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The Mountain

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 85 ratings · 32 reviews

In 1968 Papua New Guinea is on the brink of independence, and everything is about to change. Amidst the turmoil filmmaker Leonard arrives from England with his Dutch wife, Rika, to study and film an isolated village high in The Mountains. The villagers' customs and art have been passed down through generations, and Rika is immediately struck by their paintings on a cloth m...more

Paperback, First, 448 pages

Published May 1st 2012 by Random House (Australia)

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May 28, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian, 2012, book-club-mary-who

Before reading this book, I must admit that I’d never heard of Drusilla Modjeska so I thought I would look her up and find out a bit about this book before starting The Mountain. I would never have picked up this book if it wasn’t for the fact that I needed to read this book for my local bookclub. Yes, this was the same book club that made me read A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale and The Hanging Garden by Patrick White so I was prepared not to enjoy, or even hate, this book. Modjeska is an a...more Before reading this book, I must admit that I’d never heard of Drusilla Modjeska so I thought I would look her up and find out a bit about this book before starting The Mountain. I would never have picked up this book if it wasn’t for the fact that I needed to read this book for my local bookclub. Yes, this was the same book club that made me read A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale and The Hanging Garden by Patrick White so I was prepared not to enjoy, or even hate, this book. Modjeska is an award winning Australian author known for blurring the lines between Non-Fiction and Fiction. She has written three books in the past; Poppy (1990), The Orchard (1997) and Stravinsky’s Lunch (1999); all three books won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction.

The Mountain I believe was her first attempt at a purely fiction novel, but even this book has a lot of elements that might be considered non-fiction. I do like a book that uses real events and builds a story around them and I think Drusilla Modjeska did a decent job at doing just that. The first part of this book is a real coming of age story in Papua New Guinea during a time of colonialism. While there seemed to be a handful of characters this story covers (including Rika, Leonard, Jacob, Martha and Laedi) the books does a nice job of introducing each of the characters in this part of the book. The second part of the novel deals with a new generation who are dealing with the effects of everything that has happened. This generation is questioning their identity and the fallout of independence.

I really enjoyed learning more about Papua New Guinea’s history, featuring Whitlam government granting them independence and his dismissal. It was also nice to see the book revolving around other aspects of Papua New Guinea other than the Kokoda Track; which does feature but not in a huge way. Drusilla Modjeska took an interesting approach of making The Mountain the centre of this novel and almost took it to a point where she was making The Mountain a central character. This tactic helped drive the story a little for me; it was almost like the mountain has some secrets it didn’t want to tell.

I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I did but I felt the book ended up being too nice. While there are a lot of bad things happening during this book, the story itself felt too cutesy for me to enjoy properly. I think the characters were decent but I never felt like I knew them well enough to care about the struggles that they faced. I read this book right after reading another character driven book, The Red House by Mark Haddon, and I think Modjeska’s story was nice, but Haddon’s The Red House seemed to outshine The Mountain in terms of characters and exploring their personal struggles.(less)

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Jul 17, 2012 Jen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian, papua-new-guinea

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Rika and Leonard journey to Port Moresby to take Leonard's teaching position at the new University in Papua New Guinea. It is just before independence from Australia and anything seems possible. The University is staffed by academics from around the world, though mostly from Australia and the Commonwealth, with bright Papuans, who are studying there. Leonard, an anthropologist, is studying the people who live on The Mountain, a remote community, whose only access is by foot, after a long and gru...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary

3.5 stars

This review originally appeared at www.readinasinglesitting.com.

I’m always fascinated by how much an individual’s identity is constructed by context and circumstances rather than necessarily stemming from that individual themselves. I’ve found, in my travels, and in my reading, that it’s often the case that being thrust into a new environment, or returning to one that has shifted and changed over the years, brings someone’s identity to the forefront. It seems a contradiction that displa...more 3.5 stars

This review originally appeared at www.readinasinglesitting.com.

