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The Crocodile
approx. 4 1/2 by 7 inch paperback 178 pages
- GenresFictionNovelsIndigenous
178 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 22, 2023
What a brilliant piece of writing. I thought the premise would be the highlight of the story but I was very wrong. The premise was amazing: the protagonist’s wife is taken by a crocodile at the bidding of a shaman.
The protagonist, Hoiri, was a brave and interesting choice. The story was told from his perspective and covered the main parts of his life up until a certain point (I won’t spoil it). He was a sweet boy who looked up to his elders which drew me in but then he behaved badly in his early adulthood which had me shaking my head in disapproval. But his transformation as a character was pretty touching. So I am left thinking how can I like this person after what happened. It put me in a contemplative mindset as the story continued. This conflict. This lack of resolution. The author’s writing reminded me of Albert Camus so I stopped judging at this point and thought about the unstated message I was meant to figure out. And if I got it, it was a good one.
There were so many delightful aspects to this story. Delightful may be the wrong word since some topics were bad (WWII references) but there was some real magic in the journey I was on. I have only read a couple of books from PNG so I can’t say whether the characters and events were typical of the region or purely exaggerated and fictional.
The treatment of others was a recurring theme in the story. Treatment of the opposite sex, of different races, different tribes, and different groups within groups. One piece captured the this nicely (although it is not quite the average tone/tension of the story):
“There was something about the clouds that was similar to the world of men. They travel in groups. There are some that seem to be more important than others and travel on a higher level. Perhaps the darker ones are the heads of the clans, who make decisions for the white fluffy ones below them. They even seem to have problems, because occasionally they shed tears. But how much nicer would it be, if all people travelled in the one direction just as the clouds do.”
The story appears to recall the joint efforts between Australia and PNG along the Kokoda Trail. I have read the Australian version of this already however this perspective was much different. I really hope it wasn’t the way it was described here but I think it must be true (I briefly researched but need to come back to it). I had always thought Australians there were the saviours but now I am not so sure. Surely they were the lesser of two evils but the way they treated the locals was not right. The locals were recruited (by force maybe) to carry the equipment and risk their lives for three years and were paid ten pounds in total. I feel very sad about that. Especially as their earnings (from making handicrafts) during the trek were confiscated. But this could be based on events not retelling events.
The story ties two cultures together. The beliefs and culture of the locals (the crocodile scenario) and their interactions with Australians (and some Americans). The ending was great.
Note of error: the premise on the back of the book refers to the brutal ways of the Europeans...there were no Europeans.
Since I am gushing with this review, I might as well add that this book was apparently the first published novel written by a Papuan (1970).
The protagonist, Hoiri, was a brave and interesting choice. The story was told from his perspective and covered the main parts of his life up until a certain point (I won’t spoil it). He was a sweet boy who looked up to his elders which drew me in but then he behaved badly in his early adulthood which had me shaking my head in disapproval. But his transformation as a character was pretty touching. So I am left thinking how can I like this person after what happened. It put me in a contemplative mindset as the story continued. This conflict. This lack of resolution. The author’s writing reminded me of Albert Camus so I stopped judging at this point and thought about the unstated message I was meant to figure out. And if I got it, it was a good one.
There were so many delightful aspects to this story. Delightful may be the wrong word since some topics were bad (WWII references) but there was some real magic in the journey I was on. I have only read a couple of books from PNG so I can’t say whether the characters and events were typical of the region or purely exaggerated and fictional.
The treatment of others was a recurring theme in the story. Treatment of the opposite sex, of different races, different tribes, and different groups within groups. One piece captured the this nicely (although it is not quite the average tone/tension of the story):
“There was something about the clouds that was similar to the world of men. They travel in groups. There are some that seem to be more important than others and travel on a higher level. Perhaps the darker ones are the heads of the clans, who make decisions for the white fluffy ones below them. They even seem to have problems, because occasionally they shed tears. But how much nicer would it be, if all people travelled in the one direction just as the clouds do.”
