Visitants

Short but dense immersion in a Papuan island and the lives of several of its inhabitants (including an elderly white planter) and three “visitant” Australian government functionaries. The other obvious visitants are the extraterrestrials and John Frum-a-likes who loom in the local mythology which boils into a night of madness and internecine strife.

I was about a third of the way through this book before I felt comfortable with its spotlighting narrative points of view and the initially confusing use of Papuan vocab and Aussie colonial jargon. But it’s very effective at communicating the deep cross-cultural misunderstandings, but also surprising concordances, that arise between the locals and the incomers, yes, but also within each show more of these groups. Amazing and shocking conclusion bumps it up to a four. Will read more by Stow. show less

A remarkable, bewildering, uncomfortable, imaginative, heavily symbolic piece of writing. Stow is not easy to understand, I think, for my generation, but every page is intriguing and rewarding to me.

Set on an island in New Guinea in the 1950s, 2 white Australian officials, accompanied by the Government interpreter visit the Island of Kailuana to investigate the events which lead up to a violent uprising.
The story is told from the perpective of the elderly Mr MacDonnell, the only white living on the island, who has been there for many years,from the young Saliba who was born on the plantation and Mr Dalwood, the 19 year old government cadet, Osana, the interpreter and Benoni the future chief of kailuana. The cultural differences are immense. Many of the myths involve interactions with alien beings. (There were actual reports of alien phenomena reported in the press in 1959)
Initially I found the story difficult to follow, although it show more was easy to recognise the skill with which it is written. It is definitely haunting and a book to which I am sure I will return. show less

Not suitable for audio