I’ve watched two of the three parts of the series. It’s excellent.
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Yay, hold just came in so I’ll have book back for discussion.
It’s February 1st! Welcome to our discussion of A Town Like Alice. I know this book isn’t perfect–the historical time period means some racism and sexism and we’ll talk about that–but even so I found it to be a wonderful read. It’s really two separate novels tied together by… a plane flight. Or really two flights: Joe’s to England and Jean’s to Australia. Once they reunite, story #2 begins. I read this in my younger days and preferred the first half to the second. A harrowing journey, bravery, death, survival, sacrifice, missed opportunities for love…What’s not to love for a hopelessly romantic history buff? For this re-read, at a slightly less romantic and more pragmatic stage of life, I had a greater appreciation for the second half of the book. It’s a novel that I closed with satisfaction. Those last few lines were done just right:
I have sat here day after day this winter, sleeping a good deal in my chair, hardly knowing if I was in London or the Gulf country, dreaming of the blazing sunshine, of poddy-dodging and black stockmen, of Cairns and of Green Island. Of a girl that I met forty years too late, and of her life in that small town that I shall never see again, that holds so much of my affection.
Poor Noel. I’m sure he left his baby godson a tidy sum in that revised will.
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Discussion Questions (from bokclubdeepdive.com)
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Jean Paget thought, “People who spent the war in prison camps have written a lot of books about what a bad time they had. They don’t know what it was like, not being in a camp.” In what ways was life even harder for the women and children not being in camps?
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Times were tough for the people in Malay during the occupation by Japan, yet the kindness some people extend unto others is inspiring. What are some examples of kindness from this story that you found inspiring?
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Six months into their journey as prisoners, the remaining women were no longer helpless. “They had learned to use the native remedies for malaria and dysentery, to clothe themselves and wash and sleep in the native manner; in consequence they now had far more leisure than when they had been fighting to maintain a western style of life in primitive conditions.” Describe an experience in which you had to adapt to a different culture or living situation.
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In what ways did Joe Harman represent different things to the women?
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When Jean Paget supposes the 3 years she spent as a prisoner in Malay may have been wasted, Noel Strachan says in reply, “You won’t know if it was wasted until you come to the end of your life.” Is this true in Jean’s case? Why or why not?
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Jean spends 3 weeks in Cairns waiting for Joe; during this time she wavers between feeling foolish and wanting to leave, and knowing she needs to be patient and take a chance on love. Have there been times in your own life when you’ve doubted yourself and tried to talk yourself out of taking a risk and following your own dream?
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Do you think Noel Strachan was in love with Jean in a romantic way?
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Jean is a contradiction–in what ways does she conform with societal expectations, and in what ways does she defy them?
I re-read The Thornbirds immediately before reading A Town Like Alice. It was really interesting to read two tales of the outback, with some overlapping time frames. I kept expecting Joe to mention Drogheda or the Cleary brothers.
The writing styles were starkly different — with The Thornbirds sometimes overwrought and leaning toward melodrama, and A Town Like Alice being a very lean, at times almost emotion-free recounting — fitting, as the storyteller was a stolid, aging Englishman. For weeks after reading those two books (and then watching the mini-series), my brain kept responding to things with terms like, “Too right,” “That’s a crook deal” and “she’s a bonza girl.” 
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I ended up absolutely loving this book. I wasn’t totally sure if I was going to in the very beginning, but I grew to love Noel’s voice as the moderator.
I had a hard time not thinking about the hostages in Gaza while I was reading Jean’s story in the prison camps. It hit a bit too close to home with current events and I was very disturbed every time they lost another woman or child.
I read the author’s note at the end that this was inspired by an actual woman’s story in Sumatra about being marched around from place to place for years.
I was touched with how much of an impact that experience had on Jean and how it seemed to shape everything she did going forward - from returning to build the well, to what she wanted in her town in Australia. The focus on making life easier and happier for women was inspiring, especially for someone in that era.
I was very relieved that Joe and Jean survived the epic flooding in Australia as I kept waiting for some disaster to happen to one of them. I was so happy that wasn’t the case!
The only part of the book that I would have changed was the very end, when Noel says he can’t trust his memory of events. I didn’t want a romanticized version of Jean with exaggerated accomplishments. I wanted it all to be real!
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I don’t have much time right now – about to catch a flight – but I just popped in to say I really liked the book, albeit its stodginess. I thought the movie was awful, but the mini-series was fantastic. I’m now mixing up the mini-series with the book, so I’ll need to be careful with my memory during our discussion, to make sure I’m discussing the book!
If anyone wants to read another book about the Outback – a modern one – try The Lost Man by Jane Harper. She’s one of my favorite authors of late.
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Happy to report that I still love this book. Neville Shute’s writing is always pretty spare (betraying his roots as an engineer?), but in the book I think it goes particularly well with Noel as the narrator. I always think of it as a love story about the couple, but it’s also a love story to Australia, Shute’s adopted country. You can see how he loves the landscape, the can-do spirit of the settlers and even the aborigines who he treats with much more respect than most novels of this era.
I love the way Jean takes agency and makes things better for everyone around her whatever her circumstances. Instead of reading a book while waiting for Joe to come back, she makes a pair of shoes!
As for The Thornbirds, although I very much enjoyed reading it, I feel that at its heart its just a melodramatic soap opera, and the forbidden love of Ralph and Meggie just feels icky to me now. Not just the age difference, but also the way Ralph always chooses power over love.