The story appears to recall the joint efforts between Australia and PNG along the Kokoda Trail. I have read the Australian version of this already however this perspective was much different. I really hope it wasn’t the way it was described here but I think it must be true (I briefly researched but need to come back to it). I had always thought Australians there were the saviours but now I am not so sure. Surely they were the lesser of two evils but the way they treated the locals was not right. The locals were recruited (by force maybe) to carry the equipment and risk their lives for three years and were paid ten pounds in total. I feel very sad about that. Especially as their earnings (from making handicrafts) during the trek were confiscated. But this could be based on events not retelling events.
The story ties two cultures together. The beliefs and culture of the locals (the crocodile scenario) and their interactions with Australians (and some Americans). The ending was great.
Note of error: the premise on the back of the book refers to the brutal ways of the Europeans...there were no Europeans.
Since I am gushing with this review, I might as well add that this book was apparently the first published novel written by a Papuan (1970).
May 6, 2024
‘Tobacco and sugar, two of the white man’s most powerful bits of magic.’
This novel is set in Papua New Guinea in the years around World War II, at a time when colonization was changing traditional Papuan life. One of those changes was an expectation that a Western education would solve most (if not all) social problems and one of the consequences was an increased migration of people into towns. Another impact, unfortunately, was that the Moveave people became caught up in the war itself.
The central character, Hoiri Sevese, is a Papuan villager educated in a mission school. After his mother’s death (which was attributed to sorcery), Hoiri is moved from the Protestant to the Catholic mission schools. While education makes Hoiri more familiar with some aspects of the world of the white men, he sees firsthand how Papuans are treated in the European-ruled community of Port
Moresby when he travels there with his father on a trading trip.
‘Get used to smoking and drinking tea and you’ll slave for the rest of your working life for the white man.’
After he returns to the village, Hoiri is married in a Christian church and soon afterwards becomes a father. The day after his son, Sevese, is born; Hoiri is one of the villagers chosen by a patrol officer to accompany an inland patrol as a carrier. While on patrol, Hoiri is told that his wife Mitoro has been taken by a crocodile. Hoiri is refused leave to return to the village, so deserts and returns to kill the crocodile. The war intervenes, and Hoiri becomes a carrier on the Bulldog-Wau trail and here, and in Lae, he is exposed to more European civilisation. When the war ends, Hoiri is returned to his village: with eleven pounds; five sticks of tobacco, and hope:
‘Maybe this money will send Sevese to the white man’s school, maybe he will grow up to understand the things that baffle us.’
By the end of the novel, Hoiri is confused and torn between two diametrically opposed worldviews and is left without a viable culture. Hoiri is unable to compete with the whites on equal terms, nor can he find emotional security within his own culture. Sadly, Hoiri has failed in both cultural systems: he was unable to avenge Mitoro’s death, as required by traditional culture, and he cannot sign his name, he prints it instead.
‘In a flash, he saw in front of his eyes all the wasted years of carrying the white man’s cargo.’
The conflict between cultures, between tradition and modernity, and the impact of colonization are all aspects of this novel. Hoiri is a tragic figure, and it seems ironic that he sees that the same education that has partially alienated him from his own culture will somehow benefit his son Sevese.
I found this an enjoyable and challenging novel to read: it portrays a clash of cultures that is uncomfortable to read about. Its author, Sir Vincent Serie Eri (1936-1993) was one of the first graduates of the University of Papua and New Guinea in 1970, and became the fifth Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (from 1990 to 1991). ‘The Crocodile’ was published in 1970, and is stated (by its publisher) to be the first novel published in Papua New Guinea literature.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This novel is set in Papua New Guinea in the years around World War II, at a time when colonization was changing traditional Papuan life. One of those changes was an expectation that a Western education would solve most (if not all) social problems and one of the consequences was an increased migration of people into towns. Another impact, unfortunately, was that the Moveave people became caught up in the war itself.
The central character, Hoiri Sevese, is a Papuan villager educated in a mission school. After his mother’s death (which was attributed to sorcery), Hoiri is moved from the Protestant to the Catholic mission schools. While education makes Hoiri more familiar with some aspects of the world of the white men, he sees firsthand how Papuans are treated in the European-ruled community of Port
Moresby when he travels there with his father on a trading trip.
