Walkabout (New York Review Books Classics)

This book is a delight, especially for fans of the movie. I doubt that it's been readily available for a long time, especially in the U.S., so we owe NYRB a big thank you for bringing it back in print, and at a reasonable price, as well. The book contains an excellent forward, which summarizes both the similarities and differences between it and Roeg's film, and I don't want to recap all that here. I would recommend reading the forward after reading the book, though. It's a book for innocent eyes, being basically a coming-of-age fable (amazing how many great COA stories come out of Oz). It's short; you can read it at a sitting. In these days of obese novels, it's nice to be reminded of how much you can do with 10% as many words. Probably 5% in this case. There are a couple of differences between film and book that I would like to mention, though. One of Roeg's major changes was in ascribing the Aborigine boy's death to his disheartening discovery of how White civilization impacted the environment (his universe). This fit the concerns that were becoming prominent when the film was made (and are still relevant, of course), whereas, in the book, it results essentially from a racial culture clash (the book was written in 1959). Indeed, the two white children are from the American South (although they frequently use disconcertingly inappropriate Pommie/Aussie colloquialisms), which may have stemmed from the notoriety of the Civil Rights movement, but also served to distance English/Australian readers from the racism expressed by the white kids. Putting the cause of the black boy's death within the misunderstandings of the three children makes it even more heartbreaking. And the Aborigine's decision to save the whites, although he 'knows' they have killed him, is the moral heart of the book. That's a lot to lose in the movie. Both the book and film capture, in a rather romanticized way, the unique beauty of the Australian outback. The book, however, makes geographic sense. People who know the country are sometimes taken aback by the almost psychotic pilgrimage in the movie (imagine someone in the Grand Canyon discovering the Space Needle and you know the feeling). It never bothered me, watching the movie (which has its own logic), but it adds some realism to the book. There is a critical point about Jenny Agutter's final reverie in the film (of the three kids swimming together) which I had always interpreted as her memory of something we hadn't been shown in the rest of the film. That could not possibly be the case, and I want to thank the author of the forward, Lee Siegel, for whacking me across the head with it so that I finally understood what was really happening. No, I won't spoil it, in case, like me, you need the illumination. Read the book. You won't regret it.

Upon my husband's reccommendation, I did not read the intrduction. He had, when he read it, and said it gave the whole story away. The story starts as a modern day fairy tale-two children walking away from a tragedy into the wilderness. It's important to remember this book's setting is prior to 1959 and the children are from Charleston, SC. Remembering this will help you to understand much of the story. When finished, read the introduction.The descriptions are beautiful and bring words to life.

Excellent

This book was not worth reading. It is also one of those books which ends and you are thinking: "where is the rest of the story?" Why the author ended it where he did is anybody's guess. Maybe he died or something, who knows? dogtagtom

Smooth transaction. I'm pretty sure this book is out of print, but I still use it in my middle school ELA classes. I pull in social studies with maps of Australia and note taking with characters, setting, and vocabulary (I also add foreign language words and animals unique to Australia). It deals with racism, different cultures, and survival. The students really like it, but we read it as a class so we can discuss the issues and use those teachable moments.

Beautifully written with fascinating descriptions of the Australian outback.

Purchased as a gift. Recipient liked it, and I liked knowing that. We'd seen the film, which I'm told by the recipient deviated from the book in many ways, but the book helped retroactive understanding of some things in the film that were a bit confusing.

Loved the movie and have always wanted to read the novel. I was very pleased that both were quite similar which doesn't always seem to be the norm. Great book.

BS朝日の番組で気になっていた写真家でしたが、この写真集は世界のたくさんの人と自然に出会った写真集で、作者の向かうべき道をしるしている。

This is a gift so I don't know whether it was received in good condition or not.

とは何故旅をするのであろうか。ジャック・ケルアックやロバート・フランク、マイク・ブローディーをみてもその答えは分からない。バックパッカーといえば「全東洋街道」の藤原新也や「人々」の宝田久人を思い浮かべる。全東洋街道が藤原のフィルターを通した世界だったのに対し、竹沢うるまの「Walkabout」とそのテキスト「The Songlines」はモニタースピーカを通した音楽のようにまるで自分で見てきたかのような錯覚に陥る。　世界を見に行く事への精神力と体力がこんなにも要求される事に驚いた。そして、一旦旅立つと帰るタイミングを見つける事が出発よりずっと困難なことも教えられた。考えてみれば僕の住んでいる小さな町にも知らない場所や知らないことは沢山ある。まして、世界は刻々と動いているのだから昨日触れた世界が今日もそのままとは限らない。そうすると、結局これで世界を見切れたと満足する日は永遠に訪れない。そうして、旅立ったまま帰宅できない旅人が世界には少なからずいるとのことも記されている。世界への好奇心を恐ろしいと感じる一冊だ。

力強さと臨場感と躍動感がじわり。写真が色鮮やかで、輝かしい。素晴らしき一冊だと思う。初めて手にする写真集が、これで良かった。

表紙をみて、ウユニ塩湖の風景が目に焼きついて、行きたくなって仕方ない、人間を見る目が温かい。本のサイズも手に取りやすくて良い。