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Post by Claire on Apr 7, 2011 20:06:36 GMT 1
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Post by susanb on Apr 7, 2011 23:27:50 GMT 1
There is actually a Mary Grant Bruce website for those who want to explore: www.marygrantbruce.com.au/I think this will be the oldest novel we've done for the reading circle so far....1910!! (Maltese Cat is older still, but a short story rather than a full length book)
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Post by kunuma on Apr 7, 2011 23:37:31 GMT 1
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Post by Claire on Apr 8, 2011 10:56:49 GMT 1
Ok kunuma you have spotted the deliberate mistake ;D Have rectified the error. I really need a proof reader for the website....any volunteers Yes there is a very good website for the author, I think I provided a link on my webpage. It will be interesting to read such an old book and compare it with the more modern pony stories.
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vera
Pony Clubber
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Post by vera on Apr 9, 2011 0:31:26 GMT 1
Love this choice.Just be sure you get the original and not a sanitised version....
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Post by Claire on Apr 9, 2011 11:21:29 GMT 1
Oh no not another victim of political correctness and squeamishness.....? I assume the on-line versions will be the original texts.
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Post by foxglove on Apr 15, 2011 9:20:21 GMT 1
I found this mildly enjoyable, although the pony content is minimal. It's an interesting snapshot of a certain way of life at a certain point in Australian history (TWO gardners! One for flowers, one for veg!) and the characters are fairly engaging. The author has quite a wry way of turning a sentence, although the language is obviously very dated in parts. I did laugh at the two ponies called Darkie and Nigger.
My main interest as a reader was in identifying what made it distinctively Australian. I was making mental notes to look up whether hares and foxes are native to the country, and trying to visualise the landscape, which I actually found quite hard as I'm not familiar with farming country, having mainly visited Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, the Blue Mountains and the outback. I thought that if you dropped key words like "bush" and "tucker" and didn't mention that Billy was aboriginal, then the story actually became quite English with its boarding school tales of ripping yarns and jolly larks.
I may read the others in the series for free online, but wouldn't rush to buy them.
Edit: sorry, I'm jumping the gun a bit, but am off to New Zealand for 3 weeks tomorrow, so wanted to post while it's fresh in my mind. Don't think there are any plot spoilers in my post.
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Post by jinglerebel on Apr 17, 2011 2:21:39 GMT 1
I read a bit of it (got bored) and yes, it is very English! The girl had a great life though.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2011 6:33:39 GMT 1
I read a bit of it (got bored) and yes, it is very English! The girl had a great life though. I've been the same with it, read a bit of it and got bored. I'll try to read the rest soon....
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Post by Claire on Apr 17, 2011 22:06:09 GMT 1
Haven't started reading this yet but its interesting what some of you are saying about it being quite English in character. I have always thought Aussie pony stories are far more British in nature than American ones, not sure why. Thought it was just me but maybe other people feel the same...?
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Post by jinglerebel on Apr 18, 2011 0:13:20 GMT 1
I would think Australian writers of that era were likely to be British born or the children/grandchildren of migrants. The well-off went to boarding schools with kids from the same background, or had an English governess, and/or were sent 'home' to England for their education.
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vera
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Post by vera on Apr 18, 2011 11:19:57 GMT 1
Early Australians tried very hard to be English. They planted English trees and referred to England as home even though they had never been there. when my sister and I ran round in bare feet, our mother would cry in horror, "You are turning into Australians." This always surprised us as we thought we had come here to BE Australian. I haven't actually re-read the book yet, but I think it is set in country Victoria. (I do have to check that out) and it is accurate about that environment. I mean they introduced foxes to have foxhunting! Will say more when I have actually refreshed my memory....
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Post by susanb on Apr 22, 2011 16:11:28 GMT 1
Just a quick note....running soooo late on this one! I'm about 5 chapters in, but have been diverted as 3 library books I'd requested came in all at the same time....arrggghhh! They all had different length wait lists, so I thought I'd staggered them well, but nooooo I'm through the first of the library books (the longest), so hopefully I'll be back on track shortly!
