Book Review – WANTING by Richard Flanagan
BOOK RATING: The Story 5 / 5 ; The Writing 5 / 5
BOOK DETAILS: Wanting (Amazon) ; Wanting (Audible) ; Wanting (Kobobooks – epub)
BOOK REVIEW: Evocative. Wanting by Richard Flanagan is a story that will move even the most hardened of souls. Flanagan dares to ask the question, what is the difference between a savage and one that is civilised?
This work of fiction is set in the late 1800s based on the lives of actual historical figures of that time that readers will no doubt be familiar with – author Charles Dickens and explorer Sir John Franklin. Flanagan has masterfully blurred the line where fact becomes fiction. It was such a joy to read of historical figures in their appropriate historical context – for instance, Wilkie Collins features as Dickens’ young friend and confidante in this novel just as in life. There are other well known historical figures that are mentioned throughout the novel too but I won’t spoil the surprise for readers by disclosing them in this review.
I have never before seen historical fact used to such great effect to tell a story of fiction. The realities of those lives once lived act as an anchor for the story being told – reminding the reader that just as those people really lived, the atrocities described within this work of fiction really did take place.The question of what makes one civilised as compared to one deemed savage is explored on multiple levels in Wanting. In a direct sense, this tension is illuminated through the plight of a young Aboriginal girl named Mathinna in the penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land. The governor of the penal colony Sir John Franklin and his wife Lady Jane adopt this little girl in a grand experiment in civilisation that is intended to show that science, Christianity and reason can be imposed in place of what they consider savagery, impulse and desire. On another level this concept is explored in through the internal struggles of the creative mind of Charles Dickens, a ‘boy made good’ and lauded in British society for the morality and family values espoused in his popular novels. On a broader level, the savagery of the colonising powers and further still the savagery of civilised society is laid bare for the reader to reflect upon.
Flanagan’s writing style is masterful, grabbing the reader by the shoulders and forcing them to delve into their own ideologies and beliefs on good and evil, discipline and desire, right and wrong.
The story is told through powerful imagery. The juxtaposition of a barefoot aboriginal girl wearing a red silk dress sitting for her portrait gives one pause for thought, as does the confronting descriptions of the brutality suffered by the native inhabitants of what we now know as Tasmania, Australia at the hands of the colonising powers.
‘…he walked miles and miles, ever deeper into the mysterious labyrinth of the greatest city in the world. As clatter, hovels, cries and stench filled his being, he would keep on walking, the filthy dross of the everyday stirring in his alchemist’s head and transforming into the pure gold of his fancy.’
The Author: Richard Flanagan was born in Tasmania in 1961. He is a Rhodes Scholar and an author and film director. His other works of fiction include Death of a River Guide
This novel counts towards my participation in my Aussie Author Challenge.
How amazing is Richard Flanagan and how amazing is this book. I absolutely cannot get enough of Flanagan, he is my favourite Australian author without a doubt. Your review of Wanting is amazing. It really captures what the book is about. This book was so emotionally challenging in the way that it utterly captured the true experience of so many Australians during the time in which is was written (I imagine anyway).
Poor Mathinna. I am certain that so many Aboriginals met the same fate as her, all because of the white Australians. It is so incredibly sad to think that my anscestors are responsible for acts like that. I am glad that you loved this book, I think it one of my favourites from Flanagan
Oh thanks so very much, both of you! I have this sitting here & can't wait to dive into it.
NancyO – Wanting is a brilliant literary work, no matter what country you live in (for instance it was a New Yorker Notable Book of the Year, to name just one of the many international accolades it has received) but I am really interested to hear your perspective after reading, from a non-Australian. The knowledge of the not too distant brutal past remains forefront in the Australian psyche, so I wonder just how much more weight that added to this book for Becky and I, given we're Australian.
Fantastic review. I've added this one to my TBR list. Thank you!
Flanagan is such a great writer. I still have to read Death of a River Guide, which is on my shelf. I reviewed Wanting not long ago.