Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence?

[briellejee]

Honestly, this is one of the biggest reasons I don't read historical fiction. Some authors seem to think that women in historical fiction aren't worth writing much about, probably because what they could and couldn't do was so strictly limited by society at the time. At the end of the day, it's a matter of taste.

There is a lot of historical fiction that portrays women as well, but you can't just blame authors for not writing about them. These historical women are worth writing but I think a male author writing about the life of a woman in historical times is not good enough otherwise they will just fall into stereotypes and the author will get more backlash about it. I think if men wanted to write about women in historical times, they would need a lot of research about it because as the timeline suggests, news abut women were suppressed and often dismissed. Let the author write about what he wants and not judge them for not writing about women more. At the end of the day, it's the story that matters. Even Sarah is well-represented in this book so I don't get the fuss about this leading to thoughts that the author is sexist or a coward.

[briellejee]

I notice a lot are misinformed and just blatantly throw some assumptions about the author not writing more of women. As for the question in this forum, the novel would've benefited either way because of the story. Any book with an uninteresting plot would not benefit even it has full of women representation. Women representation is good in this book despite the lack of female presence since a lot of these women in historical times cannot be seen with men during wars. There were some but most of them are either healing the injured or staying with the children. It's not the author's fault when history was sexist at that time. This was made to be convincing, not to please any gender. At the end of the day, the story would win anyone's heart.

[briellejee]

I don't think adding more females into the story would take away from it, but it might make it less historically accurate. I like when historical fiction is mostly accurate.

Agreed! And also, doing research on female presence during the war would be tedious and taxing since the news were more centered on men. I like it when historical fiction is accurate because it gives you a glimpse on what happened in that timeline, to make readers aware of the oppressive nature in that timeline. Making it askew just to please or "benefit more" is just wrong for me.

[Howlan]

I think at the end of the day, the inclusion of women representation does nothing but shows us the concept that at times of need no matter what the time, women can rise up to the need of the hour equally to men.

[WardahEbrahim]

I love this series by Greg Kater, however, I often feel like the amazing female characters could have a larger part to play in the novels.
For example, in "Skills of the Warramunga" Sarah, Jacko's half-sister is feisty, courageous and has amazing bush-skills. I was extremely impressed by her tracking skills. She's an inspiration to young women in her demeanor and independence.

Do you think the novel would have benefited from a greater inclusion of these amazing female characters? Or do you think that this would have been inappropriate in the historical setting of the novel?

I don't think it is necessary to have a strong female lead in EVERY story. However, this author generally does not write women well. His description and creation of female characters are very cliche and overused, as is typical with many male authors.

[DaeReads19]

I always think it is important to include female characters, especially since young minds are so in awe of cinema and literature. It is important for people to feel represented, seen, heard, and amazing. Including women and other ethnicity besides Caucasian has a major effect on society. When people see heroes and phenomenal characters that represent them, they can feel empowered by said character. Have you ever left a movie theater and felt like you could take on the world? It's like that! But so many people groups are unrepresented or misrepresented by media. It is crucial to have plenty of character representation for minority groups, so that they too feel like they can take on the world.

[e-tasana-williams]

I don’t know that I would have wanted to see more female characters in this book. The ones that are included seemed a bit flat to me.

I would have liked to see Sarah’s character better developed though. Even though she has amazing skills and is clearly an important part of the team, her character is made to appear very childish at times.

She leads them through the jungle and tracks like no one else can, but the lines she is given are like those of a little girl. I’m not familiar with aborigine culture, and maybe this portrayal was authentic, I don’t know. But these parts of the book were very glaring to me.

[naomisorge]

So many people saying that a female presence would not have been realistic! People...there were lots of women around in those times, but their presence and contribution were ignored, or credit was taken by the men. Writing female characters into historical fiction is one way to acknowledge the contribution women made and normalize their presence in history.

I also think it's interesting that the main female character, Sarah, doesn't speak all that much English, so the men can make good use of her bush skills but she doesn't really take a decision-making or analyzing role in the story. I would have loved to know what she was thinking at some points!

[naomisorge]

I would have liked to see Sarah’s character better developed though. Even though she has amazing skills and is clearly an important part of the team, her character is made to appear very childish at times.

She leads them through the jungle and tracks like no one else can, but the lines she is given are like those of a little girl. I’m not familiar with aborigine culture, and maybe this portrayal was authentic, I don’t know. But these parts of the book were very glaring to me.

Agreed. There is a strong stereotype throughout colonial history of viewing aborigines/native people as childlike, immature, ignorant etc. The characterization of Sarah plays right into this.

[JayUwU]

I think the book is great how it is. Remember this is set in 1946 so the amount of female presence in the book is actually a bit unusual for that particular time period

[Melissa Breen]

I would have really enjoyed to read more about Jamie's wife and Jacko's girlfriend, their parts in the story was so small I'm even momentarily blanking on their names! But they are well written and interesting characters and I think the author could get a good story out with them as the focus

[Noosh]

I think Sarah is the only interesting female presence in the book. She giggles a lot, but she knows what she’s doing.
The others were mostly cliches. I’m saying this based on what I’ve read in this book, haven’t got a clue how they were in the previous books.
And I think that it is historically accurate somehow. It’s after the second world war and it is Malaya.

[Surabhi Rani]

Ye, I think that the novel would have benefited from a greater female presence. It would give the plot depth and a touch of class. This my concept of a desirable and productive read! Also it would lead to an uninterrupted flow of concentration on reading in me due to familiar and enlightening words!

[AntonelaMaria]

I'm intrigued by Sarah too. I wish she had a bit more spotlight on her. I am a bit confused as I can't determine her age. She has amazing skills, very impressive.

[Toya1]

I think it depends on a number of factors: the era in which the story was written, the setting/part of the world and significantly, the perspective of the author.

Nevertheless, it is to be noted that even in Biblical times the roles of women were understated and men were at the front - teaching/preaching/making much of the laws of the lands. So, the time frame given to the story would affect how much representation was given to female characters.