A Far Country

A Far Country
Average customer rating:

A fine story of a dangerous quest emerges, involving listeners in a delicate, finely honed drama.

I will buy his next book but...

The lyrical prose and powerful sense of place

As Publisher's Weekly said, "a snoozer."

Not the Piano Tuner

A Far Country
Daniel Mason
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375414665
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Book Description

From the best-selling author of The Piano Tuner, a stunning new novel about a young girl’s journey through a vast, unnamed country in search of her brother.

Raised in a remote village on the edge of a sugarcane plantation, fourteen-year-old Isabel was born with the gift and curse of “seeing farther.” When drought and war grip the backlands, her brother Isaias joins a great exodus to a teeming city in the south. Soon Isabel must follow, forsaking the only home she’s ever known, her sole consolation the thought of being with her brother again. But when she arrives, she discovers that Isaias has disappeared. Weeks and then months pass, until one day, armed only with her unshakable hope, she descends into the chaos of the city to find him.

Told with astonishing empathy, and strikingly visual, the story of Isabel’s quest—her dignity and determination, her deeply spiritual world—is a universal tale about the bonds of family and a sister’s love for her brother, about journeys and longing, survival and true heroism.

A tour de force of great emotional and narrative power.

Customer Reviews:

A fine story of a dangerous quest emerges, involving listeners in a delicate, finely honed drama........2007-09-08

Anne Twomey narrates this vivid story of a young girl's journey through an unnamed country in search of her brother. Isabel has the gift of second sight - when war changes her life and separates her from her brother, it may be the only thing that can help her locate him. A fine story of a dangerous quest emerges, involving listeners in a delicate, finely honed drama.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I will buy his next book but..........2007-09-07

I wanted to love this as much as I loved "The Piano Tuner"...but it just didn't grab me. I spent much of the time trying to figure out if we were in the present day or in the future when global warming has REALLY kicked in. (I kept getting a feeling like I was reading "Friend of the Earth" meets "The Running Man".)

I also thought maybe more would be made of the "sixth sense" of the main character. All of this second guessing means that I didn't appreciate the careful drawing of Isabel and her relationship with her brother. I liked it - but not in a way that will stay with me the way Mason's first book did.

The lyrical prose and powerful sense of place.......2007-05-30

Daniel Mason's haunting THE PIANO TUNER left an indelible imprint on my memory, which helped to launch a never-to-be forgotten visit to Southeast Asia in 2004. Such can be the power of a gifted writer --- that the potency of his words can open doors and windows of the mind to seek further information on the subject, learn more about the circumstances in the book, or even to book passage to lands far away. So it was with great hopes when Mason's newest, A FAR COUNTRY, became available, and I grabbed it without hesitation.

Isabel is the 14-year-old daughter of a farm laborer and his wife, living next to a sugar cane plantation in an unnamed equatorial America country, quite likely Brazil. Her older brother Isaias is a talented violinist who chafes at the idea of being forever tied to seasonal work cutting cane or loading river barges, the occupation of villagers for generations. Drought and the increasing attacks by raiders as poverty spreads among the displaced peasants drive Isais to join the growing Diaspora of young people who drift hopefully toward the city in the south. On his infrequent returns home, he talks glowingly of gaining fame as a musician, always going back to the city and sending small amounts of money to help out his impoverished family. His visits stop, replaced by occasional phone calls, and then he simply vanishes.

Isabel yearns for her brother, and when she is needed to babysit for a few weeks for her cousin in the same city that has swallowed Isaias, she is eager to follow him. With little more than a few dollars and a meager lunch, she embarks on a journey via "parrot perch" --- riding in an open flatbed truck on a four-day journey to the South. She arrives, after much travail, in The Settlements. She has directions to her cousin's apartment in a neighborhood called Eden, a name that turns out to be a cruel joke. Eden is nothing more than an endless sprawl of tin-roofed shanties, baking in the tropical heat, indistinguishable from hundreds of other neighborhoods housing millions of displaced camposinos in pursuit of work and shelter. When she finally locates the apartment, she is distraught to find that Isaias, whom she expected to be there to greet her, has not been seen for weeks.

