Rating: 
Summary: A very strong work
Review: A coming-of-age/awakening/search-for-identity novel that moves beyond the angst felt in the search for truth/self to interesting modes of revelation and insights into human nature. The story is more complex than many novels because the revelations are multiple-each character develops new insights and ways of knowing. Other themes developed by Malouf in this novel deal with man-nature relationships; fear of of the unknown, the alien, or the misunderstood; and cultural bias, esp. toward other ways of thinking/knowing. A fine story that is rich in ideas.
Rating:
Summary: The repressive power of fear and conformity...
Review: Gemmy Fairley doesn't belong anywhere. Tossed from the sea upon a wild Australian beach, the boy is a curiosity to the indigenous natives who discover and allow him to tag along, learning their language and customs. A strange yearning assails his dreams, images, memories of a beginning, brutal people and things barely glimpsed.From a truly ignominious beginning, Gemmy schools himself to adapt to circumstances, intuiting acceptable behavior as necessary for survival. Throughout his wanderings with the Aborigines, he assumes the coloring of his surroundings, much as they do. But another voice, a distant curiosity calls Gemmy ever closer to the poverty-riddled settlers who view him as a threat. There is a life-defining moment for two young people, Lachlan and Janet, when they first see Gemmy, perched precariously atop a fence, held for a moment in time that marks their consciousness indelibly. Drawing Gemmy into their world, Lachlan is his mentor, Janet his friend, both protective of his innocence, forever fascinated with that first seminal glimpse. In such an intimate and hardscrabble community, where human connections insure survival, Gemmy is a freak, too strange to be perceived as non-threatening, white, but with the outward visage of a black. Fearful and superstitious, they draw away, repulsed. Eventually, Gemmy finds himself moving back into the bush, unable to manage the demands of such a borderline civilization. Years later, as adults, Lachlan and Janet deeply reconnect over their youthful remembrance, that slender thread that attached them to Gemmy for that short time in their young lives. The writing is powerful and beautifully rendered, with a sense of awareness that pulses with life. Immersed in nature's stark reality, words become feelings, thoughts merge with the heartbeat of humanity at its most vulnerable.
Rating: 
Summary: You'll love this if you don't read it with a purpose..
Review: I didn't read this for a class or an essay but I can see how it might have ruined it for me if I had to pick through it trying to find something tangible to say. That said, I found the trading of power (or at least the characters' perception of it) in this book most compelling. From one second to the next, as the characters in a scene come and go, or the shock of first appearances fade or linger, a feeling of control quickly becomes one of fear and distrust. It's a true Malouf masterpiece because he makes us think about the people in our own world today by letting us into a story in an otherwise distant time and place. It's a beautiful book, and reads to me- like most of Malouf's writing- like a pure stream in a dirty world.
Rating:
Summary: The return of White Man-Child's Return to His Own Language
Review: Malouf doesn't need much introduction, in all truth, the fairest comment one can make is "read him." With that said and in the spirit of contradiction, here is why I believe "Remembering Babylon" is such a great work of literature. The main story of "Remembering Babylon" is the return of Gemmy, a White young man to a European enclave in Australia, after having being thrown overboard from a ship and having lived among the Australian Aborigene since he washed ashore.
Now this is the way the book begins, but it's narrative takes deeply into the heart of longing and pain of many of the people who settled the European colony.
To me Gemmy, and through him everyone else in the novel, returns to a deeper place called language. Language not only as forgotten words but language as the site of memory where the body recounts what has been exposed to and has endured. Language that also shows each settler's agony in a strange land, unable to grasp the vast difference between Human and Landscape.
It's not a coincidence that the women of the settlement can express such compassion for Gemmy, they know something about being different themselves. As a matter of fact, the women in this story are among the most thorough and complex renditions of a woman's character portrayed by a male novelist, anywhere in contemporary Western literature.
This a story of people who have left their place of birth, however that happened. People who lived ever since in that space that never reaches the end destination nor manages to ever return to the place of their departure.
Everyone dwells in this place which is not limbo as much as a cauldron where hope and despair burn, and its particular alchemy might turn into a new identity, even a singular dignity.