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Post by Claire on Apr 22, 2011 19:58:57 GMT 1
Don't worry about it susan, I havent even started yet and just realised the 2 weeks have gone by! Must be all the good weather we have been having in the UK but the time has just seemed to fly by lately! I'll add the poll for the less tardy readers
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Post by darkhorse on Apr 23, 2011 12:29:35 GMT 1
I've only just started it!
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Post by kunuma on Apr 26, 2011 9:31:49 GMT 1
I'm not good at reading on a screen, but I'm going to give it a go, I'm just so horribly busy with rescue work at the mo I admit I haven't started - I will start tonight!
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Post by Claire on Apr 26, 2011 16:03:43 GMT 1
Don't worry about it people - it's not a school report that has to be handed in on time! Kunuma, I find the on-line text quite hard to read too will have a look see if there are any easier to read options on-line when I have a spare mo.
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Post by Claire on May 11, 2011 18:19:45 GMT 1
Has anyone else managed to read it yet? I quite enjoyed it but as someone already said very minimal horse content. In fact they spent more time fishing than riding! I thought it was well-written and I enjoyed some of the humourous interludes such as the animal race which was really funny. On the downside, I felt it was very anectdotal and the plot was minimal, in fact it was really only introduced near the end of the book. I prefer a more tightly plotted story. Perhaps the book is more of an introduction to the rest of the series, but as I havent read them I couldnt say if they are more tightly plotted or not.
The book showed its age somewhat, with the slightly earlier Victorian novel's love of coincidence still holding sway. I have read loads of 19th century lit where the most unbelievable coincidences occur in order to further the plot and this one with the Hermit just happening to be the father's long-lost friend is a prime example. Also the racism was fairly shocking to a modern reader. Altho I dont condone sanitizing older fiction for a modern market it was inevitable they would do so with this book. The attitude to the aborigines and servants was very colonial British.
The over-sentimentality in the story was also very Victorian.
The attitude to the circus was however fairly modern, displayed by Norah's dislike of the animals losing their dignity by doing circus tricks. Apart from this I find the book extremely old-fashioned even for it's time.
Like foxglove, I may read some of the others on-line for free as I'd be quite interested to follow the characters as they got older, but I probably wouldn't spend a lot of time and effort tracking the others down.
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2011 20:19:05 GMT 1
No I keep starting it and then get bored!
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Post by darkhorse on May 12, 2011 20:15:27 GMT 1
I finished it but I found it quite hard going. It seemed very slow and quite dull and not enough about the horses. I agree it is very old fashioned, as a reader of modern books I find it very slow to get going. I agree with Jinglerebel that the heroine had a great life. No going to school and out in the fresh air all the time....and everyone loves her! She did seem to have a lot of freedom for a girl of that era compared to in England at the time.
I also may try one of the other ones to see if they are a bit more exciting and have more horsey content.
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vera
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Post by vera on May 13, 2011 3:48:44 GMT 1
I loved this book when I picked it up out of our school library because it had a picture of a horse on it. I loved it on re-reading it recently. I was rolling over laughing at the animal race... I did not find it slow, maybe because I am so much older than all of you, or maybe because I like literature from the Victorian era and earlier. The rampant racism was a fact of life and to our shame it still happens these days. The other Billabong books are more about Wally and Jim going to war and how they become men; definitely not for people who like pony books and who like their fictional lives to be cosy. I am sorry that so many of you did not enjoy this book, it is a great classic of its time. As I said, I enjoyed my recent read!
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Post by trixiepony on May 13, 2011 8:02:38 GMT 1
I have only reread sum of it but am enjoying it, It really isn't that much of a pony story but I new that Its a lovely old Classic, the racism and boys go of to war and girls stay home and cook and sew is all part off it. The first 3 books I think off the horsey ones.