And so begins Isabel's search through the teeming city for her brother, with baby Hugo, her cousin's son, on her hip. Isabel was born with a second sight, an ability that frightened her parents to the degree that they had her exorcized by a holy woman. But she still feels the uncanny, compelling presence of her brother, which drives her to find him. She enters the world of people looking for "the disappeared" --- the tens of thousands who come to the city and are never heard from again. Yet she feels that he is close at hand, watching over her, and cannot abandon her quest.

A FAR COUNTRY is a bittersweet journey of the heart; a story of family love yearning for security and survival. Mason's brilliant lyrical prose carries the reader along in a mixture of fantasy and reality. While the story verges on magical realism, it is not in the mystical realm of Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Isabel Allende. Yet the surreal location and Isabel's ability to find lost objects and people whom she loves lend itself to the genre.

While A FAR COUNTRY doesn't quite achieve the magic and panoramic exotica of Mason's first triumph, it still offers the lyrical prose and powerful sense of place, which is quite enough if armchair travel to other places through a good book is your goal.

--- Reviewed by Roz Shea

As Publisher's Weekly said, "a snoozer.".......2007-05-14

Reviews by Amazon readers were very encouraging but I should have read the Publisher's Weekly review at the top of the page. That review gets it exactly right; good descriptive writing, but a bit cliched, and ultimately a snoozer. If I had not been trapped on a 10-hour flight with nothing else to read, I would have put it down half way through when I realized there was very little story, just description.

Not the Piano Tuner.......2007-05-09

As stated in many of the reviews, Mason certainly has a talent for writing truly amazing descriptions of reality; however, that is basically all this novel is. I couldn't get into the story, what there was of it. Mason's earlier novel, Piano Tuner was phenomenal in that it was not only deliciously descriptive, but it also a great story. I just didn't enjoy this story. To be frank, I found it a bit boring. Having said that, I will eagerly await Mason's next novel.

Average customer rating:

As epic in scope as East Asia itself

East Asia at the Center
Warren I. Cohen
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0231101090

Book Description

A common misconception holds that Marco Polo "opened up" a closed and recalcitrant "Orient" to the West. However, this sweeping history covering 4,000 years of international relations from the perspective of China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia shows that the region's extensive involvement in world affairs began thousands of years ago.

In a time when the writing of history is increasingly specialized, Warren I. Cohen has made a bold move against the grain. In broad but revealing brushstrokes, he paints a huge canvas of East Asia's place in world affairs throughout four millennia. Just as Cohen thinks broadly across time, so too, he defines the boundaries of East Asia liberally, looking beyond China, Japan, and Korea to include Southeast Asia. In addition, Cohen stretches the scope of international relations beyond its usual limitations to consider the vital role of cultural and economic exchanges.

Within this vast framework, Cohen explores the system of Chinese domination in the ancient world, the exchanges between East Asia and the Islamic world from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and the emergence of a European-defined international system in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The book covers the new imperialism of the 1890s, the Manchurian crisis of the early 1930s, the ascendancy of Japan, the trials of World War II, the drama of the Cold War, and the fleeting "Asian Century" from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.

East Asia at the Center is replete with often-overlooked or little-known facts, such as:

• A record of persistent Chinese imperialism in the region

• Tibet's status as a major power from the 7th to the 9th centuries C.E., when it frequently invaded China and decimated Chinese armies

• Japan's profound dependence on Korea for its early cultural development

• The enormous influence of Indian cuisine on that of China

• Egyptian and Ottoman military aid to their Muslim brethren in India and Sumatra against European powers

• Extensive Chinese sea voyages to Arabia and East Africa -- long before such famous Westerners as Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus took to the seas

East Asia at the Center's expansive historical view puts the trials and advances of the past four millennia into perspective, showing that East Asia has often been preeminent on the world stage -- and conjecturing that it might be so again in the not-so-distant future.

Customer Reviews:

As epic in scope as East Asia itself.......2002-12-26

Mr. Cohen is an able historian. The 400 pages of history flow by effortlessly. One of the most interesting byproducts of such scale is that historic ebb and flow are easily seen. I especially liked how Mr. Cohen broke out different areas, like Japan, to focus on in context of the time being discussed.

