Fly Away Peter (Vintage International) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The statement may be true if Fly Away Peter is read simply for the depiction of war. There is however, more of interest to the novel than just war. Fly away Peter moves at a very reasonable rate. When Jim is introduced, then Ashley too, at first the reader is told little about them. Their characters are developed gradually so that it is not until halfway through the novel that the reader starts to know them. At this stage he goes to war. Malouf depicts the atrocities of war well, the trenches, the duckboards and the way the English officers had no idea, but he also shows the other side of the coin at the start, like paradise, a Garden of Eden. The sanctuary where Jim worked for Ashley, the swamp in it - this was Jim's Eden. Then he went to war and he found his Hell.

In the novel Malouf shows attention to detail, but doesn't overdo it. You can feel the passion he writes with, when describing the birds, the swamp and Queensland. Jim's paradise, the swamp, and the land in the sanctuary are described, but a little bit is left to your imagination. This is so that it can take on a little of your own idea of paradise. Jim's father has taken a negative attitude towards life, as a result of his life experiences. He resents Jim and his association with the upper class lot. Jim doesn't have his father's sense of class distinction and is not self-conscious of differences between the classes. Ashley, Jim and Imogen Harcourt (a photographer) all have the common bond of the swamp and the sanctuary. This is where they go to see the different birds.

Jim goes to war. The book speeds up here a little, but this I think is due to the change of pace that Jim undergoes. Back in Queensland, the pace is one that is easygoing, and slow, when he gets to war, there is the quick on the spot decisions that you need to make, and can't spend much time thinking it over or you will be dead. Malouf understands this and picks up on it whilst writing. "Jim saw that he had been living, till he came here, in a state of dangerous innocence. The world when you looked from both sides was quite other than a placid, slow-moving dream, without change of climate or colour and with time and place for all. He had been blind." (Chapter 14, pp. 103.) "Time, even in the dimension of his own life, had lost all meaning for him." (Chapter 13, pp. 104) But this part isn't just about the horrors of war, Malouf shows us that in some ways the war can make people admit what it is like to actually be human. As all Jim's friends, and companions die in the war, he understands what is happening and seems to be defeated. As he watches an old man plant his crops, he realises that even though people, plants, animals and birds are confronted by the most horrific situations they still continue and refuse to be defeated. Jim gets some courage from this and goes on.

Some people may think that the book moves too slowly until the war. I disagree with them. I think that the pace of the book is just right, as it helps develop the scene and contrast. At the start it is slow but not too slow, and shows how Jim really is, what his life has been like till that point - very laid back. The novel gently speeds up as Jim needs to make snap decisions, to think quickly and act whilst he is doing all of this. The depiction of war is not all this book's about. It provides a comparison between Jim's Eden and his Hell. The pace at the start is necessary to reflect the peace of Jim's early life.