- Paperback: 230 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books; Reprint edition (Jun 1986)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671600192
- ISBN-13: 978-0671600198
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Born on a poor dairy farm in Queensland, Frank Harland's life is centred on his great artistic gift, his passionate love for his father and four brothers and his need to repossess, through a patch of land, his family's past. The story spans Frank's life; from before the First World War, through years as a swaggie in the Great Depression and Brisbane in the forties, to his retirement to a patch of Australian scrub where he at last takes possession of his dream. Solitude and society, possession and dispossession, the obsessive and often violent claims of family life and love, illuminate the imagination of the artist and the larger world of events. This is an ambitious novel, presented simply and poetically; the narrative is absorbing, full of incident, and peopled with characters of formidable humour and power.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
From the Back Cover
'David Malouf is a fine writer - his novels conjure up a whole society and its complex past' Sunday Telegraph
Born on a poor dairy farm in Queensland, Frank Harland's life is centred on his great artistic gift, his passionate love for his father and four brothers and his need to repossess, through a patch of land, his family's past. The story spans Frank Harland's life from before the First World War, through years as a swaggie in the Great Depression and Brisbane in the forties, to his retirement to a patch of Australian scrub where he at last takes possession of his dream.
Harland's Half Acre tells how a man sets out to recover the land his ancestors discovered and then lost, and how, in fulfilment, this vision becomes a new reality.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Malouf is by far one of the greatest writer's of Australian fiction. The time span covered in this book, that is from pre to post WWII, was an incredible time in Australia and to aptly describe the tumultuous feelings of the people, along with the beauty and harshness of the land through the life of an itinerant artist and the eyes of a conservative middle class boy as their lives intertwine gives the reader an extroadinary view of Aussie spirit and of the country we are all so proud of. Yet this is not the only wonder of this novel; the poor dreamer that is the artist Frank Harland breeds determination and resolve, fighting for family honour with tragic consequences juxtaposed with the middle class upbringing, with it's own turbulence, of the pragmatic Phil carries the reader through the psychological torment of families and circumstance. This is a hauntingly beautiful yet realistic novel which swept me away and provoked thought and emotion for a long time after.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The thesaurus is not needed to read this book, but to describe Malouf's work. There is certainly no single term that can encompass his superb writing abilities. "Opulent" might cover his descriptive powers, but fails to address the strength of Malouf's chronicle of Frank Harland. "Gripping" isn't appropriate to a life so realistically portrayed - with its tumultuous events mixed with the mundane. Artist Frank Harland is anything but mundane, however. Raised in a rural, hilly environment, Harland is buffeted by lasting poverty, overborne by deep loyalties to father and brothers, never losing sight of the meaning of "place." That place is the one-room house of his birth. No matter how far he strays from that locale, it haunts his life and his paintings. In the end, he confines himself to the "Half Acre" in solitary exile. What the thesaurus fails to convey for the reviewer, Malouf's own words will keep you embedded in this real life story.
This early book presages why many awards are granted Malouf for his writing. He was the first winner of the IMPAC award, the richest in publishing. The story of Frank Harland captures the reader from the first page. His father, an indolent dairy farmer, imparted a sense of story in Frank from his earliest days. He applies his learning to drawing instead of text, giving a fresh image of his home and its people throughout his life. Affected by the powers experienced in the hill country, the various intensities of light and shadow, the wonder-generating storms that beset the hills, the flora and fauna encountered, he struggles to impart his feelings to his art. Using any available medium, Frank paints on wood, cardboard panels, paper or whatever is at hand. The work gains wide circulation, almost unknown to Frank. Success and fame are not his aim, however, but getting through life remains the dominant theme throughout this work. In the background, he remains beset by "place," which is translated into spending his earnings on enlarging his father's land holdings.
Malouf's great strength is in characterization. Every person in this story is vividly depicted, Frank, father Clem, Tam the stepbrother and Phil the lawyer. Would you like these people? It's doubtful. Frank, caught up in his art, is slovenly, his various residences a chaos, his appearance ragged. Phil is hesitant, charmless and limited in scope. Little wonder he remains unmarried throughout his life. There is little to attract in any of these people. Still, Malouf manages to portray them sympathetically. His prose keeps you attentive, following their fates, no matter how distasteful their personalities might seem. It is Malouf's honed skills that keeps this book timeless. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Even though I liked the book I couldn't give it more than 4 stars because I had to compare it to the better "Remembering Babylon," by the same author.
David Malouf is a sometimes brilliant and always worthwhile. However, this book left me less than fully satisfied. In particular, the last quarter of the book felt like the writer ran out of steam. I don't want to ruin it with retelling the plot, which in Malouf's case would be difficult, because it is in the descriptions of the characters inner life that he excels.
He is a sometimes poet and it shows in passages of great beauty.
This is an author worth reading and perhaps others will find this book perfect. In my case by having read Babylon earlier I had to make a difficult call on which one was better.
David Malouf is a sometimes brilliant and always worthwhile. However, this book left me less than fully satisfied. In particular, the last quarter of the book felt like the writer ran out of steam. I don't want to ruin it with retelling the plot, which in Malouf's case would be difficult, because it is in the descriptions of the characters inner life that he excels.
He is a sometimes poet and it shows in passages of great beauty.
This is an author worth reading and perhaps others will find this book perfect. In my case by having read Babylon earlier I had to make a difficult call on which one was better.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Lyrical and Passionate
I approached this book after reading several of Malouf's more famous books, and I have to say it is easily my favourite. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2007 by Mr. S. Cowden
A Family Tree
Generational Family Trees are often found at the beginning of Biographies. Mr. Malouf's, "Harland's Half Acre", is a novel so the Families are fictitious, however the... Read more
Published on 23 Nov 2002 by taking a rest
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