whether he is dealing in pure fiction, or fiction that is historically based. The books that result from his efforts are almost uniformly excellent, and at their best incorporate the various types of writing he has such a wonderful grasp of. For Mr. Malouf is a novelist, a poet, and a librettist, each an accomplishment, when combined extraordinary.

I have one of his novels left to read, and having come this far into his work I recommend them all without condition. "The Great World", is different from the previous works I have read and commented upon, and this is due primarily to its length. I once read an opinion that a movie is an epic if it takes its time. If that is the criterion here, then this work certainly qualifies. If you have read any of his shorter works, and have been amazed with the scope he can cover, the illusion of time and length he conveys, imagine it tripled or quadrupled, and you will get an idea of the panorama of lifetimes this work relates.

To narrow the comments on this work to an observation or two is unfair. There are just so much and so many players that are important. However to focus on Vic and Digger and the lifetime's experiences they share, takes a good deal of the book into account. Vic is at once an enigma and a cliché. This is a man who will continue to removes cookies after being caught in the act, and then risk his life to save that of the friend whose jar he had plundered. He is an exploiter of human friendship, a businessman of questionable ethics, he is faithful, faithless. He is a montage of all that is meant to be human. Superficially he is in control, beneath the veneer, he is simply human wreckage.

Digger is the friend you would like to have, a man that Vic feels he justifiably targets and exploits, but I never felt that Digger was the person who was deluding himself. Even "simple" Jenny always knew what Vic was. Vic was accommodated by Digger when others who would meet him instantly were put off. He was his silent apologist, his passive defender, not because he believed Vic to be good, merely in need of pity.

There are many events in the book that are important, but one is critical. It is one of those moments when a person finds out what they are or are not capable of. As a solitary experience it can be painful, when it involves another it can be shattering. Vic has this experience while a POW with Digger and others, and it governs his life forever. His time as a POW finalizes who Vic is, while others integrate it as an episode of their life.

Mr. Malouf has written a remarkable study of men in captivity, men who spend the majority of the War as prisoners without the opportunity to prove themselves, defend their Country, or earn the right to say, "I was there". This study of human nature alone makes the book worthwhile, but as I mentioned it is one of many human explorations Mr. Malouf takes the reader upon.

For anyone who enjoys excellent writing, Mr. Malouf will greatly enhance your reading experiences, even with topics you might not normally tend to choose. He is certainly an Author who will never disappoint you.
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0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Worthy but dull, 31 Aug 2003
Or am I just grumpy tonight? I found this book to be well-crafted with good characterisation, but the pace is SO SLOW! I am halfway through and I have run out of enthusiasm - I think I will stop and read something with more immediate gratification -like Terry Pratchett maybe.
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