Bryce Courtenay Books

First, anything by this author is great. My concern with him is he is divorced from a happy ending so I feel emotionally battered after reading his books. Its an experience and there has been growth but its isnt a feel good experience.

This was the last book of a trilogy. The first two books were devastastingly good. This was not as good as the first two. The beginning of this book expounds on the conclusion of the last book beautifully. Book 3 goes into detail on what happened to the characters at the end of book 2.

It wrapped up the the ending of the 2nd book of the trilogy which was extremely thrilling. After the beginning of book 3, the thrilling parts ended. Its not bad, just not as gripping or the pacing of the other novels. Still this is a great author, but of the trilogy, this is the weakest of the 3 books.


Definitely read the book just to find out what on the full extent of what happened after book 2.

Bryce Courtenay is a solid writer. Starting with the Potato Factory, through Tommo & Hawk, and concluding with this book, he weaves a tale of four generations. As with all the books, this has highs and lows. I read it with my wife and she laughed and cried loudly at different parts. My only commens really relates to plot -- I wish that Bryce would have written the last paragraph differently. Saying anymore would spoil the plot.

I have read many of Bryce Courtenay's book and enjoyed all of them, except this one. This book had a good story line, a part of Australian history, like elsewhere in the world, which the majority of the community tried to forget. Only now are they starting to get the proper recognition that they deserve like the many Australian soldiers who have died before and after them in the service of their nation. This group is the Vietnam Vets.

And maybe that is why I am critical of this book. The storyline is there and so much could have been done with it, but it feels that Bryce wrote this story because he felt that the plight of the Vets needed to be told but it appears that he did not put 100% effort into this book. I rate Bryce's work highly. I just wished that he fleshed this story out more instead of the light fluffy story which brushes over the issues without feeling.

Smoky Joe's Café by Bryce Courtney in brief is a story about a Vietnam vet that has to raise marijuana in order to save his young daughter from cancer. The language is full of Australian slang making it a flavorful read. Interesting in relation to this particular war because I had no idea that Australia contributed. It portrays a character that is troubled by the fact that he could never have the respect of his fellow countrymen mixed with a post stress trauma disorder making his story tragic as well as sorrowful. He does not have the opportunity to achieve anything other than this `grow operation'. His wife seems to stick by him through it all and claims to be a vet herself. I think that this is interesting because she claims to have the experience of a vet and yet not have had to actually go to Vietnam. Vicariously achieving some kind of experience is a greater point that I think is trying to be achieved in this story. Something perhaps that people that read this book might get out of it.

Certainly not up there with the other great Courtney books, such as Jessica. Smokey Joe's Cafe, after reading it a year ago, does not stand out in my mind. A small and quick reading book set in a small rural town in Australia. Thommo, the main character, lives a depressed life, riddled with physcial and mental problems, reminents of the Vietnam war. He runs the local cafe with his wife and daughter. I do not recall how, but Thommo is reunited with his old 'Nam buddies and discoveres that they are all a bunch of old washed up misfits, drifting through life. It takes Thommo's little girl to get cancer, to kick these old boys into shape and fight for a good cause. The stories and plotting are all conducted in Thommo's little cafe. They need to raise money and awareness for the girl to travel and get treatment in the big city. They resort to growing contrabands in a hidden location and then distrubiting it through whatever means and connections they have, including bicycle gangs. In the end they get a lot more then these 'hardened' men bargained for.

This book is about a troubled Vietnam Veteran whose daughter has cancer. Instead of getting a legitimate job and saving hard to finance her much neded operation this guy decides he is going to become a drug dealer and sell marijuana with his buddies!!!No doubt in a couple of years time some of his customers will have graduated to using Heroin but this fact is conveniently overlooked by the author. The message that the author sems to be sending out in this book is that "It is okay to turn to a Life of Crime and Illegal Activity if you have got a good enough reason.This is a very disappointing book by an author who has done much better work in his career as a writer.I give this book 5 stars because the author manages to almost convince the reader that a Life Of Crime is a viable Career Option of you don't have any cash to spare.

I was thrilled when I found a book my favorite author on a trip to England as his work is difficult to find in the States. Have to admit that it was not on par with any of his others that I've read, and I think I've read them all. Can't recommend this one. Try one of his others.