Perhaps my reading is quite personal and not what you expect, to make a decision to buy any book. But this is what this book might offer you, a journey to a time and place when you might even find yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Fear And Ignorance
Review: Mr. David Malouf has the ability to take familiar topics, amend them, and create a new viewpoint, a valid book, and worthwhile reading experience. Fear generated by the unknown as perceived by ignorant or well-educated simpletons is not new. That these feelings are often expressed in terms of racial tension; hatred and violence are routine, not an exception, and anything but a novelty. In, "Remembering Babylon" the Author tells the tale in a manner new for me, and even though the behaviors of many involved were predictable, the new perspective and quality the Author brings to it made for very good reading. As he has in previous works he sets the tale in Australia, and once again brings settlers from Europe, in this case Scotland. Mr. Malouf then takes a familiar human interaction, which is by definition tragic, and it is here he makes it his own. In terms of Race, Gemmy is as white as any of the settlers. He spent thirteen years in London, and then was washed upon the coast of Australia where he then lives amongst the Native Aborigines for sixteen years. As Gemmy has lived the better part of his life is the harsh sun he is no longer as light in complexion as the self-described white newcomers. Gemmy one day happens across the path of some children, and in fear of his safety announces he "is a British Object". The irony of this statement could be dwelt on for pages by itself. There are many relationships a reader can explore in this story. I felt a key one was that between Gemmy and the Family headed by Jock that takes him in. Jock does so to please his wife, as Gemmy is not a person he would bring into his home with his Wife and Children. The reaction of the balance of the settlement ranges from degrees of fear, to desire to destroy the race that Gemmy has morphed into from the viewpoint of the duller of the participants. Gemmy at once becomes a trusted member of Jock's Family, and the focus for every evil fantasized, imagined, or counterfeited by others. The storyline must be left for the book, however one experience shared by Jock and Gemmy is of note. Gemmy treated like the savage he is not, routinely stays several steps ahead of those who attempt to exploit him to gain knowledge of his tribe, and then extinguish them. Far from being intellectually inept, he combines the street smarts of the former London Urchin, with the practical knowledge of sixteen years of learning to live in harmony with the same land the settlers come to conquer. He becomes a harmless, productive and trustworthy part of Jock's Family if not the community. Gemmy knows his own heart, and that of those he has come to live amongst. He is under no illusions as to how he is viewed, or how he sees the world. Jock goes through a major reassessment of what he thought he was, as events build around Gemmy. The Author explores in a thoughtful manner what our thoughts are made of, how they change, and whether it is we that change, or our views of others that change us. The book is filled with smaller observations that are material for contemplation. The loneliness of settling a new land is a reality, but when the Author takes one player and has her ponder the thought of being the first dead to be buried here as well, and the loneliness of knowing no Family that has gone before, no one to join in the new resting place, is beyond poignant. Another great piece of work from this Author.
Rating: 
Summary: Sparse, but still rewarding
Review: Remembering Babylon is the story of Gemmy - washed up on the Australian coast as a boy after a life of harshness that is hard to imagine, he is taken in by group of Aborigines. Sixteen years later, he makes himself known to the white community of northern Queensland, where he causes the community to examine not only it's attitude towards what is `civilised', but also causes them to look inwards upon themselves. This is a story about frontiers - the physical frontier of the small community that Gemmy joins; the frontier of the new state of Queensland; and the frontier between civilised and primitive. There is some beautiful work in this book, especially in its examination of small community dynamics, and coming of age. But I feel that Malouf starts threads that he doesn't bother to finish - the ambiguous characters of Mrs. Hutchence and Leona are introduced with promises of an exotic past, yet we never get to know them. George the school teacher is developed, only to be left out of the second half of the story. While Malouf manages to pack a lot of punch into a short tale, I feel that perhaps just a little be of expansion would have made this an even better book. But I will admit that I got a kick out of reading a story set in my home state of Queensland - it is nice to see that there is some Australian historical fiction set somewhere other than the Southern States!
