Oceania Books

When I was in high school I never got why they made us read depressing books, even if the books were old. It proves this book's points about adult's hypocrisy that when Baz Luhrmann turned Romeo and Juliet into something that kids watched without being forced by school, adults suddenly started worrying that the same story they'd been forcing their kids to memorize for exams might romaticize suicide. By contrast (and since the official review on Amazon gave the ending away I don't feel bad for saying this), Ranulfo gives his updated Hamlet a more positive solution to his family problems and the potential madness personified by Matt's alter ego/imaginary friend/demon, the joker. Besides making this book less likely to get banned than would be an accessible young adult book in which the lead kills his mum's new boyfriend, I guess the new ending is more plausible for a modern teenager than giving up everything for the sake of dad's honour. It's kind of like in the old days romances could make the parents the main obstacle between the lovers, but in a modern romance parents' disapproval stopping kids from hooking up is less believable. Ranulfo's message seems to be that parents' problems are not yours to solve, and that if conscience doesn't make us all cowards, it can make us martyrs pointlessly sacrificing ourselves for stuff we have no control over, and I guess that's the point of the references to the attacks on the world trade centre and the futility of violent political protests.

Matt is the child of divorce. His mother has taken up with a sleazy salesman. His father now "haunts" their house late at night obsessed with and humiliated by his broken marriage. This trauma, in addition to the death of Matt's best friend in a hostel fire, has sent Matt, "athlete, top student, and Mr. Cool at Elsinore High," into a tailspin. His response to an insane world is to retreat into the chaotic persona of The Joker who questions everything Matt has been taught and leads Matt into a wild dance on the edge of sanity.

"All my life I had asked the wrong questions. Questions which already had answers. Questions provided to me by the authorities," Matt says. With the Joker's questions, and a solemn promise to help his father knit their family together again, Matt treads in the footstep of one of literature's most famous madmen, Hamlet.

Ranulfo's JOKER is at its most enjoyable in its humorous allusions to Shakespeare's melancholy prince. The famous windbag Polonious is personified by a high school principal, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are beach bums, and Elsinore's resident bad boy Brad stands in as Fortinbras. The scene in which Hamlet puts on a play to reveal his father's murder is transformed into Matt staging a rap sequel to "South Pacific." Prostitution, pollution and revolution have overrun the island, which is ultimately destroyed by a tsunami.

While Ranulfo occasionally twists famous lines from Shakespeare's play into the vernacular of an Australian teen, JOKER is largely free from the kind of language that can make Shakespeare's HAMLET difficult to read. Instead, Ranulfo focuses on Matt's internal conflict, and his questions about life's meaning and mortality. It is written in extremely short sections, jumping from reality to Matt's morbid fantasies about what the future might hold.

The difficulty in retelling a story as well known as Hamlet is the inevitability of comparisons. The layered complexity of Shakespeare's play is rendered in JOKER as a monologue told solely in Matt's voice. HAMLET is a puzzle. It contains great poetry, lots of bizarre Elizabethan jokes, and a malleable plot that opens itself to endless interpretations. By comparison, JOKER is straightforward. It even ends happily and no one dies, making it comedic, instead of tragic.

Readers already familiar with HAMLET are best placed to understand the humor in JOKER. But it may appeal more to those readers who have not read HAMLET, or have found the play confusing or irrelevant to their lives. JOKER is HAMLET as it might be interpreted by a teenager reading the play for the first time. It is most successful when read on its own terms and not compared to its predecessor.

--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood

Apparently, JOKER is the classic story of Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library), torn to pieces, set in modern-day Australia, and stuck back together again. Having never read Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library), I can't say anything about JOKER 's relationship to that story, but I can definitely say that it is a brilliant novel.

It's the real story of Matt, a teenage boy with problems like any other, and the story of Joker, one that blurs the lines of fact and fiction. Joker drives Matt to do things he would not normally do, to say things he would not normally say, to eventually throw away his life as a popular, athletic high school student with a great girlfriend and great friends. Perhaps the change came when Ray, his best friend, died in a fire; even if Ray's murder wasn't the cause of the change in Matt, it couldn't have helped.

Now Matt is never alone; he always has Joker, though it is never clear who or what Joker is, or if he is a figment of Matt's imagination or if he is real, or maybe even another part of Matt himself.

