Oceania Books

Matilda comes home one day to find a young boy sitting on her sofa. They have tea, and she tells him about her past. At that time, she went by Maddy, and she longed for a fairy tale life.

When Maddy finished school, she came home to her family's house by the sea. Her father asked her what she thought the most beautiful thing in the world was. She answered, "sea eagles." Her father decided that the two of them together would travel the world in search of the world's most beautiful thing, since he was not satisfied with her answer. After their travels, she was asked the question again. And she realized that she was the answer her father was looking for.

One day when she was back home, she went to the beach. She saw a young man and found herself walking towards him, scaring away the pelican that he was holding. She went to see him every day after that. She called him Feather. She married Feather, and they moved into a cottage in the forest.

He left one day, to be at his one place where he could be happy. Maddy could not come though, he told her. Weeks after, she wondered why he went to this one place and if he was happy. She decided that she needed to know the answer, so she had a sailboat made, and she set to sea. She saw many things, and spoke to sea life. She found Feather, and got her answer.

When she got back to her home, she left the cottage, unable to live there any longer. She decided she wanted to work in the war. She nursed injured soldiers, and from there decided that she wanted to be a doctor. From then on, she was Matilda. She helped people and then began to age. She was getting older, and lived in a house by herself. She ended her days in that house.

This was a very intriguing book. I was confused with the boy, but by the last chapter, I knew exactly who he was and why he was there. The life that Maddy lived was amazing. She went through so much, and many of those things weren't so good, which is very easy to relate to. Her parents were odd. Her father wanted Maddy to be who she wanted to be, whereas her mother just wanted her daughter to marry a rich man and not care about being happy, which bothered me. Feather was also confusing. He appeared out of nowhere. I was happy they married, but unhappy when he left her.

Overall, this was a very interesting book, and was hard to put down. I enjoyed it very much.

Reviewed by: Ashley B

This is one of the most poignant tales of love and loss I've ever read. Full of sad regret and a mysterious, impenetrable mystique, it is a book I expect to reread many times.

An old woman, Maddy, tells the tale of her life to a young boy -- an unexpected visitor who shows up at her door. What she weaves for him is a beautiful, touching tale of a life full many beautiful experiences that shaped her. Her heart is lost early in her life to a windswept ocean waif, but their imperfect love casts a shadow on her entire life. There are bits of the fantastic -- though we almost wonder if they are only allegorical, metaphor -- and the bits are marked by a stunning, cold realism.

I honestly cannot do justice to this book in review. I have read few books more touching, and even fewer better written. An astoundingly beautiful tale that I am honored to have had the pleasure of reading.

This book is an ethnography of the Dani, a people living in the Grand Valley, a temperate plain along the Balim River in central Irian Jaya (New Guinea). Heider visited the region and got to know the Dani during four study visits over nine years, beginning in 1961. The book includes information on standard ethnographic topics, such as environment, population density, labor and its division, tools, arts and play, social relationships, kinship terms, leadership, religion and ritual, funerals, and feasts.

One aspect that makes this book stand out from others of its type is that Heider is forthright in discussing the limitations of his research and conclusions. He notes that he was never able to develop enough fluency in the language to fully comprehend what was being discussed around him, or even what people tried to explain to him. He also describes how hard it was for him to collect information about the culture because the Dani either had no knowledge of or no interest in how their lives might be different from other people's lives. As a man, Heider had limited contact with women, so his descriptions of aspects of women's lives are very superficial. From Heider's descriptions, the Dani were extremely noncompetitive, to the point that they spontaneously eliminated scoring and team play from children's games introduced by government school teachers. To Heider, the Dani seemed to have a relatively easy-going life-style, made possible by a temperate environment with practically no seasonal variation. The diet was based on sweet potatoes and pork, and these could be grown year-round, so there was no need to grow and store surpluses for lean seasons. Heider was very apprehensive about what the future would bring for the Dani, as government officials and teachers introduced new housing materials, new foods, and most importantly new values to the people of the Valley.

While it is a fascinating reading in itself, this book is best read after the more comprehensive classic "The Dugum Dani" by the same author, of which this work is something of an update.
It is very interesting - though somewhat disturbing - to read how the Grand Valley Dani have coped with four decades of "civilization" under mostly Indonesian rule, during which the Baliem Valley has become a regional government, military and tourism centre all at once.

If you're interested in James Cook, read this one. I found it hard to put down, and an excellent source of info for all ages.