Reading this book requires an immense "Suspension Of Disbelief" on the part of the reader which I could not quite accomplish. In this book the reader is intoduced to Billy, an ex lawyer turned Homeless Street Alcoholic. Billy sleeps on a park bench with a briefcase handcuffed to his arm!!!One gets the impression that Billy and his briefcase would be separated from each other in about 5 minutes on the mean Homeless Streets of Sydney, Australia and he would be lucky to keep his hand in the process. Instead of being totally absorbed in his quest to find the next available drink ( just like any typical street drunk would do) Billy meets a young boy by the name of Ryan who he takes a liking to. Billy entertains Ryan with fanciful invented tales just like any good lawyer .Ryan has troubles of his own and Billy goes to great lengths to help him. Any resemblance to any real street drunk in this book is purely coincidental. I give this book 5 stars because Mr. Courtenay has written a few good books although this is not one of them.

What a beautifully written and compelling book. Reading this was a genuine 'I can't put it down' experience.
Courtney tells the tale of an ex-lawyer turned to alcoholism after a family tragedy, living on the streets of Sydney, Australia. His struggle with his demons, and with his compassionate soul is portrayed in an immensively readable and, for me, emotional manner. Several times while reading this book I grabbed members of my poor family and forced them to share the latest 'moment' with me......highly recommended.

This is a difficult novel to define. The three main characters are the street dwelling alcoholic, Billy O'Shannessy, Ryan Sanfrancesco the 11 year old streetwise boy whose future is at risk, and Trim (Matthew Flinders's cat). Trim was, apparently, the first cat to circumnavigate Australia (1801 to 1803) when he accompanied Matthew Flinders.

Potentially, there are at least three stories in this book. The one I focussed on, and enjoyed the most, was the role of Trim, as developed in Billy's imagination and then researched, in saving Billy and Ryan.

The stories of Billy and Ryan did not engage me as much as Trim, yet I enjoyed the way Mr Courtenay wove the separate stories together. There are no real heroes in this story, and yet there is hope. And a kind of irony in that Trim the cat, who was part of the voyages that helped define Australia still has a contemporary role.

Recommended. An interesting, if quirky, novel.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I love cats and was born but not raised in Australia. I enjoyed this book for all of it's Australian setting, characters and lingo. I found some of the subject matter a bit troubling but am naive to the seedier side of real-life for so many. It was a great mix of past and present, swashbuckling and the settling of Australia and modern day sleazy city life and struggle. I liked it enough that I now search out all books Bryce Courtenay has written and pick and choose the ones with best reviews. I am really, really enjoying "Four Fires".

This is the first Bryce Courtenay I've ever read, and having heard much about him and his popularity, I have to say I was staggered by how poor it was. The research involved is thorough, points for that, but as far as telling a story, alas!!

This is the sort of thing I would expect from a prepubescent at a creative writing short course. There is no conciseness -- where one or two well phrased sentences would convey an idea well, we get half a page of banter which is largely a repeat of earlier exposition, as if the author feels he has to remind us of the thesis of his writing.

The characters are to some extents well developed, but not enough for this reader to care one way or another about them. The author seems to want to give everyone in the book a laconic australian (lowercase deliberate) flavour, and his treatment of some of the characters, eg Con the Greek cafe owner, was xenophobic and patronising.

The inner story of Matthew Flinders cat was also a bemusing choice of story craft. Maybe this reviewer's missing a point, but I saw little in the way of any parallels between the main plot and this inner plot, except for some superficial connections to the main character's recovery from alcoholism. Here too we see a rather comic book telling of the history, having the cat rendered as an irritating anthropomorphic caricature which insults the true nature of felines.

In a nutshell, it was like watching a combination of a tabloid current affairs show and a soap opera, only in book form. It will be the last Courtenay book I read without hearing of a spectacular improvement in style from him.

Whoa! This book has it all! It has its sad moments, sad enough to make you cry. The characters's hope is heart warming. An the outcome is absolutely inspiring!

The story in a nutshell is about a group of Russians who have escaped and fled there invaded village to find a new place to live their lives in peace. Everyday this group of refugees, who have all different backgrounds and personalities, have to walk across Russia in the snow. The main character (can't remember her name) leads the group and everynight she takes out her large iron frying and the group all put what scraps and pieces of food in the pan and cook just enough food to stay alive. While eating, each night a person will tell a story. Some are tragic, sad, inspiring, mysterious and all are unique. The ending of this Novel is truly inspiring!

