Reviews for Australian Tragic: Gripping Tales from the Dark Side of Our History

The average rating for Australian Tragic: Gripping Tales from the Dark Side of Our History based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-11-17 00:00:00 John Roberts While at first this took a little time to take hold of me, about halfway through something happened and I became gripped by these poor victims of pathos and warm tales of bathos. Of particular mention are the stories of the bush doctor who performed miracles with monkey glands only to have his research lost to a funeral pyre, and the anger-inducing anecdotes of injustice to simple warm-hearted working folk and felines through nothing but cold greed or apathy. These are tales that will haunt me as they obviously did Marx, when he wasn't fearing alien abduction that is (you'll have to read the book.) Equally fascinating is the fresh angle Marx gives to familiar tragedies such as Steve Irwin as a study in media back-flipping that would make Rupert Murdoch look idealistic, Martin Bryant through the eyes of his father's conundrum, and Micheal Hutchence as he would be considered had he not pranced around impersonating Jim Morrison in front of some fortunate synth players but rather just been some bloke in the corner of the local beer garden. By the end I put "Australian Tragic" on a par with what I consider Marx's masterpiece, "Sorry: The Wretched Tale of Little Stevie Wright." (www.goodreads.com/book/show/4450564.S...) Buy it for someone for Honika or Christmas, then borrow it back before you leave. Or like me, just knick it from Tug Dumbly's kitchen when he's pissed. BDF

Review # 2 was written on 2012-09-23 00:00:00 Audrey Bayze Wow, I did not want to finish this book! It was so intriguing and I found myself so tangled with the sad stories from Australia's dark past that I could have gone on reading forever. There was new information, just as I suspected, but I did not expect to be drawn into familiar retelling of stories I had already known. The one that seemed to fall particularly into this category was Steve Irwin- I had not realized the media had been so vicious about his character and actions, and then back flipped so much after his death. But it wasn't just these stories, but those of the Mertz Art Collection, the bushfire, the outbreak of Spanish flu among soldiers who never saw war. This book reminded me why I love my country, the darkness always there with the light. It is an excellent book for uncovering some of history's truths and what-ifs, and a definite five star book. Highly recommended!