Take for example the cycles of military might and success, followed by decadence and the loss of territory to other conquerors or to various groups reasserting their independence. Often we're told that nothing lasts forever, it's fascinating to be able to watch it happen over and over.

It's also instructive to see the economic cycles. The coastal cities that would flourish with trade, only to be taxed into poverty. Since there was no wealth to support the authorities efforts to tax, piracy would flourish. With the piracy came greater wealth, which again attracted the tax man in an ever-repeating sequence.

The awful scale of the murders of millions of people by Tojo, Mao and Pol Pot only seem to be glossed over until one realizes that this same kind of thing has been going on for thousands of years. Individuals in the Eastern cultures have never had the moral importance of those in the West.

Unfortunately, Mr. Cohen is not an economist. While his historical reporting and context are excellent, when it comes to modern times the book fails. Mr. Cohen preaches interventionist monetary policy and fiat currency without being aware that the modern economic failures he decries are the result of just such actions by the governments of Asia in the latter half of the 20th century.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a general background of China and its environment, especially to anyone who was educated in China and wants to know the history that the Party has suppressed in their textbooks.

The Somerset Hills (New Jersey Country Houses)
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The Somerset Hills (New Jersey Country Houses)
John K. Turpin
Manufacturer: Mountain Colony Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0974950408

Product Description

Lavishly ilustrated, The Somerset Hills provides a rare glimpse into some of New Jersey's finest country houses and estates, and the fascinating people who designed and built them. Volume 2 of this stunning series is also now available.

In a Far Country: The True Story of a Mission, a Marriage, a Murder,and the Remarkable Reindeer Rescue of 1898

Average customer rating:

Life in Alaska in the late nineteenth century was frought with constant danger and unimaginable challenges.
Excellent adventure
Life on the Edge of Civilization
epic adventure
Unsung Heroes

In a Far Country: The True Story of a Mission, a Marriage, a Murder,and the Remarkable Reindeer Rescue of 1898
John Taliaferro
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Ice Window: Letters from a Bering Strait Village 1898-1902

ASIN: 1586482211

Book Description

In the fall of 1897, eight whaling ships became trapped in the ice on Alaska's northern coast. Without relief, two hundred whalers would starve to death by winter's end. Mercifully, an extraordinary missionary, Tom Lopp, and seven Eskimo herders embarked on a harrowing journey to save the whalers, driving four hundred reindeer more than seven hundred untracked miles.

At the heart of the rescue expedition lies another, in some ways more compelling, journey. In a Far Country is the personal odyssey of Tom and his wife Ellen Lopp-their commitment to the natives and the rugged but happy life they built for themselves amid a treeless tundra at the top of the world. The Lopps pulled through on grit and wits, on humility and humor, on trust and love, and by the grace of God. Their accomplishment would surely have received broader acclaim had it not been eclipsed by two simultaneous events: the Spanish- American War and the Alaska gold rush. The United States and its territories were transformed abruptly and irrevocably by these fits of expansionist fever, and despite the thoughtful, determined guidance of the Lopps, the natives of the North were soon overwhelmed by a force mightier than the fiercest Arctic winter: the twentieth century.

Customer Reviews:

Life in Alaska in the late nineteenth century was frought with constant danger and unimaginable challenges........2007-06-17