The Family Frying Pan is a novel different from Bryce's other ones. And isn't his usual type of story. When I first saw it I though it was a cookbook. Anyway it's probably my favourite book and is really, i mean REALLY worth reading! So go pick it up! Hope you all like it! It would make a great movie, Hopefully one day it is! Great work there Bryce Courtney!

The true life stories of a small group of Russian refugees... stories of murder, fame, tragedy. Stories told to the author years later by the former "leader" of this band of refugees. Amazing.

I have been a big fan of Bryce Courtenay's books ever since a friend lent me The Power of One 11 years ago which is to this day still one of my favorite books. I was disappointed in this one. It is more of a collection of short stories tied together very loosely by their being told while dinner was cooking. Most of the stories are rather unbelievable and lacking the usual powerful imagery that Courtenay does so well. I recently read Four Fires and if you are looking for a new Courtenay book to spend some time with, I would personally point you in that direction.

I've got to be honest, I've read 6 pages of this book, and this was over the shoulder of someone on the bus this morning.

But that was more than enough

In these pages, 2 people became drug addicts (my grandmother could write a more accurate account of amphetamine addiction), one became HIV positive, and went to a dentist. I was shocked at the content and at the thought that a seemingly normal young lady could be reading what i assumed was some fundamentalist christian propaganda wrapped up as a light romance novel. When I saw the cover, and consequently the author, I was shocked.

I am, by no means a Bryce Courtenay fan, but I did read "The power of one" when i was about 10 at my grandparents on holidays and seem to remember it as being more appealing than spending time with my family. But this book (based on those six pages) is so incredibly awful that it prompted my to write a review of it on amazon. I was so appalled at the content I had to check myself to ensure I didn't snatch it out of the readers hands and rip it into pieces.

Bryce Courtenay, I hope you meant well by this, but you have produced nothing but pointless poorly written fluff.

I was amazed that the person below thought to put a review in for a book he hasn't read.
From the Dymocks web site's description of the book gives a more accurature description. "Bryce Courtney's beloved son Damon, a haemophiliac, died from medically-acquired AIDS on Aprils Fool's day 1991, at the age of 24."

Damon did not chose to have haemophilia, he didn't chose to have blood transfusions and he didn't chose to get HIV. Drugs addiction is not an issue here. It is about a disease caught by no fault of the victim.

I can't believe this book is out of print, it should be required reading for medical students. Although the medical information here is (thankfully) out of date, I can say from first hand experience (UK) that there are still plenty of ignorant, arrogant people working in the medical "profession". That Bryce Courtney found the strength to put his book together is quite amazing, though no doubt a lot of it was driven by justifiable anger and bitterness. Whilst I know a lot about the gay side of Aids, I was fairly unaware of what haemophiliacs have been through, though it is now common knowledge that they were well and truly screwed by governments and health systems in many countries. Bryce Courtney's testament to "the mighty Damon", his son, is constantly heartbreaking, whilst never sinking into sentimentality. I do hope this book will be reprinted at some point, ideally with an update on the current medical situation, for the benefit of any readers who may be in the Courtney family's position and being kept in the dark by their doctors. Whilst Aids is no longer the death sentence it was, books like this are very, very important in the fight for compassion and understanding that still goes on in this terrible war. May the Courtney family find peace.

I had real trouble with this one. I loved "The Power of One", and hated "Tandia", so I was hoping that "April Fool's Day" would show me whether Bryce Courtenay was a wonderful writer or whether "The Power of One" was a one-off. It did neither. The only thing that it did do for me was explain why "Tandia" was so awful -- working under strict publishing deadlines while his child is extremely ill must have been extremely upsetting.

On the one hand, I applaud Mr. Courtenay for publishing such a personal experience, as I don't know whether I could be as frank as he has been in front of an unknown audience. It certainly would make interesting reading for health-care professionals who treat terminally ill people (not just those with HIV/AIDS/ARC).

On the other hand, the story didn't grab me by the heart. I didn't find Damon particularly heroic, even though I realize that he went through hell for most of his life between the haemophilia and HIV. He was a man who had a pre-existing condition, contracted a disease and lived with and died from the disease. He is no different from anyone who has cancer or any other terminal illness, nor is he different from any other person who consistently has been discriminated against. His story's a personal tragedy, but I didn't get the feeling of the awful things that happened to him a community tragedy... what happened to him is called "life".

Mr. Courtenay gets full marks for detail and poignancy. At times, I did feel that I was going through the process with the Courtenay family... and that made finishing the novel difficult. For example, I thought that I didn't want to go to the hospital AGAIN several times throughout my reading of the book. I liked the depictions of Damon's interactions with his family and caregivers and how Damon addressed obstacles in his treatment as both patient and person.

