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A review by valealle23
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
an amazing book. i love the meditations on travel and the origins of human species; the only way to become truly empathic people is through traveling and moving. that’s why cain is representative of settlers and abel of nomads - my favorite analogy. for a while there i thought that the origins of humans is as carnivorous and violent. if someone didn’t finish the book, they might’ve been left with that idea. however, i love how chatwin refutes this and says that humans prevailed through their cat nemesis, not killed each other. almost gives me a sense of sisyphean-like meaning to life that we suddenly lost.
anyways, i learned a lot through this book about not only a people that i don’t know much about but also about history, evolution, and philosophy. it took me a long time to get through some passages just because i’d stop every few sentences to look up some new place or term up.
i’m not the biggest fan of the notebook sections. at first they were fascinating, but 100 or so pages (more than 1/3 of the book) makes it seem like filler. it picked back up in the end, though, and there were some really good quotes and bits of philosophy. i definitely learned the most in these sections, but the topics jump quickly and it makes it hard to stay focused, while the narrative sections are much more captivating
i love chatwins writing style. he explains the scenes with such accurate and straightforward detail; i can imagine each passage vividly. he makes the content easy to digest and makes this information accessible to the general population. i know it’s not right that we’re learning about the aboriginal australians through a white englishman, but i think for the 80s chatwin was able to teach more about a subjugated population in a straightforward, objective, and not racist way. this definitely helps many stereotypes, but i hope to read more works from aboriginals soon
i did really enjoy this book and i loved the mix between fictional narrative and nonfiction. it inspires me to travel more and taught me about so many hidden corners of the world i hope to one day visit
anyways, i learned a lot through this book about not only a people that i don’t know much about but also about history, evolution, and philosophy. it took me a long time to get through some passages just because i’d stop every few sentences to look up some new place or term up.
i’m not the biggest fan of the notebook sections. at first they were fascinating, but 100 or so pages (more than 1/3 of the book) makes it seem like filler. it picked back up in the end, though, and there were some really good quotes and bits of philosophy. i definitely learned the most in these sections, but the topics jump quickly and it makes it hard to stay focused, while the narrative sections are much more captivating
i love chatwins writing style. he explains the scenes with such accurate and straightforward detail; i can imagine each passage vividly. he makes the content easy to digest and makes this information accessible to the general population. i know it’s not right that we’re learning about the aboriginal australians through a white englishman, but i think for the 80s chatwin was able to teach more about a subjugated population in a straightforward, objective, and not racist way. this definitely helps many stereotypes, but i hope to read more works from aboriginals soon
i did really enjoy this book and i loved the mix between fictional narrative and nonfiction. it inspires me to travel more and taught me about so many hidden corners of the world i hope to one day visit