Eucalyptus (Panther) (original 1998; edition 1999)

If you want to learn a ton of information about eucalyptus trees this is the novel for you. If you like novels that are written in a poetic fashion this is the novel for you.

Unfortunately, I am neither of those and did not really enjoy this award winning novel. When I got past all the eucalyptus information it was ok, but so many of the stories told to Ellen by her suitor were incomplete and unsatisfying, which pretty much sums up my feelings on this book. ( )

Sometimes Murray kinda drifts off and I was left wondering what exactly just happened. The movie might be keen, if it ever gets made. ( )

A novel of courtship in the Australian outback. I'm always leery of books that include a reading group guide. The publisher is obviously targeting book clubs, which are all the rage these days. But I had remembered this book getting very good reviews, and Murray Bail being a generally respected writer. When I picked this book up for free I decided to give it a try. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I can see why it hasn't been a hit with book groups. Eucalyptus is a difficult book to get into. Bail often steps out of the novel to discuss the novel itself, the technical aspects. He spends a paragraph comparing the paragraph to a paddock, with both the gate and indent serving as entry points. And the title shouldn't be taken lightly. There are hundreds of species of Eucalyptus, second in number only to the Acacia. The father in the novel decrees that whatever man can name every Eucalyptus species on his property can have his daughter's hand in marriage. His daughter is mythically beautiful. I would call this book a botanical fable. Stories are woven in and out of these strange prolific trees building to a predictable, but satisfying conclusion. ( )

There go those blurbs again, tricking me into thinking that I could actually enjoy the book.

"Best courtship story", it said. "New York Times Notable Book of the Year", it said.

Holland acquires a land, and then eventually becomes obsessed with planting eucalyptus trees in it. His daughter, Ellen, grows up to be a beauty, and he decides he will let the man who can name all species of eucalypti in his land marry his daughter. Dozens of suitors tried to no avail. Until Ellen meets a mysterious man under a eucalyptus tree, who proceeds to tell her stories and thus, a curious courtship begins. Sounds like a fairy tale to me, and boy do I love fairy tales.

That's not what I got.

Maybe I could have enjoyed the courtship story, if I weren't being constantly bombarded with facts and passages about eucalypti, which I've never seen in my life. It's a story with lots of stories in it, and sometimes the author steps out of line and discusses the book itself. I just couldn't like the writing style.

I just wanted to know what the courtship was! So I skimmed through the pages and gathered that:

*This book literally is about eucalyptus.
*Murray Bail writes like an old man who writes for old men, which I guess he is,
*I finally met the mysterious man (young man, the synopsis said, but he's really into his 30s. seriously, that's a young man?), who I think remains unnamed until the end of the book.
*The man tells stories to Ellen that are inspired by the species of eucalyptus he happens to see, thus naming all eucalypti and winning Ellen's hand in marriage.

It would've been such a good love story if only it weren't written the way it is. *Severe frustration* ( )

Begins well, could be a quirky story, lots on eucalypts and an odd father. Loses its way in the middle, too many random stories going nowhere. Strange ending with Ellen staying in bed (can't be sick, hasn't vomited) unttil the stranger hops in beside her and announces he has identified all the eucalypts with name tags. ( )

I'm afraid I could not work out what all the fuss was about with regards to this novel. Obviously don't have on of those genius literary minds I guess...Oh well, I trudge on, upwards and onwards. ( )

I was very excited about starting to read the book. I did not finish it. The storyline itself promised a rich, interesting and different love story. Unfortunately the story was executed in a rather boring and tidious way. ( )

A sticky sort of story, one I could only read in a hurry and as such, diagonally. Could not shake off the image of Nicole Kidman when it comes to the daughter. All with long drawn out vowels and shy soundless giggle and stuff.

