Questions of Travel

Jan 23, 2013 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 21st-century, australia

It’s taken me a while to read Questions of Travel – it’s one of those books that demands time and concentration. However it’s been a worthwhile investment; it’s an interesting, thought-provoking novel. It explores travel and tourism; work and leisure; and all the messiness of modern life, but it’s much richer than that. Almost every page triggers thought about all kinds of things, and the prose is a pleasure to read.

De Kretser explores the modern phenomenon of travel in all its complexity and co...more

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May 29, 2013 Lianne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads, arcs-and-galleys

The concept of Questions of Travel sounded very interesting, following two very different lives and the ideas of home, travelling and life experience. Despite of this, I found it rather difficult to get through this novel; I just couldn’t really get into the story. I could not connect with either character and it felt like there were so many themes crammed into the novel that at the end, it left no impression on my mind.

My complete review of the novel was originally posted at caffeinatedlife.net...more

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Jun 15, 2013 Maxie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser

It is usually one of life's pleasures taking a journey away from home, daily routines, to explore life through the enriching experiences of people of diverse cultures. Questions of Travel by talent Australian author Michelle de Krester takes her audience on a long journey of two people: Laura and Ravi who encountered a wide range of life's lessons.

Ms. de Kretser is an awesome, witty, writer blessed with the ability to blend words, settings and characters...more

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May 13, 2013 Kathy Davie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, travel

A fictional tale of two completely different people with their completely different lives that finally, eventually, join towards the end. Briefly. The time span ranges from the 1960s to the 2000s.

My Take
I have absolutely no idea what the point of this story was. It's just pages and pages and pages of pointless background with pages and pages and pages of us following Laura's stream of consciousness as she picks up odd jobs here and there, slowly finding her niche in the working world. Ravi's sto...more

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May 13, 2013 Ionia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am really not sure what to think of this book. It has an interesting plot and it definitely has some beautiful prose, but the characters just fell flat for me. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, I came up somewhere in the middle.

I liked the idea for this story, but honestly the idea was somewhat lost in miles of description and the slow pace of the novel. There are things happening in the book, but it takes the author a decent while to make sense of the situation and after a 100+ pages the b...more

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Dec 09, 2012 4ZZZ Book Club rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, interviews

Born in Sri Lanka, Michelle de Kretser moved to Australia at fourteen and she explores both places with a thoughtful eye in her new novel, Questions of Travel. Michelle has written three previous novels, The Rose Grower, The Hamilton Case and The Lost Dog - all of them well-regarded, with the last in particular longlisted for the Man Booker and winning Book of the Year at the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards.

Her new work, Questions of Travel, is a sprawling 500-page novel covering three...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of beautiful prose

Recommended to Sam by: ARC from publisher - thank you

From the moment I saw the cover of this book, I was intrigued – a distant ocean, land far away, a single bird…it just all seemed so peaceful. Like a holiday. Questions of Travel certainly covers a lot of journeys and travel, but not all of them for holiday purposes.

The novel opens with short, sharp chapters alternating between the childhoods of the two main characters, Laura and Ravi. Laura is an average Australian girl; Ravi is from Sri Lanka. Laura has a desire to paint, while Ravi chooses mat...more From the moment I saw the cover of this book, I was intrigued – a distant ocean, land far away, a single bird…it just all seemed so peaceful. Like a holiday. Questions of Travel certainly covers a lot of journeys and travel, but not all of them for holiday purposes.

The novel opens with short, sharp chapters alternating between the childhoods of the two main characters, Laura and Ravi. Laura is an average Australian girl; Ravi is from Sri Lanka. Laura has a desire to paint, while Ravi chooses mathematics and computing. Laura receives an inheritance which allows her to travel, first to Bali and then to Europe. She takes up residence in England, then Italy and England again. In between the wanderlust and complex relationships though, is a strange longing for home. As an Australian myself, I can definitely relate to the things that bring a tear to our eyes – the faint scent of eucalyptus, the clear and strong light, sunny days…

Ravi’s life is in complete contrast to Laura’s. Civil unrest and the mangled body of his wife lead him to flee his homeland for Australia to seek asylum. Given the recent media coverage in Australia of the ‘boat people’, the insight into the life as someone on the fringe of Australian society is as fascinating as it gut-twisting. Do Australians really treat foreigners with that slight distain or in some cases, outright suspicion? I didn’t realise that there were so many hoops to jump for someone to become a legal citizen of this country while clearly being unable to return to their place of birth.

