1 comments about When Pelican Laughed.

1. This is a review by Warriapendi book Club in Mundaring Shire, Western Australia.

   Alice's story is in transcript style which does not give the full picture of her life but if it had been written differently it may have lost the feel of her personality and it did feel genuine. This book brought home to us the the really dreadful things that happened to Aboriginal people right up to the mid nineteen seventies. Two of our members can remember their local Churches placing children from missions with them for Christmas lunch each year which must have made the children feel very awkward. Queen Elizabeth was given a copy of this book during her recent visit to Busselton, we hope she has time to read it.

5 comments about The Naked Island.

1. The author went through some really horrific situations but at the same time can describe the strength of the human spirit. The author also has a great sense of humor. I think books like this are rare these days in our politically correct world. Well worth the read.



2. The Naked Island

   The autobiography of a young australian soldier who spent long years in captivity as prisoner of war of the Japanese.
   The first part is the description of the military life in Malaya before the attack of the Japanese with many ironical notes on that tedious life from the point of view of a soldier.
   The second part is the description of the useless fight of the Australian and British troops against the overwhelming enemy and then the attempt to escape the capture.
   Then the third, and most interesting part, is the description of the life during three long years of captivity in the different prisons where the writer was imprisoned and in the jungle camps where all prisoners were forced to work without food, facing malaria, beri beri and death for starvation.
   A book I would really recommend.
   Are you looking for another absolutely interesting book about a similar experience?
   Read the famous "Behind bamboo" by Rohan Rivett




3. One of my first introductions to Australian and Far East reading of WW11, thoroughly enjoyable, could not put it down until it was finished. Would recommend this book to all generations. Has given me the taste to find out more about the Far East and familiarise myself with further Australian literature. Thought only John Pilger could write riveting literature, I was wrong!



4. This is an unforgettable book: informative, educational, poignant and often delightfully humorous. It is a tribute to the British and Australian Forces used as slave labour in the construction of the Burma/Siamese Railway and their ability to live with dignity, compassion and decency under the most deplorable conditions imaginable. This book leaves an indelible impression on the reader and should be required reading for each successive generation.



5. it is amazing that with all the hardship that these guys went thru, human nature can still make the best of an awful situation.

No comments about The universal autobiographer: the politics of normative readings. (Framing Stories and Poetry).: An article from: Journal of Australian Studies.

No comments about Dictionary of Western Australians Vol. VI: Aborigines of the Albany Region 1821-1898.

No comments about South of My Days: A Biography of Judith Wright.(Review) (book reviews): An article from: Journal of Australian Studies.

No comments about Head Over Heels.

No comments about Very Big Journey: My Life As I Remember It.

No comments about Bagman to Swagman: Tales of Broome, the North West and Other Australian Adventures.

No comments about Generations of Men (Imprint Classics).

2 comments about Lonely Planet Journeys the Blue Man: Tales of Travel, Love & Coffee (Travel Literature Series).

1. This book left me simultaneously wanting to run into the streets and sing and hide in my closet and cry. The author has an amazing talent for evoking detailed images and weaving sensual descriptions. The pages go through cafe after cafe of longing, desire, mirth, and plenty of other all-too-recognizable emotions. This book leaves one wishing it had never ended.



2. I expected a lot of this book since it was published by the Lonely Planet, whose guidebooks I swear by. The book consisted of very little travel and seemed dominated by the author's whinging about discomforts and his failures at love.

   Most books make you want to go to places the author went to despite the problems that come up, but this one put me off of going to any of the places the author recommends.

   I pictured the author as Niles Craine, (as in Frazier's brother on TV). Not the sort suited to adventure travel.