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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This is top shelf writing, but the narration deserves a shelf of its own. Humphrey Bower kept all the characters unique, personal, consistent and convincing.
This was a dark, depressing, but very human story with very complete characters. I listened to it in less than a week. Courtenay's writing is rich, and at times my daughter would overhear and ask to keep listening because the language was so evocative. I suspect that future readers might judge harshly some of the treatment of racial issues, and they might be right.
Looking forward to getting into book #2.
This was a dark, depressing, but very human story with very complete characters. I listened to it in less than a week. Courtenay's writing is rich, and at times my daughter would overhear and ask to keep listening because the language was so evocative. I suspect that future readers might judge harshly some of the treatment of racial issues, and they might be right.
Looking forward to getting into book #2.
Most people don't know that there were Jews on the First Fleet, nor the extent of Australia's Jewish population and I love that this book although fictional covers this part of Australia's history
Well, this book took me about 5 months to read (I had to intersperse with other, shorter, faster-than-molasses stories to keep me sane). Bryce tends to be quite heavygoing to start with before his final third sucks the reader in till I was savouring every over-extended and unnecessary description that peppered the pages.
Ikey Solomon is a character I liked mildly throughout this book. Suited for his time, he was a proud and grumpy bugger, always on the lookout for the shine of a penny or a sleazy business relationship he could engage for 'just in case' purposes. His dealings and issues with the law took him from London, to the states and finally Australia where he learnt hard lessons, saw life from a different perspective, and bought some joy to others before his final rest.
His friend/mistress/employee Mary Abacus is a great character with enough pep and layers to pacify the sentimental types who search for the human interest thread amongst these 900+ page giants.
His wife Hannah, however, I had a problem with. Not just because she was a bit blah and typical of a nasty woman who loves her kids and hates her husband, but because Bryce Courtenay seemed to dispose of her thread in the novel with all the climax of a dead daffodil. With only 50 pages to go, I found myself going forward to see if I could find the name 'Hannah' and find out what happened to her. Odd.
The first half of 'The Potato Factory' was wordy and slow. At the halfway point it gradually accelerates until the last few hundred pages, where it seems Courtenay is so keen to get the rest of the plot to paper that it reads out of keeping with the rest of the book.
But if the intention was to act in a soap opera style hanger, in which you need to tune in next time to get some of your questions answered, then I guess it worked. I have already asked my mum if I can borrow her copy of "Tommo and Hawk'.
Fair play, B.C.
Ikey Solomon is a character I liked mildly throughout this book. Suited for his time, he was a proud and grumpy bugger, always on the lookout for the shine of a penny or a sleazy business relationship he could engage for 'just in case' purposes. His dealings and issues with the law took him from London, to the states and finally Australia where he learnt hard lessons, saw life from a different perspective, and bought some joy to others before his final rest.
His friend/mistress/employee Mary Abacus is a great character with enough pep and layers to pacify the sentimental types who search for the human interest thread amongst these 900+ page giants.
His wife Hannah, however, I had a problem with. Not just because she was a bit blah and typical of a nasty woman who loves her kids and hates her husband, but because Bryce Courtenay seemed to dispose of her thread in the novel with all the climax of a dead daffodil. With only 50 pages to go, I found myself going forward to see if I could find the name 'Hannah' and find out what happened to her. Odd.
The first half of 'The Potato Factory' was wordy and slow. At the halfway point it gradually accelerates until the last few hundred pages, where it seems Courtenay is so keen to get the rest of the plot to paper that it reads out of keeping with the rest of the book.
But if the intention was to act in a soap opera style hanger, in which you need to tune in next time to get some of your questions answered, then I guess it worked. I have already asked my mum if I can borrow her copy of "Tommo and Hawk'.
Fair play, B.C.
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Complicated
It takes a few chapters to get into, as many good books do, but the characters and the world they inhabit is well worth the reward (even if some of their endings are less than satisfactory). I will certainly be looking for the second book.
It takes a few chapters to get into, as many good books do, but the characters and the world they inhabit is well worth the reward (even if some of their endings are less than satisfactory). I will certainly be looking for the second book.
Definitely 4.5 stars. If you're a fan of Dicken's "Oliver Twist" you'll love this!
I may not have given this book the attention it needed, I have found myself reading more and more e-books as they are so easy to carry anywhere. This book as a paperback edition with over 800 pages was not at all easy to have with me everywhere. As a result it was read slowly over a number of months and I found it difficult to really get into.
Mary's story was the one that I found most appealing, each time the subject went to Ikey or Hannah my attention dwindled and it could be weeks before I picked it back up again.
It was not until the half-way mark and the trip to Tasmania that I really started to read more intently. When finally May & Ikey's stories became one the book suddenly became more appealing and the from the birth of the twins it became the page turner I had hoped for.
The final chapter has definitely set me up to read the next in this series (Tommo & Hawk) which I will try to get as an e-book so I can give it the attention I believe Courtenay's books deserve.
Mary's story was the one that I found most appealing, each time the subject went to Ikey or Hannah my attention dwindled and it could be weeks before I picked it back up again.
It was not until the half-way mark and the trip to Tasmania that I really started to read more intently. When finally May & Ikey's stories became one the book suddenly became more appealing and the from the birth of the twins it became the page turner I had hoped for.
The final chapter has definitely set me up to read the next in this series (Tommo & Hawk) which I will try to get as an e-book so I can give it the attention I believe Courtenay's books deserve.
slow-paced
A wonderfully lush story about the underbelly of London society told through a Fegin-like character who is quite intelligent. Everyone is flawed and scarred by the way society treats and expects the lowest class to act.
Two people rise above it, slipping back and pushing forward to better their stations. Mary "Abacus" and Ikey are oh so difficult to empathize with. But through thick and thin, this reader built a begrudging admiration for their shear perseverance and moxie.
Delicious Dickensian language that is, at best, a dialect of the King's English.
Wow, there is a rich tapestry of subplots and intrigue that I cannot do justice!
They end up going their separate ways through the penal system to the dumping ground: Australia.
The story continues there. I'm now reading book two.
Two people rise above it, slipping back and pushing forward to better their stations. Mary "Abacus" and Ikey are oh so difficult to empathize with. But through thick and thin, this reader built a begrudging admiration for their shear perseverance and moxie.
Delicious Dickensian language that is, at best, a dialect of the King's English.
Wow, there is a rich tapestry of subplots and intrigue that I cannot do justice!
They end up going their separate ways through the penal system to the dumping ground: Australia.
The story continues there. I'm now reading book two.