‘Get used to smoking and drinking tea and you’ll slave for the rest of your working life for the white man.’
After he returns to the village, Hoiri is married in a Christian church and soon afterwards becomes a father. The day after his son, Sevese, is born; Hoiri is one of the villagers chosen by a patrol officer to accompany an inland patrol as a carrier. While on patrol, Hoiri is told that his wife Mitoro has been taken by a crocodile. Hoiri is refused leave to return to the village, so deserts and returns to kill the crocodile. The war intervenes, and Hoiri becomes a carrier on the Bulldog-Wau trail and here, and in Lae, he is exposed to more European civilisation. When the war ends, Hoiri is returned to his village: with eleven pounds; five sticks of tobacco, and hope:
‘Maybe this money will send Sevese to the white man’s school, maybe he will grow up to understand the things that baffle us.’
By the end of the novel, Hoiri is confused and torn between two diametrically opposed worldviews and is left without a viable culture. Hoiri is unable to compete with the whites on equal terms, nor can he find emotional security within his own culture. Sadly, Hoiri has failed in both cultural systems: he was unable to avenge Mitoro’s death, as required by traditional culture, and he cannot sign his name, he prints it instead.
‘In a flash, he saw in front of his eyes all the wasted years of carrying the white man’s cargo.’
The conflict between cultures, between tradition and modernity, and the impact of colonization are all aspects of this novel. Hoiri is a tragic figure, and it seems ironic that he sees that the same education that has partially alienated him from his own culture will somehow benefit his son Sevese.
I found this an enjoyable and challenging novel to read: it portrays a clash of cultures that is uncomfortable to read about. Its author, Sir Vincent Serie Eri (1936-1993) was one of the first graduates of the University of Papua and New Guinea in 1970, and became the fifth Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (from 1990 to 1991). ‘The Crocodile’ was published in 1970, and is stated (by its publisher) to be the first novel published in Papua New Guinea literature.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
March 12, 2016
From Casual Debris.
The first novel in English to have been published from a native of Papua New Guinea is Vincent Eri's The Crocodile. Set before and during the World War II New Guinea campaign which saw the invasion of the nation by Japanese forces, the novel centres primarily on a young man, Hoiri, and his growing awareness of the colonial world in which he lives. Though Hoiri is the main character of the work, the story focuses primarily on the broad effects of Australia's occupation, and on the co-existing world views of traditional Papuan culture and Christianity within a small community.
The novel is structured in an episodic format; there is no linear plot, and the reader witnesses an evolving society through the major events in Hoiri's life. This is important since the purpose of the novel is to illustrate how a traditional culture has been affected by the modern rationalism of the west. Though the locals have adopted financial economics, there is still a good deal exchanged through trade; while Christianity's tenets are tossed about in common conversation, the belief and fear of traditional spirits nonetheless drives people's actions. The pairings of the old and new systems are so interwoven that the world Eri describes both fascinates us and makes us uncomfortable as our own western ways are being indirectly challenged. The disturbing aspect is that as Hoiri and his society age, and as they experience a war brought to them by the occupying west, it becomes clear that the original customs are, rather than intermingling with the new, being replaced by them.
While the novel is certainly educational and fascinating, it is, as a novel, highly flawed. The episodic format does not allow for strong character development, and most of the players are flat and underdeveloped. Leaps in time are sudden and awkward, and though we are following Hoiri on his life adventure, we learn many important details, such as his interest and engagement to the woman Mitori, almost in passing. There is no notion of point of view since we are inexplicably brought into the thoughts of secondary and even tertiary characters, and dialogue is used often as an expository tool, coming across as unnatural.
Despite these obvious flaws, the purpose of The Crocodile is achieved, and our sympathies for Hoiri extend to the entire Papuan populace. It is the notion of the crocodile and its dichotomy that directs most of the novel. The indigenous population respects and fears the crocodile. The creature is described as a powerful predator that nabs its victims and, before devouring them, displays their bodies as they are clenched helplessly between its teeth. Mirroring the crocodile are the white Australian officials who, in their own predatory fashion, manipulate the locals to support them in their own war. Caught between the predators of their natural habitat and those of the external ruling forces, the natives of Papua New Guinea have little choice but to adopt this new way of life, yet nonetheless remain instinctively bound to the old.
