Lena’s Reviews > Remembering Babylon > Status Update

Malouf is far more interested in character than in plot. He goes in and expands the history of most characters we meet. I have been holding my breath, waiting for conflict and violence since chapter 1 -- but this isn't that kind of book.

It's wonderful how the conflict goes beyond stereotypical racism to include the specific stakes characters have. Andy isn't just suspicious of Gemmy; he's a lonely man who desperately wishes his employer would trust him. He feels accusing Gemmy would make him worthier in other's eyes. This is essentially a simplification; I'll have to expand on this in my review :)

Two more flashback chapters, coloring in two more backgrounds. I'm not going to stop just yet to marvel at these two developments, for all their riveting character-exploration. I'm still troubled by the amount of detail we get from the flashbacks set in "white society," while there is no development of any aboriginal character in Gemmy's flashback. Let's see if this is deliberate...

The portrayal of socially-constructed narrative is fascinating. The tribe encodes their discovery of Gemmy as a mythical story: they claim he was a sea-calf who did a magic dance and transformed into a white boy. But the colonists do it too (though more subtly): Gemmy's interrogators patch the gaps in his tale with material taken from other stories of "aboriginalized whites" --it becomes a "Colonial Fairytale"

The first chapter (set in "white" society) had abundant dialog. The chapter set in "aboriginal" society has scarce detail and no dialog. Why is the text silent on the aboriginals? To keep this plot element more interesting and mysterious? Or because the chapter is fully from Gemmy's POV, and by keeping his memories and observations vague, it brings together the two societies?