Ignorance of Celebrations with an Ongoing War in Literature and Poetry
With World War 2 acting as setting, the first part of the Warramunga war focuses on the collaboration between two Australian army official, James Munro (Jamie) and Jack O’ Brian (Jacko), and M16 to capture German spies in Egypt while a serial killer is lurking in the background. The second part highlights the journey of Jamie and Jacko as CIS agents to capture two German fugitives who are creating a ruckus in Western Australia with some ruffians. In the Author’s biographical note, it is mentioned that the author was inspired by his father’s experience in World War 2. In other words, this novel is all about praising the efforts of allied in bringing Hitler down.
I would like to award this novel 3 out of 4 as I have mixed feelings about this historical and crime fiction. I really appreciate the author for featuring Indians and South Africans as World War 2 soldiers. Usually, most war literature ignores the role played by native citizens of the colonized nation in the World Wars. To sum it up, Greg Kater did not whitewash the most significant war in history. Furthermore, the author introduces depth in Aboriginals characters. Sarah and Jacko are proud of their ancestry even though Jacko is half-white and half-black. Instead of creating Aboriginal characters as barbaric, Kater introduces the character as assists. The spying techniques of Sarah and Jacko and Jacko’s sense of direction during shooting puts the success of mission on their soldiers. To conclude, Aboriginals don’t work as disposable side-kicks to a white character, Jamie.
The author does a wonderful job in highlighting the racism which was deeply-rooted in Australian society at that time. Waitress refuses to serve drinks to Jacko while Tommo and Matt mention his ancestry as an insult. Moreover, Kater points out the narrow-mind of Egyptian community. Monique’s father didn’t invite Yvette and Fifi to his party because of their profession even though they were war heroes. The acceptance of the uninviting attitude by Jacko, Sarah, Yvette, and Fifi shows how much they have gotten used to it. What I like about this novel is that it’s not all doom and gloom. Mostly, war literature only brings the destruction and bloodshed caused by war into the limelight. Kater shows that life will not stop by mentioning the happy times with only splashes of violence. This reminds of poem Musee des Beaux-Arts written by W.H. Auden. People are enjoying singing and dancing with canon firing in the background. They are falling in love and caring about their loved ones.
After reading the novel I felt that all the novel was one-sided. He describes the German army and spies as evil. Most people forget that the German army was just following orders of higher-ups like British officers who massacred unarmed Indians in Jallianwalla Bagh. I believe that the author should have interviewed some German officials before writing this novel. I don’t condone the actions of the German army, but evil is a strong word used to describe them. On the other hand, writer humanizes the German spies by making them capable of falling in love. Maybe, by mentioning the word evil, the author was pointing out the mindset allied forces regarding the Germans.
I think the novel is not properly edited. It seems to be loosely constructed as too much was happening at one time. The author has not developed the technique of shifting from one scene to another without losing the attention of the reader. Too many characters also add to the confusion. The details of the return journey of the heroes were unnecessary as it only glorifies the heroes. It could easily have been summarized in a paragraph. Overall, the novel was a good read but I think it was dragged on in the end.
