Olga J. (bolgai) reviewed on 5/13/2012 + 109 more book reviews

When this book was originally published in 1991 it was promoted as nonfiction and in the foreword the author says that the story the reader is about to discover is a true account of what happened to her in Australia. Years later however the book was republished as fiction and there are a few websites that post a wide variety of information intended to prove that the account is in fact fictitious. I have read both the book and the articles protesting it, as well as the account of the statement Ms. Morgan's made to the representatives of an Australian Aboriginal association acknowledging that her book is a work of fiction, and find that more than anything this whole situation makes me sad and disappointed. If what Ms. Morgan writes about really happened then why are people so determined to discredit her and her book? And if her story is fiction then why did she make such an effort to make people believe that it's not? Why apologize to the Aboriginal representatives if there's nothing to apologize for? And if there is something to apologize for then why shrug it off and continue as if nothing happened? Money seems to be the answer, and if financial gain is based on deception that makes me deeply disappointed in my fellow man.
On one hand I wanted to believe that the book is a memoir because the idea of a small society living in peace with themselves and the world around them, and not upsetting the natural balance of their environment is reassuring at a time when we keep hearing about climate change, whole species disappearing, pockets of land that has not been touched by humans becoming smaller and smaller. Now, I'm not a person who'll willingly move out of the city and live without electricity and plumbing to reduce my carbon footprint, but I will recycle and conserve water and power whenever I can, and I do believe that our actions affect the planet in a way that's ultimately detrimental to the length of time the human race will be able to enjoy themselves on Earth. After all, if one uses resources faster than they can be replenished sooner or later they will run out, and we have not yet figured out a way to make natural gas and oil or grow trees faster than it happens in nature.
On the other hand as I read the book some things struck me as odd. There were mentions of concepts and places that I wouldn't expect to hear from a people who were portrayed as a group who shun technology and all things modern because they see little value in them, such as mutation and outer space. The timeline seemed somewhat flexible at times, to say the least. The author seemed to go between needing an interpreter's help during the simplest of conversations and having complex discussions with members of the tribe without the interpreter present. And speaking of the members of the tribe, I did not understand why everybody had names that meant something when translated, such as Secret Keeper and Female Healer, and even Ms. Morgan was given a name fashioned in the same way, but the man who served as interpreter was known simply as Ooota? I was also put off by frequent talk about how the author was loosing weight on this walkabout, how pounds were literally melting off of her, and yet we have only relatively general depiction of her life with the tribe. I don't know about you, but I would much rather hear more about the daily life of a people so unlike my own than about how much thinner one American has gotten over the course of several months in the outback. There also seemed to be an undercurrent of "if you reject this account as truth then you're with those who say that people living without technology in the bush are lesser beings and that's just wrong", which grated on my nerves with its one-sidedness.
There was quite a bit of what can be referred to as "new age-y" talk about the importance of discovering and developing our own unique gifts, about how all humans are linked to each other, about us covering up the fundamental essense of life by figurative gravies and frostings, honoring animals' purpose by hunting them for food, how every experience is a lesson to be learned and if we don't learn it then we're presented with the same lesson again, etc. In some things the author completely lost me, in others I agreed with her because ultimately there is tremendous personal value in actively pursuing areas in which one is talented, and being aware of our impact on the world has value for all mankind.
Last but not least let's talk about writing. It is a book after all, regardless of whether it's a novel or a memoir. The writing was pretty consistent with what I'd expect from a first novel by a person with no literary aspirations, although it was polished by the Harper Collins team of experts and therefore is generally smoother reading than some independently-published books I've seen over the last year. There was a lot of telling instead of showing and I would have appreciated more scenes depicting the events of the months of the walkabout instead of the simple mentions that things happened and people exist. The author says that the particulars were omitted to protect the privacy of the people, but with everything I've read after finishing the book I can't help but think that it's just a copout.
I'm glad that I've read this book, if nothing else it made me think about the world and my place in it while I was reading and about people's goals and intentions when I finished it.

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