The diversity of the characters

Use this forum to discuss the February 2019 Book of the month, "The Warramunga's War" by Greg Kater.
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Nisha Ward
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Re: The diversity of the characters

Post by Nisha Ward »

Stellae wrote: 13 Mar 2019, 01:50
Ever_Reading wrote: 06 Feb 2019, 01:53 From Australia to Egypt and back, The Warramunga's War introduces a wide range of characters. More than the Warramunga, one also meets French, English, Arab, Australian, Czech, and German characters. At times, Kater even allows these characters to say phrases in their native tongues.

Did you find this distracting as you were reading, or did it enhance the book for you? Also, what are your thoughts on how diversity is portrayed in the book, in general?
I thin the different native dialects enhanced the novel for me, and the fact that their was such a large variety shows how WW2 reached all faces of the earth, and was not only subject to western culture
I agree. It helps that it also served to show what a melting pot of a society it made places like Cairo, where the different armies and intelligence agencies converged. The only issue I had was in the second portion of the book, when the aboriginal dialect was introduced. I had a hard time figuring out what Sarah was saying, so I wished the author had included a glossary, at least. It didn't detract from the novel in a major way, but it did slow it down for me a bit.
"...while a book has got to be worthwhile from the point of view of the reader it's got to be worthwhile from the point of view of the writer as well." - Terry Pratchett on The Last Continent and his writing.
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Hiruni Bhagya 81
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Post by Hiruni Bhagya 81 »

It made it interesting and distracting both at the the same time as the author didn't add a glossary. Most of the times, those phrases could be understood with relation to their replies. Sometimes I had to check them. This made it a bit tedious to read the book.
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Post by Kendra M Parker »

I love seeing diversity in literature, especially when it is well utilized, much like it is in this book. Exploring a foreign culture is one of my favorite things about travel, and books like this give me the opportunity to do that without the major expense of travel.
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Post by Miercoles »

The diversity was quite necessary for the authenticity of the novel. Jacko and Jamie were in Cairo for the first half of the novel, a city that was a melting pot of cultures at that time. I thought it truly enhanced the action.
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Post by Kishor Rao »

I have also talked about it in my review. The wide range of characters introduced make an excellent reading experience and also efficiently does great justice to all of them without hurting certain feelings. it distracted me initially but as I got used to the book, the dialogues in the native language didn't make it harder to read and comprehend.
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Sam Ibeh
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Post by Sam Ibeh »

Diversity of characters makes historical books more robust. For a book that talks about the aftermath of WWII, you can expect that. I give Greg a big thumbs up for still finding a way to connect all the characters to the central theme of the book.
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Post by Gracedscribe »

The author has used diversity quite elegantly in this book. There is a lot of respect in the way he has handled the different characters and their diverse ethnic backgrounds. It is obvious that he immersed himself into these cultures and understood them. Native language was a bit of a struggle when first encountered, but when I gave it time, I found it flowed well. This idea is strengthened in the second book. I greatly respect the amount of research that has gone into this book.
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Post by Areej Tahir »

Oh I absolutely love the diversity, it helps you learn new things and love the native language thing although I get annoyed if there are no footnotes.
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Post by Felicity Granger »

I think adding the culture-rich aspect made the novel seem more realistic. Jamie and Jacko were journeying all over the place (so it seemed anyway) where they would expectedly meet people from similarly different backgrounds. I doubt everyone would be speaking the same old language. Also, I found it created this type of awareness in the novel.
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