Rate this book

The Roving Party (2014)

by Rohan Wilson(Favorite Author)

3.66 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

161695311X (ISBN13: 9781616953119)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Soho Press

review 1: Set in Tasmania in 1829, Rohan Wilson's "The Roving Party" is a dark & somewhat disturbing tale of a man named John Batman & a trip across the country looking to kill anyone & anything that gets in his way. The story follows his party across the countryside as they kill anything within sight & look for an eventual better future. Wilson's story is at times hard to read because of its intricate nature & the writing style as well. The book itself is very dark throughout & at times almost loses itself in that darkness that it portrays very, very well. From murder to pillaging to the death of a baby this book is about as dark as you can get & to me is one I'd rather not visit anytime soon.
review 2: You may not realize how brutal this novel is until you have finishe... mored it and look back upon what happened in it. Briefly, what happened was a massacre of aboriginals by European Australians who periodically “cleansed” various areas of Australia. In this case, the leader of the “roving party” was none other than the very real historical character John Batman, prominent grazier, entrepreneur and explorer. Settling in Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen’s Land) he mounted roving parties and effectively eliminated aborigines from the island state. He was later instrumental in helping to found Melbourne. The roving parties were unusual in that many of the members were aboriginals, mostly from around Sydney, yet their purpose was to eliminate aboriginals. To that end in this novel, Black Bill, raised as if white, is the main scout but he has a secondary purpose and function: he is hellbent on revenge upon an aboriginal named Manalargena. The novel is an evenly paced account of the various searches for and encounters with aboriginals as the party struggles to survive the Australian Outback—snakes, floods, dingoes, and each other. This is Wilson’s first novel and, other than some language problems that were almost insurmountable, it was clear and concise and brutal. I have read a lot of Australian fiction and am used to most of the slang and different vocabulary but this one often had me stumped. The story remains engrossing and vicious and uncompromising but highly enjoyable. less

Download links for: The Roving Party

Advertising