They certainly were a hardy lot. Those who chose to come Alaska in the latter part of the nineteenth century faced obstacles and hardships that most of us simply cannot comprehend. So why did they come? Despite the fact that the industry was in decline, fleets of whaling ships from such distant ports as New Bedford, Mass. and San Francisco, CA still made the trek to the Bering Sea each year in an effort to eke out a living. Those in the business of saving souls viewed Alaska as fertile territory to spread the Good News. And as the nineteeth century drew to a close there was yet another important reason why thousands would risk life and limb to come to the Alaskan wilderness. The Great Alaskan Gold Rush was on! "In A Far Country" is author John Taliaferro's remarkable account of the events that were unfolding in Alaska during these years.
Tom and Ellen Lopp were missionaries who came to Alaska in the early 1890's. Tom was a Presbyterian from Indiana while Ellen was a Congregationalist who hailed from Minnesota. Both were assigned to a mission at Cape Prince of Wales on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula. Only a month after meeting in July 1892 Tom and Ellen were married. As things turned out Tom and Ellen would start a family and spend the next dozen years ministering to the Eskimos at Cape Prince of Wales. The work was dirty, difficult and exhausting but proved to be extremely rewarding nonetheless. During their years at Cape Prince of Wales the Lopps opened a mission school and assisted in the effort to establish a herd of reindeer in the area. The man who had attracted both Tom and Ellen to Alaska through an advertisment in "American Missionary" magazine was one Sheldon Jackson. Jackson, who was at the time the general agent for education for the new U.S. Territory of Alaska was absolutely convinced that bringing reindeer to Alaska was the key to the regions economic future. Reindeer were indigenous to neighboring Siberia and had been used there for centuries as both a source of food and for transportation. Jackson envisioned teams of reindeer driven sleds moving people, commodities and even the mail throughout the Alaskan territory. At the same time Sheldon Jackson argued that the reindeer could replace the dwindling numbers of caribou as the primary source of food for the native Eskimo population. "In A Far Country" details how large herds of reindeer would eventually be established in several areas of the Alaskan wilderness. Finally, John Taliaferro spends a great deal of time chronicling what became known as the Overland Relief Expedition. At the end of the summer of 1898 a total of 8 whaling ships who were operating in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska became trapped in the ice and were unable to leave the area. It was feared that unless help arrived in time more than 200 sailors would eventually starve to death. The Overland Relief Expedition was organized and Tom Lopp was tapped to lead the final leg of this Herculian rescue effort. What an incredible adventure!
I found "In A Far Country" to be quite compelling reading indeed. The publishers quite wisely furnished a detailed map of the region at the beginning of the book and I found myself referring to it again and again. I find that inclusion of maps like this often greatly enhances my understanding of the events being discussed in the text. All in all this is a nicely written book about important history that has been largely forgotten. Recommended!

Excellent adventure .......2007-03-24

This is a little known adventure story of missionary people, personalities, government polititians, native Americans, & foreigners. It has graphic illustrations of problems and errors made when dealing with different cultures in unknown and adverse climates. I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it.

Life on the Edge of Civilization.......2007-03-09

It must have taken individuals of rare inner strength to even have the desire to go establish a Christian mission at Cape Prince of Whales, 55 miles across the Bering Strait to Russia and only 70 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Even more surprising to me was the number of women, single or married to missionaries, who went as well. Tom and Ellen Lopp were both single, that is until six weeks after they met.

This is a story of the mission at Cape Prince of Wales, the Lopp's and of a dramatic rescue where Tom and seven Eskimo herders drove a heard of reindeer some 700 miles to rescue stranded sailors whose ships had become frozen in the ice. This was a trip to rival the other famous trip in the cold, but up until now has been little known.

All in all, a most interesting book about life on the very edge of civilization.

epic adventure.......2007-02-06

This book rightly takes its place among the other tales of heroic arctic travel. It is well researched, the writing is sprightly, and the characterizations both compassionate and vivid.

Unsung Heroes.......2007-02-06

This was a fascinating book. It takes an honest look at subjects as diverse as; culture clashes, mission work, family struggles, man verses nature, government inner workings, and humanity's dual nature (good and evil). A whole cast of unsung heroes finally get their day. Unfortunately, it comes about 100 years too late. Although the author resides in our current day of political correctness, his characters do not. Frankly, I find them refreshing.

The Alaskan frontier is shown as the mishmash that it must have been. Competing groups vied for their own goals and dreams. They inevitably mixed and influenced each other resulting in the lines that formerly demarcated distinct people groups being erased and blurred. The outcomes of this amalgamation ranged from laudable triumphs to scandalous tragedies.

For some reason (maybe growing up in the hot South), I have always enjoyed books about Polar Regions. The first book I ever read was Jack London's Call of the Wild. I read In a Far Country in less than a week because the story kept my interest. It is one of the few books that I really hated to complete. I did not want to leave the characters.