This is a beautifully written, at times disturbing, and certainly moving story. Reminiscent of a darker Francesca Lia Block, Ranulfo follows Matt as he destroys his life, runs away, and eventually returns, seeing all the possibilities of what could lie ahead of him. Readers looking for straightforward, clear, easy to follow, black-and-white stories will not find that in JOKER, but anyone looking for fantastic writing, realistic characters, and a story that's not so easily pulled apart will love this novel.

Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce

This book has a lot of information. It really helps you to decide what to do and where to go in Australia.

The greatest book I have ever bought about Australia, It has a lot of information related about this great country. It also has specific details on relevants information. This book is quite fun when you star to read it.

I recomend this piece to everyone how wants going to Australia.

The "cultural" part of this book (and earlier editions) is useful viz, why seek a job in Australia and what to expect in day to day transactions. Information on "quality of life" is more for singles, families with young children, or retirees (although, unless a retiree comes from one of the few countries with reciprocal health-care agreements, s/he will pay a lot for private medical coverage).

This book fails to present clear info on the ever evolving requirements for work/migration visas and what services a given visa allows your family to access. You must dig here and elsewhere and Web forums (since even Australian state websites are self-contradictory or outdated) to discover that admission on a temporary work visa (which is locked to a specific job) gives no access to state benefits despite the fact that you pay 40% taxes + local council taxes if you buy a home. With limited exceptions and reimbursement, you are gouged this way for 2 yrs before you can apply for a permanent resident visa (with additional requirements if you make this move over age 44). During that time your child is NOT allowed to compete for a merit-based slot in a state "selective" school, in most Australian states you must pay full school fees of $4500 to $5500/yr/child (primary & secondary, respectively, NOT twice this as an International Student as some state Web sites state), and would pay full University course fees ($40,000+ for 3 year course, more for 4) again despite full tax payments. With permanent residency, these restrictions disappear and your child can compete for a university place in a predetermined field of study (major) at a fee comparable to in-state US 4-yr state university tuition and a generally higher standard of instruction. The logic behind this is commendable: strong incentives to stay and contribute long-term. So, those with children and esp. those approaching age brackets 44, 49, and 54 should push toward permanent residency asap because the process can be slow.

Written in the same style as all the Lonely Planet books, this book enabled us to plan a fantastic holiday to Tonga. The information was precise and exact, and laid out in an easy to use arrangement with helpful section headings. My normal complaint about guidebooks is that the maps are often worthless, but here they were accurately drawn and had all the relevant places correctly marked. Although two years since being published we didn't find any information that was drastically out of date. If you are travelling to Tonga this is the guide to buy.

This was a very interesting guidebook. I found it to be very helpful in all aspects. It was very easy to read. I especially liked the boxed sections on various nuances of the country and culture. The language section was also very helpful. Great Guide.

As usual, Lonely Planet provides all possible advice for anyone visiting Tonga. This guide meets the Lonele Planet standard. For those who have used or read other LP guides in the past, nothing more needs to be added... Don't go to Tonga without it !

I enjoyed this book as required reading for a World Civilizations class in college. THe approach is much different than that of traditional texts; it provides the student with the original documents, enabling the student to do the work of an historian. In putting together the facts and analyzing them logically, this is a great excercise in critical thinking and a great way to "get inside Mao's head".

Enjoy!

The bulk of this book consists of primary documents from the hand of Mao Zedong. These documents provide the reader with a good understanding of the outlook that Mao employed, and how that outlook evolved over time. Additionally, this book contains a good selection of secondary documents that focus categorically on the good and bad consequences of Mao's leadership as well as the variety of ways in which people have perceived and continue to perceive Mao as a leader.

The introduction to this volume is probably its strongest feature. Timothy Cheek gives an incredibly good run-down of Mao's influence on Chinese history, and he does so in a little more than 30 pages. Cheek roughly covers the years 1915-present, and does so in a way that both the new and more experienced students of Chinese history have something to learn. I really felt the Cheek did a masterful job of combining richness of substance with concise writing. The introduction to this book should probably be included in the syllabus for any modern Chinese history course.

One more note: Cheek's analysis of Mao himself was very even-handed; not too supportive and yet not to critical. His basic thesis in this regard is that Mao started out as a very pragmatic leader who played a big role in restoring China through unification, but then Mao became detached from his party, the people, and reality. This thesis seems solid, and provides a reasonable, disinterested basis for reflecting on Mao as an historical actor.

