This review is the second in my series of reviews of books from the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist. To see more reviews, please go here.
Hmm, where do I start with this one? I think I’m having trouble getting started with my review of The Pages by Murray Bail because I feel quite conflicted about this book. It is very well written, there is no doubt in my mind about that. I would love to give an example of this but I had to return the book to the library yesterday because it was already overdue, and I forgot to write down some of the passages I particularly liked (note to self: write these things down as you go along). So you’ll have to take my word for it, Murray Bail has a quite a gift with words. On the other hand, this book left me cold. I didn’t warm to any of the characters, nor did I find any of them particularly likable, but then again none of them were particularly unlikable either. I found the beginning quite slow, and I felt that just as it was starting to pick up pace and get interesting, it ended. And yet, there was something sort of wonderful about the slow and meditative nature of parts of this book, and I decided the other day on the tram that if I had to pick one word to describe this book, it would have to be ‘thoughtful’. Yes, The Pages is definitely a thoughtful book. But before I get too much further with this back and forth, I might at least tell you something about the story…
Erica, a philosophy lecturer, and her friend Sophie, a psychoanalyst, leave Sydney one morning on a road trip to a farming property somewhere in the New South Wales countryside. The purpose of their trip is for Erica to take a look at a manuscript, the ‘pages’ of the title, and to assess it for its philosophical merit, or lack there of. Sophie has come along for the ride, as she attempts to get over yet another failed relationship with yet another married man. On arrival at the farm they meet the Antills, a sister and brother team who have inherited the job of running the family farm. The manuscript that Erica is there to read belongs to the Antills dead brother Wesley, the family tearaway who went to the city, travelled to the ‘old world’, had some big thoughts, and then came home to write it all down. Interwoven with the present day story of Erica and Sophie on the farm, we are told Wesley’s story, and for me it is these parts where we hear from Wesley that are far and away the best bits of the book. Wesley is almost likable, but not quite, as he takes himself far too seriously for all that. He is interesting though, and as the book went on I found myself not really caring about Erica and Sophie and their present day friendship crisis at all, I just wanted more of Wesley’s story.
I wouldn’t say that The Pages is an easy read, but ultimately I do think it is a worthwhile book, for its wonderful use of language, and for making me think about the nature of thinking. Other books by Murray Bail include Eucalyptus, winner of the 1999 Miles Franklin Award, and Homesickness.
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