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Eucalyptus

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Eucalyptus

By: Murray Bail
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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About this listen

On a country property a man named Holland lives with his daughter Ellen. Over the years, as she grows into a beautiful young woman, he plants hundreds of different gum trees on his land. When Ellen is nineteen her father announces his decision: she will marry the man who can name all the species of eucalypt, down to the last tree. Suitors emerge from all corners, including the formidable, straight-backed Mr Cave, world expert on the varieties of eucalypt. And then, walking among her father’s trees, Ellen chances on a strange young man who in the days that follow tells her dozens of stories set in cities, deserts, faraway countries....

Haunting and mesmerising, Eucalyptus illuminates the nature of storytelling itself.

©1998 Murray Bail (P)2012 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction

Critic Reviews

"...[I]t's a pleasure simply to be immersed in Bail's caprice-prone mind." ( The New York Times Book Review)
"Curious power is precisely what this novel delivers. Part of its charm is its style, the quirky sentences that rarely go where we expect, the sinister Arthur Machenesque beauty of the landscape descriptions, the meandering stories that fail to deliver their expected allegories, that never really end but instead begin others." ( The Washington Post)
"One of the great and most surprising courtships in literature." (Michael Ondaatje)
All stars
Most relevant  
Loved the stories and descriptions. A strange exploration of love, family and a sense of place - definitely an Australian classic
Only thing I didn’t like was it was at times very wordy and random
Maybe that was the point?!
Worth a read when you are in a dreamy kind of place

Creative and lyrical

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Takes the listener back to a simpler time in our history - classically interwoven with stories of the vast variety of Eucalypts that range this vast country. Beautiful.

Classic Australiana

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This is an enchanting fairy tale set in a quintessentially Australian town. If you can overlook the patriarchal context and objectification the main female character you may just be enjoy the charm and be educated about our wonderful gum trees.

Enchanting but reflects a patriarchal Australia

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I loved the book and now love listening to this version, many times now. Beautiful

Love this

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Great book,I think you may need to know your Eucalypts to enjoy at its best,but Murray writes a great story.

Classic read

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While this is my first completed audio book, I know it could not be surpassed as one that will stay with me forever. It is the telling of so many meaningful tales entwined in an incredibly intimate insight into a young woman’s heart and mind.
I studied horticulture, and I am a landscape designer. A client who teaches this book to her students, recommended it to me and I was hooked immediately.
Living in an old growth rainforest in Qld, trees and nomenclature(and Love) are my passion. I felt like I was in a conversation with a friend. This made me smile, and the emotionI connection with Ellen made me sad when the book ended. This book was my happy place in a very trying time in my life.
I am an artist and I appreciate beauty when I see it.

Absolutely my favourite

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A delicately woven piece of Australian lore, with tender humanity embeded in a typical Sclerophyllous Forest.

Delicate and lovely.

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loved it. ah moment when all the trees were named in aluminium. beautiful scenery. thanks.

silver princess

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Would you try another book written by Murray Bail or narrated by Humphrey Bower?

A disappointing buy on my behalf. Just couldn't get into it.

If you’ve listened to books by Murray Bail before, how does this one compare?

First time I have listened

Would you listen to another book narrated by Humphrey Bower?

Yes

What character would you cut from Eucalyptus?

None, just not my style

Not my type of book

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Really cannot express how difficult this was to finish. I love Eucalyptus trees so I was ready to love this story, but it was just so drab. The ending was obvious and just dragged on and on...

Painful

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.