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The Pages

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( 261 ratings, 62 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Pages by Murray Bail is a contemplative, literary exploration centred on the journey of a philosopher named Erica. She travels to the Australian outback at the behest of two siblings, taking on the task of analysing the philosophical writings left by their late brother. This novel gracefully intertwines themes of landscape, thought, and human connection.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate thought-provoking narratives that delve into the complexities of philosophy and human relationships. It presents a unique blend of introspective dialogue and richly developed characters, set against the backdrop of the Australian landscape. For those intrigued by intellectual exploration and the subtle undercurrents of emotional connection, this novel offers a compelling read.

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Erica Hazelhurst, a philosopher from Sydney, has been given a project by her university to work on the papers of the late Wesley Antill (The Pages). She travels across the Blue Mountains to his country property with her psychologist friend Sophie.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

At dawn, two women leave Sydney to drive over the Blue Mountains, into the dry outback landscape and the home of the late philosopher Wesley Antill. A man who thought his name too light for a philosopher, and his ears outlandish.

Erica, a philosopher herself, has been asked by her university to review Wesley's work, to read his notes – the pages. They are as Wesley left them, unread, untouched, at the rural property run by Wesley's sister Lindsey and brother Roger.

Sophie, a psychologist whose professional skills in listening seem to be confined to her patients, accompanies her friend, painting her toenails in the passenger seat and reeling off her opinions of the various qualities of her current man.

At the homestead, Roger Antill manages the feed, water, fencing, and shearing requirements of 10,000 merinos, and Lindsey dresses in dark velvet for dinner. And the pages, far from lying in order in a philosopher's study, are piled amongst handfuls of wool, wheat sacks, and a discarded bottle of tomato sauce in the woolshed.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781921520457

Publisher: Text Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 June 2009

Country: Australia

Imprint: The Text Publishing Company

Edition: New edition

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 202

About the Author

Murray Bail was born in Adelaide in 1941. Homesickness, his first novel, won the National Book Award for Australian Literature and the Melbourne Age Book of the Year Award. Holden's Performance, first published in 1988, won the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction. Eucalyptus was the winner of the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Murray Bail's non-fiction includes an acclaimed monograph on the work of the painter Ian Fairweather and Longhand, A Writer's Notebook.

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