New Zealand historian J.C. Beaglehole made the history of exploration in the Pacific his life's work and no such effort could possibly be complete without a thorough understanding of the voyages of Captain James Cook. When Beaglehole started, the existing editions of Cook's Journal were not of high historical standards and, in decades of work with the original journals and auxilliary material, Beaglehole eventually produced the definitive, modern editions. They were originally published in the 1960s by the Cambridge University Press. Other outstanding, related works of Beaglehole are his "Life of Captain Cook" - read no other until you've read this one - and the "Journals of Joseph Banks"

I have said in a few other reviews that I like the LoA very much. The 3 volume Melville edition is no exception. And yet!
The normal size of the volumes is around 800 to 1000 pages. This first volume of Melville with Typee, Omoo, and Mardi, gets to nearly 1400. That is more than can be conveniently handled, and the main problem is, that space has been saved in the bio and notes sections. The LoA volumes usually include a useful summary of the writer's biography and a section of notes on the texts. The notes ideally explain text variants but also obscure names and references in the text. There are plenty of such names and references here, particulary in Mardi. The notes section of this volume is however unsatisfactory; I am sure this is due to space considerations. Would it have made sense to stretch the edition to 4 or 5 volumes and keep them handier? That would have left volume 1 with a sub-par size of less than 700 pages. Including a later shorter text would have disturbed the sequence, which would have been bad due to the contents relation of the 3 texts included now. In other words: what to do? All considered, I would vote for the shorter and handier volume, i.e. here just Typee and Omoo, with Mardi plus Redburn in volume 2, plus a much expanded note and bio section.
(I am still in the middle of Mardi, which is a marvel and a mystery, and will review it separately.)

Among the early products of the wonderful Library of America Series were three volumes devoted to the novels of Herman Melville. This volume consists of Melville's first three novels, Typee(1846), Omoo(1847) and Mardi (1849)

Melville's novels are based, more or less loosely, on his life at sea. The first two novels describe voyages to the Marquesas and to Tahiti. They are filled with lush descriptions of scenery, and tales of adventure. Of the two, Typee is filled with encounters with cannibals and Polynesian maidens while Omoo presents a wider canvas of characters and scenes. Both books emphasize the sexual openness and relative simplicity of Polynesian life as compared to life in the United States and both books are critical as well of attempts to Christianize the islanders. These are not unusual themes today and probably were not as radical in the 1840s as one might suppose. The stories are well told and the descriptions alluring. These books made Mellville's reputation as a young writer.

Mardi, however, is the gem of this collection. Its relationship to the earlier novels can be analogized, say, to the relationship between the young Beethoven's first symphony on the one hand and the growth of language and thought in the second and third symphonies on the other hand. Melville prefaces the book with the note that his first two books were fact-based but were received with "incredulity" while Mardi was pure romance and "might be recieved for a verity." (Little likelihood of that)

The book as in a baroque, ornate, and bravado style that Melville would bring to completion in Moby Dick. It is an allegory involving the search for Yillah, a strange, mthical maiden, through the seas of Mardi -- Polynesian for "the world". The narrator is accompanied by King Media, by the philosopher Babbalanja, the singer Yoomi, and the historian Mohi. There are many wonderfully exasperating discussions. They wander far and wide in search of Yillah and in there wandering we here many religious allegories and many depictions of the Europe and United States of Melville's own time. There are shadowy maidens, villans, long scenes in the empty wide ocean, and pages of Melvillian thought and bluster.

The book is high American romanticism and presents a religious and personal quest by the narrator that resounds of similar quests by many in our own day. For example, there is a famous unfinished novel of the religious quest called Mount Analogue by a French writer, Duhamel, which fits quite compactly into just a few chapters of Mardi. Mardi is a long, maddenlingly difficult book but worth the effort.

Americans can learn about themselves by learning about their literature and this book is a fitting place to start (or continue). For those with the patience, it is worth reading these books in order (perhaps with other reading sandwiched in between) to discover the growth of a great and troubled American writer and chronicler of the inward life, as well as of sea journeys.

Found what we were looking for in this detailed map

As the author of Tonga-Samoa Handbook, I've used James A. Bier's map of the Samoas many times to check dubious place name spellings or to verify geographical information. The detailed index makes finding places a breeze and the drawing is amazingly clear. I recommend this map highly.

I am planning to sail to the South Pacific next year, and this seems like a very valuable planning tool. It has some information about the history of European exploration, weather patterns, general geography, route planning, etc., but the bulk of the volume is devoted to specific info about the individual island groups, and individual islands in them.
I predict this will be open often during my trip, along with Charlies Charts and a few others.

