A review by idontkaren
Walkabout by James Vance Marshall

4.0

After seeing the movie many times, I decided to finally read the book. Not exactly the same--okay, barely the same--but just as interesting a survivor story. It was good, but I love the movie more. The book's description of the outback and its animals is super, my favorite part is when the kids observe a lyrebird. The film is way surreal and trippy at times, the book is straight up gritty realism. The book does get you more in the head of the characters, particularly the Boy and Mary, so their emotions and reasoning for certain things are less left to guesswork as in the film. Both book and film left me happily bummed out at the end, same as the characters- the feeling that anything difficult and scary is also wonderful at the same time, and will stick with you the rest of your life.