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The Road from Coorain
Jill Ker Conway tells the story of her astonishing journey into adulthood—a journey that would ultimately span immense distances and encompass worlds, ideas, and ways of life that seem a century apart.
She was seven before she ever saw another girl child. At eight, still too small to mount her horse unaided, she was galloping miles, alone, across Coorain, her parents' thirty thousand windswept, drought-haunted acres in the Australian outback, doing a "man's job" of helping herd the sheep because World War II had taken away the able-bodied men. She loved (and makes us see and feel) the vast unpeopled landscape, beautiful and hostile, whose uncertain weathers tormented the sheep ranchers with conflicting promises of riches and inescapable disaster. She adored (and makes us know) her large-visioned father and her strong, radiant mother, who had gone willingly with him into a pioneering life of loneliness and bone-breaking toil, who seemed miraculously to succeed in creating a warmly sheltering home in the harsh outback, and who, upon her husband's sudden death when Jill was ten, began to slide—bereft of the partnership of work and love that had so utterly fulfilled her—into depression and dependency.
We see Jill, staggered by the loss of her father, catapulted to what seemed another planet—the suburban Sydney of the 1950s and its crowded, noisy, cliquish school life. Then the heady excitement of the University, but with it a yet more demanding course of lessons—Jill embracing new ideas, new possibilities, while at the same time trying to be mother to her mother and resenting it, escaping into drink, pulling herself back, striking a balance. We see her slowly gaining strength, coming into her own emotionally and intellectually and beginning the joyous love affair that gave wings to her newfound self.
Worlds away from Coorain, in America, Jill Conway became a historian and the first woman president of Smith College. Her story of Coorain and the road from Coorain startles by its passion and evocative power, by its understanding of the ways in which a total, deep-rooted commitment to place—or to a dream—can at once liberate and imprison. It is a story of childhood as both Eden and anguish, and of growing up as a journey toward the difficult life of the free.
She was seven before she ever saw another girl child. At eight, still too small to mount her horse unaided, she was galloping miles, alone, across Coorain, her parents' thirty thousand windswept, drought-haunted acres in the Australian outback, doing a "man's job" of helping herd the sheep because World War II had taken away the able-bodied men. She loved (and makes us see and feel) the vast unpeopled landscape, beautiful and hostile, whose uncertain weathers tormented the sheep ranchers with conflicting promises of riches and inescapable disaster. She adored (and makes us know) her large-visioned father and her strong, radiant mother, who had gone willingly with him into a pioneering life of loneliness and bone-breaking toil, who seemed miraculously to succeed in creating a warmly sheltering home in the harsh outback, and who, upon her husband's sudden death when Jill was ten, began to slide—bereft of the partnership of work and love that had so utterly fulfilled her—into depression and dependency.
We see Jill, staggered by the loss of her father, catapulted to what seemed another planet—the suburban Sydney of the 1950s and its crowded, noisy, cliquish school life. Then the heady excitement of the University, but with it a yet more demanding course of lessons—Jill embracing new ideas, new possibilities, while at the same time trying to be mother to her mother and resenting it, escaping into drink, pulling herself back, striking a balance. We see her slowly gaining strength, coming into her own emotionally and intellectually and beginning the joyous love affair that gave wings to her newfound self.
Worlds away from Coorain, in America, Jill Conway became a historian and the first woman president of Smith College. Her story of Coorain and the road from Coorain startles by its passion and evocative power, by its understanding of the ways in which a total, deep-rooted commitment to place—or to a dream—can at once liberate and imprison. It is a story of childhood as both Eden and anguish, and of growing up as a journey toward the difficult life of the free.
238 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Jill Ker Conway
19 books73 followersJill Ker Conway was an Australian-American author. Well known for her autobiographies, in particular her first memoir, The Road from Coorain. She was also Smith College's first female president, from 1975 to 1985, and served as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2004 she was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.
(from Wikipedia)
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 694 reviews
November 25, 2014
Poignant and lyrically expressive memoir for the first 13 or 14 years of this woman's (Jill Ker Conway)life was the focus of the first half of this book. That portion is entire 5 star breathless. Stark, real, sharp, luxuriant- the natural Western plains of Australia girl child world.
But after the move to Sydney (off of Coorain sheep country isolation)it cuts to her latter years of schooling and family life; then every year of progressive aging becomes closer to a highly aesthetic intellectual and emotional exercise or thesis of record memoir.
Interesting for sure- how she turned from emotional co-dependence with her widowed mother and a rural and rather physically wild girlhood, a scrappy but pudgy shy rural kid without any social interchange skills- to the realms of highest Academia.
This last 70 pages was so much more a "studied" analysis of her educational path that it held none of the bright light purity of the earlier years. IMHO, this was much less interesting or revealing as her earlier figments of self-identity and familial values and sensibilities.
Overall, 3.5 star, because I could not round it up due to the distance of those last 40 or 50 pages. By that age, she is almost writing about herself in the third person. But always in exquisite prose.
But after the move to Sydney (off of Coorain sheep country isolation)it cuts to her latter years of schooling and family life; then every year of progressive aging becomes closer to a highly aesthetic intellectual and emotional exercise or thesis of record memoir.
Interesting for sure- how she turned from emotional co-dependence with her widowed mother and a rural and rather physically wild girlhood, a scrappy but pudgy shy rural kid without any social interchange skills- to the realms of highest Academia.
This last 70 pages was so much more a "studied" analysis of her educational path that it held none of the bright light purity of the earlier years. IMHO, this was much less interesting or revealing as her earlier figments of self-identity and familial values and sensibilities.
Overall, 3.5 star, because I could not round it up due to the distance of those last 40 or 50 pages. By that age, she is almost writing about herself in the third person. But always in exquisite prose.