For the majority of this story, Laura and Raji’s lives don’t intersect. When they do, it’s not the relationship you expect, which is one of the things that keep this story interesting. The beautiful, lyrical prose that de Kretser writes is to be savoured, not devoured – you should read this book with complete abandonment to time and place (just as if you were on holiday). The glimpses that are revealed into both Raji and Laura’s lives are like an intricate puzzle that is stunning when complete. It’s the type of book that you’ll remember for a long, long time due to its beauty. Definitely one for those who love travel (the descriptions are amazing) and those who like being swept away by a book.

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Apr 29, 2013 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

Description: (supplied by publisher on NetGalley)
Laura Fraser grows up in Sydney, motherless, with a cold father and an artistic bent. Ravi Mendes is on the other side of the world--his humble father dead, his mother struggling, determined to succeed in computer science. Their stories alternate throughout Michelle de Kretser's ravishing new novel, culminating in unlikely fates for them both, destinies influenced by travel--voluntary in her case, enforced in his.

With money from an inheritance, L...more Description: (supplied by publisher on NetGalley)
Laura Fraser grows up in Sydney, motherless, with a cold father and an artistic bent. Ravi Mendes is on the other side of the world--his humble father dead, his mother struggling, determined to succeed in computer science. Their stories alternate throughout Michelle de Kretser's ravishing new novel, culminating in unlikely fates for them both, destinies influenced by travel--voluntary in her case, enforced in his.

With money from an inheritance, Laura sets off to see the world, returning to Sydney to work for a travel guide. There she meets Ravi, a Sri Lankan political exile who wants only to see a bit of Australia and make a living. Where do these disparate characters truly belong? With her trademark subtlety, wit, and dazzling prose, Michelle de Kretser shows us that, in the 21st century, they belong wherever they want to and can be--home or away.

My View:
Remarkable insights to life and modern living, of identity, of travel; a multifaceted book, so many issues, so much probing and the pricking of conscience.

This is a modern day story told from the perspectives of the two main characters, Laura and Ravi, both living and surviving in a modern world where technology and globalism rule. Both characters give the outwards appearance of coping, of being, of having purpose but they are both lost, they are both just marking time trying to figure out who they are , where/what is home and where do they belong whilst asking the question “what does the future hold?”

I disagree with the above description of Ravi supplied on NetGalley - Ravi is not “a political exile just wanting to see a bit of Australia and make a living.” That description is trite and superficial and untrue. Ravi is not on holiday. Ravi was a victim of the political persecutions in Sri Lanka, he didn’t want to be in Australia, he only wanted freedom from fear and to have the past undone. He was a victim of the atrocities in Sri Lanka, of the corruption in governments and authorities, of a country living in fear. He is trapped in a world where ugly visions of death permeate his very existence, (p.211) “ Ravi remembered stories that had hung over their bed in light, smothering folds: sons set on fire, daughters rapes with broken bottles, brothers who had gone to a police station and never returned.” And the reality of violence is no longer something that happens to others. Ravi is a very empathetic character; I loved his descriptions of home and of his vision of Australia.

Laura is lost, looking for meaning, looking for acceptance, but she hides it well; she travels, is she travelling to or is she escaping from? She often asks herself “What are you doing I here?” She may as well have asked who is Laura Fraser, (p. 186) “ She was sharing a flat in Kentish Town and freelancing...when people asked where she lived, she would say London. But she might have replied, just as truthfully, that she lived in hotel rooms and gate lounges, in taxis and planes...She was inert, strapped into place, yet hurtling and fast forwarded. She could lay claim to two passports and three email addresses, she was between destinations, she was virtual, she was online, she was on the phone....Laura Fraser was a late twentieth - century global person. Geography was beside the point.” How astute, how true of a lot of our lives. Laura also comments (p.312) “Tourism is about dollars, no argument. But ‘travel’ lets you pretend. Travel has an aura. It allows us to believe publishing guidebooks, is you know, a good thing. We tell ourselves that what we do contributes to global harmony, international understanding, you now the stuff i mean. It’s understood without being spelled out.”

