- Paperback
- Publisher: Penguin Books Australia (May 31 1999)
- ISBN-10: 014028351X
- ISBN-13: 978-0140283518
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 13 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Already a hit in Australia, Leigh's flawed but exciting debut describes the deadly search for the fabled, and perhaps extinct, Tasmanian tiger, aka the thylacine. A mysterious man who is identified to the reader only as M assumes the identity of "Martin David, naturalist" and arrives at the filthy, disheveled house of depressed Lucy Armstrong, whose husband, Jarrah, a naturalist and bioethics expert, recently disappeared on the plateau. Lucy's home becomes the base for M's treks into the wilderness, ostensibly to study the habits of Tasmanian devils. In fact, and in secret, M works for a biotech company. His mission: to secure genetic material from what may be the world's last remaining thylacine, reportedly sighted on the plateau. M must hide his true occupation from Lucy and her lonely children, Sass and Bike, as well as from the National Parks researchers and the suspicious local townspeople. Sydney-based Leigh shifts ably between M's laconic narration and third-person storytelling. With the exception of a superfluous (and clumsily handled) romantic subplot, the novel's events are compelling, drawing the reader deep into M's inner jungle. Leigh is most effective when writing in M's voice, exploring his relationship to the wilderness, his tracking expertise and his ability "to think like a true and worthy predator." Fans of Peter Matthiessen will find Leigh darker and sometimes less ambitious, but effective in similar ways, as M's obsession with the hunt drives this moody work by a gifted new author to its chilling conclusion. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
"Martin David, Naturalist" is the name and identity assumed by the main character, the hunter whose true identity is not revealed. "M," as he is referred to, is on assignment from a biotechnical company to harvest the blood and organs of the last thylacine, a Tasanian wolflike marsupial, known as a tiger because of its markings. The animal is believed to be extinct, but recent sightings suggest the presence of a lone female. An engrossing tale of the hunt, the story also discloses the solitary M's inner dialogue, his assessment of himself within the context of the task at hand. For days and weeks at a time, M penetrates the remote wilderness that is his hunting ground, returning at intervals to his "headquarters," the home of a family on the fringe of civilization, both logistically and socially. M's identity is so much that of hunter, he becomes something feral, willing to abandon all other aspects of his life for the sake of the hunt. A very focused and absorbing debut novel. Grace Fill
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Heart of Coldness,
By Stephen F. Abney (SAN FRANCISCO, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Hunter (Hardcover)
Fascinating, but grim. M, the hunter, overcomes physical pain and emotional distraction to focus on his prey, the legendary Tasmanian Tiger, thought to be extinct. M is the modern world although he ironically considers himself a natural man. He is a mercenary who divests himself of all moral concerns in his zeal to succeed. The tiger, like Blake's tiger, is a mystery whose demise is as certain as such outdated sentiments as compassion and fidelity. What we are becoming relentlessly stalks what we once were.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Weeeeeeeeeeeeird.,
This review is from: The Hunter (Hardcover)
Julia Leigh has succeeded in one thing with this book: she leaves a lasting image on the reader. Everything--from writing in present tense to giving her main character only a letter for a name--suggests she's more poet than novelist and definitely more neo than classical. While development goes from fascinating to creepy, the reader can't help but read, read, read...and you just can't escape. It's like a train wreck--you just can't look away.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Grim.,
By Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Hunter (Hardcover)
Those who say this book resonates long after they have finished it are correct, but it resonates because its message is so bleak, even hopeless. And one suspects that the author is intentionally playing with the reader here by turning "quest fiction" on its head to make a point about those who would not only despoil Nature for profit, but make a conscious decision to sacrifice compassion and the essence of humanity in the process.Martin David, which may or may not be his real name, is in search of the thylacine, a Tasmanian tiger which may be extinct. In no sense of the word a "hero," Martin is being highly paid by a corporation to find the last tiger and to extract the DNA which can be used to clone it, and he is so obsessed with fulfilling his mission that he becomes virtually a hunting machine, being referred to not by his name, but simply as M. During days that he is not hunting, however, he stays with the Armstrong family, dysfunctional since the disappearance of the father, Jarrah Armstrong, and we see some niggling traces of humanity as M begins to respond to the two wonderful, resilient Armstrong children, desperately in need of his help. In other "quest fiction," such as Faulkner's The Bear, we can distinguish between hunter and prey and gain some enlightenment about the role of man in the universe by observing the hunter's respect for his prey as it grows during the duration of the hunt. Here, however, the edges are blurred. Our view of whether M or the thylacine is really the hunter changes, as does our understanding of which is the more ruthless, and which, if either, triumphs during the hunt. Though the prose is brutally compelling and the sense of drama very high, the message here feels like a message, and it is very grim. This reader wished that it were the M's of this world who were extinct.
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