Fly away Peter

Let me start by saying I'm not a Malouf fan. I must be one of the only Australian English teachers who isn't a fan of his.

But this novel is a classic case of "Too clever by half." Many people adore this novel, I personally can't stand it. Its point is obvious and heavily laboured, and the repetition of the "Fly away Peter" intertextual reference is painful.

Getting a class of students to read it was like pulling teeth. From a lion. Whilst it was awake. And hungry.

This is very much a personal perspective, but teaching with this book is like teaching the worst of the Australian literary canon. It's full of navel-gazing, Australian pre-occupation with self-perception and nationhood, and horribly colonial.

It does has some nice moments, and if you're looking for concrete examples to teach specific techniques, I'll begrudgingly admit it is quite useful for that.

But I've not actually said anything about the novel, have I? The bird metaphor is constant, and the representation of Flanders' when the Aussie soldiers go to war is typical in terms of stereotypes, etc. 'Parochial' is a great way to phrase it, 'literature' is another. Don't go into this expecting a simple plan read - it purports to have significant depth and layers. Well, it does, there's a number of readings you can apply, but the problem is they're trying so hard to be smart that they're just laboured.

But. This novel might be eye-opening for some people, if they want something conrete and obvious to fawn over.