I’m always fascinated by how much an individual’s identity is constructed by context and circumstances rather than necessarily stemming from that individual themselves. I’ve found, in my travels, and in my reading, that it’s often the case that being thrust into a new environment, or returning to one that has shifted and changed over the years, brings someone’s identity to the forefront. It seems a contradiction that displacement is needed to pinpoint cultural or personal identity, but I find that, personally, that it’s when I’m somewhere unfamiliar that I realise who I am.

Drusilla Modjeska’s much-lauded fiction debut The Mountain is concerned very much with ideas of identity. Divided into two main sections, the book first looks at the experiences of the Dutch Rika in Papua New Guinea, and the second at a new generation of Papuan natives and their cross-cultural dilemmas. Modjeska examines culture on a number of levels, including the traditional arts, the aspirational desires of particular groups of people, and the uneasy intersection of two very different cultures with very different power dynamics. She also looks at length at how culture does not exist in a vacuum, but is constantly changing and evolving both of its own accord and from its interaction with other cultural groups–no matter how much it is expected to remain the same.

Rika, whose story occupies the first half of the book and in a way, too, the second, epitomises all of these themes. Born in the Netherlands, Rika has since married an English husband, and has arrived in Papua New Guinea as part of her husband’s anthropological studies. The reader immediately feels the tension between the two: Rika has been transplanted twice now, and this time to a world that is utterly unfamiliar and alien. Her husband, in contrast, is an anthropologist/ethnographer who is on a mission to study the local mountain communities.
Perhaps it’s this displacement that affects Rika’s perspective of her new home–although an outsider, she sees similar alienation occurring in the village, which has an awkward relationship with Australia and has been affected by a transfusion of white colonialists who though often seeking to study PNG culture are instead influencing it. Rika, however, avoids this cultural imposition, and from behind the lens of her ever-present camera, seeks to learn about the village through customs such as art and dance. Though inevitably a “white” woman, she manages to bridge the cultural divide enough to begin a romance with a local man, Aaron. The nature of this relationship is one that’s complex, and it strongly parallels Rika’s relationship with her new home itself.

The Mountain is in many ways a story of women, and Rika’s story is one of only many in the book. However, hers is not a solitary voice of displacement: all of the women in the book are torn between places or identities in some way, and it’s not uncommon for them to be subjugated in some way to their male partner. Many, too, are in relationships of convenience or which are rooted in pragmatism rather than love.
Martha, for example, married her husband Pete largely for the visa that it would afford her, and in moving to PNG for her husband’s work has lost many of the opportunities available to her at home. Her degree and work were seen as more movable and interpretable, and as such she finds herself taking up a sort of second-best education that’s not in line with her original line of study. The context of the study is also awkward, with Martha finding herself the sole white woman in a class of PNG locals studying colonialist literature. Like many others in the book, Martha finds herself without a voice–who is she to speak on such things in this setting? It’s a relevant question, given the efforts of the white volunteers who variously study the locals or attempt to ingratiate themselves into the local culture, both of which Modjeska paint as contrived approaches of misguided philanthropy.

Cultural validity and belonging are clear and persistent themes throughout the book, and it’s not just Rika and Martha’s struggles to find a place in PNG society that are touched upon. As the novel progresses, we look at the stories of local women as well: Laedi, for example, with her white father and a name (a rendering of the Australian pronunciation of “Lady”) that marks her as an outsider. Although the women are given the most voice throughout the book, the male characters are involved in a similar tug-of-war of identity. There are locally born brothers Jacob and Aaron, the first who is focused on “progress” and is happy to sacrifice the beauty of his home country in its name; and Aaron, an activist who seeks the opposite, but yet who falls for a white woman. There’s Milton, who affects the trappings of a western playwright.

And then there’s Jericho, who travels from Australia back to PNG as he seeks to learn about his background–his is a story of “homecoming”, and though he’s earnest in his efforts, his desire to find his cultural heartland smacks of pride and self-indulgence, and feels almost as patronising as the ways in which the white volunteers of the previous generation sought to “improve” PNG through their altruistic efforts. His story comprises the second half of the book, and knits together many of the hanging threads from the first half. It’s a valuable lens, but I couldn’t help but feel that the switch between voices and generations was disorienting.

