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Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (1999) TPB Romance Australia
US $1.00
Approximately£0.74
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Condition:
“Book is in good used condition”
Very Good
A book that has been read and does not look new, but is in excellent condition. No obvious damage to the book cover, with the dust jacket (if applicable) included for hard covers. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, no underlining or highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins. Some identifying marks on the inside cover, but this is minimal. Very little wear and tear. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
- Buy it nowEucalyptus by Murray Bail (1999) TPB Romance Australia
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US $4.00 (approx £2.96) USPS Media MailTM.
Located in: Sunland, California, United States
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eBay item number:220184626466
Item specifics
- Condition
- Very Good
- Seller notes
- “Book is in good used condition”
- Narrative Type
- Fiction
- Modified Item
- No
- Type
- Novel
- Title
- Eucalyptus
- Subject
- Romance
- Age Level
- Adults, Young Adults
- ISBN
- 9780156007818
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
ISBN-10
0156007819
ISBN-13
9780156007818
eBay Product ID (ePID)
503428
Product Key Features
Book Title
Eucalyptus : a Novel
Number of Pages
264 Pages
Language
English
Topic
Family Life, General
Publication Year
1999
Genre
Fiction
Book Series
Harvest Book Ser.
Format
Trade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height
0.7 in
Item Weight
9.9 Oz
Item Length
8 in
Item Width
5.3 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
99-015148
Reviews
'There is such delight in Eucalyptus, such sly and swerving humor. Murray Bail is the warmest and most quick-witted of storytellers. You will never forget what is at the heart of this book."'Michael Ondaatje, author of the English Patient "Peerless . . . Eucalyptus is a one-of-a-kind book. It leaves you hungering for more of its author's strange and spry imaginings."'The New York Times Book Review, There is such delight in Eucalyptus, such sly and swerving humor. Murray Bail is the warmest and most quick-witted of storytellers. You will never forget what is at the heart of this book."-Michael Ondaatje, author of the English Patient "Peerless . . . Eucalyptus is a one-of-a-kind book. It leaves you hungering for more of its author's strange and spry imaginings."-The New York Times Book Review, Bail is a sort of Australian magic realist, and if that sounds like a contradiction in terms, it is a fair summary of the rather disconcerting nature of the novel in question. The eucalyptus is Australia's emblematic tree, existing in hundreds of varieties, some extremely rare, and it is Bail's fancy that a man called Holland, living on a remote estate in New South Wales, planted on his land a collection of all such trees known to man. Having performed this odd, obsessive act, he then set, for his beautiful and only daughter Ellen, one of those traps essential to fairy tales: only a man who could correctly name each tree in his vast collection could have her hand in marriage. The problem was that Ellen didn't much care for the man who looked as if he was going to win; meanwhile another man came wandering through the trees and started spinning her wondrous tales. Bail's aim in this extremely odd book is elusive. Each of the many short chapters has a eucalypt heading, and the book is full of quaint touches of lore and fey observations about nature, landscape and art, not to mention a number of short, sometimes tantalizing tales. But the net effect, for all of some pretty writing and some gauzy atmospherics, is literary in the worst sense: coy, pretentious and with more than a touch of self-satisfaction., "The idea that Holland's daughter was like the princess locked in the tower of a damp castle was of course false. After all, she was living on a property in western New South Wales."Once upon a time, on a property in western New South Wales, a man named Holland plants hundreds of varieties of eucalyptus trees, then decrees that only the suitor who can name each and every one of them will be worthy to marry his beautiful daughter, Ellen. Men try and fail: there is the gentle schoolteacher who "had correctly named eighty-seven eucalypts and was doing it well when he went blank at the fatly handsome Jarrah up against the fence behind the house"; and the New Zealander who "came up against, and was defeated by, one of the many Stringybarks..." Old men, young men, commercial travelers, sheep-shearers--even a "smiling Chinaman ... all the way from Darwin." Not one is successful. Then, one day, along comes Mr. Roy Cave, a man renowned in the eucalyptus world, someone who "employed with