Considing the relatively small market for a book like this, it's not surprising there's virtually nothing comparable in print. And Earl's territory is vast - all of the Pacific islands from Hawaii to New Zealand and north into Micronesia. The numerous maps should prove useful for orientation and could save you a bundle on official charts (although the author and publisher disclaim any responsibility for errors). There's lots of useful 'passage planning', yacht entry, weather, and public holiday information here, but the country intros could be shortened and the yacht facility sections beefed up. The oversized B&W photos throughout the book occupy space that could be better utilized. An appendix provides four pages outlining the use of amateur mobil radios, but no mention of communicating over the internet is to be found herein. At times, the coverage is skeletal and uneven. For example, on Tahiti only Papeete is visited. Moorea isn't included (!) and the popular Leeward Islands merit only a few lines. In contrast the seldom-visited Austral and Gambier islands receive four pages of maps and texts. In Fiji, Earl only descibes facilities in the main ports of entry: Suva, Lautoka, Levuka, and Savusavu. Really out of the way anchorages are seldom discussed. All that said, these criticisms are mute as there simply isn't another South Pacific cruising guide to choose from. It's a credit to Earl Hinz that he has kept this book going through four editions, and hopefully the electronic revolution will allow him to rejuvenate his book. Meanwhile Landfalls of Paradise is a basic reference work every Pacific sailor will want to carry aboard.

Warri and Yatungka broke tribal law by marrying outside their assigned skin group. So they could live their lives together they ran away, perused by their former best friend in the name of tribal justice. It was a dramatic and true story that meant if they wanted to live it had be alone and in exile from all they knew before they eloped. As time went on young people left the desert and tribal laws broke down and were no longer followed - till they were left alone as the last true nomadic aborigines still in "their land" in the Gibson Desert of Western Australia.

This is the story of the "rescue" of Warri and Yatangka from the ravages of the worst drought in living memory in 1977 when they finally left their desert home for the last time. It's a book about a way of life which is now extinct - and the death of a millennia of knowledge on how to survive an environment which most people would say in uninhabitable at any time.

There's no way to disguise that this is a sad story and the passing of an age. However, I'm glad that at least a record of this event exists. One thing this book doesn't cover (or even mention) is the film documentary that was made at the same time the hunt was on for Warri and Yatungka, and the exclusion of that makes me wonder what else may have been left out of this narrative. However, if you have any interest in how Australian aborigines survived in a harsh desert environment this is a book you should pick up.

This book tells the story of the an elderly Aboriginal Australian couple, the very last of their tribe (and quite probably of all Aboriginals) to pursue the traditional nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life in the remote central deserts of Western Australia.
It starts by explaining how traditional tribal culture came to a near end in the region within the lifespan of a generation as civilization penetrated the once remote Outback, then recalls the life history of this last couple, explaining why they persisted in their homeland even after the rest of their tribe moved to a town.
Eventually, an extreme draught raises fears for their lives and a search expedition is launched to find them, lead by the author of this book and assisted by an old Aboriginal friend of the couple. The search takes them through the extremely harsh and remote Gibson Desert retracing ancient trade routes and rediscovering sacred Aboriginal sites, before finally locating the old couple, "the last of the nomads", and bringing them out of the desert to avoid immidiate starvation by helping them join the rest of their tribe living a demoralized existance on the fringes of western civilization, beset by alcoholism and other social evils.
Within a year, both of them die.
A brilliantly told, moving story of the disgraceful end of what was once "one of the oldest cultures on Earth", providing excellent background information to help the reader understand how complicated the the underlying roots of this sad outcome are.
Anyone with an interest in the Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia should read this book!

Brilliant illustrations bring Lizzie's days in the bush alive, colors and drawings showing rather than telling of an isolated existence in the bush country, where Lizzie's father must take his horse-drawn cart of sandalwood over fifty miles to market. Lizzie, her mother and baby sibling are left behind to manage until his return. It is a lonely life, but Lizzie's overactive imagination turns every task into an adventure.

Whenever Lizzie announces a new make-believe idea, her mother comments, "Nonsense, Lizzie!" But Lizzie will not be deterred. She rides the limb of a tree, reins attached to a branch, a paper crown on her head; when baby is having a bath, Lizzie sings, "You're afloat on a boat on a big, wide sea"; while her mother tends the garden, Lizzie fancies herself a bride, a garland of flowers in her hair; and when her mother prepares the usual fare of turnips for dinner, Lizzie announces, "Tonight we will eat peaches and cream and little sweet cakes".

Although Mother pretends that Lizzie is full of nonsense, the little girl brightens their world, awaiting her father's return, lifting their daily drudgery into light-hearted banter. Even on Sunday, Lizzie's mama indulges a bit in fancy herself, as they dress up in their best clothes, walking along the road, pretending they have been to church. Mother and daughter think their minds are playing tricks when they hear the jangling of a harness, but, indeed, it is Father returning to his family.