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Summary: Review
Review: Remembering Babylon, which is written by David Malouf and is the winner of the 1996 International Impac Dublin Literacy Award, is the story of a white british boy, called Gemmy Fairley, who lands someday on the Australian coast and then is raised by a group of Aborigines. The story takes place in the mid 1840's and contains many lyrical passages ,which make it difficult for the reader to understand the plot, especially a German school class. All in all it's a very poetic novel,which visualizes on the one hand the civilised world and on the other hand the primitive world impressively.
Rating:
Summary: Hans
Review: The book "Remembering Babylon" written by David Malouf takes place in Australia and describes the life from Gemmy who is a man born as a white but grow up in the bush as an Aborigine and then finally lives in a settlement of whites.
I think this book is realy interesting because you get a view into a settlement and its problems. And especially the character of Gemmy and his relationship with the settlers are full of suspense because Gemmy and his relationship to the settlers creates a lot of problems.
In my opinion the book is partly difficult to understand because there are al lot of switches in the narrative perspective and this is sometimes confusing.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read!
Review: The novel "Remembering Babylon" by David Malouf deals with the cultural clash between 19th century white settlers in Australia and the native Australian world view. Praised by many critics, the book won the 1996 International Impac Dublin Literary Award and was short-listed for the 1993 Booker Prize.
In this novel, David Malouf, an Australian himself, describes the story of Gemmy Fairley, who was cast ashore in northern Australia as a boy and then raised by Aborigines. Sixteen years later, he steps out of the "absolute darkness" of the outback and makes himself known to a small community of white settlers. Trying to find his former self, Gemmy has to deal with not only the cruelty and racism of the villagers but also with the demons of his own past. In the course of his stay, he changes the settlers' view on the natives as well as their view on themselves.
I read this book for English class, and I must say that it is not easy to read for a non-native speaker if you really want to understand the book. It took some time to get absorbed into the story, but once I had gotten the hang of it, it was an interesting and enjoyable read. Malouf uses a very poetic language and many metaphors that help get an impression of the native culture. He is also great at describing nature and impressions of it to the reader, making it easy to imagine everything. One thing I did not particularly like about this book is the fact that the narrator reveals information about Gemmy's past only in small bits, so the readers keeps on guessing and wondering what is going on sometimes. On the other hand, this way of giving facts about Gemmy is certainly what makes the reader keep on reading.
All in all, I can only recommend this book to anybody who is interested in getting to know other cultures and in learning more about "cultural clashes". Even though the story takes place in 19th century Australia, the message of "Remembering Babylon" is universal and still important today, maybe more than ever.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read!
Review: The novel "Remembering Babylon" by David Malouf deals with the cultural clash between 19th century white settlers in Australia and the native Australian world view. Praised by many critics, the book won the 1996 International Impac Dublin Literary Award and was short-listed for the 1993 Booker Prize.
In this novel, David Malouf, an Australian himself, describes the story of Gemmy Fairley, who was cast ashore in northern Australia as a boy and then raised by Aborigines. Sixteen years later, he steps out of the "absolute darkness" of the outback and makes himself known to a small community of white settlers. Trying to find his former self, Gemmy has to deal with not only the cruelty and racism of the villagers but also with the demons of his own past. In the course of his stay, he changes the settlers' view on the natives as well as their view on themselves.
I read this book for English class, and I must say that it is not easy to read for a non-native speaker if you really want to understand the book. It took some time to get absorbed into the story, but once I had gotten the hang of it, it was an interesting and enjoyable read. Malouf uses a very poetic language and many metaphors that help get an impression of the native culture. He is also great at describing nature and impressions of it to the reader, making it easy to imagine everything. One thing I did not particularly like about this book is the fact that the narrator reveals information about Gemmy's past only in small bits, so the readers keeps on guessing and wondering what is going on sometimes. On the other hand, this way of giving facts about Gemmy is certainly what makes the reader keep on reading.
All in all, I can only recommend this book to anybody who is interested in getting to know other cultures and in learning more about "cultural clashes". Even though the story takes place in 19th century Australia, the message of "Remembering Babylon" is universal and still important today, maybe more than ever.
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