English Passengers: A Novel | Matthew Kneale

English Passengers: A Novel | Matthew Kneale | Hilarious voyage to a remote corner of the world...!

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English Passengers...

	English Passengers: A Novel Matthew Kneale Anchor, 2001 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 85 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In 1857 when Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley and his band of rum smugglers from the Isle of Man have most of their contraband confiscated by British Customs, they are forced to put their ship up for charter. The only takers are two eccentric Englishmen who want to embark for the other side of the globe. The Reverend Geoffrey Wilson believes the Garden of Eden was on the island of Tasmania. His traveling partner, Dr. Thomas Potter, unbeknownst to Wilson, is developing a sinister thesis about the races of men.

Meanwhile, an aboriginal in Tasmania named Peevay recounts his people?s struggles against the invading British, a story that begins in 1824, moves into the present with approach of the English passengers in 1857, and extends into the future in 1870. These characters and many others come together in a storm of voices that vividly bring a past age to life.

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Very Good Book

This is one of the best and wittiest books I have read, dealing with "benign" colonialism. The British, in the name of "saving the natives" managed to eradicate the whole population of Tasmania. True comedy always has the element of the tragic in it as this book proves.

Hilarious voyage to a remote corner of the world...!

It starts as a comical, hilarious narration of the journey of a ship loaded with illegal liquor and tobacco, around the world, and ends as a superb, historical narration of the fate of the Tasmanian aborigines.

This is as good as a novel can get. Kneale expertly switches back and forth between the languages of the Manxmen, the elite British, convicts and aborgines, giving us an unusual view of the world from all their eyes.

I haven't read anything like this for a long time and I know I won't, for a long time to come.

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Excellent historical fiction

I recently read the English Passengers as part of my local book club. Not being a huge fan of historical fiction, and having heard that it was a difficult book to begin, I wasn't looking forward to reading it. However, once I began, I was quickly entranced and delighted by the story. Kneale has a quick, dry wit that permeates all the different story lines, which are told in many different voices and perspectives.

There are two main missives, one following the ship Sincerity, captained by Manx-men from the Isle of Mann, trying to surreptitiously smuggle some goods to make a profit, and their unlikely passengers who are off to find Eden in Tasmania.

The second follows a half-caste Tasmanian as he struggles to find his place in a world where neither the white men nor the aboriginals accept him. I found this part to be very disturbing and gripping, as it illustrates the near-extermination of the Tasmanian natives. The concept of benign (and intentional) malevolence is very clearly presented.

I found the ending to be very satisfying and not something I would have anticipated. In part sea yarn, historical fiction, and social commentary, I highly recommend this book.

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The English Invade Paradise

In reading this book, the Prime Directive in the Star Trek series came to mind. Star Fleet personnel were not to interfere with the civilizations they studied to prevent harm. This book demonstrates the value and need for such a policy.

In the early 19th Century, the British Empire was in full swing. In Tasmania, once known as Van Dieman's land, England had established penal colonies and other colonies for the intrepid. The fact that Tasmania was already occupied was not an issue, for the aborigines were seen as savages, in need of civilizing and Christ. The felons kidnapped and raped the women with impunity. When the aborigines fought back, the colonists, with better weapons and resources, eventually captured the majority, often through trickery, and placed them in a camp. That the aborigines slowly, but surely fell victim to European diseases for which they had no immunity was seen as a sign of their unfitness. The colonists tried to evangelize the aborigines, and at one point, in a cringe-inducing moment, gave the aborigines "Christian" names.

The English Passengers in the title may refer to the colonists on Tasmania, though, in actuality, they were not passing through Tasmania so much as taking over. No, the English Passengers are three Englishmen who board a Manx ship to Tasmania for the purpose of finding the Garden of Eden. They include a minister, rigid in his beliefs, who is fighting the emergence of evolutionary theories, a "scientist," whose theories on race are chilling, and a young, hapless man, whose family thinks this trip will make a man of him. The ship is manned by sailors from the Isle of Wight, who failed in an attempt to smuggle goods into England, and only reluctantly took the passengers on as a way to escape the sharp eyes of English custom inspectors. On Tasmania, Peevay, the son of an aborigine and the man who raped her, describes the tale of English treatment of aborigines and him.

The story utilizes numerous narrators, and the author does an excellent job of giving them their own distinctive voices. The story of Peevay is especially poignant, as we observe his betrayal by the English and the delusions of the English that they are actually helping the aborigines. The Manx sailors provide a great deal of comic relief. I highly recommend this book. It is an interesting read, and the story is compelling.

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Intellectual epic, very good, unusual style, "Dickens" detail

I really enjoyed this book but not everyone will. It is not an easy "beach book." This is a thoughtful epic that is long and complex. The story is fascinating. It's told from many points of view -- at least 10 if I recall. The story always moves forward but from various viewpoints such as that of an Australian aborigine. It is handled superbly. I think this is sort of a "Berkeley" type book - I thoroughly enjoyed it, as did my UC Berkeley graduate son and even his wife who is new to the English language. Very different.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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