The first novel in English to have been published from a native of Papua New Guinea is Vincent Eri's The Crocodile. Set before and during the World War II New Guinea campaign which saw the invasion of the nation by Japanese forces, the novel centres primarily on a young man, Hoiri, and his growing awareness of the colonial world in which he lives. Though Hoiri is the main character of the work, the story focuses primarily on the broad effects of Australia's occupation, and on the co-existing world views of traditional Papuan culture and Christianity within a small community.
The novel is structured in an episodic format; there is no linear plot, and the reader witnesses an evolving society through the major events in Hoiri's life. This is important since the purpose of the novel is to illustrate how a traditional culture has been affected by the modern rationalism of the west. Though the locals have adopted financial economics, there is still a good deal exchanged through trade; while Christianity's tenets are tossed about in common conversation, the belief and fear of traditional spirits nonetheless drives people's actions. The pairings of the old and new systems are so interwoven that the world Eri describes both fascinates us and makes us uncomfortable as our own western ways are being indirectly challenged. The disturbing aspect is that as Hoiri and his society age, and as they experience a war brought to them by the occupying west, it becomes clear that the original customs are, rather than intermingling with the new, being replaced by them.
While the novel is certainly educational and fascinating, it is, as a novel, highly flawed. The episodic format does not allow for strong character development, and most of the players are flat and underdeveloped. Leaps in time are sudden and awkward, and though we are following Hoiri on his life adventure, we learn many important details, such as his interest and engagement to the woman Mitori, almost in passing. There is no notion of point of view since we are inexplicably brought into the thoughts of secondary and even tertiary characters, and dialogue is used often as an expository tool, coming across as unnatural.
Despite these obvious flaws, the purpose of The Crocodile is achieved, and our sympathies for Hoiri extend to the entire Papuan populace. It is the notion of the crocodile and its dichotomy that directs most of the novel. The indigenous population respects and fears the crocodile. The creature is described as a powerful predator that nabs its victims and, before devouring them, displays their bodies as they are clenched helplessly between its teeth. Mirroring the crocodile are the white Australian officials who, in their own predatory fashion, manipulate the locals to support them in their own war. Caught between the predators of their natural habitat and those of the external ruling forces, the natives of Papua New Guinea have little choice but to adopt this new way of life, yet nonetheless remain instinctively bound to the old.
June 20, 2016
It's a shame there are not more authors from the South Pacific as the folklore is very interesting. Lots of little tidbits buried in this story.
April 21, 2022
What a breathtaking book I have ever read. Hoiri was in the age when clashes of spiritualism, cultures and traditions languages. He managed to adapt to the situations that were over his face.
July 24, 2010
Published in 1970, The Crocodile was the first novel written by a New Guinean. A simple, fast-paced, and surprisingly affecting story, it is set in PNG in the colonial era during WWII. The book follows the life of young Hoiri as he attempts to navigate the transition to adulthood and understand the new world of the white man. Many of the other characters are stereotypical, but since we see the world through Hoiri's naive eyes it doesn't matter as much as it could. The story is essentially tragic--Hoiri fails to understand the new world, but is caught between the new and the old. There's a dreamlike feel to the story, the somnolent pull of the river that threads its way through the book. I loved the way Eri elides action--one minute Hoiri's walking through the village, then in almost the next sentence he's hiding in a tree while the Japanese bombs explode. Years pass in a single sentence. The POV is also slippery, without ever straying too far from Hoiri. The ending felt abrupt, but it will stay with me. It doesn't seem to make sense, and that's the point: the dream becomes a nightmare. I'm glad I picked this book up--the fantastic UPNG bookshop in Port Moresby is worth a visit.
February 27, 2022
I really enjoyed this book because it described colonial PNG from the perspective of a local villager. It also deals with WWII in PNG but unfortunately, the author makes sudden leaps in time without any explanation, sometimes in the middle of a chapter. At one point three years pass and it takes a while to realise this. This had an anticlimactic effect on the plot.