The World is a Class: How and Why to Teach English Around the World

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An outstanding primer on Where, Who, Why, Where and How
Worth the money
Don't waste your money ...
Good stuff, read it before you sign on the dotted line
A must read for travelling English teachers

The World is a Class: How and Why to Teach English Around the World
Caleb Powell
Manufacturer: Good Cheer Pub.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Job Hunting | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 096814442X

Product Description

After graduating from the University of Washington, Caleb Powell found teaching English a good way to travel and not have to pay. The World is a Class is the guidebook he and many other fledgling teachers wish they'd had as they set out on their adventures.

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding primer on Where, Who, Why, Where and How.......2005-01-09

I took a TESL (teaching English as a second language) position in Bogota, Columbia and learned much of what is in this book the hard way. If you are new to TESL then by all means read this book!

Caleb Powell has covered most all of the needed information to help you move forward to new worlds. He covers topics from "Why Teach Overseas" ("I saw islands and temples, climbed mountains, ate raw fish and beetle larvae and took a vacation in Taiwan."), to contract negotiations (an especially helpful section in this book).

Helpful are the short quips from other teachers around the world who have learned the various life lessons and the ins and outs of TESL.What is missing is an important appendix section that covers `web' resources. Only `Dave's ESL Café' is noted in the book. Strongly Recommended.

Worth the money.......2004-08-19

I came to Japan this month and bought this book, and it turns out it has helped save me some headaches, specifically, my apartment was poorly furnished, and far from my school. If not for the book I might have accepted 'what you see is what you get' and said nothing. Instead, I told my employer I was not happy, and ended up getting the apartment furnished to my liking and better hours to facilitate my commute time. Complaining immediately seemed to make a difference. I don't know what the previous review was upset about, there is a difference between wanting to make a buck and wanting to avoid being exploited. Maybe the reviewer would have been happy as a Red Guard in China, there anyone who 'made a buck' was punished. THe only problem with the book is it could be longer, but has enough valuable information that it's money well spent.

Don't waste your money ..........2004-08-17

The only thing I got out of this book (and I work with people who want to teach/work overseas) was that the author wanted to make a buck. If I could, I would have given it no stars. Don't waste your time or your money.

Good stuff, read it before you sign on the dotted line.......2003-08-16

A friend showed me this book AFTER I had already done a tour as a teacher in Korea. I wish I had read it before I went. Powell gives a lot of practical information on the process of getting a job without getting scammed but the parts I enjoyed most were the stories he told about the people and situations he has experienced. He has taught in several countries and some of the cultural comparisons are downright profound. I came back to the states after a tour but reading this book makes me wish I had made a career of it.
This book would make a perfect college graduation present- give it to that young man or woman who you fear is about to do something really boring with their life- it may plant a seed in their head and give them a lot of memories

A must read for travelling English teachers.......2003-08-04

I should have read this book BEFORE teaching English in Taiwan. This is the best guidebook about teaching English in a foreign country. I am from South Africa and I did a lot of research before coming to Taiwan. I have travelled before, but I didn't know anything about teaching, working hours, contracts, recruitors, etc. If I had read this book beforehand, I would have been better prepared for my teaching experience in Taiwan. (Believe me, I've learned the hard (and expensive) way!) Everyone interested in teaching English in a foreign country MUST read this book. This will save you a lot of trouble and money!

The Highlands of Central India: Notes on Their Forests and Wild Tribes, Natural History, and Sports

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The Highlands of Central India: Notes on Their Forests and Wild Tribes, Natural History, and Sports
James Forsyth
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1421206528
Release Date: 2001-03-05

Book Description

This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1872 edition by Chapman & Hall, London.

