- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Prion Books Ltd; New edition edition (12 Aug 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 185375482X
- ISBN-13: 978-1853754821
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 1.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,448,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'May you dream of the devil and wake in fright.' AN OLD CURSE
Product Description
Wake In Fright was first published in 1961 and the film version, Outback, starring Donald Pleasance was released in 1971. Both the book and the film have achieved a cult status as the Australian answer to US and UK novels and films of 1960s youthful alienation. Wake In Fright is the gruelling story of a young Australian schoolteacher on his way back from the outback to Sydney and civilisation...when things start to go wrong. He finds himself stuck overnight in Bundanyabba ('the Yabba')- a rough outback mining town. The heat and the misery are described in painful detail as this one evening changes the course of John Grant's life for ever...all on the flip of a coin. An ill-advised and drink-fuelled visit to a gambling den leaves Grant broke and he realizes he has no way of escaping the Yubba. He descends into a cycle of hangovers, fumbling sexual encounters and increasing self-loathing as he becomes more and more immersed in the grotesque and surreal nightmare that his life has become...revealing the baser side of his own nature as well as the harshness of life in the Australian outback. Grotesque but absolutely compelling, this has become a cult read.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Australian classic, 7 Mar 2003
By Steven Reynolds - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wake in Fright (Film ink) (Paperback)
Something like a transposition of Flann O'Brien's 'The Third Policeman' to rural Australia, Kenneth Cook's brilliantly agonizing novel is a study of young male paralysis and redemption. Few novels capture the sheer horror of outback isolation and the madness it inspires, but Cook manages it beautifully. The 'two-up' scene will be with you forever. This is a forgotten classic of Australian literature, mainly because it has been out of print for many years. Thanks to Text Publishing in Melbourne for resurrecting it - Text is one of the few publishing houses that seems to be taking an intelligent interest in Australian literature these days.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly wriiten evocation of ugly Australia, 7 Aug 2010
By Kenneth Walter Simpson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wake in Fright (Film ink) (Paperback)
John Grant is a schoolteacher, sweating it out on the last day of the school year at his small, one teacher, rural school - with emptiness in all directions. He hopes to escape one day, but is bonded to the Education Department, so has to teach wherever he is sent. He has six weeks holiday pay and is looking forward to spending it in the water at Sydney. He travels by train to Bundanyabba (based on the mining town of Broken Hill), intending to stay only one night before flying on, but gets sidetracked when he goes for a drink and meets a policemean, Jock Crawford, who suggests they go to the 'School' for a feed. Once there Crawford explains the intricacies of Two-up - and Grant, with twelve hours to spare before his flight, determines to try his luck - and is immediately successful, winning almost two hundred pounds. He returns to his hotel room, then impulsively decides to play again in the hope of increasing his winnings and possibly paying off his bond - because it wouldn't matter so much if he lost the two hundred, since he would merely be back where he started. However, after losing his original winnings the urge to continue gambling overwhems him. He cashes his holiday pay cheque, to subsequently lose the lot - and his nightmare begins.
This is a superb evocation of an aspect of Australian life many would like to pretend doesn't exist. Australians can be very sensitive about any perceived faults, possibly because of their convict origins and ancestry. Patrick White's first novel, Happy Valley, was a critical success in Britain but not in Australia, for that reason. Like Cook, White had the temerity to create some 'ugly' Australians.
Kenneth Cook knew what he was writing about - which gives the book greater authenticity. He drank and associated with the type of characters he created: the hard drinking, gambling fraternity of Broken Hill, the miners who worked hard and played hard, with little time for the niceties and fripperies of civilization. Unfortunately Cook died at a relatively young age, so his great talent and future potential as a writer was lost to us. The Learning Process: Some Creative Impressions
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The australian heart of darkness, 15 Mar 2005
By steve baldwin "steve" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Wake in Fright (Film ink) (Paperback)
ive always been fascinated by this story ,the economy of language used
is very dry ,very australian. If there is a more australian book ive yet to find it .Something that has always interested me , when the books main
character Grant? keeps getting horribly pissed and waking up to
extraordaniary hangovers, on the second morning he complains of
some terrible thing that has happened to him during his sleep apart
from the obvious hangover, is it being suggested that the character played
(very well) by donald plesanse? has molested grant somehow during his
sleep? Does anybody else see this, it seems something very disturbing
happened and ive always wondered?
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