Having read Wake in Fright a while back, I noticed a copy of this on the shelves and it's definitely a small-handbag book, so in it went.

I read this immediately after a discussion on FB with my friend Linda which involved questions of what is 'Australian' and what is 'racist'. And here I was on page one of this, plumb in the middle of exactly that. The central character is a fisherman in a coastal town, a little Aussie battler, I think would be a fair characterisation, and dagoes are giving him grief. He and his mates despise the Italians. But that doesn't change how one acts when one has to. When an Italian on another boat goes overboard, he does everything he can to save him. Racism is more complex than a lot of people make out: perhaps they are still waters that run deep. Jack's off-sider in this is an Aborigine who sees himself as less than white people but definitely superior to the Italians, by the way.

The Italian's death opens up an opportunity for Jack to go for broke, buy a boat he can fish for tuna from, instead of the piddling small catches which are his lot to date. I can see why this is compared with The Old Man and the Sea. It feels like a sea adventure book written by somebody who knows his ground (so to speak). I couldn't put it down.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2019/04/11/tuna-by-kenneth-cook/ ( )

Having read Wake in Fright a while back, I noticed a copy of this on the shelves and it's definitely a small-handbag book, so in it went.

I read this immediately after a discussion on FB with my friend Linda which involved questions of what is 'Australian' and what is 'racist'. And here I was on page one of this, plumb in the middle of exactly that. The central character is a fisherman in a coastal town, a little Aussie battler, I think would be a fair characterisation, and dagoes are giving him grief. He and his mates despise the Italians. But that doesn't change how one acts when one has to. When an Italian on another boat goes overboard, he does everything he can to save him. Racism is more complex than a lot of people make out: perhaps they are still waters that run deep. Jack's off-sider in this is an Aborigine who sees himself as less than white people but definitely superior to the Italians, by the way.

The Italian's death opens up an opportunity for Jack to go for broke, buy a boat he can fish for tuna from, instead of the piddling small catches which are his lot to date. I can see why this is compared with The Old Man and the Sea. It feels like a sea adventure book written by somebody who knows his ground (so to speak). I couldn't put it down.

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2019/04/11/tuna-by-kenneth-cook/ ( )

A lesser work by the author of "Wake in Fright", "Tuna" covers a struggling Australian tuna fisherman who wants to move up in the world and own a tuna boat. He borrows a large amount of money to do so and you can probably guess the rest.

Cook's legacy is as the recorder of the worst of Australia and this is an apt experience of this. ( )