The Archaeology of Islam (Social Archaeology)

Average customer rating:

Interesting 'social archeology' of Islamic history
Demonstrates the variety of Muslim cultures
A very valuable perspective

The Archaeology of Islam (Social Archaeology)
Timothy Insoll
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

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The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century

ASIN: 0631201157

Book Description

This book examines the archaeological implications of Islam as a force which can act upon all areas of life. Islam leaves distinctive material culture remains and distinctive categories of evidence which can be detected and described. The subject and the geographical area of Islam is vast. The author provides an assessment of the means and the methods of uncovering Islamic material records in the context of a wide range of times and places. Separate chapters examine the mosque, the domestic environment, the Islamic city, death and burial, art, manufacturing and trade. The author draws evidence from the perceived heartlands of the Islamic world (Arabia, the Near East), and from those regions traditionally regarded as the periphery (Africa and the Far East). Coverage extends from the origins of Islam in the seventh century AD up until the present.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting 'social archeology' of Islamic history.......2005-03-10

Archeology of Islam

Timothy Insoll in eight chapters surveys studies of Islamic Archeology to ascertain what potential there is for learning more from existing and future digs and research.

Unlike the "faux Islam" of Orientalists who presume to generalize about an essence from mostly literature, linguistics, and classic studies, he looks at the material evidence of Mosques, domestic Environment, Death and Burial sites, Community Environment and spaces as well as material and spatial lessons about Muslim Life and `Art, Trade, and Ideas' to find variations on common themes, local adaptation, purposeful evolution and development. Space, time, change, local adaptation all have legitimate and important roles that make many generalities, however useful to simplify or sometimes demonize, seem terribly naïve.

There are interesting bits and observations for the student of Islamic history and cultures with observations about such things as how Hui Chinese gravestones in coastal China used both Arabic and Chinese perhaps to be Muslim without denying their Chinese place while in Java Arabic quite sufficed perhaps because Islam felt less threatened by a dominant civilization. The examples can be interesting; the speculations are designed to make one think and open directions for further study.

Examples are from the entire period of Islamic history and may be of interest to many students of Muslim Civilization.

Demonstrates the variety of Muslim cultures.......2000-06-17

Can archeologists draw conclusions about whole societies? The discipline of social archeology says they can, and Insoll proves it in the case of Islam. His goal is not only to demonstrate the richness and variety of the material culture of Muslim societies-he refers to a satisfactorily wide range of times and places in doing so-but also to interpret material culture and connect it convincingly to social characteristics. Islam itself structures his book, each chapter begin-ning with an epigraph from the Qur'an that sets the theme. Thus the obligation of prayer is made archeologically concrete in the structure of the mosque, the importance of privacy shapes the excavatable spaces of domestic structures, and dietary requirements affect the food remains and the building types the archeologist may find.

A very valuable perspective.......1999-11-23

This book is a valuable addition to our understanding of Islam. It highlights the rich tradition of Islam without unneccesary and misleading reference to "Orientalist" literature

The International Relations of Northeast Asia (Asia in World Politics)

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The International Relations of Northeast Asia (Asia in World Politics)
Samuel S. Kim
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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International Relations Theory and the Asia-Pacific
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Remapping East Asia: The Construction Of A Region (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)

ASIN: 0742516954

Book Description

This authoritative work explores the complex and evolving interplay among national, regional, and global forces influencing Northeast Asia's security, economy, and identity. Written by a team of leading scholars, the book presents a variety of theoretical perspectives and case studies to offer a comprehensive analysis of the pressures that shape the policy choices of China, Russia, Japan, the United States, North and South Korea, and Taiwan. The authors' historically and culturally informed narratives help track and explain the changes and continuities of relationships within the region and with the United States and Russia. Concise and current, this book will be essential reading for all those concerned with the role of a changing Northeast Asia in world politics.

Average customer rating:

Uplifitng & Enthralling!
Nevil Shute is excellent in this story, beyond words!
Classic Shute, e.g., magnificent read!
worth a read
A sweet, old-fashioned romance well worth reading.

The Far Country
Nevil Shute
Manufacturer: House of Stratus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A Town Like Alice
Pied Piper
The Rainbow and The Rose
Pastoral
No Highway

ASIN: 1842322516

Book Description

Jennifer fled the drab monotony of post-war London. When she landed in Australia, it was like coming home. She loved it and when she met Carl, she had every reason to stay.