A friend recommended this book to me for introducing me to the history of modern China, as background for my first trip to China. I found it really helpful to get a good introduction to modern Chinese history and culture. As a result, I certainly got more cultural enrichment and insight out of my trip. So I am passing this recommendation along to others. Mao is fascinating and China is a great country to visit.

The Maori of New Zealand is an outstanding resource for studying this cultural part of New Zealand. It is kid-friendly, yet packed with pictures and information. My third graders enjoyed it immensely. The shipper, Topshelf Treasures, has been excellent in resolving an issue that arose in the shipping of the book.

Good overview, but I was hoping for more detailed information about thier culture.

I am sure I am not the only one who checked out this First Peoples volume on "The Maori of New Zealand" after being enthralled by the film "Whale Rider." Author Steve Theunisen is a freelance writer living in Masterton, North Island who has been a lifelong student of Maori and Pacific Island culture, and whose wife belongs to the Ngai Te Rangi Nui Maori tribe, so this volume has the added virtue of being written by someone with strong times to the Maori. Such ethos rarely applies to these type of books, so I like to appreciate it when it does.

The Maori are the descendants of Polynesian ancestors who first settled along the coastal regions of New Zealand about 1,500 years ago. The early Maori were hunters, fishers, and farmers who relied on the bounty of the land and water of New Zealand to survive. The arrival of Europeans resulted in a cultural integration that finds many Maori living a modern lifestyle today while keeping their heritage and centuries-old traditions alive.

This book is presented as a series of two-page spreads on topics that are devoted to both the geography of New Zealand ("Land at the Bottom of the World," "New Zealand Wildlife") along with the history ("The Great Migration," "European Contact") and culture ("Traditional Homes," "The Art of the Maori") of the Maori. Each spread is illustrated with color photography, although there are also some historic woodcuts, etchings and photographs as well. The result is a lot of information provided in a concise, colorful, and compelling way.

Other titles in the First People Series look at "The Aboriginal Peoples of Australia," "The Ainu of Japan," "The Inuit of Canada," "The Sami of Northern Europe," "The Yanomami of South America," and "The Zulu of Africa." There are about another dozen titles, and as you can see they cover all of the inhabited continents. If the rest of the volumes are as good as this one then these is an excellent series that young students can turn to for lots of information about the First Peoples of the earth.

Convicts were the first European settlers in Australia. To officials' surprise, convicts' children did not inherit "depraved" genes, but given a fair chance they thrived and became responsible citizens.

Early Australia was a rough and tumble place. In the early days when men vastly outnumbered women. There was wilderness, desert, vast expanses of country, ranches isolated by great distances. Cities grew up on the coasts: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane.

A "fair go" was an integral part of the vision of early Australia--at least a fair go for Caucasions. Indigenous people were treated terribly, killed off, persecuted, their culture nearly eradicated as children were separated from their parents.

In the 1960's this changed, and a more humane policy was adapted towards indigenous people. At the same, Australia was absorbing millions of refugees and immigrants from a multitude of countries.

Australia's underlying premise of "a fair go" has resulted in admirable social policies: health insurance, free education, old-age pensions, and more. It has resulted in a society to which other countries can look as a model.

REVIEW FOR MULTIETHNIC AUSTRALIA by Celeste MacLeod

This is an engaging, extremely well written informative book about Australia, a country about which there are many myths, many negative stereotypes, and much misunderstanding.

MacLeod gets to the heart of the enigma that is Australia by the way she relates the beginnings of that nation to the changes that have occurred over the years. The basic strength of Australia as a parliamentary democracy lies in the concept that that there should be "a fair go" for everyone.

Without hitting the reader on the head, MacLeod shows us how forward looking policies, like a secret ballot, old-age pensions, and votes for women, all in place by 1902, plus since the 1970s, recognition of respect for different ethnicities, made it possible for Australia to grow and prosper. She does not gloss over past inequities, but she shows how positive progressive leadership leads to economic and social prosperity. I was engrossed in her description of how Australia accepted five million immigrants from two hundred and forty countries, including Asia, Africa and the Middle East after World War II, and helped them become integrated into Australian society. This is no small feat, but it worked because of a national multicultural policy that encouraged immigrants, as well as indigenous Aborigines, to retain their traditional cultures while becoming loyal Australians.

MacLeod shows the reader how the current regressive leadership of the Australian government is destroying many years of progress. It's so easy to wreck progressive social policy and so difficult to build and sustain it. She holds out hope for Australia, however, based on the unifying concept of "a fair go" for everyone.

