The Great World

by David Malouf

Book Overview

By the author of 'Remembering Babylon', 'The Great World' is a remarkable novel of self-knowledge and of fall from innocence, of survival and witness.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679401768
• ISBN13: 9780679401766
• Release Date: March 1991
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

That Other History

Towards the end of David Malouf's epic novel spanning most of 20th-century history in Australia, an unnamed character speaks in a eulogy of "all those unique and repeatable events, the little sacraments of daily existence, movements of the heart and intimations of the close but inexpressible grandeur and terror of things, that is our other history, the one that goes on, in a quiet way, under the noise and chatter." In telling the stories of two men who meet in a Japanese prison camp in WW2 then go their mostly separate ways, one achieving riches, the other remaining obscure, Malouf comes as close to capturing that other history as any writer could. I have not yet read much of the literature of Australia, only Malouf's own FLY AWAY PETER and Patrick White's incandescent RIDERS IN THE CHARIOT, but I do begin to catch glimpses of the national myth. Part has to do with the land itself, a vast wild beauty lost to urbanization and neglect. Part has to do with people: the rough Australian spirit and the ease of passage from poverty to a sort of gentility and back again. Common to both (as the book jacket so accurately puts it) is the loss of innocence. And yet the quality that so caught me up in the White book and both surprised and delighted me in this one, is a visionary penetration that looks beneath surfaces and finds wonder. Most of the big events happen in the first half of this book, yet in the fifty-year span of the second half, as lives settle into patterns, the depth of meaning keeps increasing until the final pages are as rich as anything I can think of. True, the novel does not begin promisingly. The paperback edition has an ugly cover and sharp-edged pages that cut the fingers. The opening chapter, much of it in dialect, is set outside a broken-down country store and features a simple-minded woman watching two old geezers fishing. The woman soon fades from the picture, but the book takes us back through the lives of these two men, Digger Keen and Vic Curran. Both begin in similar rural poverty. Both enlist at the outbreak of war, both are captured in the fall of Singapore (an event also narrated in JG Farrell's magnificent THE SINGAPORE GRIP), and both endure over three years of terrible captivity. Yet they are different in personality and start more as enemies than friends, attracted as much by their differences as their similarities. After the war, Vic becomes a successful entrepreneur, while Digger returns to his country outpost; the contrast between them allows Malouf a subtle examination of what is truly important in individual lives. Vic's story is the more familiar one of outward success masking an inner emptiness, but Malouf gives him unexpected pockets of sympathy. Even more remarkable is Digger, who comes to embody a depth of philosophical, even poetic, understanding that for me is the greatest joy of this wonderful book.

An indelible impression

I read this bbok while in my early twenties and naive to so many of the horrors of war. It had a profound impact on me. Ten years later, after spending the first two years of her life in India, my daughter was gravely ill. My recollections of this book and the Cholera symptoms that Malouf described in his characters... prompted me to confront the Dr's with my fear. I was correct, she had Cholera. The vivid descriptions of what those men must have suffered during those times had never left me, and Malouf's clarity and attention to detail in his writing saved my daughters life. A life changing read for me!

Great story and great storytelling

David Malouf is a masterful storyteller. His multiple award winning novel, "The Great World", is a coming-of-age tale of lost innocence of two lads (Digger and Vic) whose separate childhoods in the outbacks of Australia and their shared experiences as interns in the Second World War helped shape the course of their future together. It's difficult to characterise the relationship these two men have with each other. To call it friendship would be to simultaneously overstate and understate the position. They were never really buddies - hell, Digger didn't even like Vic - but fate had different ideas and kept intervening at critical moments to draw them together whenever their lives took separate turns after the war. Of the two, Vic is the more colourful and vividly drawn character. The early rejection of his natural father - a weak and sorry piece of low life - and his obsessive need for self determination provide more than a clue to our impression of him as a steely hearted "user" (of Digger, his adoptive family, etc) of family and friends for his own ends. The sad irony is that Vic is as much a victim as the people he uses and only his wife, Ellie, is privileged and burdened by knowledge of the truth when she catches a glimpse of his real self in the dark. More disappointment follows when his son Greg turns out to be a sloganeering liberal. Digger, on the other hand, is arguably the novel's moral centre but as a character, he seems curiously underwritten. His part is that of the moon to Vic's sun. He possesses a vulnerability that is simply incandescent. Even Jenny, his retarded sister, sees through Vic, but Digger remains trusting and accepting to the end. But "The Great World" is far from a two man show. There are loads more characters that Malouf creates who are truly memorable. Mac, their war time mate, may have been given limited script space, but his spirit lives on long after he has been written out. It's also a wonderfully uplifting moment for the reader when Pa and Ma, Vic's adoptive parents, find their true vocation in life as poet and businesswoman, respectively. Malouf is a classic writer in the best of the old fashioned tradition. He knows how to tell a story and keep you enthralled from start to finish. His prose is warm, accessible and true. Reading "The Great World" may not change your life but it will show you what it is to be human. A great novel. I highly recommend it.

Takes His Time

Mr. Malouf is a gifted communicator, creator, and conjuror. I am even tempted to use literary alchemist for he does not just take words and arrange them, he selects words, assembles them with care and thought, and truly creates writing that is altogether new. This holds true whether he is dealing in pure fiction, or fiction that is historically based. The books that result from his efforts are almost uniformly excellent, and at there best incorporate the various types of writing he has such a wonderful grasp of. For Mr. Malouf is a Novelist, a Poet, and a Librettist, each an accomplishment, when combined extraordinary.I have one of his novels left to read, and having come this far into his work I recommend them all without condition. "The Great World", is different from the previous works I have read and commented upon, and this is due primarily to its length. I once read that a movie is an epic if it takes its time. If that is the criterion here, then this work certainly qualifies. If you have read any of his shorter works, and have been amazed with the scope he can cover, the illusion of time and length he conveys, imagine it tripled or quadrupled, and you will get an idea of the panorama of lifetimes this work relates.To narrow the comments on this work to an observation or two is unfair. There are just so much and so many players that are important. However to focus on Vic and Digger and the lifetime's experiences they share, takes a good deal of the book into account. Vic is at once an enigma and a cliché. This is a man who will continue to removes cookies after being caught in the act, and then risk his life to save that of the friend whose jar he had plundered. He is an exploiter of human friendship a businessman of questionable ethics he is faithful, faithless. He is a montage of all that is meant to be human. Superficially he is in control, beneath the veneer, he is simply human wreckage.Digger is the friend you would like to have, a man that Vic feels he justifiably targets and exploits, but I never felt that Digger was the person who was deluding himself. Even "simple" Jenny always knew what Vic was. Vic was accommodated by Digger when others who would meet him instantly were put off. He was his silent apologist, his passive defender, not because he believed Vic to be good, merely in need of pity.There are many events in the book that are important, but one is critical. It is one of those moments when a person finds out what they are or are not capable of. As a solitary experience it can be painful, when it involves another it can be shattering. Vic has this experience while a POW with Digger and others, and it governs his life forever. His time as a POW finalizes who Vic is, while others integrate it as an episode of their life.Mr. Malouf has written a remarkable study of men in captivity, men who spend the majority of the War as prisoners without the opportunity to prove themselves, defend their Country, or earn the right to say, "I

Beautifully written, poignant novel

Malouf is a master storyteller! He writes vivid, sensual, evocative novels, and this is one of his best. Very cinematic and emotional. I've loaned my copy of this book to several people who've never read Malouf before, and they each loved it and were deeply affected by the subject matter.