This book has so much to offer and so much to debate. But do not be deceived this book also has many moments of light and of humour.
I loved the description of the dog called “Fair Play” who (p.252) “detested all other dogs, loved Lefty. Devotion required her to tug with all her strength on his cheek. There was also standing under Lefty’s belly, reaching out her muzzle and sinking her teeth into his neck. Lefty, a romantic, was tolerant of these coquettish manoeuvres and only occasionally sat on her head.” I just love this description – it is so realistic it fills my face with a smile.

I predict this novel will be read by many. This novel will find itself on the reading lists of many academic classes – in Social Science rooms, in Women’s Studies classes, in Australian Literature courses, it has so much to offer, so many reflections on life, and so many truisms are shared.

Every traveler should read this book. Yet it is a book not just for travelers or tourists. This book made me think. This book made me smile. This book disturbed me. What a gift de Krester has bestowed; to share with us her words which evoke such strong emotions and stimulate thought, this book is amazing and the best contemporary fiction I have read in years.

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Jun 03, 2013 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I finished reading Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser this morning. Rarely have I been so eager to reach the end of a novel to get it over with. De Kretser exhausts over 500 pages attempting to make a profound statement about travel and I’d be lying if I said I understood what exactly she was trying to convey. It’s clear she also has something to say about the internet and the advance of technology but I can’t figure out that message either. To quote one of my favorite movie lines, “what...more

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Jun 17, 2013 Sandee rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: galley, threw-it-out, weird-read, will-not-finish

Great title, not only are there questions of travel, but questions about where this story took place, where it would go, and what it would contribute.

While flattered to be invited to review this book from Little Brown and Company, I regretfully say that this book was full of questions.

Perhaps this is a little unfair after reading 4 pages, but I could not turn another page. I was so confused about whose voice was narrating the book and what it was talking about. There seemed to be a conflict of t...more

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May 15, 2013 Cynthia Archer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am thankful to have had the chance to read this book thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. I had read nothing by this author previously and was interested in her choice of subject. This was the story of two separate individuals who at one point eventually cross paths in a quite random way. Most of the book is random with the focus on the characters and their lives from childhood to mid-life. There is no specific plot or direction in the telling of this novel, but the writing was unique and b...more I am thankful to have had the chance to read this book thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. I had read nothing by this author previously and was interested in her choice of subject. This was the story of two separate individuals who at one point eventually cross paths in a quite random way. Most of the book is random with the focus on the characters and their lives from childhood to mid-life. There is no specific plot or direction in the telling of this novel, but the writing was unique and beautiful. I resigned myself partway through to enjoying the book as it was without expecting or anticipating the direction or conclusion of the story, and I found that with that in mind I could appreciate it for what it was. Laura and Ravi, the two main characters, become very real as you read. They are incredibly different people from quite different backgrounds and yet they share some very specific traits. Both are looked down on by many of the people around them, but they manage to overlook it, seemingly without great concern. They both have a curiosity for the world around them and exploring, which is how they eventually meet, working for a travel guide publisher. Neither has much luck with love, and don't look for any romantic connection between them, or you will be disappointed. The characterizations are well done and realistic, but I think that appreciating the story will require the reader to have few expectations. If you do, you will undoubtedly find it boring or depressing. I thought the book was good, and I was glad to have the chance to read it. I was equally glad to finish it and probably won't find myself thinking of it much, if at all. I recommend this book for those who like to read for the joy of the words and don't have to identify with the characters. It is for laid back readers who go with the flow and don't expect a story to be earthmoving or happy along the way. I do not recommend it for romance or action lovers. This is literary fiction and will not resonate with them at all.(less)

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May 02, 2013 Gaele rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: net-galley