This was so interesting that I couldn't put it down.

Rhoda Curtis, Instructor/Consultant, CalStateU-East Bay, Hayward

Multiethnic Australia: Its History and Future is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of this fascinating continent as well as those who might be considering immigration. The book covers a vast range of time and topics without being ponderous. It triggers the reader's desire to know the Australia of the future better: either in a sequel or through its amazingly diverse people, who call Australia home well into the 21st century.

This book like the 1984 film dispels the myth of the evil Capt Bligh and the heroic and dashing Mr. Christian. William T Bligh was the greatest naval officer in history. The mutiny itself was not shocking in as much as Bligh's command of it's open launch and the 2600 mile journey he made in it with his loyal officers and men. Such a feat would be incredible today given the size of the Bounty's launch and the meager food and water given to them by the mutineers.

You are going to buy this book, of course you are. How can you not, for it is the actual book written by the notorious Capt. Bligh himself. If you are the least bit interested in the voyage that became the Mutiny on the Bounty and its aftermath, you've got to get to it. This book is fascinating not so much because of the description of the mutiny because Captain Bligh surprisingly has very little to say on the subject. No, you'll find this fascinating stuff because it allows one a glimpse into life in the South Pacific hundreds of years ago, and how miserable a castaway crew can become. You will also be able to form your own opnions about the sort of man Captain Bligh was. It is an interesting and challenging task to do so, however, because the man is careful to conceal most of his personality and emotions behind a rather dry and unimaginative journeyman's description of this adventure. Actually, it is this mechanical and rather bloodless recitation of facts surrounding what was a most terrifying and terrific adventure that clues one in that Captain Bligh, despite being an extraordinary seaman was certainly obtuse and even a bit of a creep (pompous ass, at the very least); at least he made my skin crawl at times. He also caused me to marvel at his many skills and tenacity (orneriness?), and even he was unable to completely suppress his emotions and allow himself free rein to personalize a few of the incidents that occured along the way. Few people could have accomplished his feat, that is to sail more than one thousand miles across the ocean in a small wooden boat filled with a hopeless and starving crew always teetering on the brink of disaster. It's also funny that Bligh turned up in all sorts of places around the globe in his life time and one finds him sprinkled throughout history. Did you know, for instance, that he commanded a ship under Lord Nelson in at least one of that man's most famous battles? He also accompanied the famed Captain Cook on one of his famous voyages which is how he got the job on the Bounty. I've ranked this only four stars because the book is really not a joy to read, Captain Bligh's skills most certainly lay in the nautical world. In this day and age, he probably would have found a ghost writer to lively up his self. Yet, this book is essential grist for the mill of Bounty hunters.

In The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty is about man named William Bligh who as a boy of only 16 starts sailing on British ships. The events that happen to this man happen mostly on the South Seas. William eventually becomes a captain of a vessel called the HMS Bounty. He never expected the most dastardly dead that men can do on a ship would happen to him especially by the one man he trusted most Fletcher Christian. Christian was an officer that Bligh had taught everything to he was going to be his successor. Evidently Fletcher Christian wanted to be the successor earlier than planned.

As I started reading The Mutiny on Board HMS Bounty I thought that Bligh was a tuff commanded that treated his men very harshly. As I read on though, he may not have treated them harsh enough to keep them from committing mutiny. They committed the worst crime a sailor can commit out on the open seas. A crime that is punishable by death. If he would have treated them more severely when they took extra food and water that he ordered them not to take they may not have committed what they did. "I found necessary to punish Mathew Quintal, one of the seamen, for insolence and mutinous behavior" (William Bligh 40).

William Bligh is the only captain that I know of that could captain a rotten, smaller vessel that barely fits all eighteen of his men, fight off hostile natives and eventually make back to England. He also managed to keep his men's spirits up when the times were really tough. He even gave away part of his rations to keep his men healthy. "Come back, man! You'll be killed!" (Bligh 164).

One part of this book that bothered me the whole time until the very end was, "Why did then men of the Bounty commit mutiny and leave the captain with the mostly skilled workers when they new if the men that were set adrift made it back home they would be hung when found by the English government. "When we were put of the Bounty, we had only enough food for five days. The mutineers must have decided that we could find shelter only at the Friendly Islands" (Bligh 234).

