There are currently no product reviews.
|
Reviews
| |
Ratcliff is a witty yarn-spinner and wordsmith, but the real star of the book is Australia.
As we might expect from a memoir-cum-travelogue, ‘Wonder, Thunder & Blunder Down Under´ is eventful and rich in anecdotes with descriptions vivid and effective.
This book is the author´s autobiographical recollections of his time in Australia, travelling there from Essex as a Ten Pound Pom in 1970 and discovering a world both ‘young and naive´, bursting with sunshine and adventure, strange cultural practices, friendly ‘natives´ (Aborigine and European alike) and magnificent, sometimes scary wildlife.
Ratcliff emerges as a likeable and self aware narrator who can happily laugh at himself and others. His journalistic background has served him well and he writes in a compellingly lively narrative voice that captures all the sights, sounds and smells, the 'sinews and the fabric´ of that vast country - from his first alarming experience of the kookaburra´s call and the beautiful cadences of place names such as Murwillumbah and Kirribilli, to the unique aromas of Sydney City.
The book also draws interesting parallels between Australia and Britain that do not always show our once great imperial power in a very flattering light. Although Britain does not always come off well by comparison with ‘the Lucky Country´ Ratcliff does convey a sense of affection and nostalgia for his country´s changing seasons, polite manners and less sexist attitudes. Interestingly, most of the book´s repulsive odours are connected with the UK.
The tone of the writing can be hilarious and wonderfully irreverent, yet it can also be very poignant, even tragic.
A really enjoyable read. For those who know and love Australia in one guise or another, it will surely be a pure taste of nostalgia; and for those yet to go, it may well provide the impetus. |
| Pen Press Publishing, UK |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
