Thomas Keneally, the bestselling author of The Daughters of Mars and Schindler’s List, brings his “insightful and nimble prose” (The New York Times Book Review) to this exquisite exploration of community and country, love and morality, set in both prehistoric and modern Australia. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Shelby Apple is obsessed with reimagining the full story of the Learned … reimagining the full story of the Learned Man–a prehistoric man whose remains are believed to be the link between Africa and ancient Australia. From Vietnam to northern Africa and the Australian Outback, Shelby searches for understanding of this enigmatic man from the ancient past, unaware that the two men share a great deal in common.
Some 40,000 years in the past, the Learned Man has made his home alongside other members of his tribe. Complex and deeply introspective, he reveres tradition, loyalty, and respect for his ancestors. Willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, the Learned Man cannot conceive that a man millennia later could relate to him in heart and feeling.
In this “meditation on last things, but still electric with life, passion and appetite” (The Australian), Thomas Keneally weaves an extraordinary dual narrative that effortlessly transports you around the world and across time, offering “a hymn to idealism and to human development” (Sydney Morning Herald).
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On the night after finishing The Book of Science and Antiquities, I dreamt of my father.
December ten years ago my father died from Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
I spent two months at his hospital bedside. During that time, he slipped from sociability into a drug-induced alternate reality. He laughed and told me long stories, but I could only understand a word or two.
This novel about “last things,” the story and death of a man in the present time and the story and death of a man who lived 40,000 years ago, reached into my memory and in that dream, I relived a moment when my father was trying to tell me memories, or visions, while I listened hoping to catch his vision.
I consider rereading the novel’s ending after my dream. Perhaps when I am ready for a good cry.
****
The novel is dedicated to Keneally’s friend who found Mungo Man, and the storyline of this novel is inspired by this history.
The fictional Shelby Apple filmed the finding of Learned Man whose remains were taken for scientific study. Now Shelby works to return Learned Man to his people.
Shel has been diagnosed with cancer and his narrative illuminates his past and his grappling with impending death. Alternate chapters is in Learned Man’s voice, telling of his world and life, climaxing with his sacrificial act to protect his community.
Both timeline stories kept my interest, but it was Learned Man who caught my attention early in the book. The imagined society and people are beautifully described. I saw parallels in the human experience of both men, for neither time or technology alter the basic human quest for love, meaning, and community.
Finding that Keneally had prepared for the priesthood and was ordained a deacon as a young man was no surprise considering the novel’s conclusion. I relished this existential talk.
Although Thomas Keneally has written fifty books, including the Booker Prize winner Schindler’s Ark which inspired the movie Schindler’s List, I had never read anything by him.
I was granted access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
4 stars
This book is a philosophical treatise on being human. It is a study of day-to-day life and the inevitable lead up to the ultimate question we all have – death and mortality.
Learned Man lived some 42,000 years ago in Australia, while Shelby Apple is a modern-day documentary filmmaker. Shelby feels a profound connection with this man who lived so long ago. He has traveled all over the world making films. He has experienced much in life and about life.
This story is told with two voices. That of Learned Man and that of Shelby. What bothered me about the novel was that Learned Man thought and spoke in a contemporary voice. Of course, I’m not sure how Mr. Keneally would have made him speak in the language of 42,000 years ago. It would be hard to read a series of grunts, or whatever language was used at that time. Learned Man was wise, perhaps beyond his years and thoughtful in his actions.
All in all this is a very thoughtful read. It made me wonder how life was back then. Very hard I’ll bet, but Learned Man and his tribe carried on nonetheless.
I want to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for forwarding to me a copy of this deeply fascinating book for me to read, enjoy (think about) and review.