In the spirit of the soon to be released movie, I thought it would be good to review John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began. This book was first published in 1993 and is book one in a series of seven. Set in rural Victoria, it follows 17-year-old Ellie and her friends as they go on a weekend camping trip and return to realise their country has been invaded and their families all taken hostage. Rather than turning themselves in, they decide to fight back - hiding out in the bushland surrounding their homes by day, and conducting guerilla style attacks at night. They have to face the idea of killing another person and losing their homes, families and way of life. It's easy to see why this book is one of the most popular Australian novels for Young Adults. It has a great mix of action, adventure and drama suitable for all types of teens. I liked the fact that while the character's are hero's in a sense, they do not act like cold hearted killing machines. They still have their hangups and uncertainties and are in no way perfect - I think this is what makes them so easy to relate to. The book also makes you think about what you'd do in the same situation. Would you fight? Would you hide? What would you do? Not to mention, there are some great action scenes.
Overall, I think this is one of the best Australian books ever written and I'd highly recommend it.
No comments:
Post a Comment