But the two of them came from quite different worlds, and it is the story of their building a life together that Nevil Shute tells in his matchless way. With warmth and understanding, and with his natural affection for the people he creates, the author brings to life his characters and the pioneer country in which they live.

"New lives for old...on a fresh, vital, expanding frontier! This is the exciting background of this heartlifting novel by a master weaver of romance and adventure." (Boston Herald)

Customer Reviews:

Uplifitng & Enthralling!.......2007-07-25

I found this book on the shelf at my local libary. By the cover, it had nothing to recommend it--beat up, dull blue, writing on the binding flaking off. The only reason I checked it out was because it was by Nevil Shute, one of my favorite authors. It sat on my pile of "to read" for six weeks before I picked it up in a moment of boredom & started reading. My boredom was gone immediately and I spent the rest of the day in post WWII Australia with the two main characters--Jennifer, a young woman who is visiting Australia compliments of a small legacy left to her by her grandmother, and Carl Zlinter, a Czechoslovakian emmigrant planning to make a life in Australia after he has completed his required labor contract. Wow, what a great book! The plot twists kept me off balance, the characters were interesting & the type of people you'd like to have living next door to you, there was enough action to keep you interested but not detract from the story, there was a bit of a mystery and the end was what you'd hoped for the entire time without expecting it to happen because of another exciting plot twist. I would give this book six stars out of five. I plan to visit my library soon to look for some more surprises like this one!

Nevil Shute is excellent in this story, beyond words!.......2002-08-14

Jennifer Morton moves to London, temporarily, to take care of her ailing grandmother, who, before her death, speaks of times, now gone, when life was so much better in England, as though she recognizes the dissolving of a great culture, which her granddaughter will never know.
In her last day of life, she passes on the Jennifer a timely gift of money, received from her distant niece in Australia, and with it expresses her wish for Jennifer to go soon, to seek a better and new life in the opportunities offered in "The Far Country." Living up to her grandmother's words, she follows her adventuresome spirit and sails to the other side of the world for this new discovery.
Warmly received by her niece at the sheep station, she experiences the abundance of life in Queensland, where she feels at home - immediately - and can now clearly compare the differences between the continents. The new country brings refreshing contrast compared to the dreariness of her post-war nation, so plagued by needless government regulations and restrictions on all of life's commodities, even food.
Freedom is what she experiences for the first time in her life and, with it, can fully understand her grandmother's wish for her to seek it. While there, she also notices hardships, endured by others who seek alternative ways to reach this very same freedom. They are the lumberjacks - the refugees from around the globe - who have accepted two-year forestry commitments to buy into the opportunities ahead. Australia attracts them and, in return for their two years of hardship, they can gain their new beginning in their new land.
So it is with Carl Zlintner, a Chechoslovakian doctor, a World War II refugee, who has nine months to go before his own two years are finalized. He has no money and is ready to pursue life as a lumberjack in his future. However, hidden in the forest, he stumbles across the grave of a man, now dead for many years... a man with a recognizable name.
How Jennifer Morton and pursuit to learn more about this dead man bring new life to the doctor, is a moving and powerful story of willingness to endure, readiness to sacrifice and determination to reach the goals ahead.
It's a story about life and about love, wonderful and inspiring, so totally Nevil Shute!

Classic Shute, e.g., magnificent read!.......2002-02-17

What a storyteller! Shute didn't live too long. I'm so glad he found time to write these human adventures along with all the other things he did. I did not realize until I read this book how bad things were in Great Britain after WWII. Makes me want to go to Australia (in the early 1950's). One of Shute's strengths is character description and development. I'm so glad I found my own copy of this book at Amazon! It was getting difficult to locate copies at the library. Why was this great story never filmed? This has to be as good as the author's A Town Like Alice and No Highway.

worth a read.......2001-07-28

this was the second book of nevil shute's books i am reading , the first one being A TOWN LIKE ALICE-and i liked it--it tells us about two people-an younge english girl and a european doctor--who meet in australia---their's is astory of friendship and old fashioned love. the contract between england and australia is brought out well.

