The Red Highway

by Nicolas Rothwell

A key to unlock the heart of the country. This is the story of a quest - a journey down the red highway. On returning from a war zone, Nicolas Rothwell begins to explore the deserts and towns, sleepy coastline and hidden worlds of Australia's north. As he travels, his journey gathers momentum and finds a shape. He has unforgettable, even mystical with a nun, an explorer, a collector and a hunter. It becomes a quest - for knowledge and a sense of home - that builds to a stunning culmination.

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Nicolas Rothwell is the award-winning author of Wings of the Kite-Hawk; The Red Highway, Journeys to the Interior and Another Country. He is the northern correspondent for The Australian.

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's taken a few days after finishing to think of how to review this work. To state the obvious, it is a deeply mannered and layered piece. I think it is less about war than it is the about the world that has war in it; and less about Northern Australia than it is about the ways we try to find relief in the environment, and end up destroying it anyway. The tone is bleak, philosophical yet irreverent and dismissive, without the savage wit. It felt at times a little like reading through someone else's PTSD. I found I had to stop and start to avoid being sucked too far into the pessimism and melancholy. Rothwell seems to be saying that humans are inherently destructive, even when trying not to be. Highly effective killing machines and pathetically ineffective saviours. He manages to treat his subjects with deep respect, all the while lamenting their inability to enrich that around them. The possible exception being the role of Aboriginal art - whose power and beauty, based on the patterns in shells, carries intense power. Much of Rothwell's worldview I'd agree with, but he misses the good stuff - the passion and love, comfort and laughter. even the beauty which is so essential to the book seems simply painful - Rothwell mentions at one point that things of great beauty should be seen only once, as if anything that causes happiness cannot be held on to. I'm glad I've read the book, and I suspec I will be mulling it over for some time. At the same time, I wish Mr Rothwell more joy in his life, more warmth and colour. If there is any place to come in from the cold, you'd think Northern Australia would provide it.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicolas Rothwell travels the highways of the outback either alone or with companions from his past, seeking healing from a land which has been badly damaged by human activity. I loved parts of this beautifully written book, the stories about the outback, the characters and the country, and the descriptions of nature. Despite this, I found it disjointed and the author's assumption of knowledge of artists and musicians often made it frustrating to read.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm not really qualified to review this book - someone who has studied english, or even geography, should read this and write a proper review. but i can say this - for the first half or so it was nice enough, but i couldn't really see the point. there were some great stories in it, all a bit WG Sebaldish in their tangentialness and illumination of fascinating things that have nothing to do with anything you care about - OR SO YOU THINK. then of course it all started to come together, and became utterly entrancing. among other things - probably a great many other things that entirely passed me by because i read too quickly and too shallowly - it is about the death we have wrought on the desert, the way we have transfigured it from a rich, diverse place into, well, a desert, but a stereotypical one. about how there is no escape from humanity and the effects of humanity - and by that rothwell means white people - no matter how deep into the desert you go. it is also about rothwell's shattered psyche, and about what war does to people. but the thing that most struck me was a brief interlude in a place where 'the cattle had never been' and 'the ground was soft and springy', and i thought about what it must have been like living here 250 years ago, when walking barefoot, everywhere, was a joy. and i thought that it sucked that that wasn't the case anymore.

[Linda]

an extraordinary literary weave of travel, philosophy, history, art history and memoir by one of Australia's most talented writers and a stunning evocation of the Australian north

[Tyyni Lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can you say. Nicolas Rothwell is one of Australia's most interesting intellectual, traveller and storyteller. I so love his work. Both fiction and non-fiction

[D.A. Cairns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently The Red Highway builds to a stunning culmination, and is a 'one of a kind' book. Many wonderful things have been said about it and the skill of the author Nicolas Rothwell.

I was attracted to this book because it is set in the Northern Territory, and I live there. I thought I was picking up a novel, but I was in a hurry and not very careful. This non fiction book is like a travel diary: a pompous, long winded travel diary.Yes, part travel diary, part art history lesson reminiscent of boring lectures at university, and part general and military history. Some of it is quite interesting, and perhaps the problem for me was that i was wanting a novel. Actually there's great novel in The Red Highway: the characters, the settings...but not the lack of action.

The author wanders around aimlessly and has an impossible number of chance encounters with people who all talk to him. Even a 12 year old Aboriginal girl to whom he give s lift, has a ridiculous conversation with the author. The characters are unbelievably well educated, like the bush artist who tells the story of being bitten by a goanna by specifying the scientific name of the creature.

The research is amazing. Incredibly detailed and loosely connected through a string of random narrators, the stories are sometimes fascinating, but I found myself starting to skip fairly early. Once I decided that a certain person would not speak like that, I simply fast forwarded.

Rothwell's great skill is in descriptive prose. I was almost drooling with admiration as I read some of the descriptive passages. The Red Highway is a high quality book, but I just didn't like it very much, and I wanted to...I expected to. It's like an abstract work of art in print. Make of it what you will, but remember it's not a novel. Nothing happens.