By the same token, the book was almost too detailed and repetitious in places, leaving me to wonder if I really cared if Damon made it to the next chapter. This also had the result of my feeling like Mr. Courtenay's counsellor/psychotherapist in many places throughout the book, which irritated me.

I'm not sure what to think about this book. It's definitely not a light read, and has some good points, but I don't think that it's one of Mr. Courtenay's must-reads. I'll have to read the next Courtenay book to make my decision on what kind of writer he is.

Bryce Courtenay has shared with us not only the life but the death of his beloved son from Aids in this warm,real ,sad yet beautiful book.It's not only about the experience of losing a loved one,but it also lets us know just how real the disease is...no matter how it is acquired.Bryce's son tragically contracted the virus via blood transfusions needed for his Haemophilia(a blood disorder).This book not only tells us of the courage of young Damien,but also of the power of love his family and girlfriend showed.It also hits on the prejudice and discimination experienced by those with the HIV and makes you realize that that approach is neither necassary nor right. This book is a must for everybody.....It left me breathless,tearful yet stronger.

This is a hard book to review. Parts of it enthralled me, but at the same time, one cannot be unaware of its huge deficiencies. It's a doorstop of a book, and rightfully so. There are at least three separate stories in there, maybe four. Or five. Anyway, first of all, we have Jacko's tale. An unprepossessing lad from a dot of an island off the Tasmanian coast, his family is made up of average joes, and Jacko's mom terms them "not worth a pinch of the proverbial," and she is not referring to salt. Jacko enlists in the army during the Korean conflict and is taken prisoner. He survives horrendous conditions, returns home, and becomes a successful seafood entrepreneur. Okay, that's book one. Book two is about James Pentecost Oldcorn, a Black American GI who is meets up with Jacko when both are prisoners of war. Jimmie Oldcorn is not human. He is larger than life, heroic and selfless beyond sainthood, and probably the most patronizingly written Black character in a novel since Uncle Remus. He repeatedly saves Jacko's life, organizes the POWs, saves their lives, confronts their Chinese and Korean captors, improves POW morale, and becomes Jacko's lifelong best friend and business partner. The Jimmy Oldcorn part of the book is so overwrought and the character such a cheap cartoon, it was almost painful to read. Jimmie's dialect is utterly ridiculous. He is an intelligent, resourceful, brave man, but he jabbers away in nonsense syllables. I have a feeling that Bryce Courtenay had no idea how a Black New Yorker would sound, and his thought process was as follows: "I'll throw in some basic New York accent(where Jimmie was born and raised), leaven with some Uncle Tom's Cabin and Song of the South to reinforce that he's Black." Unfortunately, the dialect is neither New York, Southern, or anything else any real person every spoke. And the way Courtenay depicts Jimmie made me want to toss the book out the door. Jimmie is a whiz with the ladies. Women of the island (who never met a man of color before and apparently were immune to Australia's prevalent racism and "White Australia" policy and equally immune to Australia's appalling attitudes toward their own Aboriginals) lined up to have sex with him and bear his children out of wedlock. Why, heck, Ol' Jimmie was such a nice guy, men were eager to marry up with women who bore his children...it was a badge of honor. Yeah, right. The same people who designated their own indiginous people as "fauna" -- native animal life, were going to open their arms and, well, whatever, to a Black American. Uh huh. I said it was a patronising depiction earlier...I was wrong. It is beyond patronising. The "racism" crops up when Jimmie confronts the "White Australia" immigration policy, but that's solved and Jimmie gets to go back to talking gibberish and behaving heroically. And then there is Book 3, the story of Countess Nicole Lenoir Jourdan, aka Lily No Gin, aka Shanghai Lil. No, I'm not making that up. WOuld that I were. Again, a fascinating story becomes so overblown, it loses all touch with reality. All three stories are intricately connected. Jimmie Oldcorn is, indeed, a hero, if only he had been written as a real person, not a cartoon black, complete with a dialect that is so thick it's comical (although Jimmie speaks the King's English impeccably -- with American, English and Australian accents and intonations when he so chooses). The Countess is merely Deus ex Machina, dropping in to save the day until the last 3rd of the book, when we learn of her improbably--yet fascinating--life story. Anyway, if you want a good read, this is certainly the book. Just try not using all your brain cells when you read it...if you have all your faculties in full gear, the book will drive you nuts. I have not read "Power of One" or any other of Courtenays seemingly endless stream of books. I just ordered "The Potato Factory" trilogy and hope it's as good as the best parts of "Brother Fish" but without the hyperbole and nonsense.