March 23, 2022
I first read The Road from Coorain not long after it was published, liked it a lot then, and just finished rereading it [2014]. It's a first rate memoir of a girlhood in an isolated sheep station in western New South Wales in the 1930s, the loss of her father in an extended drought, the family's move to Sydney, her struggles as a "bush child" in the metropolis, the loss of her brother in a car wreck, her coming-of-age through education, and her mother's declining health. The book ends in 1960, as she is leaving to earn her doctorate in history at Harvard.
JKC went on to a distinguished academic career in the US and Canada, nicely outlined at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Ke...
Judging from other reviews, almost everyone enjoys the first part of her memoir, at the sheep station. Reactions to the rest of the book are mixed.
For myself, I also liked the girlhood memoir the best -- but a lot of the power of that is from her rethinking of her life and her country's history, first as a college student, then as a professional historian. Her life once she moves to Sydney is certainly less unique, but her love of learning is contagious, and I'm a sucker for a good memoir. If that's you, and you've missed this one, you're in for a treat.
FWIW, I liked her second memoir, "True North," less, and found "When memory speaks : reflections on autobiography" unreadable. But "Coorain" is GREAT. Don't miss!
JKC went on to a distinguished academic career in the US and Canada, nicely outlined at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Ke...
Judging from other reviews, almost everyone enjoys the first part of her memoir, at the sheep station. Reactions to the rest of the book are mixed.
For myself, I also liked the girlhood memoir the best -- but a lot of the power of that is from her rethinking of her life and her country's history, first as a college student, then as a professional historian. Her life once she moves to Sydney is certainly less unique, but her love of learning is contagious, and I'm a sucker for a good memoir. If that's you, and you've missed this one, you're in for a treat.
FWIW, I liked her second memoir, "True North," less, and found "When memory speaks : reflections on autobiography" unreadable. But "Coorain" is GREAT. Don't miss!
November 11, 2009
I spent a while this weekend reading The Road from Coorain, a memoir popular about fifteen years ago that I'd found around the office. In it, Jill Ker Conway, an academic and the first female president of Smith College, tells the story of her youth and education in Australia up to the day she left for America at age 26.
The first third of the book, in which she describes her life on a sheep ranch in a remote part of New South Wales, is what makes this book worthwhile. Conway never knew a child other than her brothers until she was eleven; she did not know how to play. Instead, she helped her parents with the difficult business of running the household and managing the feeding and shearing of tens of thousands of carefully bred sheep. A disastrous drought that kills most of the flock eventually forces them back to the city.
The middle of the book discusses her schooling. She briefly attends a public school because the family's finances have been wiped out by the drought. Soon she's able to transfer to a tony boarding school as a day student. In this section there are some interesting bits about the bush vs. the city, and about Australia as a British colony. The reader gets a good sense of the Australian landscape. The problem with the last third of the book is that all happy university degrees are the same. This whole section reads a bit like a de-fictionalized version of Frederica Potter's Cambridge. Conway seems oblivious to the fact that most of her readers will have attended college and will already be familiar with the joy of discovery. A tone of self-congratulation seeps in, too.
I suspect most people read this book the way I did -- with rapt attention for the first hundred pages, then with increasing impatience into the home stretch. It's worth a look -- library not bookstore -- especially for those readers who are less meticulous and obsessive than I am about reading things to the end.
The first third of the book, in which she describes her life on a sheep ranch in a remote part of New South Wales, is what makes this book worthwhile. Conway never knew a child other than her brothers until she was eleven; she did not know how to play. Instead, she helped her parents with the difficult business of running the household and managing the feeding and shearing of tens of thousands of carefully bred sheep. A disastrous drought that kills most of the flock eventually forces them back to the city.
The middle of the book discusses her schooling. She briefly attends a public school because the family's finances have been wiped out by the drought. Soon she's able to transfer to a tony boarding school as a day student. In this section there are some interesting bits about the bush vs. the city, and about Australia as a British colony. The reader gets a good sense of the Australian landscape. The problem with the last third of the book is that all happy university degrees are the same. This whole section reads a bit like a de-fictionalized version of Frederica Potter's Cambridge. Conway seems oblivious to the fact that most of her readers will have attended college and will already be familiar with the joy of discovery. A tone of self-congratulation seeps in, too.
I suspect most people read this book the way I did -- with rapt attention for the first hundred pages, then with increasing impatience into the home stretch. It's worth a look -- library not bookstore -- especially for those readers who are less meticulous and obsessive than I am about reading things to the end.
July 30, 2012
Excellent memoir of the outback childhood and Sydney schooling of a woman who became noted as a historian, feminist, and President of Smith College.
The first third about Conway's pre-teen years on an 18,000 acre sheep farm in remote New South Wales in the 30's was most satisfying to me for its vibrant evocation of the beauties and struggles of rural family life. The isolation of their ranch encouraged self reliance, and when her brothers were sent off to school, she came to work closely with her father in the many complex tasks of ranching and wool production. The years of drought and depressed prices of the Depression tax the great resilience of the family. When her father dies, she assumes the role of her mother's main support.
Eventually, when Jill and her mother are forced to move to Sydney, she slowly adapts to formal schooling and begins to find in academic achievement a path toward independence from her dominating mother . As she proceeds through adolescence into her college years, she evolves an aversion to the classism that places her among the privileged landowners, the sexism in the barriers to success in the field of history that she excels in, and internalized cultural inferiority that Australians experience with respect to the British imperialist mentality. As an autobiographical account of her developing values, this part of the book is as compelling as the childhood section; however, it is fascinating how she makes herself effectively a case study in the history of transformations in the social consciousness of Australians in the fifties.
By the end of the book, she is headed to graduate school at Radcliffe to study the parallels and differences between Australian and American progression from British colonies. A sequel to the book was published as "True North".
The first third about Conway's pre-teen years on an 18,000 acre sheep farm in remote New South Wales in the 30's was most satisfying to me for its vibrant evocation of the beauties and struggles of rural family life. The isolation of their ranch encouraged self reliance, and when her brothers were sent off to school, she came to work closely with her father in the many complex tasks of ranching and wool production. The years of drought and depressed prices of the Depression tax the great resilience of the family. When her father dies, she assumes the role of her mother's main support.
