⋙ PDF Gratis Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay 9780140031492 Books

Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay 9780140031492 Books

Download As PDF : Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay 9780140031492 Books

Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay 9780140031492 Books

I watched the Amazon Prime series of Picnic at Hanging Rock. It made me want to read the book. Although I liked both, I have to admit....and this is really strange....but, I like the Amazon Prime series more than the book. I think I liked the series more because it was so visually impressive. The school grounds and the rock really stay with you. I would highly recommend seeing the Prime series and reading the book. They go well together.


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Picnic at Hanging Rock Joan Lindsay 9780140031492 Books Reviews

I would give this book a 3.5 stars. The atmospheric mood, how the harsh Australian landscape takes on a life of its own and really is a character in its own right builds ever so slowly and becomes more and more sinister and eerie as the book progresses. At times, the descriptions of the changing light, the rough and scrubby earth, the gum trees made me feel as if I was there.
One of the words I'd describe about the book is peculiar. There's a strange hodgepodge of characters thrown together; the Appleyard School girls and the haughty mistress, the rich and beautiful Irma, the strange schoolmistress Dora, the coachman Albert, the aristocratic Mike, somehow I thought perhaps this may lead to a who-dunnit type book. The juxtaposition between the prim school and the wild landscape is just brilliant.
The disappointment at times for me was the unbelievability of the characters and plot. Most of the book's characters have no motive as far as the disappearance of the three girls and the school mistress.
This book leads to more questions than answers. Perhaps this is part of the lure of the book. But it was frustrating. The detailed descriptions of the characters helped bring them to life, but as a reader I would have liked to imagine some motive and opportunity regarding the characters to increase the tension. Parts of the book were a stretch for me. With that said, the language is lush and vivid. Can't wait to see the movie now!
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK deserves its place as an Australian classic for the simple beauty of its prose and for its unique and extremely intriguing plot, but it must be said that in the end, it is an extremely frustrating story, even for those most skilled at reading between the lines. It has the feel of a very polished yet not quite finished manuscript, and once the chilling and compelling mystery of the disappearance of three boarding school girls and a governess at the Hanging Rock has been set into motion, the momentum of the narrative is lost and ends up meandering toward a ghostly, spine-chilling non-ending.

However, there are certainly many things to like about the book, not the least of which is its cheerful and artless "Australianness." The narrative voice has a very tongue-in-cheek tone that, funnily enough, reminds me of no other book so much as Miles Franklin's MY BRILLIANT CAREER, another Australian classic set in a similar era. Something that I was not expecting from Lindsay's book was the fact that it is quite often laugh-aloud funny, at least in the beginning. The story has the feel of a typical girls' boarding school tale in the English style, yet with a strong vein of irreverence that marks it as undeniably Australian.

It is also very difficult to dislike virtually any of the personable characters in this book. Luckily, while it seems at first glance that the reader is dealing with an indistinguishable gaggle of young ladies, governesses, young men, and a few older persons, they quickly and apparently effortlessly sort themselves out into distinct personalities. With its characteristic hint of levity, for example, we are told that "Reputed to have mastered Long Division in the cradle, Marion Quade had spent the greater part of her seventeen years in the relentless pursuit of knowledge. Small wonder that with her thin intelligent features, sensitive nose that appeared to be always on the scent of something long awaited and sought, and thin swift legs, she had come to resemble a greyhound." PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK is also a particularly egalitarian book, in which servants may not quite be treated as equals by their employers, but are certainly treated well. The story itself often privileges the wits, talents, and pragmatism of the servants over their masters'.

The atmospheric impact of this book cannot be overstated. Its sense of place and the mood imposed irresistibly by the natural environment are among its very strongest attributes, so that the scene cannot only be pictured but heard, smelled, touched, and tasted as well. This is just one example of many beautiful natural descriptions "Leaves, flowers and grasses glowed and trembled under the canopy of light; cloud shadows gave way to golden motes dancing above the pool where water beetles skimmed and darted."

Once the story takes its chilling turn, however, it becomes apparent that these schoolgirls are completely artificial in the natural world of the Hanging Rock "Insulated from natural contacts with earth, air and sunlight, by corsets pressing on the solar plexus, by voluminous petticoats, cotton stockings and kid boots, the drowsy well-fed girls lounging in the shade were no more a part of their environment than figures in a photograph album, arbitrarily posed against a backcloth of cork rocks and cardboard trees." Is this why the environment itself seems to turn on them, perhaps even consume them?

Throughout the story, the Rock is a solid, ominous, mysterious presence, in the foreground as often as it is in the background. Whether being viewed, talked about, or just thought about, it is always there. In this entirely unique book, it may even be true to say that the central "character" is this inanimate monolith "The shadow of the Rock lay with an almost physical weight upon their hearts. The thing was beyond words; almost beyond emotion."

After the disappearance of the four women, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK uses vagueness and foreshadowing statements to the greatest effect in creating a mood of ominous, possibly even supernatural, intrigue and suspense. In an odd way, the various men investigating the girls' disappearance in their various ways all seem to highlight the mystery that women in general constitute for men. There is a strong current of "otherness" throughout the book, whether it be the prim young ladies juxtaposed against the natural environment or the eternal divide between men and women.

When it reaches its height of suspense and horror, the narrative is at its most evocative "To take a sword and plunge it through your enemy's vitals in broad daylight is a matter of physical courage, whereas the strangling of an invisible foe in the dark calls for quite other qualities." Perhaps this, along with the book's many other attributes, is enough. Just don't expect to come out of PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK with any fewer questions than you had when you entered its pages.
The book is very good. It's an interesting story about a girls' boarding school in Australia, run by Mrs. Appleyard, a very proper and stuffy lady. She permits a field trip to Hanging Rock, a spot that is deal for picnics and relaxation. Several of the girls and their mistress hike up the mountain as no one really pays too much attention. They do not return. Not then. Not ever. No one knows what happened to them. A search party ensues to no avail. A survivor is located. She is comatose and of no help whatsoever to the investigator. Mrs. Appleyard's school becomes victim to the mysterious disappearances because boarders and their parents raise serious doubts as to the safety of the school and the supervision or lack of by Mrs. Appleyard or her hires. Strange coincidences unravel the lives of Mrs. Appleyard and the people around her.

I loved the movie more for the visuals, but the book was very interesting to read. I am frustrated in that I cannot posit a theory as to what actually happened at Picnic Rock. Were the girls murdered, were they killed in an accident, did they become lost and therefore, unable to survive the brutal heat of the Australian outback and various predators that lurk there? There is no answer and therefore, the book becomes an exercise in frustration. I do recommend it, for people who love to read mysteries.
I watched the Prime series of Picnic at Hanging Rock. It made me want to read the book. Although I liked both, I have to admit....and this is really strange....but, I like the Prime series more than the book. I think I liked the series more because it was so visually impressive. The school grounds and the rock really stay with you. I would highly recommend seeing the Prime series and reading the book. They go well together.