Racism in its many forms is a key theme of the book, and Modjeska doesn’t shy away from it. The Mountain is in many places an uncomfortable read, as the covert and overt examples of colonialist racism are cringe-inducing. The fences put up to divide the whites from the locals are numerous and exist in both the literal and social/cultural senses. Mixed-race children are forever between cultures, and multicultural relationships are met with anger on one side and a pat sense of conquering to improve on the other.

The Mountain is an admirable read, but it’s no means an easy one. I won’t deny that it’s one that I appreciated more than I enjoyed, and can’t help but feeling that the title embodies exactly the kind of climbing effort involved in reading what often feels more like an anthropological thesis than a novel. There’s just so much here that it’s overwhelming, and it’s easy to become lost in the complexity of the book, particularly when one comes up against the second section of the book, which applies an entirely different lens of an analysis.(less)

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May 18, 2012 Emily Wheeler rated it 3 of 5 stars

Drusilla Modjeska is a highly respected Australian non-fiction author, and this is her first foray into fiction. I had read a few of her earlier works (Poppy, in particular, stands out, though I also enjoyed Stravinsky’s Lunch) so to be presented with this book was like a special treat.

The story is in two parts. The first, set in 1968 and the years following, tells the story of Dutch-born photographer Rika and her English anthropologist husband Leonard, as they come to Papua New Guinea to make a...more Drusilla Modjeska is a highly respected Australian non-fiction author, and this is her first foray into fiction. I had read a few of her earlier works (Poppy, in particular, stands out, though I also enjoyed Stravinsky’s Lunch) so to be presented with this book was like a special treat.

The story is in two parts. The first, set in 1968 and the years following, tells the story of Dutch-born photographer Rika and her English anthropologist husband Leonard, as they come to Papua New Guinea to make a film about the indigenous population, in the process falling in with the locals, both indigenous and colonial, who are making lives for themselves in this Australian colony seeking independence. The second part, set in 2005, looks at the experiences of the next generation as they try to make sense of what their country has become.

I’m hesitant to say too much because most of what I say could be considered spoilers, but at the risk of ruining things for others I will make some comments. Modjeska is very good at hinting at things without saying them outright, therefore making exposition seem more natural, but there were times that I wished she would just come out and say what she meant. The second part of the book, for example, seeks to explore why the tight friendship between Rika, Australian expat Martha and local Laedi fell apart and why Rika felt betrayed by the others, yet even when the events were revealed I still wasn’t really sure what the issue was. I had trouble with some of the clan relationships, too; Jacob and Aaron were said to be brothers, yet were from rival clans. It’s possible that this was explained away and on both my read-throughs I just missed it, but I did feel that the occasional clear explanation would have been merited.

Furthermore, I felt that the experience would have been enriched if there was more description of what the bark-cloth paintings actually entailed; how the bark-cloth was made, its texture, and maybe even a photograph of similar art on the back cover to really give the reader a feel for it. I spent much of the story trying to work out what bark-cloth actually was, and while the illustrations on the inside front and back covers give an idea, they still don’t really indicate what a work of art the finished product is.

That said, though, it was certainly a haunting book. Rika’s experiences with Aaron, her estrangement from his clan (whether real or imagined initially, it was obviously there at the end) and I could feel Jericho’s frustration in the second part as no one seemed to be able (or perhaps willing) to explain things to him. Milton’s story, for a while seeming to be there almost as comic relief, became much more poignant as the book went on, and the progress of not only Laedi and Jacob during the years of independence, but also Bili (and, across the seas, Jericho) felt only fitting to how they had been depicted in the first part. There was a real sense of place; Port Moresby, the Mountain of the title, the fjords and Collingwood Bay – I could picture them all, and almost felt I had been there. The setting, and the characters within, are nothing if not evocative. The clans, too, were real and very human, from the subjects of Leonard’s film on the Mountain, to Aaron’s family in the fjords. All had strong characters and easily understood motivations, even if their cultures were unfamiliar. In that, she did an incredible job.