Eventually, when Jill and her mother are forced to move to Sydney, she slowly adapts to formal schooling and begins to find in academic achievement a path toward independence from her dominating mother . As she proceeds through adolescence into her college years, she evolves an aversion to the classism that places her among the privileged landowners, the sexism in the barriers to success in the field of history that she excels in, and internalized cultural inferiority that Australians experience with respect to the British imperialist mentality. As an autobiographical account of her developing values, this part of the book is as compelling as the childhood section; however, it is fascinating how she makes herself effectively a case study in the history of transformations in the social consciousness of Australians in the fifties.
By the end of the book, she is headed to graduate school at Radcliffe to study the parallels and differences between Australian and American progression from British colonies. A sequel to the book was published as "True North".
September 17, 2016
Didn't know I was going to love this book. Jill Ker Conway came of age during a time when society did not know what to do with an intelligent woman. She only wanted to be taken seriously, and she was determined to make a difference in the world. And she did!
My review: The Road From Coorain
My review: The Road From Coorain
May 17, 2020
Jill Ker Conway, it's so hard to love your story when you're such a darned overachiever.
May 4, 2015
Solid memoir on growing up in 40s Australia, first in the Outback on a sheep farm that nearly collapses due to a long drought, then in Sydney as she tries to adjust to life a smart, pretty woman in a very chauvinistic academic world. She loses some important people way too early, and her mom begins to lose her grip on reality.
I enjoyed the book and it was well written. I definitely liked it better when it was in Coorain, the sheep farm her parents bought and settled about 10 hours west of Sydney. A very different world, well described from a ten year old's perspective. When her fatherless family moved to Sydney, leaving the farm in caretaker's hands, the book bogged down for me. It became more of a "normal" story of the youngest daughter trying to come to grips with many pressures. While my growing up years were perfectly fine, I don't have any desire to relive them, either mine or someone else's, so even most "coming of age" movies leave me cool. But I persevered as she entered college and tried to figure out her path.
The books ends as she gets on a plane to Boston, to begin her post-graduate work at Harvard. Oddly enough, she currently lives just down the road from me. A small world, and this book does a very nice job of explaining how it can become so.
I enjoyed the book and it was well written. I definitely liked it better when it was in Coorain, the sheep farm her parents bought and settled about 10 hours west of Sydney. A very different world, well described from a ten year old's perspective. When her fatherless family moved to Sydney, leaving the farm in caretaker's hands, the book bogged down for me. It became more of a "normal" story of the youngest daughter trying to come to grips with many pressures. While my growing up years were perfectly fine, I don't have any desire to relive them, either mine or someone else's, so even most "coming of age" movies leave me cool. But I persevered as she entered college and tried to figure out her path.
The books ends as she gets on a plane to Boston, to begin her post-graduate work at Harvard. Oddly enough, she currently lives just down the road from me. A small world, and this book does a very nice job of explaining how it can become so.
July 25, 2011
A fantastic and engaging memoir showing how Jill Ker Conway's early years on the sheep farm in Coorain, Australia helped shape her into the academic she later became here in the United States.
This book starts off beautifully with in depth descriptions of the harsh Australian outback, a place I've never been, but would like to go, and through Ms. Conway's words I was there. Then the book ends with Jill Ker Conway leaving for America at age 26. I enjoyed the fact that education was fun for her, not an arduous process based on test scores, which seems to be the focus of education here in America. If it was more fun, I might of liked it more myself.
However, I'm not going to lie, this is a heavy book. Ker Conway's life was plagued by loss and struggle, but even still, this is a beautifully and thoughtfully written memoir; a must read, and one I will venture back to from time to time.
P.S. I read this book the first time in high school based on a reading list my English teacher made up for me because I had already read so many of the required titles and was dominating the in class discussions. However, I think I got so much more out of it this time around now that I'm older.
This book starts off beautifully with in depth descriptions of the harsh Australian outback, a place I've never been, but would like to go, and through Ms. Conway's words I was there. Then the book ends with Jill Ker Conway leaving for America at age 26. I enjoyed the fact that education was fun for her, not an arduous process based on test scores, which seems to be the focus of education here in America. If it was more fun, I might of liked it more myself.
However, I'm not going to lie, this is a heavy book. Ker Conway's life was plagued by loss and struggle, but even still, this is a beautifully and thoughtfully written memoir; a must read, and one I will venture back to from time to time.
P.S. I read this book the first time in high school based on a reading list my English teacher made up for me because I had already read so many of the required titles and was dominating the in class discussions. However, I think I got so much more out of it this time around now that I'm older.
April 12, 2014
A good book about growing up in the outback of Australia during the 30s. It is this part of the book that most people like. I did enjoy the description of the terrain and vegetation and climate, the beauty of the place, its solitude and isolation. The author grew up at a distance of a 10 hour car ride west of Sydney. This part is through the eyes of the author as a child. It is about drought and hardship and the death of her father, a hard scrabble life still filled with good memories. This part constitutes only a third of the book. The latter two thirds (through the 50s) deals with the author's progression toward adulthood, her psychological separation from the control of her parents and an understanding of what she wanted to do with her life. THIS is the part I found most interesting. Watching her become an independent individual, that is what I enjoyed. It deals with her personal experiences of gender discrimination. It deals with her growing awareness of aboriginal discrimination. The author states clearly in the foreword that she hopes this book describing her own life experiences may inspire other girls toward intellectual professions of high standing through education. Keep in mind, the author became the first female President of Smith College (a liberal arts college in Massachusetts). Here the setting is her schools in Sydney and finally a year's trip with her mother to Europe. I was fascinated by her growth toward independence.
Exactly which courses she took does get a bit tedious at times.