I have to preface this by saying I LOVE Bryce Courtenay's body of work. I have read 90% of his books and even picked up some of them while I was in Australia - devastated that I missed his book signing by one day. I have written to him and received a reply. Power of One is my favorite book of all time.

That said, I was thrilled to find another big book available from Mr. Courtenay. I bought it as a summer read to make my travels even more interesting.

I was so caught by the similarities in the beginning. To add to the first list of similiarites - PK had a chicken - Tom has a dog (both well trained amazingly). There are still chickens in the story.

Bad nicknames (Pisskop for Peekay) and get away mongrel dog for Tom. Miss Philips is the professor.

I am not quite done with the book and checked this out to see what everyone else thought of such a similar book coming from such an extraordinary author that surely this was not something he needed to fall back on??

To hear there are Rhodesian mines in this book, etc., is disappointing.

This does not take away from my love of Power of One or of Mr. Courtenay's writing. But what was the publisher and author thinking?

Again if you haven't read Power of One you will love this book. But those of us in love with the characters in Power of One will resent their dilution by such similar characters.

As I mentioned, I am not finished yet so I wonder - is there a big huge woman in this book? There usually is in all of his books - not just the Power of One series.

Regretfully signed,
Judy Hervall

I agree with the previous reviewer, Whitethorn is an entertaining and engaging read but all so very reminiscent of PK and the Power of One. I suspect Courtney is drawing on his own background but the poor English boy in boarding school/orphanage, persecuted by the Afrikaaners, boxing, latent homosexuality, nazi-sympathising, befriending a wise black-man, black-man savagely abused, commitment to social justice and eventually the legal profession is something we've already been over. I haven't even read the Power of One but am familiar with the story from the film.
The story of young Tom seems to lose its way a bit towards the end. Certainly the Rhodesian interlude was of marginal relevance and the Kenyan pointless but for further misery. The redemption at the end was expected but disappointingly easily resolved. The blanks (ie Oxford) in the tale left the reader wondering but the gems that were to be found glittered brightly.
Last comment - I think better editing wouldn't have hurt this book. I don't usually like comments like that - I believe it is for authors to craft their tales - not editors. However, given my comments above it is clear that some parts added little to the narrative and some could have been better developed.

Let me start by saying this is a great coming of age story about a young boy Tom Fitzsaxby growing up during the 40's and 50's in South Africa. The writing style is written as if Tom is more of an observer of his life than a participant in it. This gives the book an unusual tone that is well both told and absorbing.
By why the three stars then?
Point One;
Well 'haven't I read this before?'. Why yes. In the 'Power of One' also by Bryce Courtenay.
The similarities; Young boy of English descent growing up in South Africa - raised in an orphanage/ boarding school - persecuted by Afrikaner children - loner - scenes of urination (!) - makes friends with understanding adults who mentor him - brilliant student rises above it all - boxing - works in Rhodesian mines (I nearly gave up then and there) - meets school boy tormentor - some sort of resolution - goes to English University - becomes a lawyer (okay that's in Tandia the follow up to Power of One) - fights for the rights of blacks.
Point Two;
Initially there seems to be no narrative drive, that is to say it is unclear exactly where the story is going. It meanders along telling stories about our protagonist's youth but it's unclear where all this is leading. It becomes apparent in the last third though. Secondly, the book seems to 'hurry' towards a conclusion. I have come across this before in other books by Mr Courtenay. Where after a prolonged build up, the resolution comes all too quickly considering the narrative tone preceding this point.
These criticisms shouldn't take away from the fact that this is a well written book that is an enjoyable read. It immerses you in South African life of that period and the people and attitudes of the time.
So 4/5 if you haven't read 'Power of One'

Let me start by saying that I really enjoyed the Power of One and Tandia. Whitehorn is a real disappointment because it is the same characters, material and storyline rehashed with, at times, ludicrous similarity. Like one of the other reviewers, I almost gave up when Tom went to "discover himself" in the copper mines of Northern Rhodesia. If you've not read the Power of One, you may enjoy this book. If you have read the Power of One, I suspect, like me, you'll feel cheated. The strong feeling you get is of a good and successful author who is running out of ideas but is under pressure from his publisher to produce.