Equally, the politics of the time was captured incredibly well,with the reluctance of some of the indigenous population to accept a relationship between a black man and a white woman, the violence, the move towards independence and the struggles some of those living outside the capital had in making sense of what was happening. Modjeska truly captured the feel of a country torn in two as it tries to establish itself.

All in all, The Mountain is a very well-written and researched book, and I have certainly learned much about Papua New Guinea and its history from reading it. There was something missing, however – whatever it is that makes you want to read on at any cost, that need to know more. I appreciated this book and I respect it. I only wish I could have enjoyed it more.(less)

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Apr 30, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-copy, australia, 2013-anzll-read

The novel is in two parts, the first set in the heady days when Papua New Guinea (PNG) was experiencing its political coming-of-age, on the verge of achieving its independence after long years of colonialism; Part II takes place in 2005 when a younger generation is dealing with the fallout of rapid development and personal questions of identity.

The Mountain captures the ferment of change in all sorts of contexts. The book is full of fascinating insights about this country so close to Australia,...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have loved Drusilla Modjeska's nonfiction for a long time. I fondly remember listening to her speak at Jimmy Watson's wine bar many years ago before I had children. This novel is an amazing story set in a country that is so near to Australia but we know so little of it's history and culture. It is in two parts, the first dealing with characters who arrive before independence and are directly involved in the politics of the time. It is evocative, suspenseful and has well drawn characters. The p...more

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Jun 01, 2013 Blartibartfast rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was an engaging read due to the intertwining of human stories occurring alongside the evolution of a newly independent sovereign nation, Papua New Guinea.

The Mountain is a third presence that asserts a subtle energy and influence on the tribes and individuals connected to it, near at hand or far away.

Modjeska tackles the challenges of mixed race and mixed culture marriages and through the two time periods demonstrates which dynamics lend to successful and lasting unions. The characters Bili...more

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May 23, 2013 Kathy Turner added it

How can you start to talk of a book that holds so much? Drusilla Modjeska’s The Mountain is a story of a group of people in Port Morseby in the years leading up to Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975. There are the usual suspects in colonial society: the anthropologists, their wives, the Papuan New Guinea students some straight from villages and others with education in Australia and post graduate degrees from Europe, and the villagers themselves. All of them, like the hapkas, are coming to...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Gaylene Whenmouth rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a story about how a rich traditional non-Western culture grapples with the increasingly monetarised influence of the outside world. The characters Modjeska has chosen to illustrate the issues are a little stereotypical but in this context are useful carriers of the different viewpoints and experiences inherent in such a scenario. However she made them real and the relationships were believable, although I found Rika, the pivotal character, to be essentially unlikeable.

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Apr 28, 2013 Rdurie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

A mostly enjoyable read but ruined by several irritating elements. The author did a lot of research for the book and annoyingly she felt she had to cram it all in. As another reviewer remarked, the material might have been better presented as non-fiction. I don' read novels to get lessons in history, geography etc etc. The other thing that irritated me was that one of the key characters is off-stage for the 2nd half of the book - strange!

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Sep 29, 2012 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars

I would read anything that this author wrote: I love her. I learned alot about the recent social and political history of New Guinea reading this book. However, the characters didn't entrance me in the same way as, say, Poppy and Lalage did. I took much longer to get through this than I would have expected.

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May 14, 2013 Mandy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Excellent, thoroughly enjoyed it. Fascinating insight into Papua New Guinea's Independence background/history and I particularly liked the detail of tribal/clan culture in the Highlands and their assimilation into urban living and the growing modernisation of this country and people. The fiction was a terrific added bonus. Certainly worthy of the Franklin shortlist.

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Aug 13, 2012 Ana María rated it 5 of 5 stars

Well balanced narrative intertwining past and present. Solid believable characters living lives in an era and a country unknown to me - a fascinating mosaic of art, history , culture and politics in new Guinea , pre and post independence, viewed from multiple perspectives .