I enjoyed her conclusion that traveling makes you appreciate home. I enjoyed the discussion of how Australians view the British and vice-versa. World historical events are related to their effect on Australia.
The narration by Barbara Caruso was clear, had a good tempo and used Australian terms and pronunciation well.
There is a foreword and an interview with the author at the end of the audiobook. I felt that what she explained there should have been drawn into the book itself. Why didn't she say that earlier?!
Exactly which courses she took does get a bit tedious at times.
I enjoyed her conclusion that traveling makes you appreciate home. I enjoyed the discussion of how Australians view the British and vice-versa. World historical events are related to their effect on Australia.
The narration by Barbara Caruso was clear, had a good tempo and used Australian terms and pronunciation well.
There is a foreword and an interview with the author at the end of the audiobook. I felt that what she explained there should have been drawn into the book itself. Why didn't she say that earlier?!
January 27, 2015
If only the whole book was written in the style of her childhood years. We meet her and her family, learn about what their lives were like, and get to enjoy an interesting personal account of what the Australian "Bush" is like.
Once she enters school, though, we hear only very brief accounts of the players in her social life and instead are subjected to relentless and unnecessary details about the subjects she studies and her every reaction to them.
Jill, we get it! You're an intelligent woman who loves studying history and English. If we wanted to read your scholarly papers, we would, but you promised us a memoir.
Then, the book ends without any account of what happens to her pitiful and infuriating mother. She's such a major actor throughout the book, but we get no hint as to how her sad story may conclude.
I wish I'd never picked it up! It was a chore to finish.
Once she enters school, though, we hear only very brief accounts of the players in her social life and instead are subjected to relentless and unnecessary details about the subjects she studies and her every reaction to them.
Jill, we get it! You're an intelligent woman who loves studying history and English. If we wanted to read your scholarly papers, we would, but you promised us a memoir.
Then, the book ends without any account of what happens to her pitiful and infuriating mother. She's such a major actor throughout the book, but we get no hint as to how her sad story may conclude.
I wish I'd never picked it up! It was a chore to finish.
March 25, 2018
I loved this memoir for two reasons--first for the lyrically beautiful story of growing up in the lonely, remote Australian outback; and second for the story of her struggle to become a well-educated and successful female in what was at that time (early 50s) a 'man's world'. In her story we see the growth of the feminist view as she is passed over for a position simply because she is a woman, and when young male friends at social gatherings turn away when she attempts to discuss serious topics. All of her beliefs and ideas are changing and she finally recognizes her need to leave Australia to find her answers. The book ends with her departure for the U.S. and a doctoral program in history at Harvard. This was my first exposure to Jill Ker Conway, and I can't wait to read more of her work.
January 17, 2019
The author's childhood in the far West of NSW was the star of this memoir. She describes with great clarity and love of the harsh, dusty, dry and lonely life of graziers in the post WWII era. In the second half the book's focus is on her angry frustrated mother, life as an intellectual woman in Australia in the time of great misogyny and her desire to understand much more than the rote learning offered by many courses.
She is a fine writer who uses words as her easel to paint the scenes of her early life. It serves as a great timepiece of Australia in the 40s, 50s and 60s.
She is a fine writer who uses words as her easel to paint the scenes of her early life. It serves as a great timepiece of Australia in the 40s, 50s and 60s.
May 15, 2018
My experience with this memoir ebbed and flowed. I was captivated by the first quarter of the book about Conway's experiences growing up on a sheep farm in Coorain. Then there were pages and pages detailing mundane high school and university experiences in Sydney including her coursework and even what she wrote on her essay exams. I became interested again during the last quarter of the book, as Conway strived to find her footing as a woman and a scholar the late 1950s/early 1960s Sydney.
April 24, 2022
First book of 2019. I have never heard of Jill Ker Conway (1934-2018) prior to reading this book. She was a scholar, writer and the first female president of Smith's College. I didn't know what to expect from this book.
Many readers have already mentioned that they preferred the first half of the book to the second half. In the first half of the book, she describes her childhood and upbringing in the Australian Outback. Her father owned land and built a farm that reared sheep and made money out of selling wool and meat. Life in the Outback is harsh and completely dependent on the weather. Right before the WWII, rains were plentiful and the family made a lot of money, but then came a five-year drought and the author's father died.
The author, who is now in her preteens, moves to Sydney with her mom and that's when the second half of the book starts. After living an isolated life in the Outback, the author suddenly meets children her age and needs to go to school. It is a difficult adjustment for her and she constantly feels out of place.
"Our parents had taught us to be the best at everything we did, but the things we were supposed to excel in had always before had some practical purpose. Now I was introduced to competition as an end in itself."
"It was painful when others talked happily about their fathers or boasted about the family fortunes. I couldn't join in either, and became slowly aware that my family and life circumstances were unusual."
"Each afternoon I was exhausted, not by the schoolwork, which mostly seemed very easy, but by the stress of coping with so many people and trying to guess what the rules were for each new situation."
This was a very sensitive memoir. Conway tries to make sense of her life. I guess her upbringing in the Outback gave her a different way of thinking and approach to her studies compared to her peers. Her natural curiosity and the set of questions she asks propelled her to a successful academic career. Unfortunately, some of her reasoning in the second half of the book were too academic and dry. I also lost interest in the second half of the book. We never found out what happened to her mother, or even how her mother reacted to the author's departure for the USA at the end of the book.
"As I walked out of the plane in the balmy air of a Sydney September night, my mind flew back to the dusty cemetery where my father was buried. Where, I wondered, would my bones come to rest? It pained me to think of them not fertilizing Australian soil. Then I comforted myself with the notion that wherever on the earth was my final resting place, my body would return to the restless red dust of the western plains. I could see how it would blow about and get in people's eyes, and I was content with that."