Another dull book that I just could not get into. There are only two main characters the father and daughter. The father's obsession is Eucalyptus trees so instead of letting his daughter choose a husband, he decides to marry her to whichever man can name every tree he has planted! It was meant to be a different, but interesting love story. It was simply boring and would only interest those who are really into Eucalypts! Not worth the time. ( )

A strangely empty tale. For me, there needed to be more people around than just the 3? major characters. ( )

We read this in January 2000 and when we got to our meeting we were greeted with whiffs of Eucalyptus spray ..... and eucalyptus leaves were scattered all over the floor !! The group was divided on this book. Some of us loved it and rated it quite high .... enjoying the language of the book .... while the others found it average amd couldn't understand what the rest saw in the book. We had a good discussion, though! ( )

Brilliant writing by an author who has long attended the school of trees, the gums in particular. Set in New South Wales, a farmer known as Holland, inherited property, and he raises his daughter Ellen, to her quickening time, collecting all possible species of eucalypts -- and only the wattled acacia has more species to be named. {36} ( )

i liked this. i agreed with the reviewer who commented on the sketchiness of the daughter's character but i guess this is part of the fairytale princess role. i enjoyed learning about the trees and i enjoyed the stories. ( )

Just could not force myself to finish this book due to excessive author wankery.

i like stories with eccentric characters and strange plots. that being said, this novel is a gentle love story that i can aptly label as good couch reading on a rainy day. ( )

I have to confess that I only discovered this book after reading an article on Nicole Kidman's future movie roles; apparently there is much drama in Australia over the making of the movie inspired by this book. The summary intrigued me, and I am pleased to announce that the book is delicious. Set after WWII in rural Australia, Eucalyptus tells the story of Holland, a man who amasses the greatest collection of eucalyptuses in the world; and his daughter Ellen, a world renown beauty. When she is 19, Holland decides that his daughter will marry the man who can identify the scientific name of each variety of eucalyptus on his property.

This was my first Bail novel, and his writing style reminded me strongly of Ondaatje and Winterson: dreamy prose and stories-within-stories. Ellen is charmed by a mysterious storytelling stranger who does not attempt to win her hand by naming all the trees; and the most successful suitor comes out of his love for the eucalyptus. Even the trees have stories: different species are highlighted, leading into wry commentary on Australian national character and rural stereotypes.

There are strong archetypes and mythological flavors to this novel which I enjoyed; and my only frustration came from Ellen's character. In this book where even the trees had complex backgrounds, Ellen was sketched as simply a catalyst: a beauty to draw men, a challenge to be won. Disliking one suitor, she simply floats toward another. Every character in the book is motivated by her, in some way; but disappointingly, she is static and fixed. ( )

Has a lovely fairy tale feel to it, whilst being contemporary. Wonderful. ( )

Clever intertwining of features of eucalypts and the story of a man who plants every species of eucalupts on his isolated farm. He decides that his beautiful daughter will marry the frist man who can identify each of his trees. A touch of magic realism. Not an easy read, but quite stange and compelling. ( )

A book with an interesting theme, that of the several hundred different species of Eucalyptus, but one that I would only count as average. The first half of the novel introduced and developed the story of widower Holland who moves to the outback and develops an obsession with acquiring land and growing every known species of Eucalyptus. We are never sure why he does it or how he makes a living out of it. Once established he brings his daughter Ellen out to live with him and raises her amongst the trees in isolation.

Once she arrives at marriagable age he decides upon an unusual task for he would-be suitors to accomplish. They must correctly identify each Eucalyptus tree growing his land. Many fall by the wayside but as the challenge gains nationwide publicity a man named Mr Cave arrives and appears equal to the job. Meanwhile Ellen is being secretly courted by a mysterious stranger.

There is more to this novel than this ridiculously romantic outline would suggest but the novel never follows up the darker undertow that the story drags with it. The smart device of changing from a straight forward narrative in the first half of the book to shorter, more diverse stand-alone stories in the second as Ellen is seduced by story-telling is welcome. Nevertheless the relationship between Ellen and her father could have been more fully investigated.