I had a difficult time with this book, the intriguing premise and the chance to read an author I had heard of and not yet read were great influencers in my choice. Michelle deKretser has a beautiful command of language; her descriptions paint pictures with words and provide a great deal of detail to fill the imagination. Particularly intriguing to me was the inclusion of more politically driven information that is or will impact the actions of the characters later on.
The ability of the author t...more I had a difficult time with this book, the intriguing premise and the chance to read an author I had heard of and not yet read were great influencers in my choice. Michelle deKretser has a beautiful command of language; her descriptions paint pictures with words and provide a great deal of detail to fill the imagination. Particularly intriguing to me was the inclusion of more politically driven information that is or will impact the actions of the characters later on.
The ability of the author to detail information from a character’s point of view, providing the feel of living their memories / fears / emotions built the characters and gave them depth, although I did find both incredibly difficult to connect with outside of those moments of brilliant sharing.

While this is presented as two lives on parallel, I found it difficult to connect Anna and Ravi, even superficially, for most of the story: it often felt that situations were contrived for one or the other to establish that connected feeling. With ‘travel’ being both literal and metaphorical in these character’s lives, there seemed to be a great deal of focus spent to create points and events that could work for both, rather than letting it develop organically. Descriptions, while beautifully detailed and written also provided the feel of a screenplay, leaving little room for the reader’s experience to assist in the creation of visual image. At points, this descriptiveness alluded to a lack of direction or focus in each character’s timeline, slowing the forward pace without great positive impact or influence on the book’s pacing.

Even with those issues, which I can completely accept as personal preferences, this book was a good read that stayed with me for days after, the prose was gorgeous, the descriptions placed me in the same space as the characters, and this title has me searching out other works by this author.

I received an eBook copy from the publisher via Net Galley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions were my own responsibility.
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Mar 22, 2013 Venus Smurf rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: firstreads, words-make-me-think-of-chocolate

I honestly don't know quite what to make of this book. The writing style was clever and unique, and the entire time I was reading, I felt like I was being given glimpses into someone else's memories and thoughts. It was different, and I never quite felt like I had a grip on the book, but it's also the sort of thing that will put this book on some college lit professor's course list a few years from now. This is the type of book that leaves people thinking about it for weeks afterwards, and the t...more I honestly don't know quite what to make of this book. The writing style was clever and unique, and the entire time I was reading, I felt like I was being given glimpses into someone else's memories and thoughts. It was different, and I never quite felt like I had a grip on the book, but it's also the sort of thing that will put this book on some college lit professor's course list a few years from now. This is the type of book that leaves people thinking about it for weeks afterwards, and the type that probably deserves a second reading.

I was also impressed with the use of language. The author's descriptions of places were so vibrant that I felt as if I was right there with the character. And having been to many of the places mentioned in the novel, I'm impressed by how well the author managed to capture the essence of some of the more exotic locations with just a few words.

One of the things I liked most, though, was the way the author described ordinary objects and people and buildings. Some of the phrases were so brilliant that I couldn't help smiling and reading them again. She turned ordinary objects into magical items, and the words were whimiscal and beautiful.

Still, I do think the author sometimes took the whimsy too far. There were several times when a description was so lyrical that I honestly just didn't know what was being described until the author flat-out explained in later sentences. This was probably intentional, but it happened too often to be appealing. And some of the phrases were simply confusing. Case in point: "Her thoughts were bright and dark as leaves." I don't have the faintest idea what that was supposed to mean, and while I'm all for thought-inspiring works, that was a bit much.

On the whole, I didn't really like this book. I usually have to feel something for the main characters to like a book, and it was impossible for me to connect to Laura and Ravi when they were so disconnected to everything and everyone themselves. I never felt they were real enough to matter one way or another. And even though I kept waiting to at least like one of them, I never really did. I think there are going to be a lot of people who absolutely adore this book, but I'm not one of them.

Final rating? Three stars for the writing style and the language, because for the most part, they were both truly beautiful. (less)

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Jun 08, 2013 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At first, this novel seems more like a series of vignettes, each set in a different country. There are many characters, many settings, and many years covered, but few sustained scenes. Those who prefer well-plotted books with plenty of action will probably not enjoy this novel, but for those who love beautiful writing, vivid details, and arresting turns of phrase, this may well be the perfect book. In the words of A.S. Byatt, “[de Krester] writes quickly and lightly of wonderful and terrible thi...more

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Mar 23, 2013 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction

I won a copy of "Questions of Travel",by Michelle de Kretser through the Goodreads Giveaway Contest.