There was also a sense of guilt. The author felt guilty for providing her mom tranquilizers and alcohol to soothe the pain after her father's death. Then there's anger. Anger that she didn't get the government job she wanted only because of her gender. And then there was frustration that she had to act a certain feminine way to be accepted by society, even though she didn't want to belittle her intelligence. And to wrap up all of these feelings, she also felt dissatisfied with the telling of Australian history. It was too praising of British colonialism and standards, completely disregarding the Aborigines and the actual nature of Australia. She wanted to rewrite that.
"From the inside, promoting fashion and beauty was a business like any other, intent on stimulating demand and creating obsolescence."
Many readers have already mentioned that they preferred the first half of the book to the second half. In the first half of the book, she describes her childhood and upbringing in the Australian Outback. Her father owned land and built a farm that reared sheep and made money out of selling wool and meat. Life in the Outback is harsh and completely dependent on the weather. Right before the WWII, rains were plentiful and the family made a lot of money, but then came a five-year drought and the author's father died.
The author, who is now in her preteens, moves to Sydney with her mom and that's when the second half of the book starts. After living an isolated life in the Outback, the author suddenly meets children her age and needs to go to school. It is a difficult adjustment for her and she constantly feels out of place.
"Our parents had taught us to be the best at everything we did, but the things we were supposed to excel in had always before had some practical purpose. Now I was introduced to competition as an end in itself."
"It was painful when others talked happily about their fathers or boasted about the family fortunes. I couldn't join in either, and became slowly aware that my family and life circumstances were unusual."
"Each afternoon I was exhausted, not by the schoolwork, which mostly seemed very easy, but by the stress of coping with so many people and trying to guess what the rules were for each new situation."
This was a very sensitive memoir. Conway tries to make sense of her life. I guess her upbringing in the Outback gave her a different way of thinking and approach to her studies compared to her peers. Her natural curiosity and the set of questions she asks propelled her to a successful academic career. Unfortunately, some of her reasoning in the second half of the book were too academic and dry. I also lost interest in the second half of the book. We never found out what happened to her mother, or even how her mother reacted to the author's departure for the USA at the end of the book.
"As I walked out of the plane in the balmy air of a Sydney September night, my mind flew back to the dusty cemetery where my father was buried. Where, I wondered, would my bones come to rest? It pained me to think of them not fertilizing Australian soil. Then I comforted myself with the notion that wherever on the earth was my final resting place, my body would return to the restless red dust of the western plains. I could see how it would blow about and get in people's eyes, and I was content with that."
There was also a sense of guilt. The author felt guilty for providing her mom tranquilizers and alcohol to soothe the pain after her father's death. Then there's anger. Anger that she didn't get the government job she wanted only because of her gender. And then there was frustration that she had to act a certain feminine way to be accepted by society, even though she didn't want to belittle her intelligence. And to wrap up all of these feelings, she also felt dissatisfied with the telling of Australian history. It was too praising of British colonialism and standards, completely disregarding the Aborigines and the actual nature of Australia. She wanted to rewrite that.
"From the inside, promoting fashion and beauty was a business like any other, intent on stimulating demand and creating obsolescence."
February 11, 2014
I enjoyed reading this story very much, but I have to admit that I liked the first half of the story much better than the last half. I have had a hard time trying to figure out why though. I feel that it was more because of the information about Australia and life on the sheep ranch and conditions then, than the more mundane times of an academic in Sydney. It feels wrong to make this comparison, but it is the truth for me.
The isolation and desolation endured by the young woman and her family in Coorain was such a contrast to what she endured in Sydney.
I was horrified how her mother treated her and her brothers. I had a very hard time justifying any of reasons for why she acted as she did towards them. I could not get over how the author stuck it out for so long the way she did.
I thought the author did a very good job explaining what she felt and what she discovered as she progressed in her accademic persuit. I understood her difficulties as a single woman intellectual in a world of men, where she was not appreciated. I felt it was a little drawn out.
I rejoiced when she finally made the decision to leave Australia and go finish her studies in the USA. It was unfortunate, but I could see that it was the only thing she could do.
The story was well written and an easy read.
The isolation and desolation endured by the young woman and her family in Coorain was such a contrast to what she endured in Sydney.
I was horrified how her mother treated her and her brothers. I had a very hard time justifying any of reasons for why she acted as she did towards them. I could not get over how the author stuck it out for so long the way she did.
I thought the author did a very good job explaining what she felt and what she discovered as she progressed in her accademic persuit. I understood her difficulties as a single woman intellectual in a world of men, where she was not appreciated. I felt it was a little drawn out.
I rejoiced when she finally made the decision to leave Australia and go finish her studies in the USA. It was unfortunate, but I could see that it was the only thing she could do.
The story was well written and an easy read.
January 12, 2020
This is one of the greats of Australian letters, a masterclass in precise, elegant writing that evokes scenery like few other authors can and layers this with the drama of place and family, so richly told here. It is striking at every turn and I was left marvelling at the restraint in the writing and the emotional punch it leaves nonetheless.
September 7, 2020
Picked up this book 10 years ago at a Red Cross blood drive. Finally read it. I'm so sorry I waited. Sad to learn that Ms. Conway died two years ago. I'd surely have written to thank her for her brave life and this wonderful story. I've ordered her follow up to this, True North. RIP dear lady and thank you.
September 20, 2011
The Road from Coorain is an memoir written by Jill Ker Conway detailing her life as a child on the outback of Australia moving to the city. Her young life has numerous obstacles, from droughts to family tragedies. The author had led a fascinating life; I learned much about living in the outback - raising sheep and obtaining one's resources independently - and her story of growing up as a strong, intellectual woman in a chauvinistic age powerful.
The memoir is well written; as a memoir, it appears to stay true to what she remembers. It doesn't seem to exaggerate events - but the memory recall appears so good she must have written in a journal.
The dialogue is sparse, as should be the case with a life memoir - I wouldn't be able to remember exact wordings of conversations - but when it exists it is powerful.
