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Wake in Fright

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Wake in Fright

By: Kenneth Cook
Narrated by: Humphrey Bower
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About this listen

The controller stood back. 'Right,' he said. 'Spin 'em!' The man flipped the piece of wood and the coins spun up into the air above his head and dropped down on to the carpet. There was silence.

Wake in Fright tells the tale of John Grant's journey into an alcoholic, sexual and spiritual nightmare. It is the original and the greatest outback horror story. Bundanyabba and its citizens will forever haunt its listeners.

©1961 Kenneth Cook (P)2016 Bolinda Publishing Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Scary
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Kenneth Cook's depiction of rural Australia is deliciously grotesque. I found the protagonist quite unlikable and struggled to realate or sympathise with his plight, however I enjoyed the writing and the subtle menace that Cook imbues in seemingly ordinary people and situations.

Superb writing, grotesque caricature.

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Humphrey Bower is Australia’s best narrator. He makes this come alive even more. A wonderful performance.

A Classic and a portrait

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Amazing Australian literature. Kenneth Cook has vividly described the terror and despairation here. Truely amazing.

Amazing Australian classic literature.

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I first read this book back in high school many many decades ago. it was an English requirement to read, and so I read it and loved it. if you love Australian authors you love this one too.
and as always they picked a great narrator too.👍

still a great book

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Wake In Fright is the story of school teacher John Grant and his weekend of horror and despair stuck in the Australian outback. It is also the story of the influence of a hermetic community on a stranger. Written in 1961 and required reading in Aussie schools at one time, it is a story that has a sense of foreboding hanging over it constantly. I wanted to speak to John at several key moments in the book - "no, don't do it, John!".

Yet he does do it. He can't seem to say no and gets involved in all sorts of things he shouldn't and this is why the book is so good. Who hasn't succumbed to peer pressure? Who hasn't been in a situation that seemed insurmountable? Who hasn't needed to escape from some place or someone at one stage in their life?

A book I think many people could relate to and therefore love for its craziness.

Crazy, disturbing, fantastic

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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.