What does it mean to travel? What do we bring back? A snapshot in time...and then back to reality.

This author is an amazing storyteller, with rich decriptions, that I felt I was travelling along with the characters.The scenes and settings were so clear.There are two characters, Laura from Australia and Ravi from Sri Lanka, their upbringing couldn't be more different.

Laura's mother is dead, her fa...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

Reviews say this book is an ambitious story and I'm inclined to agree with that comment. The story is a double narrative where two very different characters lives are described parallel to one another. The story is very descriptive and often I found the descriptions so good that I could visually imagine the setting that was described. The two characters, Laura from Australia and Ravi from Sri Lanka couldn't be more different from one another. Laura travels the world, works for a publisher of tra...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Tony Nielsen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questions of Travel is one of those books that you change your mind about the more you think about it. And it definitely resonates with you for a few days after you've finished. Michelle de Kretzer adopts the alternate chapter approach with Laura and Ravi, with their separates lives anc challenges twin stories until, yes, they eventually meet, both of them far away from where they started. In Laura's case London, in Ravi's case Sri Lanka. Laura is well travelled and perhaps world weary after a c...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars

A story spanning 3 decades and covering the lives of two main characters, Laura, an Australian and Ravi, a Sri Lankan. The two meet only for a short time in the book and not on the level the reader predicts. As well as following the two main characters and their many friends and acquaintances (and lovers) the novel covers topics such as the unrest in Sri Lanka and Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, as well as the development of the internet and the place it takes in our society today.
I lo...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Marianne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questions of Travel is the fourth novel by Sri Lanka- born author, Michelle de Kretser. This novel follows, from childhood, events in the lives of two people: in Sydney, Laura Fraser, inspired by her Great-aunt Hester’s travel stories, uses a bequest from Hester to travel the world, eventually making a career in travel guide publishing; in Sri Lanka, Ravi Mendis’s life is turned upside down by devastating events, causing him to flee for his life. Ultimately, their paths cross, although this does...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Emma Tingay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questions of Travel
Michelle de Kretser
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
RRP: $ 39.99
515 pp
Category: Fiction
Copy courtesy of the Publisher

“What are we looking for when we leave home?”
“How can we tell when we’ve found it?”
These are the questions at the core of Michelle de Kretser’s 4th novel, Questions of Travel.
Beginning in the 1960s, we meet Laura Fraser and Ravi Mendis – two people from very different backgrounds. Laura is a dreamy, not so good-looking girl, trying to find her place in the world. Whe...more

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May 07, 2013 Shelagh Merlin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really struggled with the book. I found it to be a really slow read and while not utterly hateful, I just couldn’t get into it. I know the plot was there but I found the kaleidoscopic view of Laura's and Ravi's lives and experiences difficult to follow. I kept waiting for a plot to evolve and while it sort of did, really it was rather like reading two books at the same time, one about Laura and the other about Ravi. Despite my plot difficulties, I couldn't help but admire de Kretser's superb c...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Ernie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

