NUMBER: 99

Genre: Fiction; Origin: Australia; Pages: 300

Satisfaction rating: 4.0

OVERVIEW:

In 1787 Lieutenant Thomas Rooke sets sail from Portsmouth with the First Fleet and its cargo of convicts, destined for New South Wales. As a young officer and a man of science, the shy and quiet Rooke is full of anticipation about the natural wonders he might discover in this strange land on the other side of the world. After the fleet arrives in Port Jackson, Rooke sets up camp on a rocky and isolated point, and starts his work of astronomy and navigation. It’s not too long before some of the Aboriginal people who live around the harbour pay him a visit. One of them, a girl named Tarunga, starts to teach him her own language. But her lessons and their friendship are interrupted when Rooke is given an order that will change his life forever.

MATTHEW’S COMMENTS:

I always finish the books I start, as a result I’m quite pedantic when it comes to researching authors prior to starting a novel. However, The Lieutenant is a rare case where I knew nothing more than what was written on the sleeve. From looking over Kate Grenville’s blurb I noticed her reputation was strong having previously won a number of awards including the Commonwealth’s Writing Prize among others. Furthermore, a couple of her books had been adapted into two very good Australian films, Lillian’s Story and Traps. However, the clincher was my love of historical fiction.

Now, if I had of done some research beforehand I may have finished this novel with a different impression. I suspect I would have been better prepared for Grenville’s approach of using actual events as a framework, incorporating some elements and changing others completely. At the heart of this is her decision to base the story around the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney in 1788, replacing the real Governor Phillip with a fictional pastiche. To this I reacted badly. From my reading Grenville’s core story of Lieutenant Rooke wouldn’t have suffered in the slightest if she held true to the historical record, particularly as her Governor embodied may of Phillip’s traits and made many of the similar decisions. For example, Phillip’s decision to relocate the settlement, the largely failed attempt to make peace with the indigenous people and even the circumstances that feed the book’s climax.

I strongly suggest that when they republish this book they take the author’s note from the end and put it as a forward, that would have saved some of head scratching at around the 100 page mark.

I suppose some may think that I am making too much of this ‘alternative’ history, and I’m aware of some contradiction given my love of other books that explore the myth of history, notably Peter Carey’s The True History of the Kelly Gang. I guess the reason why I was disappointed with this novel is because the guerilla warfare that took place between the first Australians and the colonial settlers is such a fascinating and important story. Last year I read Eric Willmot’s Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior which covered the same period, telling of two indigenous leaders reaction to Governor Phillip’s policies: Bennelong’s assimilation and Pemulwuy’s rebellion. I had hoped that this novel would see Grenville turn her deft hand to similar terrain.

Nevertheless, the focus of this story isn’t even that of the invented Governor, rather it is about the Lieutenant and his relationship with the heaven and the earth, astronomy and his relationship with a young Aboriginal girl. A story of navigation and communication. I thought Grenville painted an intriguing picture of her protagonist Rooke, based on the real soldier William Dawes. While Rooke’s growing affinity with the people and language is well constructed it seemed strange to me that his obsession with the stars and Halley’s comet seems to all but disappear about halfway through the book.

From what I understand The Lieutenant is similar in many respects to her previous work The Secret River, I may do a little research on that one as it seems to be considered by many to be her best achievement. Although initially put off I suspect that Grenville is worth another shot.

FURTHER REFERENCES:

Read more on Wikipedia

Read more on Kate’s website

Last Modified :October 27th, 2008 Filed under : The Log: novels Navigate : Previous post / Next post