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Sep 12, 2012 Terri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great. It's an education on art and indigenous peoples' connection to land, with some history thrown in, wrapped up in a suspense tale. We're told early in the book of some fractured relationships and the rest of the book shows what happened. A very important book.

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Aug 02, 2012 Simone rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was really enjoying this descriptive and interesting story about a young European woman who is 'saved' by an Englishman who she accompanies to PNG in the 1960's. The novel is in two parts, 1960's and early 2000's. The second half disappointingly moved a generation forward, leaving the first part's main character as a reference-point only. I generally like multi-narrated/character foci but I feel the writer's investment in Rika was almost wasted by the second part.

Still glad I read it, though!...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Chandrika rated it 5 of 5 stars

Really loved this story and learnt a lot about PNG. It was a great blend of romance, anthropology and mystery. Excellent writing style too - serious and literary but not the least bit wanky or hard to read.

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Aug 26, 2012 Alison rated it 1 of 5 stars

I'm a Modjeska fan like most women I know, but I couldn't read this. Maybe I'm over that tentative highly descriptive meditative style, or maybe the move to fiction is just too didactic for me.

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Oct 24, 2012 Niicaux Piakal rated it 4 of 5 stars

My complete review can be found at this link: A mountain in the passage of time

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May 28, 2012 4ZZZ Book Club rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, interviews

Listen to Grace's interview with Drusilla Modjeska here.

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Apr 22, 2013 David McLean rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great and majestic novel blending European and New Guinea culture.

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Sep 01, 2012 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book- didn't want it to finish.

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Oct 21, 2012 Sharon Lee rated it 2 of 5 stars

The historical ongormation and fictional drama did not sit well with each other. It felt as if the drama was being forced as a method of providing the historical and cultural information. I think it would have worked better as a simple non fiction text.

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Sep 18, 2012 Christine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: westgarth-books-tuesday-book-group

I liked the first half of the book (the past) far more than the second half (present day). It did all come together in the end but I found the structure of the book a bit frustrating.

It was an interesting look at PNG independence as seen from the point of view of the people living in PNG. Very much a book about relationships and the cultural differences that can pull people apart.

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Jun 16, 2013 Ariella rated it 5 of 5 stars

At over 400 pages, this book takes some commitment, but put the effort in and you will be rewarded. The writing style is is elegant, rich and erudite, the characters convincingly strange.

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Oct 11, 2012 Maggie Emmett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian

A favourite author but I was uncertain I'd really enjoy the subject matter with its focus on Papua NG, but I loved the moutains and the people who live there and trek to visit. The characters are well drawn as usual and there is poetry on every second page. It is a slow read because it is worth savouring quality writing. Surprised by how magical I found this landscape

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Jun 10, 2013 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

An enjoyable read, but at times it seemed very bogged down in detail and the plot tended to drag a bit. What I found most enjoyable though was the richness of description around a key period in the history of Papua New Guinea and the social and cultural challenges the nation faced in the transition from colonialism to independence.

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Jan 06, 2013 Linda Knight rated it 5 of 5 stars

Beautiful and thoughtful, thoroughly enjoyed this change of style from Modjeska

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Jan 23, 2013 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars

of many places and times we are very ignorant. i enjoy a book that does not preach but uses the pen to unpick the knots of history while weaving into it the lives of those who might have help make them.

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Oct 31, 2012 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

An interesting story but very slow moving. It took me months to finish this book. :(

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Jun 06, 2013 Nikki Lengkeek rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian

A very moving, but enjoyable read. It took me to New Guinea.

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About Drusilla Modjeska

Drusilla Modjeska was born in England and lived in Papua New Guinea before arriving in Australia in 1971. She studied at the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales completing a PhD which was published as Exiles at Home: Australian Women Writers 1925-1945 (1981).

Modjeska's writing often explores the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. The best known of her work...more

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