Tommo and Hawk
October 20th 2006 05:17
I was bored, so I picked up an author I hadn't read before. In this caser it was Bryce Courtney, an aussie writer.
My God, he is GOOD.
Tommo and Hawk is centred around the lives of two brothers that are like most brothers, which is to say opposites, but are unlike most brothers, on the basis that they aren't actually related. It follows their travels from Tasmania to New Zealand and Sydney, as well as all the colourful characters they meet along the way. They fight in the Maori wars in New Zealand, whale, assist chinese miners at the goldfields while all the time outwitting any that would take advantage of them.
Tommo is very much a regular aussie larrikin. He swears, drinks, gambles, whores and speaks exactly like we would expect a larrikin to be speaking. A man of roguish charm. Hawk on the other hand is a large dark man, eloquent, intelligent and fiercely ethical. That in fact is part of the charm the book carries. Tommo's parts of the story are written completely differently to Hawk's, for the characters themselves are narrating it through their own perspectives. Bryce Courtney essentially did a Mark Twain on this one. When a character speaks the words are spelt like how they sound rather than how we would really write them down (I know Chaucer was doing this before Twain but I like Twain better).
I won't spoil the book for you but after having read it not only do I now want to go and read everything this guy ever wrote but I am also eager to pretty well push a copy of this book on anyone that has a few days to dedicate to a book that is not only entertaining, but also heart warming.
JoshZ
My God, he is GOOD.
Tommo and Hawk is centred around the lives of two brothers that are like most brothers, which is to say opposites, but are unlike most brothers, on the basis that they aren't actually related. It follows their travels from Tasmania to New Zealand and Sydney, as well as all the colourful characters they meet along the way. They fight in the Maori wars in New Zealand, whale, assist chinese miners at the goldfields while all the time outwitting any that would take advantage of them.
Tommo is very much a regular aussie larrikin. He swears, drinks, gambles, whores and speaks exactly like we would expect a larrikin to be speaking. A man of roguish charm. Hawk on the other hand is a large dark man, eloquent, intelligent and fiercely ethical. That in fact is part of the charm the book carries. Tommo's parts of the story are written completely differently to Hawk's, for the characters themselves are narrating it through their own perspectives. Bryce Courtney essentially did a Mark Twain on this one. When a character speaks the words are spelt like how they sound rather than how we would really write them down (I know Chaucer was doing this before Twain but I like Twain better).
I won't spoil the book for you but after having read it not only do I now want to go and read everything this guy ever wrote but I am also eager to pretty well push a copy of this book on anyone that has a few days to dedicate to a book that is not only entertaining, but also heart warming.
JoshZ
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Comment by Johanna
PCOS Mum
Comment by Josh Z
Comment by Johanna
PCOS Mum
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
Comment by Johanna
PCOS Mum
Comment by Anonymous
--> maybe it's not as clear if you hadn't read the prequel, but tommo and hawk are actually related - their twins. (it's err, a bit complicated)
oh, and do! read the whole series that is
Comment by Josh Z
And Johanna sitting in Borders reading a new book drinking a good coffee is one of lifes most amazing little pleasures.
Comment by Johanna
PCOS Mum
Comment by Kat
Tommo and Hawk ARE related, they have the same biological mother (Sperm Whale Sally) but different fathers.
What is odd that in The Potato Factory they say that Sperm Whale Sally and both Tommo and Hawk's fathers are huge, and yet Tommo is a tiny little man...
Comment by Kat
I reviewed this book for Year 12 English Literature much to my teacher's horror and read out loud the passage where Sam Slit gets up close and personal with a piece of twine.
Comment by Josh Z
The most amusing thing I ever did to an english teacher was at their own request. She asked me to give her all the creative writing I had done that year.
She was proudly and happily given two excercise books full of notes and sketches and a manilla folder full of assorted looseleaf A4 paper.
She was not impressed.