A sweet, old-fashioned romance well worth reading........1998-09-18

Shute's A Town Like Alice is one of my all time favourite books so I was a bit worried that The Far Country wouldn't live up to my expectations. It did. It's a great book to curl up in bed with. It is very sweet and romantic. It tells the story of a young English woman's holiday in the Australian outback just after World War Two. She travels from a grim, rainy, poor country to the land of plenty. She soon grows to love the wild countyside of Australia and meets an older doctor who came there as a displaced person from Europe. Through their friendship they learn a lot about themselves and their adopted home.

Barbarian Lens: Western Photographers of the Qianlong Emperor's European Palaces (Documenting the Image Series)

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Groundbreaking new research on early photography in China.

Barbarian Lens: Western Photographers of the Qianlong Emperor's European Palaces (Documenting the Image Series)
Regine Thiriez
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9057005190

Book Description

The latest volume in the prestigious academic book series Documenting the Image, this is a fascinating survey illustrated by extremely rare photographs of the burned architectural and landscape complex known as the Rape of the Summer Palace.
In 1860, Western armies brought ruin to the treasured seat of the Qing emperors near Beijing. One hundred and fifty images have been collected to date as a support for an extensive study of the building of the palaces and their subsequent destruction.
This book is a rigourous analysis of the work and experiences of the European photographers, both amateur and professional, working in Beijing during this period, and, as such, becomes an account of the development of photography itself. Offering a fascinating glimpse into 19th-Century China, the book gives an historical overview of the political situation.

Customer Reviews:

Groundbreaking new research on early photography in China........1999-03-18

Régine Thiriez, an independent scholar who holds a Ph.D. in art history and is currently an associate research fellow in the East Asia Institute in Lyon (France), preparing an inventory of China photography, presents a substantial body of important new research on photography in China from the early years in the mid-19th century to 1860 as well as Qing dynasty China's reception of European technology. Her study, Barbarian Lens: Western Photographer's of the Qianlong Emperor's European Palaces, explores the Western involvement with the ruins of the European-style buildings constructed for the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736-1795) in his summer palace of the Yuanmingyuan, the "old" summer palace outside Beijing. The Yuanmingyuan was sacked and burned in 1860 by a French and British expeditionary force. Only the European part of the garden, constructed of brick and masonry, left substantial ruins. Standing mysteriously on the overgrown grounds of the half-abandoned site, the ruins exerted a powerful pull on European memories of the humiliation of the Emperor of China, and the shameful part played by Western armies in the destruction of the incomparable garden-palace and the treasures kept there. Such are the troubled feelings invoked by photographic images of the ruins. Placing the extant photographs in their historical context, Thiriez makes available to the interested reader and China specialist alike unprecedented primary research on the beginnings of photography in China, the identities and careers of the mostly little-known men who produced photographic images, and the complex relationships between photography and Western penetration of China. Barbarian Lens contains a wealth of scholarly information, presented in clear and succinct detail. Individual chapters focus on the practice of photography in Beijing (beginning in the early 1860s), the tragic encounter of China and Europe in the destruction of the Summer Palace, the amateur and professional photographers of the ruins, as well as the overlapping personal, political, and photographic ambitions of men in the Qing Imperial Maritime Customs, Western diplomatic missions, and other various undertakings. The volume is amply illustrated with more than 50 images-most of them previously unpublished-and includes extensive appendices on such subjects as the pioneering French Mission Palais d'Été studies of the European palaces. Perhaps the most impressive appendix is an exhaustive 24-page list of all the photographs of the European ruins identified by Thiriez to date. It tabulates photographers, photographic collections and sources, cataloguing information on the individual prints surveyed, the most likely date of the photo, additional reprints or rephotography of the same images (a very thorny problem in early photography), and the importance of the photo to the study of the place. It also cross-references the images, showing how they complement each other through the years. The appendices, notes, and bibliography supplement a richly rewarding text and generously make available the result of a decade of painstaking research in an almost unknown and unstudied field. In a volume that presents a complex, fascinating, and sometimes horrifying story of destruction and recovery, Régine Thiriez's contributions to the history of China photography and the fast-growing field of Qing dynasty historical studies are invaluable.

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