Helpful Score: 3
Im not sure exactly what to make of this book. Although I would not count it among the greatest literary works of the century, I could not put it down. My heart has been stolen by Davisons animals, and I long to see them run free after reading this book.
It is an uncanny account by the author of the struggles, turmoils and longing to be free as experienced through the minds and hearts of wild beasts on the hoof, while at the same time giving us a glimpse of the quiet surrender and apathy of cattle bred, fed and branded on the ranches in Australia. This book is the authors interpretation of range life as seen through the eyes and felt in the hearts of the cattle themselves. At the same time, the author makes a clear distinction between the cattle and the stockmen who herd, raise, and sell the animals. From the cattlemans point of view, the cattle are beef-on-the-hoof to beef-on-the-hook; their livelihood. They generally have no sympathy for the cattle: that is simply their way of life. However, the fear and longing to run free and wild is instinctive to those cattle who roam the range outside the docile, domestic life of the cattle in the pens. It is the strength and will to survive that lives in the hearts of the scrubbers, those cattle who fight to roam free, that makes this a great book.
It is an uncanny account by the author of the struggles, turmoils and longing to be free as experienced through the minds and hearts of wild beasts on the hoof, while at the same time giving us a glimpse of the quiet surrender and apathy of cattle bred, fed and branded on the ranches in Australia. This book is the authors interpretation of range life as seen through the eyes and felt in the hearts of the cattle themselves. At the same time, the author makes a clear distinction between the cattle and the stockmen who herd, raise, and sell the animals. From the cattlemans point of view, the cattle are beef-on-the-hoof to beef-on-the-hook; their livelihood. They generally have no sympathy for the cattle: that is simply their way of life. However, the fear and longing to run free and wild is instinctive to those cattle who roam the range outside the docile, domestic life of the cattle in the pens. It is the strength and will to survive that lives in the hearts of the scrubbers, those cattle who fight to roam free, that makes this a great book.
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