Richard Flanagan's 'Wanting'

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Richard Flanagan's 'Wanting'

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1sremmah
heinäkuu 8, 2009, 4:12 am

I'm just finishing the above author's excellent (if a little disturbing) Goulds Book of Fish and was interesting in hearing the opinion of any ALTer's who had read his new novel Wanting.

2australwind
heinäkuu 9, 2009, 9:53 pm

I haven't embarked on his new book as yet, however I loved Gould's Book Of Fish.

Maybe I have weird taste in fiction - this was a title for our Book Group to read a couple of years ago - not one of them liked it! They struggled with the prose, disliked the subject matter and generally gave it a "too complicated" and "not very nice" vote. Some of them couldn't finish it.

We had read some other books that potentially would have been regarded as difficult - this was the first one that was so polarising - me and the rest of them!

3wookiebender
heinäkuu 9, 2009, 11:45 pm

Same here: I really liked Gould's Book of Fish, and have Wanting on Mt TBR, but haven't started it yet. Soon!

4Lman
heinäkuu 10, 2009, 1:38 am

>2 australwind: australwind
LOL! yep - that was polarising... :)

I have just recently begun acquiring books by Richard Flanagan.
I am happily waiting for my mooch of Gould's Book of Fish to arrive - can't believe I got that as a mooch - and I was going to read Sound of One Hand Clapping (which is on my Mt TBR, and was another mooch - unbelievable) before I consider Wanting. What about that one?

I think all his books sound good...

5australwind
heinäkuu 10, 2009, 1:46 am

Sound of One Hand Clapping is one I read after Gould's - I found it profoundly sad in parts - some of the reviews describe it as heartwrenching. It certainly was a portrayal of this country in a manner that is not all that endearing yet demonstrates a strong affinity with the power of the landscape.

The weather and the landscape are as powerfully wrought characters as the people who stray into the pages!

6sremmah
heinäkuu 10, 2009, 3:40 am

Agree with your comments about Gould's Book of Fish not being everyone's cup of tea, and I saw one review describe it as a "demented history." However demented or not, I loved it, particularly his description of Gould meeting the island's surgeon for the first time...and Lempriere's er, untimely demise at the hands of Castlereagh.

Being brought up in Tassie I suppose I can relate to Flanagan's work - Sound of One Hand Clapping was, I agree, immensely sad in parts yet I found I couldn't put it down. Looking forward to the arrival of Death of a River Guide which I ordered recently as next on the list in my current RF readathon.

7livrecache
heinäkuu 10, 2009, 7:23 am

I too was brought up in Tasmania (hey, sremmah, are we related?). Death of a River Guide was the first book of Richard Flanagan's I read, and I found that compelling, particularly because it dealt with issues that I SO related to, having been led down the Franklin by a river guide, and knowing how dangerous it was. I related to The Sound of One Hand Clapping as well because of connections I have with people whose fathers were brought out to work on the hydro, and the prejudice they suffered.
I've still not read Gould's Book of Fish or Wanting, but they're on my wishlist.

8shawjonathan
heinäkuu 10, 2009, 8:17 am

The only one of Richard Flanagan's books I've read is The Unknown Terrorist, which I found atrocious. Supposedly a harsh denunciation of the appalling state of John Howard's Australia, it's just a shoddy thriller that doesn't work, set in a city the author clearly didn't like or understand. I'm very reluctant to open another of his books, unless it's srongly recommended by someone who has read TUT and sees it roughly as I do.

9livrecache
heinäkuu 10, 2009, 8:31 am

I'd forgotten I had The Unknown Terrorist. I haven't read it yet. Someone in the enlightened town of Cairns in Queensland was thrown out of a cafe for reading it. I think that says something about the cafe owners rather than anything else.

10KimB
syyskuu 5, 2009, 2:25 am


I'm slowly reading through all the Miles Franklin short-listed books for 2009 and just finished Wanting this week. It's the first novel by Richard Flanagan that I've read and I'm impressed. Both the part about Dicken's and the parts set in Tasmania were well done. The part set in Tasmania was a part of history that I wasn't familiar with and I enjoyed discovering it in this book. However, I thought that another recent read from the short-list was better, Ice by Louis Nowra.

11BILLGREEN
joulukuu 8, 2009, 11:11 pm

The reality of Richard Flanagan's political/media thriller is astonishing. The subhuman behavior of those in power is authentic, proved by the recent attitudes towards Tamil children. The novel saved me from packing up and leaving the country (the fact that such a subversive novel can be published here)

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