The diction is quite consistent. The author uses a honest, calm, reflective voice - she doesn't complain or gush - instead recalling past attitudes and using diction to convey a reflective tone on subjects. The book makes good use of tone and diction to convey the author's thoughts and emotions, giving the reader her attitude and opinions towards events and things directly in a voice that is both engaging and down to earth.
The book, as a memoir of a life of a normal person, is one the reader feels for, but as a result it lacks much of the escapist elements that fiction usually possesses. It has no heart-pounding adventures, far reaching revelations, fantastical creatures, epic conflicts, futuristic predictions, or life-changing technologies - except perhaps antibiotics. For the most part, the author doesn't get into politics and doesn't dwell in controversies - a nice change, but bad for sales. Consequently, The Road from Coorain is a great book if the reader seeks a relatively calm atmosphere - such as slow reading before you sleep - if one doesn't like "slow" books, I wouldn't recommend it. However, it does have tragic moments, and a fair deal of emotion.
The author writes in a way that is engaging, that reveals a honest account on her life. The prose is clear and direct rather than pompous and complex; the book is written more in the style of Hemmingway than Shakesphere. The most powerful part of the book is that it is based on real events written by the person who witnessed them, creating a more intimate relation with the protagonist - the author.
In all, the Road from Coorain is a good book, engaging yet slow paced. If one loves memoirs, I would recommend this book as one of the best.
The memoir is well written; as a memoir, it appears to stay true to what she remembers. It doesn't seem to exaggerate events - but the memory recall appears so good she must have written in a journal.
The dialogue is sparse, as should be the case with a life memoir - I wouldn't be able to remember exact wordings of conversations - but when it exists it is powerful.
The diction is quite consistent. The author uses a honest, calm, reflective voice - she doesn't complain or gush - instead recalling past attitudes and using diction to convey a reflective tone on subjects. The book makes good use of tone and diction to convey the author's thoughts and emotions, giving the reader her attitude and opinions towards events and things directly in a voice that is both engaging and down to earth.
The book, as a memoir of a life of a normal person, is one the reader feels for, but as a result it lacks much of the escapist elements that fiction usually possesses. It has no heart-pounding adventures, far reaching revelations, fantastical creatures, epic conflicts, futuristic predictions, or life-changing technologies - except perhaps antibiotics. For the most part, the author doesn't get into politics and doesn't dwell in controversies - a nice change, but bad for sales. Consequently, The Road from Coorain is a great book if the reader seeks a relatively calm atmosphere - such as slow reading before you sleep - if one doesn't like "slow" books, I wouldn't recommend it. However, it does have tragic moments, and a fair deal of emotion.
The author writes in a way that is engaging, that reveals a honest account on her life. The prose is clear and direct rather than pompous and complex; the book is written more in the style of Hemmingway than Shakesphere. The most powerful part of the book is that it is based on real events written by the person who witnessed them, creating a more intimate relation with the protagonist - the author.
In all, the Road from Coorain is a good book, engaging yet slow paced. If one loves memoirs, I would recommend this book as one of the best.
March 1, 2014
A memoir that is crying out for a sequel--what happened to her in the U.S.? To her old mother whom she had left in Australia?
The author was both rich and poor as a child. Rich, because her father who was a world war one veteran managed to acquire a vast landholding in New South Wales; and poor, because the family itself (husband, wife and three kids) had to work on the land, unlike landowners elsewhere in the world who had slaves, serfs or peasants to work for them. Her father died early and one of her two siblings/brothers likewise passed away young in an automobile accident. She did manual labor as a young girl and this is the story of how she was able to go from that humble beginning to being a historian, an academician and the first female President of Smith College.
Well, it is nice to read rags to fame and riches memoirs like this (and it seems you can't read any other type of memoir because those who had gone from riches to rags do not have the energy and inspiration to write about their miserable fate; while those who smoothly sailed undisturbed from riches to riches and from rags to rags would naturally find nothing in their lives interesting to write about). But too much of this kind of literature may be harmful to your psyche because you might think this is the usual norm in life stories worldwide (from ordinary beginnings to greatness) when in reality a vast majority of human beings--like anyone here at GR who are not bestselling authors--lead uneventful lives from cradle to grave. The harm here is if these memoirs will put you in despair, wondering why fame, wealth and greatness have eluded you--with no prospects for these in any way, and so you end up killing yourself with an overdose of laxatives.
The best life stories to read are actually those about the rich and famous who had died poor, despised or forgotten. But these can't be memoirs since having the discipline to write would be the last things these miserable failures would have (and, besides, the dead can't write). Moreover, not being memoirs there'd be the possibility that they are not accurate or based on lies. The imagined misery may not be genuine. It'd be not unlikely that the failures who had been successes in the past have had, in the end, the same happiness looking back, just like Jill Ker Conway who remembers her punishing origins with pride and satisfaction.
January 30, 2008
"Recollections of a harsh and beautiful journey into adulthood..."
I remember this autobiography for the decription of Australia. Jill is born to parents who have pioneered a sheep station. They struggle against the seasons and lonliness. Hill is home schooled. Her brothers left for boarding school and WWII. She had to be a "hand." When her father was killed in a stocktank ,her Mother had to admit failure -- so they moved to the city with disasterous results.
Australian women and men were supposed to be stoic and not reveal feelings as that would be poor taste to burden someone else. There were new rules od decorun and dress the English schools demanded. Even poor posture was a way one might let down the image of the school. Jill was tortured with shyness -- but gradually inspected school rules from every mischievious angle and was accepted thought to be a "brainy", "blue-stocking" -- certainly a negative for a woman, but a triumph for her!
I remember this autobiography for the decription of Australia. Jill is born to parents who have pioneered a sheep station. They struggle against the seasons and lonliness. Hill is home schooled. Her brothers left for boarding school and WWII. She had to be a "hand." When her father was killed in a stocktank ,her Mother had to admit failure -- so they moved to the city with disasterous results.
