Some Everyday Folk and Dawn (Virago Modern Classics)

by Miles Franklin

Book Overview

Some Everyday Folk and Dawn, a classical book, has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we at Alpha Editions have made efforts in its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0860685004
• ISBN13: 9780860685005
• Release Date: April 1986
• Publisher: Time Warner Books UK
• Length: 347 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Not an Everyday Book

This is a terrifically funny novel, written in a breathless, rambling style, that takes a little bit of dedication to make friends with. I'm the sort of dedicated fan of Miles Franklin who doesn't mind the here and now of the first few chapters, but someone not so big a fan wouldn't be quite as interested in the point of view character's opinion of the minutiae that Franklin chronicles, before she gets right down to things. For example, Franklin brings too many characters at once into the story, instead of holding them off until they become necessary to the plot. She has these characters so well developed in her mind, that she can't resist sharing them in clever detail; the result, however, is confusing. I'm fond enough of simply reading what Franklin has to say, that I don't mind, but I suspect many people would give up in frustration.Maybe the reader could skim the first chapter for proper names and highlight them, then go back for quick reference when the characters become part of the story.The story itself is brilliant: the vote has come to women in Australia, and in the small town of Noonoon, the two male candidates have posited themselves, one as the "women's" candidate, and the other as the "men's." The women's candidate spends his campaign shamelessly flirting, while the men's candidate grunts, stomps around, chops a lot of wood, and questions the masculinity of his opponent.Dawn, the title character, is a beautiful young woman, the granddaughter of the narrator's landlady, with whom the narrator is quite taken. The narrator is a woman, and her attraction to Dawn is intense. It is never labeled as sexual attraction, and the narrator never makes any overtures that could be interpreted as such. What she does, however, is orchestrate a meeting between Dawn, and a young man of her acquaintance, who is very like herself, and whom she is absolutely convinced is the only man for Dawn, so by proxy, she in a sense, seduces Dawn.So all the while the narrator is endlessly amusing herself over the silliness of the local election, and sharing her disdain with Dawn, whom she considers superior to the "everyday folk" that populate Noonoon, she is herself engaging in her own silly subterfuge, and blithely unaware of the self-serving motive behind her orchestrations.Miles Franklin was just twenty when she wrote this book, but has remarkable insight into the mind of a middle-aged woman. She is also already a master of the type of prose that keeps you giggling as you read. Even though Franklin has presented the narrator as lacking in personal insight, she still has lent the narrator her own gift for the amusing quip. Every description is perfectly apt and perfectly amusing.If you're looking for something to read that's out of the ordinary, without being out of this world, you'll find it here. I recommend this book, and anything by Miles Franklin.