The combination of pictures and prose tell a charming story of life years ago in the bush, where dingoes howl at night and nature's presence is part of the landscape. The mind of a child creates a fairy-tale ambiance, bringing joy to her family and to young readers who learn of the early struggles of families in a sparsely populated country, turning hardship into fables, the magic world of imagination. Luan Gaines/ 2005.

Lizzie, her mom, and her baby sister have it tough in turn-of-the-century outback Australia, and its even tougher when Papa travels 40 miles away to sell their crop, following the old "sand rails" (not sure what those might be). Their struggles are physical as well as emotional-- daily chores with minimal nourishment, and dangerous native animals (e.g., snakes and dingoes) among them. To wage this private war, Lizzie uses her imagination to conjure up better times and places: When helping bathe the baby in a tub of water, she sings, "You're afloat in a boat on a big, wide sea." Her mom responds in a seemingly harsh way: "You and your nonsense!" BY the third times Mama responds this way("you are full of nonsense"), we can see a little smile on her face; it's clear this is a playful ritual without any underlying anger or frustration (at least, not at Lizzie, herself). Still, when reading this to youngsters, you might want to say the mother's reproaches with the light touch that the author intended.

Lizzie's imagination is fun, but it contrasts deeply with life in the bushlands: "Tonight,"says Lizzie, "we will eat peaches, and cream, and little sweet cakes." "Such nonsense!" says her mama." We are having turnips, as usual. When Lizzie and Mama mend their clothes, Lizzie (matter-of-factly and with no apparent self-pity) says that she making a dress "with lots of frills and laces and bows." "What an imagination," says her mama. In an especially poignant scene, author/illustrator Ormerod shows that even the admonishing mom needs some fantasy: Every Sunday they "put on their best clothes" and walk along the track and back, pretending that they're going to church.

While this story of struggle on a non-American frontier doesn't sentimentalize, there are some bright spots that could be excellent discussion points. Lizzie and her mom have a close relationship, out of necessity, yes, but also out of their shared experience. There's also the implicit beauty of the land. Ormerud's beautiful and evocative watercolors show the play of light upon rich foliage, playful kangaroos and the dusk-lit forms of marsupials and dingoes, the warmth of the fire and the oil-lit lamp. At the conclusion, they hear the jingling of Papa's horses, and out of an orange-colored dawn they see him approaching. They run excitedly to meet him, and Ormerud has another, even more warm round of affection and disclaimer:

"You're as pretty as a picture, Beatrice," says the father.
"Nonsense, Albert!"

"And you," he says to Lizzie, "are as brave and pretty as your mother."
"Nonsense!" says Lizzie.

Warm, funny, yet realistic and historical, this 33-page book would make a wonderful addition to the school or home library.

My husband and I took a 18 day trip from Sydney to Cairnes, and used this book for almost all of our motels/B&B's, etc. We were looking to budget less than $100/night for rooms, and all the recommendations in this book were spot-on. The maps of towns are okay, but you'll want a full-size map to get around with and figure distances, too.

This book is perfect for seeing the east coast of Australia by car, but will work just as well if traveling by bus, moped, etc. A friend and I had been planning to drive the east coast, visiting national parks and doing lots of hiking, so when I saw this book I knew it was perfect. As with all titles in the LP family, it lists many places to stay/eat based on price range, which is really nice when you are traveling on a limited budget. There are many hikes listed in the book, along with museums, oddities, and points of interest along this 'classic overland route.' My only complaint about the book is that I wish the authors had listed traveling distances between major cities at the beginning of each section, so the reader doesn't have to add up each little segment on the maps. Otherwise the book is very complete.

This pocket sized book followed me everywhere when I enjoyed Melbourne and its surroundings for a couple of months of 1999. The extensive map section helps you navigate without problems. Its restaurant guide is excellent, the prices and the foods are exactly as described. If you are a student or budget traveller you will find your money back with this book in no time. All events (Melbourne has got heaps of that! ) are listed with tips and details, accurate and witty. Also, you find everything you need to get to Anglesea, Torquay and Phillip Island for the surf or for the splendid nature. It's got the lots for Melbourne - simply go there with it and enjoy!

I spent several months In Melbourne the second half of 1999. It proved worth its price alone for the detailed maps which I studied constantly my first weeks there to figure out Lonsdale Street from Bourke Street and which tram goes where. It covers the high lights of everything to see and do in this wonderous city in a very compact size. While the Lonely Planet guide to Australia is useful as well, this is a must have if you plan to spent any amount of time in Melbourne. Looking back now, I wish I had taken the time to visit more of the suggested places in this guidebook.