lip-smacking relish the terms 'petiole,' 'inflorescences,' 'falacte' and 'lanceolate,' and he was also comfortable with 'sessile', 'fusiform' and 'conculorous.'"Even in so wonderfully fractured a fairy tale as Murray Bail's Eucalyptus, it's obvious that Roy Cave is hardly the stuff romantic dreams are made of. Indeed, despite her father's warning to "beware of any man who deliberately tells a story," Ellen's Prince Charming turns out to be a mysterious young stranger who finds her wandering among her father's trees and spins her tale after tale, each one tied to a different kind of eucalypt. As the weeks go by, Mr. Cave continues to successfully identify every tree on the property, thus drawing ever closer to his prize. Meanwhile, Ellen's other suitor captures first her imagination and then her heart with stories of apprentice hairdressers who fall in love with plain-Jane heiresses; solicitors' daughters involved with married men; and lonely canary breeders who almost find happiness with spinster piano teachers. What all of these off-kilter stories have in common is a theme of missed opportunities, and lovers who realize too late that they were made for each other. Will Ellen, too, end up like one of these the sad-hearted heroines, or will her would-be lover find a way to thwart Mr. Cave's relentless victory march through the Eucalypts to claim her hand?There is so much to love about Bail's novel that it's difficult to identify exactly which of its qualities make it such a complete delight. Is it Ellen's "speckled beauty ... so covered in small brown-black moles she attracted men, every sort of man"? Is it the detailed descriptions of the landscape? The way Bail uses them to comment on human nature, on the nature of storytelling and of language itself ("a paragraph is not so different from a paddock--similar shape, similar function")? Or is it the wacky charm of the Scheharezade-like suitor's urban tales? ("Still in, "There is such delight in Eucalyptus, such sly and swerving humor. Murray Bail is the warmest and most quick-witted of storytellers. You will never forget what is at the heart of this book."-Michael Ondaatje, author of the English Patient "Peerless . . . Eucalyptus is a one-of-a-kind book. It leaves you hungering for more of its author's strange and spry imaginings."-The New York Times Book Review
Dewey Edition
21
Dewey Decimal
823
Synopsis
The gruff widower Holland has two possessions he cherishes above all others: his sprawling property of eucalyptus trees and his ravishingly beautiful daughter, Ellen. When Ellen turns nineteen Holland makes an announcement: she may marry only the man who can correctly name the species of each of the hundreds of gum trees on his property. Ellen is uninterested in the many suitors who arrive from around the world, until one afternoon she chances on a strange, handsome young man resting undera Coolibah tree. In the days that follow, he spins dozens of tales set in cities, deserts, and faraway countries. As the contest draws to a close, Ellen and the stranger's meetings become more erotic, the stories more urgent. Murray Bail's rich narrative is filled with unexpected wisdom about art, feminine beauty, landscape, and language. Eucalyptus is a shimmering love story that affirms the beguiling power of storytelling itself., Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book A "New York Times Book Review" Notable Book of the Year On a property in New South Wales, a widower named Holland lives with his daughter, Ellen. Over the years as she grows into a beautiful woman, Holland plants hundreds of different eucalyptus trees on his land, filling the landscape, making a virtual outdoor museum of trees. When Ellen is nineteen, Holland announces that she may only marry the man who can correctly name the species of each and every gum tree on his property. A strange contest begins, and Ellen is left unmoved by her suitors until she chances on a strange young man resting under the Coolibah tree whose stories will amaze and dazzle her. A modern fairy tale, and an unforgettable love story, that bristles with spiky truths and unexpected wisdom about art, feminine beauty, landscape, and language. "Eucalyptus" affirms the seductive power of storytelling itself.
LC Classification Number
PR9619.3.B25E73 1999
Item description from the seller
About this seller
Wandas Books and Treasures
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- b***0 (1358)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseQuick shipping. Arrived early and was well packed. Everything is as described. Great value for the price.
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- t***k (1137)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseItem arrived quickly, but damage to the back of the box was not noted in the listing. I feel a bit cheated.
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