De Kretser surprised me with this unusually constructed novel which, with its very brief chapters moving around the world becomes a metaphor for tourism itself. Her acerbic wit on art, ad speak, office politics, fashion and journalism, let alone tourism constantly sparkles. Most of the favourite Australian international tourist venues are visited through the point of view of Laura, a tourist who works as a waitress and a house sitter before becoming a travel journalist and editor. “To be a touri...more De Kretser surprised me with this unusually constructed novel which, with its very brief chapters moving around the world becomes a metaphor for tourism itself. Her acerbic wit on art, ad speak, office politics, fashion and journalism, let alone tourism constantly sparkles. Most of the favourite Australian international tourist venues are visited through the point of view of Laura, a tourist who works as a waitress and a house sitter before becoming a travel journalist and editor. “To be a tourist was always to arrive too late”. If only you had been here before… She is always asking, “What am I doing here?” not only as a traveller but also in her relationships with men which are similarly transient and superficial. In parallel with Laura is Ravi, a Sri Lankan Christian mathematics student, later an assistant lecturer and a website innovator who marries Malini, a Tamil who works for a prominent Buddhist family and later with a NGO to improve the status of women. They have a baby son.
De Kretser alternates between Laura’s and Ravi’s experiences in the 80’s: Bali, Delhi, London, Rome, St Jean de Luz in France and almost in the next breath, Madrid and Lisbon. No writer who has read Patrick White could call their main character Laura without a purpose, so there’s another game going on here for references to think about. With Ravi, there is the sudden, shocking reference to the first atrocities in Sri Lanka when a friend’s family suddenly flees to Canada and the beach hotels are boarded up or remain new and unfinished shells. These scenes will recur in the 90’s and 2000 when Ravi is forced to flee after the murder of his wife and son. De Kretser has cleverly drawn me into the Sri Lankan daily life where “dailiness normalises everything, even slaughter.’ The mention of “casual slaughters” without horrifying detail is like me reading of the latest suicide bomber in Afghanistan, at breakfast with the morning paper. Then it is appallingly happening to Ravi and I understand more about the desperation of refugees.
There is a similarly subtle comparison between the sensitivity that both Ravi and Laura have about their physical appearance: Laura is worried about her weight and perceived ugliness, while Ravi’s injuries after a police interrogation are so suppressed by him that they are barely mentioned because his inner injury and the constant images of his wife and son in his memory are much more significant. I have to read behind the fleeting impressions of the tourist reader.
The clichés of boat people are avoided as Ravi gets a tourist visa then a bridging visa and stays in the sleepout of a refugee sympathiser in a “wog suburb” of Sydney. He is surprised when John Howard is booed at the Olympic Games and Anglo Australians at a barbeque wonder why his isn’t locked up and how he got to wear expensive Reeboks, while their possible thoughts about his “eyes that had peered into hell” are not reported. De Kretser brings her characters together when Ravi gets a temporary job in her travel publishing company. There is a fascinating account of his interview with the immigration officer and a surprising development afterwards.
At 517 pages, the constant brevity of the chapters began to frustrate me in the final quarter of the reading. Although I enjoyed all the superficial relationships that Laura had, sleeping her way through tourist venues, the publisher’s office and with the male lover of a dead painter where she stays rent free in exchange for services to him and his rooftop garden, I would rather the characters had been brought together earlier and moved more rapidly into the final climactic ending. However, I still recommend you to enjoy this intriguing novel which, like a pointillist painting improves as you step back and see the composition as a whole.
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Mar 18, 2013 Alan Marr rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I reckon this is a beautifully crafted book but I don't quite get it. I enjoyed reading it but I wasn't drawn to it as I am with books I love. I can't even tell you what the book is about even though I warmed to the characters and enjoyed them.
There are some wonderful passages in the book the best of which is:

"She remembered Theo once saying that the twentieth century was best represented by an unwilling traveller. "I mean think of the millions of soldiers mobilised by wars. And all the people m...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Kathy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

I was going to give this one star, but as I only read up to Pg 57 I decided I'm hardly qualified to make a judgment. I was so disappointed. I LOVED The Lost Dog, but Questions of Travel comes across as heavy-handed and overblown, and I couldn't warm to the characters. If the book had been shorter I might have persevered, but over 500 pages was just too long when I wasn't getting anything in return. Reading should be pleasurable or moving or funny, etc, but I got nothing from this. AND the book i...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Steven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had a chance to read this novel by Michelle de Kretser thanks to the giveaway program of goodreads.com.

Overall, I had a good time reading the novel. It took twists and turns between the two main narratives, giving a new layer of depth to this book. However, as much as I enjoyed the complexity and capable wordsmithing, the story took a little long to come to fruition.

I would certainly recommend this book if asked about it, but I would take the time to warn any potential readers that the story t...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Sandi Burch rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1

5 out of 5 stars for "Questions of Travel" by Michelle de Kretser

Laura Fraser grows up in Sydney, motherless, with a cold father and an artistic bent. Ravi Mendes is on the other side of the world--his humble father dead, his mother struggling, determined to succeed in computer science. Their stories alternate throughout Michelle de Kretser's ravishing new novel, culminating in unlikely fates for them both, destinies influenced by travel--voluntary in her case, enforced in his.