Australian women and men were supposed to be stoic and not reveal feelings as that would be poor taste to burden someone else. There were new rules od decorun and dress the English schools demanded. Even poor posture was a way one might let down the image of the school. Jill was tortured with shyness -- but gradually inspected school rules from every mischievious angle and was accepted thought to be a "brainy", "blue-stocking" -- certainly a negative for a woman, but a triumph for her!
December 11, 2017
not following the yellow brick road
You read some books as though from a distance, others hit close to your heart; resonate with special force. This sensitively-composed, well-written autobiography meant a lot to me, not only because I liked the style, but also because of the author's honesty, humor, strong character, and lack of pomposity. In short, what I liked about THE ROAD FROM COORAIN was exactly what I liked about Australia. I emigrated to Australia and lived there for 16 years, not on an outback sheep station, but in suburban Melbourne. I came from a New England town, had done all my education at an Ivy League university and had lived some years in India, so I had very little idea of what I would find in Australia. It had always been completely out of my sight up to the day I arrived there. Early on in my sojourn Down Under, I fell in love with the Mallee, a vast inland area of plains, mostly-dry creeks, and secret lakes surrounded by river red gums where only cockatoos and parrots disturbed the great, lovely silence. (I did not have to make a living in that dry land of course.) Almost immediately I felt in Australia a clash between what I saw as an American and how Australians presented or represented their country to me. British beauty was "beauty". The Mallee, whose amazing beauty still haunts me, was nothingness to most Melbournians, who could not fathom my attraction to it. In the 1970s, Australians were only just waking up to Australia's unique beauty and character. They had not yet chosen a national anthem, still singing "God Save the Queen". I mention this to emphasize how divorced many people were from the huge continent they inhabited. Australian painters and writers were usually shrugged off in favor of Europeans. Even the left wing intellectuals at the university where I taught seemed wedded to British working class models of society and behavior. The Eureka Stockade was only a minor incident. I was puzzled at the anti-intellectualism and constant put-downs of women in the university though US society at large had its share of both. Not being a critical sort of person, I kept my opinions to myself. Eventually I returned to my hometown in Massachusetts, never regretting the job, but missing Australia forever after. The feeling of loss was and is terrific.
Thus, as I read Conway's book, everything came back, everything rose up once more. She lost her native land, but throve abroad. I lost my adopted land, but "came home again"---not the same of course. Conway, in THE ROAD FROM COORAIN, faces and reacts to the same issues that I felt some years later. Agreeing with an author always tends to make you write a positive review. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful book, not only because it's the story of an interesting life (but most lives are), but because if you want to understand the soul of Australia I have never read a better one. And I have read a lot.
You read some books as though from a distance, others hit close to your heart; resonate with special force. This sensitively-composed, well-written autobiography meant a lot to me, not only because I liked the style, but also because of the author's honesty, humor, strong character, and lack of pomposity. In short, what I liked about THE ROAD FROM COORAIN was exactly what I liked about Australia. I emigrated to Australia and lived there for 16 years, not on an outback sheep station, but in suburban Melbourne. I came from a New England town, had done all my education at an Ivy League university and had lived some years in India, so I had very little idea of what I would find in Australia. It had always been completely out of my sight up to the day I arrived there. Early on in my sojourn Down Under, I fell in love with the Mallee, a vast inland area of plains, mostly-dry creeks, and secret lakes surrounded by river red gums where only cockatoos and parrots disturbed the great, lovely silence. (I did not have to make a living in that dry land of course.) Almost immediately I felt in Australia a clash between what I saw as an American and how Australians presented or represented their country to me. British beauty was "beauty". The Mallee, whose amazing beauty still haunts me, was nothingness to most Melbournians, who could not fathom my attraction to it. In the 1970s, Australians were only just waking up to Australia's unique beauty and character. They had not yet chosen a national anthem, still singing "God Save the Queen". I mention this to emphasize how divorced many people were from the huge continent they inhabited. Australian painters and writers were usually shrugged off in favor of Europeans. Even the left wing intellectuals at the university where I taught seemed wedded to British working class models of society and behavior. The Eureka Stockade was only a minor incident. I was puzzled at the anti-intellectualism and constant put-downs of women in the university though US society at large had its share of both. Not being a critical sort of person, I kept my opinions to myself. Eventually I returned to my hometown in Massachusetts, never regretting the job, but missing Australia forever after. The feeling of loss was and is terrific.
Thus, as I read Conway's book, everything came back, everything rose up once more. She lost her native land, but throve abroad. I lost my adopted land, but "came home again"---not the same of course. Conway, in THE ROAD FROM COORAIN, faces and reacts to the same issues that I felt some years later. Agreeing with an author always tends to make you write a positive review. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful book, not only because it's the story of an interesting life (but most lives are), but because if you want to understand the soul of Australia I have never read a better one. And I have read a lot.
June 5, 2010
I am reviwing this book now because I just came across it on another list and it bought back to mind a wonderful experience that I was blessed to have.... This book set in motion a whole series of events that meant I was able to visit the original homestead. It is a stunning story of fortitude, perseverance and an ability to get the best out a really harsh reality.
This book was recommended to me by my Brother (he lives in New York). I was reading it on a camping/tramping holiday in the South Island of New Zealand. Whilst sitting reading said book in a laundry at Franz Joseph Glacier. Keeping an eye on a very wet sleeping bag which was in a dryer due to torrential rain overnight - somewhat different to what the protagonist was experiencing in the Australian outback. Another camper with the same moisture issues, asked me what I thought of the book...I was enthused and very verbose about the whole thing. It was difficult to fathom the hostility of the environment and the sheer distance from others. The camper turned out to be the stock agent to the very farm I was reading about!
Over the coming weeks of moving up the Island my Husband and I kept meeting up with this couple, in the end they came an stayed at our place in Auckland for a few days. Subsequently we visited them in an Australian town called Hay (a long way from anywhere) it had not had any rain for 6 years!!. Truly a remarkable experience, this is how I got to see Corain. The environment is every bit as ghastly as described - but also has a particular beauty that is rather unsettling.