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Head hanging in shame. I haven’t finished the book. Two other book clubs wormed their way in first; plus I have other books that I need to finish and return to the library.
Good to know. I’m at the point where the flights have occurred. From your post I assume reuniting comes next. So far I like the book when I’m reading it, but have found it easy enough to put to the side. @Mary13’s descriptor of it as
a very lean, at times almost emotion-free recounting — fitting, as the storyteller was a stolid, aging Englishman
might be behind that. I’ve reminded myself that it’s Noel who tells Jean’s story years later. I never had to worry about her not making it out of Malaya.
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I must be still young:). I still think the first half is better. The second half sounded fairy tale-ish. A incredible woman succeeding in everything she touches. And a perfect husband, and so on. The first half was about an ordinary person rising to the occasion, doing what they can in daily lives. It was existential.
A minor gripe of mine is also that she decides what’s best for the village. Patronizing a bit? Glossing over predictable conflict/tension made the book seem shallow to me.
That must be what gripped me. I liked he went straight to the point not wasting too much time.
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I loved this book and can’t believe I never ran across it before. A number of recent books in this Book Club have had beautiful writing, but I didn’t really care for the storylines or most characters. The writing in A Town Like Alice may have been spare, but the story was fabulous and the characters great.
Jean is certainly one of the great fictional heroes, brave, compassionate, and innovative. And even if her story was possibly romanticized or exaggerated in Noel’s telling, isn’t that the point of fiction? To be told from an author’s perspective? It would be like all the dramatization movies and tv shoes that take the basis of a person’s life and present it to the viewer in a way that enhances that life.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I finished the book so don’t have details handy.
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This is one of my favorite books – I must have read it 20 times over the years.
And while I loved the first half, for a long time I thought I wanted to be an urban planner…so I was completely mesmerized and inspired by the second half and how she managed to make Willstown into “A Town Like Alice”.
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This Book Club read “The Dry” by Jane Harper several years ago, which was excellent.
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I actually finished this book a few days ago. I enjoyed it a lot, to the tune of 4 stars. I can’t quite go to 5 stars because, as @Iglooo pointed out, everything Jean attempts is a huge success, which, IMO, is more than a bit unbelievable. That said, I found the story interesting and engaging.
Initially I wasn’t sure how I felt about the “lean, emotion-free recounting,” but ultimately came to terms with it. One thing I found a bit annoying was how Shute, when writing dialog between Jean and Joe, had Jean include “Joe” in almost every sentence or question, i.e. use his name. It seemed very unnatural to me. (Not sure I’m explaining what annoyed me very well.)
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Well, a small quibble, the shoe factory didn’t make a profit until the year before Noel comes for a visit, but the shoe factory is critical for getting 22 girls with an income to stay in town and spend their money on the other stuff. I have no idea if economically that all makes sense, but I thought the description of what Jean did at each stage seemed very believable. (Summary is in the last chapter.)
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I really enjoyed reading a A Town Like Alice. The racist and sexist attitudes of the time did bother me. I had to keep reminding myself of the era of the story. I also tried to watch the movie and had to turn it off. Really bad! I watched the mini series and enjoyed it. I finished the book a few weeks ago so I need to go refresh my memory a little bit.
I am okay with Jean’s success building the town of Willstown. She paid attention to what was successful in the town of Alice. She had money to invest at the right time to grow Willstown. Okay, so maybe the amount of Jean’s success is a little far-fetched, but I don’t feel like it’s completely far-fetched. Plus, as @Marilyn mentioned earlier, we’re seeing Jean’s success through the eyes of Noel and he was definitely wearing rose colored glasses.
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While I generally enjoyed the book, I’m going to be the outlier here. I found it irritating. Jean’s just too perfect. She assumes leadership almost immediately as the youngest member of the women’s group, essentially an au pair. In an era where she would have been raised with the same British attitudes, she not only speaks Malay fluently but quickly embraces local custom, ignoring any censure. A man she just met is literally crucified for her. She conveniently comes into money, offers a remarkably well-considered and culturally sensitive gift for the women of the village, manages to run multiple businesses in the face of incredible challenges. Everyone likes her and falls in love with her. Her only flaw appears to be that she’s too wonderful?
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Jean is (nearly) perfect, but it’s Noel who keeps glossing over conflict, Noel who makes her too wonderful. I agree with Marilyn – if Jean’s story was romanticized or exaggerated in Noel’s telling, that’s kinda the point.
Jean does have a run-in with the town banker (over the flies and his attitude). In the book, the interaction is treated light-heartedly, but in the mini-series, it’s the basis for the only argument that Jean and Joe have.
I think that’s almost exactly what Joe says to Jean in the mini-series!
I had no problem with Jean being bilingual. She was raised in Malaya until age eleven and learned under her amah – not only with her mother’s blessing, but also with her mother’s insistence that she continue speaking the language when back in England. Jean’s background was very different from Mrs. Frith, who spent 15 years in Malaya as an adult, but only knew enough words to order the servants around.
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Oh, Mrs. Frith was a piece of work!!
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You’re explaining it perfectly. I know exactly what you’re referring to, and it drove me a little batty. I couldn’t decide if it was Jean’s tic, or if Nevil Shute thought we wouldn’t be able figure out who the speakers were in the dialogue sequences without the constant use of a name. Weird though, because it’s only Jean who does it, not Joe.
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