Does it matter if it's "true"?
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When a friend lent me this book, recommending it, he mentioned the controversy around it. I looked up the author on Wikipedia and read the scathing commentary, which almost put me off reading the book. I'm glad my curiosity prevailed, because it's worth reading. The book conveys some important messages about the way Western "civilisation" needs to recover our connection with the natural world, and it does so with great poetic simplicity.
The Wikipedia entry makes it sound as though this is a bit of corporate marketing literature, when it is quite the reverse - and the author is a natural writer: there are some really beautiful passages and perfect descriptions (for example, describing the rare sight of heavy rainclouds: "Occasionally we could even walk under the big overhead shadow, catching the same view an ant might see from the sole of a boot").
If books such as Robert Lawlor's "Voices of the First Day" are taken as a reference point, then it's not inconceivable that a tribe exists that lives in this way. In a way, though, does it matter? Although the outrage about cultural misappropriation is understandable, the heart of this book is clearly sincere, and if it's fictional then it is only employing a well-worn literary device that goes back at least as far as the Bible.
This book may well be a consolidation of the wisdom of various indigenous cultures, from Aboriginal to Native American, but distilling that wisdom into such a direct and beautifully written story is probably just what the doctor ordered when it comes to guiding a way out of the mess we've made - which we urgently need to do, for the sake of our planet and our species.
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Read this as a novel, not reality
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I read this knowing it was controversial, but decided to read it first and then read about it.... As a novelisation of going native with the Aboringines in the outback, it was gripping and moving - but in the same way as all those Carlos Castaneda books I read many years ago, it was surely too good to be true.
At least, in the edition I read, the author's foreword admitted it was now published as a novel, but it appears that there is a lot of confusion over whether she actually spent any time with the Aborigines in the bush at all, and my over-riding question was why would they choose her as their initiate and messenger? There seemed to be some confusion between Aboriginal and Native American traditions.
I enjoyed reading it - it was thought-provoking and entertaining, but must admit I read it in the same way as I loved watching Crocodile Dundee! I shall be looking out for a copy of Bruce Chatwin's 'Songlines' to get a more realistic perspective.
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not real? no worries!
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Marlo Morgan has written an inspiring and humbling 'novel' which can touch you to your soul - if you let it. Who cares if her story is real or not? It's meant to be thought provoking and perhaps to encourage one to think a little harder about one's precious material world ... Read it for the beauty in the description of the journey. Read it for the difference it may make to you. Leave cynicism at the preface, and just go on the walk. This is a 'desert island' book. Mine's ancient now - and so worn from the hundreds of read's it has had - it's on permanent loan, I'm getting another!
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Be inspired but don't take it as gospel
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I read this as optional reading for a nutrition course and enjoyed it as light relief from fats, oils and anatomy/physiology; I think it was included on the course to open students eyes to the philosophy and holistic healing aspects of natural nutrition and, as that, it works. It is a entertaining hotch-potch of traditional American-Indian, Huna and shamanic practices, but in no way does it describe the aboriginal way of life. Serious scholars of aboriginal culture are outraged at her audacity. Enjoy it as a thought-provoker in the same vein as The Celestine Prophecy, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Vision Quest, Shirley MacLaine etc., but the Australian Aboriginals have generally decried this book and the author seems to have transposed knowledge of American Indian shamanic practices to the Outback, with little factual basis. She claims to have changed the facts to protect identities and, intriguingly, tribal elder Burnam Burnam endorsed the book before his death. Perhaps, as other elders of other first nations have done, it is the message to westerners that they want endorse, rather than the secrets of their race. Having said all that, it was an engaging, absorbing and thought provoking read - and perhaps that's all the author intended. As a chronicle it is inaccurate and flawed, but as a 'new-age parable' novel it hits the spot. Check out Wikipedia.org or google her name and make up your own mind; if she really only did it for the money then it's only her that will be harmed.
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Mutant Message Down Under
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I had been lent a copy of this book and enjoyed it immensely, as what I thought was factual experience and insight into Aboriginal culture. I was planning to purchase a copy so I could re-read it and lend it out too. However, I have now learned that the book has been 'set-up' as fact and leads readers to believe that it is classed only as fiction to protect people mentioned in the book. I am outraged that a book is allowed to mislead in this way. If I had known it was purely fictional, with no basis in actual experience of the author, I would not have read it and I certainly would not now buy a copy. I feel deceived - but nothing compared to how Aboriginal people must feel!
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