English Passengers

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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. Read English Passengers – kino-fada.fr The last book I read in 2016 becomes the first I review in 2017 That sounds neat but it also sounds over obvious and not especially interesting what else should I review first, you might ask actually I reviewed little of what I read in November and December, and I ve already read three books in January so in that sense it is not as obvious as it might seem There are some neat things about this book too but some others that are over obvious and definitely not specially interesting and thou The last book I read in 2016 becomes the first I review in 2017 That sounds neat but it also sounds over obvious and not especially interesting what else s...An immensely satisfying read and a literary adventure That s what this book was It began with the first line Say a man catches a bullet through his skull in somebody s war, so where s the beginning of that How can you not be pulled into a story that begins thus On top of that, the man behind this first line bears the auspicious name of Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley, and he is as delightful as his name suggests though you cannot see hispiratical side from the name, but it is there C An immensely satisfying read and a literary adventure That s what this book was It began with the first line Say a man catches a bullet through his skull in somebody s war, so where s the beginning of that How can you not be pulled into a story that begins thus On top of that, the man behind this first line bears the auspicious name of Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley, and he is as delightful as his name suggests though you cannot see hispiratical side from the name, but it is there Captain Kewley is the light of the story, the comic relief, the voice that steers the reader through the story and indeed through the waters of the globe, from Britain to Tasmania And there we encounter an atrocious chapter of British imperial history and the denigration of the Tasmanian Aboriginals.So, we have here the big story the atrocities in Tasmania, historica...Say a man catches a bullet through his skull in somebody s war, so where s the beginning of that This perfectly fine question is posed by captain Illiam Quillian Kewley at the beginning of English Passengers The year is 1857, and Kewley and his crew of Manx sailors only wished to transport some duty free liquor from the Isle of Man strategically located right in the middle of the Irish Sea to mainland England, where the ruthless British Customs officials were waiting for them to do just tha Say a man catches a bullet through his skull in somebody s war, so where s the beginning of that This perfectly fine question is posed by captain Illiam Quillian Kewley at the beginning of English Passengers The year is 1857, and Kewley and his crew of Manx sailors only wished to transport some duty free liquor from the Isle of Man strategically located right in the middle of the Irish Sea to mainland England, where the ruthless British Customs officials were waiting for them to do just that, so they could impose a fine on theprosperous sailors The enormous fine forces Kewley to rebrand his vessel whis is named wait for it Sincerity into a travelling ship, and offer to take anyone pretty much anywhere, as long as it s soon and sufficiently away from British customs officials This is when the Reverend Geoffrey Wilson enters the scene he is a vicar devoted to proving the accuracy of Scripture and through close reading grew convinced that the Garden of Eden is located not in Arabia...An excellently quirky, educational, thought provoking, and often humourous book that avoids being confusing despite multiple narrators or off putting when describing theshocking aspects of the near extinction of Aborigines in Tasmania and the views of white supremacists Even the potentially awkward mix of socio political themes and jolly japes works.PLOT Not sayingthan is on the back cover It is set in the 1800s and opens with the crew of Sincerity from the Isle of Man, intent on An excellently quirky, educational, thought provoking, and often humourous book that avoids being confusing despite multiple narrators or off putting when describing theshocking aspects of the near extinction of Aborigines in Tasmania and the views of white supremacists Even the potentially awkward mix of socio political themes and jolly japes works.PLOT Not sayingthan is on the back cover It is set in the 1800s and opens with the crew of Sincerity from the Isle of Man, intent on petty smuggling, but who end up taking some Englishmen to Tasmania, including a priest with a penchant for geology who thinks he will find the Garden of Eden, and a doctor intent on provin...Moderni klasik engleske knji evnosti Uzgred, autor je bio odu evljen time kako se po srpski pi e njegovo ime Metju Nil English Passengers is one of the best novels I have ever read A story told by multiple narrators, it initially focuses on a Manx smuggling vessel which sets off for England only to get chartered to set sail to Van Diemen s Land Tasmania because some crazy reverend is convinced that Van Diemen s Land is the site of the Garden of Eden Among the ship s many larger than life passengers are the reverend himself, a doctor with some rather alarming racial theories and a captain desperate to keep hi English Passengers is one of the best novels I have ever read A story told by multiple narrators, it initially focuses on a Manx smuggling vessel which sets off for Engl...This is one of the few books that I have given up on reading I had a strong sense of wrongness from many of the point of view POV characters and quickly began to skim read before skimming off the book all together.By wrongness I mean that the POVs seemed to me to strike false notes they didn t seem fictional enough to me All novels are constructed things Fiction is the deliberate choice of unreal elements to achieve the effect chosen by the author, but in this case it felt too obviously so This is one of the few books that I have given up on reading I had a strong sense of wrongness from many of the point of view POV characters and quickly began to skim read before skimming off the book all together.By wrongness I mean that the POVs seemed to me to strike false notes they didn t seem fictional enough to me All novels are constructed things...Peevay s take BOOK started wonderfully BANG Like Manx gun All echoey bouncing off num WHITE MEN Scuts Captain Illiam Killian Kewley s take I came to the godforsaken island of Tasmania speaking my strange Manx tongue, with my Manx crew If I could have found a way to weigh anchor with the slebby preacher, Reverend Geoffrey Wilson, his nemesis, the snurly Dr Thomas Potter and the gorm, lazy bones, Timothy Renshaw attached, I wou...This is a wonderfully original book A mix of history, intrigue and human suffering this is a unique book with an accessible story that is nevertheless literary.We follow several threads of this story first a vicar who is obsessed with finding the Garden of Eden in Tasmania He finds a rich benefactor who funds an expedition to find the garden Added to the expedition are a doctor with extreme racial views concerning mental attainment, scientific experimentation etc and a young man who i This is a wonderfully original book A mix of history, intrigue and human suffering this is a unique book with an accessible story that is nevertheless literary.We follow several threads of this story first a vicar who is obsessed with fin...Colonizing EdenThree Englishmen set out on a Manx sailing vessel to reach Tasmania One is a cleric who believes the island is the site of the Garden of Eden, another is a surgeon with pre Hitlerian ideas about racial stereotypes, and the third is a young botanist Interwoven with this is the story of the exploitation and near extermination of the aboriginal peoples at the han...

English Passengers
  • English
  • 23 April 2017
  • Paperback
  • 446 pages
  • 038549744X
  • Matthew Kneale
  • English Passengers