Eucalyptus

by Murray Bail

Book Overview

Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year

On a property in New South Wales, a widower named Holland lives with his daughter, Ellen. Over the years as she grows into a beautiful woman, Holland plants hundreds of different eucalyptus trees on his land, filling the landscape, making a virtual outdoor museum of trees. When Ellen is nineteen, Holland...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031242731X
• ISBN13: 9780312427313
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful story

I first read this book several years ago after my husband gave it to me. At first, I wasn't sure I liked it, but I continued to read it and ended up loving it. Yes, the story uses eucalyptus trees as a tool to wrap the story around, and no, I'm not really interested in trees, but that's not the point. Mr Bail tells a beautiful tale of a father and daughter and their relationship. Of course, this story isn't 'believable' because few of us, if any, have heard lately of a real father requiring a man to name all the trees on his property before being allowed to marry his daughter. How silly! And yet what a wonderful outline for a fairy tale. Fairy tales usually are 'unbelievable'. Who really has 'ugly step-sisters' or ever saw a frog turn into a prince after kissing the princess, or knew a girl who fell in love with a hideous beast? This is a story! The father is oblivious to his daughter's desires and doesn't even know who she is at all. Yet she is precious to him and he requires what may be an impossible task of the man who will 'take' her from him. I think that's a noble, if outdated, emotion in a father. She meets the man of her dreams, almost dies because she will be forced to marry a man she could never love, and is brought back to life by her lover. She falls under his spell because of the odd, enchanting stories he tells her. Of course the stories have no endings, but they are tales that spark her interest and imagination. I found those little pieces of stories fascinating. All women should be so fortunate that they can be made so happy with simple tales told by the man they love. So, I recommended this book to my latest book group, not sure if I or they would find it as wonderful as I remembered it. I did, but we have not yet gotten together to discuss this book. I expect some people will hate it and others, I hope, will see the beauty I found in it.

Lyrical and lucid storytelling

Eucalyptus is the story of a man who possesses the largest collection of Eucalypt trees and a beautiful daughter, Ellen. As Ellen begins to attract the attention of the men in this tiny town in the New South Wales outback, her father Holland issues a national challenge. The man who can name all the Eucalypts on his property will be awarded Ellen's hand in marriage. And so, the prospective suitors flock, as Ellen becomes more and more apprehensive...And meanwhile within this fairytale, Ellen has met a storyteller of her own. Eucalyptus is beautifully written novel with a twist and a lyrical style that makes it unique. It captures the essence of the Australian landscape and its quirky inhabitants. Murray Bail's Eucalyptus shows what writing, at its best, is capable of.

A beautiful story

This is a book worth reading. It pulls you along and the spare prose of the author works wonders to bring the whole story to life. The juxtaposition of the ordinary and the concrete with the imaginary and the abstract is mesmerizing. Read it, preferably sitting in the sparse shade of a eucalypt.

Breathtaking writing

Bail may not be a prolific author, but his craftmanship in what he does produce is breathtaking. This is a wonderful, magical, lyrical tale. Storytelling with the prose a work of art. Any would-be authors would read this and weep. This is how it's done. And unlike others touted as 'the best authors of our time', Bail remains totally accessible. Thanks Murray.

An evocative view of trees and love

I read most of this book on a drive from Los Angeles to Monterey--and I was totally unaware of the miles passing by (thank goodness I wasn't driving!). Instead I was immersed in the Australian landscape, and in stories set all over. This is a wonderful book, one to get lost in. It teaches you to look more closely--at the world around you, at the people in your life. I loved the twist at the end--which is no twist, really, but still, it suggests the many ways in which we so often overlook events that can be meaningful for us. Mostly, I enjoyed the diversity expressed in this book--diversity of habitat, of life forms, of emotions. A lovely, lovely book.