Achieve The Bright Side Of My Condition Conceived By Charlotte Randall Categorized In Pamphlet

convicts who escape from a Norfolk Island prison at the start of the nineteenth century and somehow find themselves cast away on a subAntarctic island south of New Zealand.
The island itself seems a paradise for seals, penguins and a host of birdlife, yet for the convicts and their meagre bag of potatoes, it feels more like

hell.


The novel itself explores subsequent years, during which time alliances form and relationships fracture, The central narrative voice is that of a selfconfessed lazy thief, who describes events and the ebb and flow of relationships with the others: a brutal selfappointed leader, a naïve Godfearing Irishman and brash and opinionated gentleman turned crook.


In a very convincing way, we journey with our narrator as he explores the concepts of good and evil, heaven and hell, hubris and bliss, nature and society, crime and punishment.
Moreover, in the absence of anything else, the act of watching the penguins evolves into a philosophical tool, becoming for him a symbol of something bigger, connecting all living things.


This is a brilliant read, one of the very best novels I have read in a while, It is quite a trick to conjure up the kind of voices found within, that sound so utterly authentic to the time, character and place, and yet also capture a very real sense of the trials of humanity and nature.

I was disappointed with this book, as I so loved Hokitika Town, The phonetic use of language was not necessary in my view, Perhaps Charlotte can hear the voices of her characters so distinctly that she feels she needs to write it down in this way, The situation was unusual, but it was not riveting and the ending was confusing, I wasn't enamoured with the ending, but loved the rest of it, I think it's one of those books that will stay with me, and Bloodworth's voice will continue to pop into my head from time to time, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Poetic, actually observed, witty, sad and also tragic it is a finely drawn portrait of the human condition in adversity, A cast of loveable rouges that draw you in but also frustrate you! I enjoyed this as much as The Luminaries big call, that! It is great to see such expressive historical fiction being written in New Zealand at present.
Interesting. The ending went on a bit too long, but characters are engaging, Shows how we have a society whether we mean to or not, The dialect must have been a bitch to write, I think it will take me a while to make up my mind so I am erring on the cautious in my evaluation, I very much liked the ending and the disembodied state of it which I thought was highly effective, I thought the Crusoestyle scenario was good, and although the working class language was at times hard going I thought it was OK, The moral flaw in Bloodworth's character raises some deep issues, it is challenging to put the novel in his voice and yet have his flaws critical to the story.
The later psychological failure made more sense, In some ways this strongly reminded me of Lord of the Flies by William Golding especially in the decision to kill Bloodworthy, Cannot find any details of the alleged historical roots of the book, New Zealand author Charlotte Randall is the author of seven novels, and she is not afraid to take risks in her writing, In this, her latest novel, she has created a limited world inhabited by just four characters, and it works brilliantly

The title, The Bright Side of My Condition, comes from the quotation from The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe which introduces the book:


I learnd to look more upon the bright side of my condition and less upon the dark side, and to consider I enjoyd rather than what I wanted and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts that I cannot express them.


Like Daniel Defoes original, The Bright Side of My Condition is confessional in style and it brings us a sincere narrator intent on conveying a rich moral truth.
Its based on the trueth century story of four convicts stranded for ten years on the remote Snares Islands south of the South Island of New Zealand, and it explores the human condition in extremis.
What happens when four men, with nothing in common but their fate, are thrown into dependence on one another for survival Like Lord of the Flies, this novel raises the question: can man create a new kind of society when the opportunity arises what kind of leadership and government will emerge

These existential issues emerge in due course, but from the outset, The Bright Side of My Condition is a fascinating book, and compulsive reading.


To see the rest of my review please visit sitelink comth Reposted from sitelink wordpress. com/

What would you do if you were marooned Even if you had the skills and resources to feed, shelter and clothe yourself, how would you stay sane What is the difference between surviving and living

Charlotte Randalls latest novel, The Bright Side of my Condition, is a New Zealand Robinson Crusoe tale that takes a sharply intelligent look at these and other questions that cut to the heart of the human condition.
Four men nicknamed Bloodworth, Toper, Slangam and Gargantua are left on a tiny subantarctic island by the captain of a sealing ship, who promises to pick them up in a year.
We know from the foreword that he doesnt, and that this is a matter of historical record: four escaped convicts really were deposited on one of the Snares Islands in the early nineteenth century, and really did survive there for many years.


Randall chooses to tell the tale in Bloodworths voice, using phonetic spelling and unconventional grammar: yair, wud, follered, heared, more nicer, them other two, It takes a bit of getting used to but it does work, bringing us inside the head of this man from another time and culture, Disinclined to give himself purpose through hard work, like Slangam, Bloodworths way of coping with his situation is to physically and emotionally distance himself from his fellows in order to observe and to think.


The drama and drive of the novel stem from Bloodworths psychological development, as he tries on different philosophies for size: immanence, predestination versus free will, meditation, the elimination of the self, scientific observation, escape from reality through hallucination, questioning god and the nature of hell, withdrawal from society: “Happy living things! I disdain him.
If yer went out there and looked, yer wud see killing and dying everywhere, The world is beautiful, say Toper in a strangle tone, So it is, I agree at once, But living aint. ”

Finally, Bloodworth reaches the acceptance summarised in the quote from Robinson Crusoe at the beginning of the book: “I learnd to look more upon the bright side of my condition and less upon the dark side, and to consider what I enjoyd rather than what I wanted and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts that I cannot express them.
”

This is a novel of ideas and character rather than action and plot, I found it gripping and read it all in one sitting, drawn in by Bloodworths realisation that our own minds can be our worst prisons, and his struggle to find a way of thinking and thus being that will make the best of his situation.
The final part of the book was my favourite, when the story suddenly and beautifully takes flight into magic realism, giving the dramatic final events an almost holy glow.


Randall is an assured and seasoned novelist, and this is a subtle and complex drama, compulsively drawn along by the tantalising possibility of a sail on the horizon.
Highly recommended. I loved this story. Many times I laughed out loud at these four hapless felons, Each comes across very strongly as a distinct personality and with his own quaint, deep inner fear, The internal growth of the pointofview character, Bloodworth, is absorbing, The English as she is thunk and spoke by a nineteencentury ruffian slowed my reading a bit but it is done very well and adds a lot of character and fun.
The ending involves some longer passages and a changed tone to the story but it is satisfying, This book has been on my toread list for some while I guess since it was published, Finally, because I put it into one of the challenges I partake in, I started reading, Well, I only put it down because there were other things in my life that had to be done!

I loved everything about this book, I loved the four convicts well, 'love' mightn't be quite the right word and their very different characters and 'voices' the narrator's rough dialect so wellwritten, the educated man who maintained his selfesteem by using words the others didn't know and being amused by stirring things up and how we gradually got their backstories.
I loved the setting the wild sitelinkSnares Islandslt aboutkmmiles south of the southernmost point of New Zealand, and just north of the Antarctic Circle with the flora and fauna an integral part of the novel.
I loved the philosophy the way Bloodworth, a selfconfessed lazy man, ended up using his alone time to think, and I'm reminded of a children's book that I used in our homeschooling a few years ago sitelinkFrederick, though the end result is not the same.
I loved the ending a leap into the metaphysical,

I had a look today to see what I could find of the history that this The Bright Side of My Condition's idea is based on, Here's an interesting sitelinkpage from the Victoria University Wellington, NZ library, .