June 22, 2023
I have to admit that when I picked this book up off the library shelves, I was expecting it to be rather more eco-horror than it was. I was expecting, from the cover and the blurb, a story about a man going after the crocodile that had eaten his wife, but that's only a very small part of this historical novel, which is more about the experiences of colonisation in Papua New Guinea. Hoiri Sevese grows from a child to a man, marries, loses his wife, and ends up stuck in the middle of the Japanese-Australian conflict that took place in World War Two.
I believe that this was the first published novel by a Papua New Guinean author, and I'd absolutely read more from him. The exploitation of the Indigenous people here is affecting, and the main character's continued bafflement about why the Australian colonists behave the way that they do is enormously sympathetic. Most interesting to me, though (aside from the crocodile bits) are the slice of life sections in the earlier parts of the novel; the depiction of village life, and the way that people interact with each other and with their environment. I know vanishingly little about Papua New Guinea, and while this was written some fifty plus years ago now, it still manages to make a dent in all that ignorance.
I believe that this was the first published novel by a Papua New Guinean author, and I'd absolutely read more from him. The exploitation of the Indigenous people here is affecting, and the main character's continued bafflement about why the Australian colonists behave the way that they do is enormously sympathetic. Most interesting to me, though (aside from the crocodile bits) are the slice of life sections in the earlier parts of the novel; the depiction of village life, and the way that people interact with each other and with their environment. I know vanishingly little about Papua New Guinea, and while this was written some fifty plus years ago now, it still manages to make a dent in all that ignorance.
February 21, 2023
The book is a little bit neither here nor there, which is exactly what it’s trying to be (details the struggles of a man from Papua New Guinea, Hoiri, before and during WWII whos torn between his indigenous culture and the colonial world). But it was nevertheless interesting and I’m glad I read it! I did not know anything about Papua New Guinea’s intangible heritage going into this, so I learned a lot, for example about the plant sago.
However, the writing style was a bit dry and the book was rather fast-paced with a lack of introspection (for my taste).
Themes in the book were the religious assimilation into Christianity associated with the loss of traditional spirituality, a slight Catholic/Protestant conflict, the difficulties of English as the colonising language (which Hoiri speaks, but not perfectly fluently), the dichotomy of rural life in his community vs the colonialist lifestyle (in the capital city).
[Spoilers below]
The book tells the life story of Hoiri from his childhood days, and a voyage to Port Moresby with his father as a teenager, to his marriage to Mitoro, his short-lived experience as a carrier for a white taubada (“master”), to the incident where his wife gets eaten by the crocodile, followed by a hunt for the crocodile, and finally the World War II period where he was forced to work as a carrier for Australian (and American) soldiers.
I was fascinated by the cultural importance placed on the titular crocodile, including the belief that the breath of a crocodile is toxic and may kill a man when inhaled. The scene of the hunt - Hoiri waiting in the dark for the crocodile and his thought process throughout his attempt at killing it - was an excellent scene.
I was surprised by World War II - I had misjudged the period the book was set it! There is a heartbreaking scene where Hoiri (and his friends) spend time carving wooden figurines and selling them to the soldiers, and then when the war is over the money they made gets taken away.
However, the writing style was a bit dry and the book was rather fast-paced with a lack of introspection (for my taste).
Themes in the book were the religious assimilation into Christianity associated with the loss of traditional spirituality, a slight Catholic/Protestant conflict, the difficulties of English as the colonising language (which Hoiri speaks, but not perfectly fluently), the dichotomy of rural life in his community vs the colonialist lifestyle (in the capital city).
[Spoilers below]
The book tells the life story of Hoiri from his childhood days, and a voyage to Port Moresby with his father as a teenager, to his marriage to Mitoro, his short-lived experience as a carrier for a white taubada (“master”), to the incident where his wife gets eaten by the crocodile, followed by a hunt for the crocodile, and finally the World War II period where he was forced to work as a carrier for Australian (and American) soldiers.
I was fascinated by the cultural importance placed on the titular crocodile, including the belief that the breath of a crocodile is toxic and may kill a man when inhaled. The scene of the hunt - Hoiri waiting in the dark for the crocodile and his thought process throughout his attempt at killing it - was an excellent scene.
