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The Tree of Man
- Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
- Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
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Publisher's Summary
An extraordinary story about a couple’s experience of moving into the remote Australian wilderness.
Stan Parker, with only a horse and a dog for company, journeys to a remote patch of land he has inherited in the Australian hills. Once the land is cleared and a rudimentary house built, he brings his wife, Amy, to the wilderness. Together they face lives of joy and sorrow as they struggle against the environment.
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What listeners say about The Tree of Man
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- Raymond J. Salmond
- 27-12-2022
A wonderful book enhanced by a good reader
"The Tree of Man" is an Australian classic, but it's only "Australian" in the sense that War and Peace is a "Russian" classic.
It's not an easy read: there is not a wasted word, and you need to read thoughtfully every second to catch all of the rich scene White is depicting.
But it's a rich fruit cake of a book, a lively and thoughtful picture of human lives, where the "exciting" events - war, bushfires - are interesting for what they mean to people and do to people.
This audio version is well done, though the reader does not fully match White's genius, and this jars occasionally, but few readers could do better, I expect. Hearing The Tree of Man makes it markedly more approachable for me at least, and I wish I'd come across this earlier.
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- Anonymous User
- 21-09-2023
The Definitive Australian Novel
Truly one of the greatest books ever written. I have not encountered a story that has ever understood humans so deeply.
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- David
- 04-08-2021
Must Read
This is as close as prose can get to poetry. The beauty and power of the imagery herein are arguably unrivalled by any other author. if you respect language and the art of literature then you simply must read this.
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- Steve
- 08-03-2024
very hard to follow when listening to in parts
downloaded because I'm a big fan of the narrator and it had good star rating but maybe I should listen to it one sitting. had its moments
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- Alex
- 30-09-2021
exceedingly long
Would be a better story if it were 14 chapters shorter, I found many chapters waffled on with little substance. Narration was good.
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- Anonymous User
- 30-11-2022
Forced to read for uni, would not otherwise.
Who boy, where to start?
Performance was pretty good - the only thing that helped me get through this dry, dreary book.
Hard to read, as sentences were often long-winded & lacking in, what I would think, is basic sentence structures. The length of this book is not justified by the story, or should I say, lack there of a story.
It is also placed in an era reeking of colonialism & false narratives from brutal white squatters. Hard to see past this hierarchical racism & awful representation of the Australian landscape.
As an Irish person I was deeply offended by Patrick’s way of ‘writing’ the way he assumes Irish people talk, even extending this awful way of writing to include German & Greek people - how about we avoid reducing people from varying parts of the world to such cruel & problematic stereotyping.
If anyone should, of their own volition, want to read this book… put it up to 2.0 speed, save yourself the eleven hours I will never get back.
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