Nonfiction Boot Camp discussion

I had suggested Chatwin for the last month so here is my take after reading it.

I was disappointed by Songlines. Maybe because my expectations when reading a travel book is to learn something about the geography, culture, history, etc. of the place being written about.

I know little about the Aboriginal people in Australia other than what I saw in the movie "Rabbitproof Fence", a true story about three sisters who escaped back to their family after being forced to attend a boarding school set up to teach "civilized" ways.

Songlines appeared to be more a hodgepodge of Chatwin's ideas and wanderings. He seemed to interact and write more about non-Aboriginals and stayed behind rather than going with Arkady for part of the book.

I still don't understand what Songlines really are. It seems like they are songs that are passed down from one generation to another that mix geography with tales of Creation. It sounds like geographical borders between different Aboriginal groups can be delineated by listening to the songs sung. If anyone has a better grasp, please explain to me.

I also did not understand why there were about 60-70 odd pages with Chatwin's musings about his other travels over the years with quotes from other authors. What was the point of that?

Chatwin's writing style though was easy to get through. The sentences and dialogue used reminded me a bit of Hemingway.

Since finishing the book, I have read in other places that this is less a concrete travel book than Chatwin's thoughts on the nature of travel and that some characters were fusions of people he had met. I still find the book confusing.

I'm so glad someone else started this discussion...I was just about to come on and admit I'm only about half-way finished. But this isn't because I'm not liking it, I'm just swamped with work (and avoiding it again right now!) Chatwin is a beautiful writer and it seems working in the tradition of travel writing as a way to ponder the human condition, who were are, where we come from, where we're going. I think the downside of this is what you're talking about, Ellesee...in talking more about humanity he seems to be talking about himself, and maybe missing something about the aboriginal community. It is very much an Englishman's point of view of an indigenous people as "noble savages" more fulfilled than the typical Westerner.

OK, I'm off to finish to see if this all holds up.