With money from an...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Kim Miller rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Until (on the advice of the wonderful Ms. Power) I heard the voice of Michelle de Kretser on a podcast, I read Questions of Travel purely for the plot, the vivid descriptions of some of my favourite cities in the world (Naples, London, Sydney) and the beloved characters. After the podcast however, I also fell in love with the literary menu of delectable sentences! By the time I had only 200 pages to go, I was reading more and more slowly, desperate to prolong the experience of journeying with th...more

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May 27, 2013 Robert Wechsler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: australian-lit, asian-lit

This, the third of de Kretser's four novels that I've read, doesn’t simply break rules; it plays with them, and the play was just as much fun for me as it must have been for her.

For example, it’s common to have two voices tell a story in alternating chapters, but de Kretser’s alternating chapters are in third person (it’s hard to imagine her protagonists having voices) and they don’t quite alternate. Time moves in skips and hops. Major events happen like small towns: blink and you’ll miss them....more This, the third of de Kretser's four novels that I've read, doesn’t simply break rules; it plays with them, and the play was just as much fun for me as it must have been for her.

For example, it’s common to have two voices tell a story in alternating chapters, but de Kretser’s alternating chapters are in third person (it’s hard to imagine her protagonists having voices) and they don’t quite alternate. Time moves in skips and hops. Major events happen like small towns: blink and you’ll miss them. I dreaded the point when the two protagonists would meet. I hoped they wouldn’t (they don’t meet cute, that I can say). Plot just gets in the way of de Kretser’s wonderfully odd, enlightening observations and locutions.

This is a novel that separates the sheep from the goats. Many Goodreads reviewers found it very uncomfortable to read. It’s either that or a great joy. And yet it’s not experimental in the usual sense. It isn’t anything in the usual sense. What it is is a novel of sensibility. Two authors that came to mind reading this novel were Katherine Mansfield and Christina Stead, both of whom also grew up Down Under (I hadn’t realized that, or remembered that, about Mansfield until just now, after checking Wikipedia; de Kretser moved to Australia at the age of 14).

De Kretser does so many things in this novel, it’s hard to know where to start. One interesting thing she does is show that suspense, that is, what makes one read page after page to see what happens, does not require much plot. With this novel, the suspense is more what de Kretser is going to do next. You never know what the next paragraph will bring, not to mention what the characters will do. For me, it was just watching de Kretser in action. She's not only omniscient, as a narrator, but omnipotent. She’s in and out of everyone, with so many points of view. But it’s her twisted, off-angle, always surprising ways of putting or describing things and feelings, and often both at the same time, that made the novel for me.

The novel’s principal structural element is its theme: travel. But it’s a jellyfish, not a skeleton. That is, it's not a backbone that is just fleshed out. Nor is it an idea that is played out. The novel deals with all sorts of travel, travel through place and time, travel as a tourist or a refugee, interactions, guidebooks, you name it. De Kretser only sometimes hits the reader over the head with the theme, but it’s everywhere, in myriad forms.

This is de Kretser's best novel, and that's saying a lot. She took a big risk writing an essentially free-form novel. It was only as the novel progressed, and the two protagonists sort of settled down, and there was something of a plot — that is, when the form became less free – that the novel suffered, a bit. I felt that the first half was the better half. But this only means that the joys in the second half were fewer, not that they weren’t there on nearly every page.
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May 12, 2013 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book of rich detail and imagery, but one that requires a lot of concentration to take it all in and to connect all of the episodes and narrative. The language is quite beautiful and I sometimes found myself revisiting some sentences just to reexperience the evocation of the words. There are two characters, whose stories begin separately and later come together. One starts in Sydney and the other in Sri Lanka. The common theme is travel and culture, even though the experience for each is very d...more

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Jun 08, 2013 Naomi rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Full review in progress:

Initial thoughts: Oh my good Lord this book is boring. It is very rare I have nothing good to say about a book. This is one of those books though. The writing was dry. There were WAY too many characters. The majority of characters were one dimensional. I forced myself to finish this book due to my commitment to review it. That is the only reason.

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