I was surprised by World War II - I had misjudged the period the book was set it! There is a heartbreaking scene where Hoiri (and his friends) spend time carving wooden figurines and selling them to the soldiers, and then when the war is over the money they made gets taken away.
December 23, 2023
3.5 stars
This was my read the world selection for Papua New Guinea.
In the first novel ever published by a Papuan, this book follows a part of the life of Hoiri, a Papuan villager educated in a mission school both before and after World War II and at a time when colonization was changing traditional Papuan life.
I very much enjoyed the author’s writing which was rich and descriptive and provided some fascinating aspects of traditional Papuan life, customs and beliefs.
The story itself felt a bit disjointed to me and would suddenly change time, setting and location very abruptly and I would begin to wonder if I’d missed a page! But no, it just changed direction very suddenly! This didn’t always translate to a great narrative flow for me and at times was a little confusing.
That said, I found this a mostly interesting story with some great tidbits about Papua New Guinea. And I absolutely adore that cover 😍
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
This was my read the world selection for Papua New Guinea.
In the first novel ever published by a Papuan, this book follows a part of the life of Hoiri, a Papuan villager educated in a mission school both before and after World War II and at a time when colonization was changing traditional Papuan life.
I very much enjoyed the author’s writing which was rich and descriptive and provided some fascinating aspects of traditional Papuan life, customs and beliefs.
The story itself felt a bit disjointed to me and would suddenly change time, setting and location very abruptly and I would begin to wonder if I’d missed a page! But no, it just changed direction very suddenly! This didn’t always translate to a great narrative flow for me and at times was a little confusing.
That said, I found this a mostly interesting story with some great tidbits about Papua New Guinea. And I absolutely adore that cover 😍
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
August 4, 2023
I read this novel when I was in the 12th grade; the whole class did. It was an amazing piece, we all loved it. Lol! I believe the part that interests the lot is the romance between Hoiri and Mitoro. However the ending is quite sad.
May 9, 2019
A revelation.
September 8, 2020
Chapter one review
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2024
Who is the main character in the novel called crocodile
March 15, 2025
I struggled a little following the time line and found the story a bit disjointed. It was an interesting read for the Papuan folklore and cultural clashes.
September 9, 2017
Let me first say that The Crocodile isn’t a great book. It lacks narrative flow and the dialogue is clunky and often expository. The book follows its central character from the age of seven until some time in adulthood. It starts and ends at seemingly random places, and there is no real plot—no more thematic consistency than might occur in an actual life. Eri also employs none of the cues that Western novelists use to indicate the passage of time (though to be fair I wasn’t entirely sure if this was a deficit, a stylistic choice, or perhaps simply a cultural difference in traditions of storytelling) so that months and years go by unremarked, in odd leaps and bounds. These defects notwithstanding, however, the novel provided a good complement to Kiki: Ten Thousand Years in a Lifetime: A New Guinea Autobiography, exploring many of the same issues and bringing up several important concepts and events in the history of the colonization of Papua New Guinea.
I've published a longer review of this book (exploring the above-mentioned concepts and events) on my blog, Around the World in 2000 Books.
I've published a longer review of this book (exploring the above-mentioned concepts and events) on my blog, Around the World in 2000 Books.
August 11, 2016
An interesting read. I don't think it's the greatest novel ever, but it is a good story with lots of insight into local culture. (The exact culture/language group Hoiri belongs to is never mentioned, at least as far as I noticed. The region is mentioned, though, which for people in the know about Papua New Guinea is probably enough to know.) There are many observations of white people (especially white Australians) from an indigenous perspective.
One interesting aspect of this book was its handling of time. It was linear as most novels are, but time would pass in big uneven chunks. In one paragraph, Hoiri would be working and it was described as if a couple of days' labor, but later the author would make a passing comment about it being a period of months or years. It took a little getting used to but it made for an interesting read.
One interesting aspect of this book was its handling of time. It was linear as most novels are, but time would pass in big uneven chunks. In one paragraph, Hoiri would be working and it was described as if a couple of days' labor, but later the author would make a passing comment about it being a period of months or years. It took a little getting used to but it made for an interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews