The Conversations at Curlow Creek

by David Malouf

Book Overview

A new work of fiction by the author of Remembering Babylon. It is 1827, and, in a remote hut high on the plains of New South Wales, two strangers spend the night in talk. One, an illiterate Irishman,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679779051
• ISBN13: 9780679779056
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 4.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A night of memories

Michael Adair is far from his native Ireland. In the scrub of New South Wales, he's been assigned the supervising of the execution of a bushranger. With no priest present, Adair undertakes the task of providing company, if not consolation, for the doomed raider. Carney, an Irishman like Adair, was a member of a gang led by a renowned leader, Dolan. Dolan, famous for his physical stature and cunning, is of particular interest to Adair. The last survivor of the mob, Carney seeks some level of absolution for his sins, which appear minimal. Frontier justice is always grim and Carney expects no favours from his watcher. As the night progresses, Adair's mind drifts back to his childhood in Ireland. An orphan taken in by a comfortable, if troubled, family, he reflects on his foster parents' son. From early days when Adair was caregiver to Fergus to later, more competitive times, the relationship of the two boys was close. It became strained only as they achieved maturity and Virgilia, a neighbour, becomes a tutor to the pair. Carney, it appears, may be a link to that distant past. A link less remote and vague than the circumstances of the lonely night suggest. Reminiscing may lead to connections both men may not welcome, yet each reaches tentatively for the other regardless of the outcome. The dynamics of this tale are intense and compelling. In Australia, there's a long-standing tradition of the "bush ballad" - a mix of fable, poetry and music. The ballads reflect the stark, unforgiving land and the lives of the people coping with it. The verses are wistful with longing for better times and places, yet reflect the "battler's" striving to overcome adversity. Malouf's prose reflects that tradition in both style and content. He's parsimonious with words, yet precise and vividly descriptive. He's presented us with a story of profound depth and wide-reaching scope, yet managed it within an astonishing few pages. No words are wasted, but each conveys the fullest meaning within the story. Malouf is a masterful writer, and this book will long stand as a sterling example of his abilities. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Fade To Gray

David Malouf is not only a novelist, but a published poet as well. His work, "The Conversations At Curlow Creek", contain passages that could stand alone as solitary poems with little change to their form. This is only the third work of his I have read, so even if combined with the fourth I am reading, I still feel this Author's range is remarkable. Australia is not a place where the word confine would seem to be appropriate, however with this story Mr. Malouf creates a very intimate setting that even when expanded, rarely grows larger.As he has done before he brings people from Scotland, or Ireland and tells his story in Australia. When I said he expands the setting without literally enlarging it as well, I meant that his players might roam their memories and share those of others, while remaining all but immobile during the tale. Two men from Ireland share an evening. One represents the authority of law in its most final form, the other a man whose outlaw life should hold values in complete opposition to his jailer. An then there is a third man, also from Ireland, raised as a brother to the lawman, and the possible leader of the group the prisoner is the only surviving member of.The night can be a strange time for thoughts and memories, and when one of the men is supposed to be hung at dawn, every minute is arguably critical. The passage of time seems to obsess the jailer more. When asked the time he wonders if he should just say the half hour, or the actual 28 minutes past. He contemplates the value these 2 additional minutes would mean to the condemned. He uses time to gain information about this man's leader, probing to see if the man is his foster brother last seen when 16 years of age. The jailer sensitive to the man's diminishing time is desperate for the knowledge, but becomes increasingly respectful of the convict.The travels outside the room they share often read as a recollection, until the waking of the dreamer disturbs the memory. It's a more subtle form of recall than just turning the page and finding you are jumping back and forth between dates. As the night passes the ides of forgiveness, redemption, and morality are discussed with the jailor playing the reluctant philosopher/priest. Mr. Malouf is very clever in taking issues that seem so black and white, and making them gray. He examines the two paths in life these men have followed, and the possible life of the third man. All three are very different, but two may have decided to live outside the confines of society's laws, while the third became a custodian of the same society's structure.The book comes to an ending that I doubt many will find expected, and some may argue is ambiguous. Mr. Malouf leaves a great deal of room for his readers to either find the thread he leaves, or to allow space to be filled by the reader. His writing is unique and compelling, and will either hold great appeal, or certain frustration for readers.

A moral masterpiece

This is one of my all time valued books. A splended writer, Malouf uses language as a poet, brings his two main characters to vivid life, makes the reader care about both of them...the convict and the soldier (possibly his executioner). What particularly moved me and sets this book above most is how skillfully Malouf raises the question of morality (without moralizing) relative to the judgement of others...Who is not guilty? Or if guilty, what about the compassion of another. These are to me primary questions in a worldwhere finger-pointing is so prevalent. Malouf is a man whose breadth and depth of insight deserve much attention and applause.

Thought-provoking

The suspense of the novel is provided by the reader's wondering if Adair will hang an illiterate Irish convict at dawn or if he will yield to compassion after talking and reminiscing with the man through the night. The convict relates a story about a time that he was given a job to impersonate someone under very mysterious circumstances which turned out to be the only instance in the man's life that he was ever treated with any kind of tenderness. This story is marvelously told and does arouse the reader's sympathy. Soldier and convict are united by their Irish backgrounds and the fact that they were both orphans whose fortunes, however, were widely divergent. The reader comes to wonder which position is more difficult: the convict's necessity of facing death at dawn or the soldier's duty to be the executioner. The author uses this situation as a focus for a meditation on mortality that is philosophical and sometimes mysterious. This would be a good selection for a book group as multiple interpretations of the meaning of the book are certainly possible.

the most powerful book I've read for a year

The story lives on the flashbacks of the main characters. Ever changing like real life. Set against the timeless background of a harsh Australian outback the story is uplifted, like through magic, into the realm of eternal truth about living