I think readers learn a lot from this book. Not only is it a great book it teaches readers that if you believe in what you want to achieve anything can happen. The men on the little raft believed and they made it to the English settlements and eventually made it all the way back to England which was a wonderful achievement. These men believed in there leader (William Bligh) and he came through for them by leading them to safety and only losing six men.

Excellent information and pictures. A great help when planning your trip to Australia and a wonderful memory of the places we saw and heard about while visiting Australia.

While Magellen writes a good description of the book, I found it useless because Magellen has never been to Australia and therefore has never used the book. Moreover, I can skim it myself to see if it will work for me. It would be much more helpful if reviewers actually have used a guidebook!

This is my first national Geographic travel guide, from an interesting author. He once biked 10,000 miles around Australia, getting into remote areas where he was all alone, 100 miles from the nearest habitation just on his bicycle. As he went, his travel commentaries were published in the Australian papers, and the story was even picked up by the international newspapers at the time, making him something of an international celebrity as a travel writer. He now lives in Victoria and freelances for various Australian magazines and publications. It's more topically oriented the say, the DK guide, with perhaps fewer subjects covered but with more coverage per article. This is just my subjective impression but I offer it for what it's worth. The DK guide's look busier per page and this one is less.

I learned some interesting things from this book. To mention just a few, Australia is the oldest continent, which is why the interior is so flat, and why it contains so many marsupial species, which died out elsewhere when the couldn't compete with the more advanced placental mammals. Culturally, it is a land of contrasts, with more modern looking cities with newer buildings than most American cities, which contrasts with the primitive aboriginal lifestyle which still exists to some extent in North Australia. And the rugged, macho image of Australian settlers, outbackers, and bushrangers contrasts with the fact that Sydney has an even higher gay and lesbian population than San Francisco, and their Gay and Lesbian parade is an international event.

Before getting into the regional sections, there is a 72 page introduction that covers history, culture, the land, food, and drink, the arts, and flora and fauna. There's a lot of good info here and this is a longer introduction compared to most travel guides that I've seen.The remaining 299 pages cover the 8 major provinces or regions of Australia, including the island of Tasmania, which I was especially interested in. Each section includes the most popular sites and things to do, with beautiful photos and well written text.

I am especially interested in Tasmania, and I learned that it is easy to see the sights there, as there is a 600-mile road that goes around the entire perimeter of the island, and most of the interesting sites can be accessed from it. As I am planning a trip to Australia sometime soon, I was interested to learn this, since most of Australia is difficult to get to since the distances are so vast. Just Western Australia, still one of the most remote and sparsely settled regions, is three times the size of Texas.

Sydney of course gets a special section by itself, and you could spend the rest of your life just seeing the sites there. I was most interested in Sydney, Tasmania, and also Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Kuranda Rainforest in the north as the three other main places to visit on my trip, and this guide was very helpful for researching that. Other helpful features of this guide include an Australia map on the inside front cover, a Sydney transit map, and many regional and town maps for you convenience. There is a quick table of contents on the inside front cover also. All in all a nice done and enjoyable guide to the fascinating land of Down Under.

A good book with lots of information on B&B's throughout New Zealand.
Also small enough to take with you.

The guide is organized geographically, even within a region, which is not especially helpful to those who don't know their way around. Properties are not listed alphabetically within a town. Alphabetically by town then name within a region would be more useful. The blurbs for each property are written by the owners so there's a wide range of value in the text. Addition of a set of ideograms to describe basic amenities would also be a great help in identifying a property meeting one's criteria.

This book was very helpfull, especially with the pictures of the B&B's, in making our desicions where to stay. We have been to New Zealand before, but this was a great help. If one is going to travel NZ on their own, I would recomend this.

definitely a must for a n.z. bound cycling adventure. this book keeps it all simple and clear without what you don't need. i cycled 4100km in n.z. by mixing and matching routes from the book and found it very useful. the only down side is the not very convenient format and the lack of good route maps which is not a big deal altogether. good luck.

Yes, I am a Kiwi [native New Zealander]and have found this book extremely valuable for planning a tour around both islands. I could find out all the information, but why reinvent the wheel?? It is all laid on here..including an insight into our customs and language.

In brief..... you want to bike around NZ??? GET THIS BOOK!!

In February '97 me, my bike, and this book covered 1300 miles of New Zealand. I used this book extensively to plan my route by mixing & matching the routes covered in the book. obtw, in New Zealand you don't need a map, you only have a couple of roads to choose from and this book covers just about everything you need. I highly recommend it and appreciate the effort Bruce put into the book.