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Post by Claire on May 13, 2011 11:24:31 GMT 1
Vera I think that the reason people are finding it hard to read is probably just its age and the style of that era, also probably the fact that there is not much horse content. I have read a lot of older literature but I think people who are not used to it, can find it very hard to read. I also wonder if its because a lot of us read it on the computerm which I find harder to read than a 'proper' book. Be interesting to hear who read the book version and who the computer version.
Yes, my favourite bit was also the animal race which I also found hilarious. I did find there was lots of humour running through the book. I actually voted good but it scraped in by the fact the writing is of a good quality. By the way we need more votes please!
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2011 12:36:58 GMT 1
I think you might have something there Claire. I find it hard to concentrate when reading on the computer. Maybe I might get into it more if I had the book in my hand. I actually don't mind the older style of writing
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2011 12:38:31 GMT 1
Also I'm not sure whether to vote as I haven't read the whole thing. Maybe it wouldn't be very fair vote.
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Post by susanb on May 13, 2011 16:04:54 GMT 1
I have a hardcover copy AND I sprang an additional 99 cents to download a copy to my ereader, and I've been trying and trying and trying, but without much success. I'm about 5 chapters along and stuck.
I'd agree with everyone who has said it's fairly episodic....there isn't a smooth flow of a single plot. I'd also say that too much is told in the past tense, which robs the narrative of some of the excitement....Norah's fight to save the prize livestock from the fire would have been much more exciting if it hadn't been just a story related by Jim to his friends.
The thing that is really getting me though is the racism...it's the worst that I've ever encountered in a pony book, and believe me, some of the old stuff in the US from authors in the South is pretty bad. Even there though, the n-word doesn't turn up. I don't know if everyone here realizes it, but the k-word used in the book is basically the same...it's a racial slur that I've heard used by South Africans, but never by Australians, so I didn't even realize it had ever existed there.
And then there are passages like this:
"That's a good boy," said Norah, approvingly, and black eighteen grinned from ear to ear with pleasure at the praise of twelve-year-old white.
Which is pretty much where I'm stuck....everytime I open the book and see that phrase I gag and put it down again.
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Post by Claire on May 13, 2011 16:13:48 GMT 1
I know what you mean susan, that particular passage annoyed me too. It does stick in the craw when children are taught to look down upon adults, be they servants or of another race. A lot of books, even older ones, don't condone this attitude but it is embraced in this book.
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Post by shadowhawke on May 13, 2011 17:28:09 GMT 1
In the US... Deep South mainly. Ark, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and Alabama. Possibly parts of Tennessee...... Blacks and anything non white were considered lower class. Racism was very strong in those parts both before and after the American Civil War, and pretty much until the 1960's...... Children were taught young that if a person is not white, they no good......... It didn't matter if you were poor white trash, you were still better then the non whites... Even today you can still find that attitude in some parts, only know it covers gays as well... And if you listen to some non whites, mainly the blacks, they are just as bad.... I had a teacher, Black teacher, who would tell his black students about the evils the white man has done.... yes, slavery was and is wrong, but its over and in the past. Forget it and move on... Please keep in mind that this is my own personal opinion....Years of living in the south. If Iam wrong, I am sorry, if I have offended anyone, I am sorry.
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Post by Claire on May 13, 2011 19:31:57 GMT 1
Yes racism and class was a very big part of the world then (and sadly still is in many places) and perhaps we can't really critiicise the book for its portrayal of what was for then the norm - BUT it can affect the modern readers appreciation of the book and make it hard to stomach. In this case PC-ing the modern editions of the book has probably done it a favour. However I dont think that is the main factor that has let the book down in most people's opinion, its just the slowness and lack of plot.
If anyone can manage to get to the last few chapters it does pick up a little and manages some sort of plot and even a red herring!
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Post by trixiepony on May 16, 2011 10:49:40 GMT 1
I have voted good even tho I have not finished it I have read it before.
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