I recommend this book to as many as possible; Jill Ker Conway triumphed in so many ways that many from privileged and pampered backgrounds do not even come close - yet they should.
This book was recommended to me by my Brother (he lives in New York). I was reading it on a camping/tramping holiday in the South Island of New Zealand. Whilst sitting reading said book in a laundry at Franz Joseph Glacier. Keeping an eye on a very wet sleeping bag which was in a dryer due to torrential rain overnight - somewhat different to what the protagonist was experiencing in the Australian outback. Another camper with the same moisture issues, asked me what I thought of the book...I was enthused and very verbose about the whole thing. It was difficult to fathom the hostility of the environment and the sheer distance from others. The camper turned out to be the stock agent to the very farm I was reading about!
Over the coming weeks of moving up the Island my Husband and I kept meeting up with this couple, in the end they came an stayed at our place in Auckland for a few days. Subsequently we visited them in an Australian town called Hay (a long way from anywhere) it had not had any rain for 6 years!!. Truly a remarkable experience, this is how I got to see Corain. The environment is every bit as ghastly as described - but also has a particular beauty that is rather unsettling.
I recommend this book to as many as possible; Jill Ker Conway triumphed in so many ways that many from privileged and pampered backgrounds do not even come close - yet they should.
October 14, 2011
I loved this book because of the writing, and since I didn't read the jacket, I had no idea who the author was at first. I was reading it in the same way I read My Brilliant Career, to which it has been compared. Aside from the setting in Australia, I found a resonance between the two books, which aside from the setting are both about intelligent women in a society which does not approve of that combination. Another thing that struck me was how the author's perspective on her mother shifts-in the beginning she is the competent heroine of her childhood, but something goes far astray when they are forced to leave the sheep ranch where Jill was raised. It is clear from the writing that Jill is growing up and way from her mother as her mother's life goes retrograde, but the way handles this double motion is incredibly precise and feels truthful. Halfway through the book I found myself with an intellectual crush as the author recounts her educational experiences and their frustration or fruition in University. I began to realize that I was reading someone's who's passions about history, class, feminism closely parallel my own preoccupations, and that's when I sneaked a peek at who the author was. There were parts I couldn't relate to things she was socialized to in Australia around the time I was born that are not part of my experience, but again it was the precision which she describes the process of listening to someone tell you something you know more about when they do with an interested expression on your face. No wonder she flourished in academia. I finished the book with the same relish after the cat was out of the bag, so to speak.
May 30, 2019
Even if Jill Ker Conway hadn't distinguished herself as the first female president of smith college, I would still highly recommend this book. this is a memoir of her first 25 years growing up in Australia's bush country and eventually moving to Sydney. it is startling to read about conditions and a lifestyle that seem more suited to the 1800s, rather than the mid 20th-century, and i definitely have a tinge of envy that as a seven-year-old, Ker Conway was helping her dad to herd sheep on horseback.
it is a heavy book, though, because Ker Conway's life was plagued by loss and struggle-- but it's beautifully and thoughtfully written, and the vast descriptions of Australia's outback are incredible. this is a great book for smithies, feminists, intellectuals, nature and frontier-lovers, and people interested in family dynamics. this book has officially opened the Ker Conway era in my reading career.
it is a heavy book, though, because Ker Conway's life was plagued by loss and struggle-- but it's beautifully and thoughtfully written, and the vast descriptions of Australia's outback are incredible. this is a great book for smithies, feminists, intellectuals, nature and frontier-lovers, and people interested in family dynamics. this book has officially opened the Ker Conway era in my reading career.
May 9, 2015
This is one of the best books I've read in a while. Think of Little House on the Prairie, for adults, in Australia. She has a beautiful writing style that is charming, intellectual, poetic, and artistic. She is insightful and honest, able to hold two points of views and express both eloquently. She discusses the disparity between men and women, their salaries, the positions they can hold in plain, simple, matter-of-fact ways. "To begin with, I'd have to understand the history of women's situation in modern society better. It was too simple just to blame men for it, as my mother did, in a primitive and nonmoral way." In addition to the pictures she painted of Australia, she and her mother go on a year-long tour of England and Europe and those descriptions are also marvelous. I would highly recommend this book. One last note of interest - Coorain means
"windy place." Coming from Wyoming, similar in a lot of ways to Coorain, I could appreciate the name.
"windy place." Coming from Wyoming, similar in a lot of ways to Coorain, I could appreciate the name.
April 21, 2018
I first read this beautiful memoir in a class in college and loved it then. Reading it again 15 years later, many of the same themes and perspectives spoke to me (education and the orienting and reorienting of oneself in the world; the discovery of literature and history; the influence of nature and environment on cultural and personal identity), as well as some different and new themes that I don't remember from before (mothers and daughters; the glory of work; the experience of losing a loved one; the permanence of change; how to make a difficult decision). I'm delighted to find that this is a book that grows alongside one.
June 5, 2017
This was my first autobiography, and I discovered it as a miniseries on PBS. I found that I related a lot to Jill in feeling out of place in one's skin and environment. Her anecdotes and hardships made me both laugh and sigh. Plus, talk about visuals. I felt like I was in the Australian Outback with her. This is a must read for women.
October 21, 2014
The author describes in wonderful detail her life as a child growing up on a station in the outback of Australia. The autobiography continues until she leaves Australia for Harvard University. It takes awhile to get into the first chapter, but before the end of that chapter I was hooked. This book made me decide that I am not at all educated. Kind of uncomfortable.
July 10, 2016
An amazing memoir that I sailed through. While reading this I often wonder if I could have survived the harshness of such an environment and upbringing. I admire the tenacity of the author. One of my favorite memoirs.
June 25, 2018
Brilliant.
I may come up with more words later, but right now I'm in a 'good book coma'.
I may come up with more words later, but right now I'm in a 'good book coma'.
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