Cataloging the various Eucalypts was an interesting past-time although the repeated occurence of some jarred against the contention of there being hundreds to choose from. The prosaic reality, that many are boring and so similar to each other that their differences are only apparent to a specialised biologists, is always less absorbing than the fantastic specificity - a couple of dozen species are noteworthy and resplendent.

Eucalyptus is an attempt to marry fairytale with symbolism but fails to properly pull either out from fairly uninspired writing. I quite enjoyed the read but less than I might have imagined at the outset or given the aspirations of the novel. ( )

Unbearably self-consious and affected prose, as dull as mallee dust. Trying so hard to produce a peice of art the author has completely failed to actually tell an interesting story. The "fairytale" tag does not justify the entirely implausible premise, nor does it excuse the absolute absence of any sense of time or place. Yes, that's right, place. Oh he makes a great deal of the trees and the landscape but come the end of the book you could be anywhere (and so nowhere) in rural Australia. The characters are more wooden than the trees. The symbolism is laid on with a log splitter. The only glimmers of interest come from some of the stories-within-the-story that never reach any conclusion anyway and serve only to frustrate the reader with the knowledge that the author could have told a decent story if he had wanted to.

I wanted to like this book. I was unable to do so. I am amazed at what a great reception it received and as for the prize! Good lord!

One star for the interesting tree trivia. ( )

A love story between a man and his trees, a man and his daughter, and the unusal way he decides who qualifies to marry her.
Name each of the five hundred eucalyptus tree varieties he has on his property and she's yours.
She trusts her father's decisions for her and when the many suitors start showing up to try and accomplish the task, the fun begins...for him. She couldn't care less, she knows no one except her father has this kind of expertise.
But in all such tales there's always that one exception who shows up to claim the prize and surprises everyone. A wonderful story. This book garnered the Miles Franklin (Australia)and Commonwealth prizes; and was a New York Times Notable Book as well as an IMPAC Dublin Award nominee. ( )

Modern fairytale. Interesting read. ( )

http://thewindingtrack.blogspot.com/2007/08/eucalyptus.html ( )

Odd -- like a fairy tale. extremely simple plot woven with fables and anecdotes. You will sine my daughter's hand, but only after you have named the eucalypts.

From the synopsis it would be easy to dismiss Eucalyptus as a modern Australian fairy tale -
"On a property in New South Wales, a man named Holland lives with his daughter Ellen. As years pass and Ellen grows into a beautiful young woman, her father announces his decision: she will marry the first man who can name all the species of the eucalypt, down to the last tree."

This fairy tale aspect of the novel is merely a framework on which Bail can discuss Australia; relationships, between father and daughter, between man and woman; and most of all, storytelling.

Eventually Holland meets his match Roy Cave, a man who shares his love of eucalypts, and who is certain to win the hand of his daughter. As Cave names each tree to her father a stranger is using each tree as a jumping-off point to tell a story to Ellen. Holland's admiration for Cave grows as he names one after another after, while Ellen is beguiled and bewitched by the stories told to her. Are they true? What do they mean? What happens afterward? Ellen becomes the reader, we become Ellen.

The power of the imagination is central to Bail's thesis. Holland and Cave know the names of the trees, but the stranger and Ellen know there is something more, and it is here that human traits like love exist. Bail contrasts writing with photography, writing is boundless but photography is doomed to only show what is in the picture. Holland and Cave are photographers who can only see what is in front of them, Ellen and the stranger are writers of their own lives.

You can criticise Bail for his characters - Ellen is totally passive, Holland lacks any understanding , for example - but they aren't supposed to be completely realistic, they are playing roles in fairy tale. You can charge Bail with creating an artifice but isn't all writing essentially an artifice.

In the end, Eucalyptus is that genuinely rare specimen, a modern classic - ingenius, original, poetic - a book to come back to again and again. ( )