Product Description
This novel is set on a fictitious island somewhere in Micronesia - complete with magic crystals, UFOs, and mysterious force fields. Plus the usual gratuitous sex, drugs and violence you find in Robert G. Barrett's books. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fun and Entertaining Read
This is an unusual and, for me, a highly entertaining book.

Somehow, the characters in this book touched a deeply entrenched race memory in the Australian psyche. I mean, wow, what more could one ask for than to be plucked from obscuring and given the opportunity to live with on a tropical island with ultimate surf, parties all night with all you can drink cocktails, dope and no hangovers, beautiful and available babes, eternal youth and great mates that love the exactly the same thing as you.

Right down to the Aussie slang, never ending cups of coffee, cold beers and eskies of sandwiches, Bobby captures exactly the carefree and endless summers of childhood and youth that us fortunate ones who grew up in Australia remember.

If you didn't grow up in Oz, you may find some of the lingo mystifying, and even non-Sydneysiders may not follow terms like `Westie'. For me though, that's part of the charm of reading the book - where everyone speaks in a way that matches the lifestyle that all true-blue Australians want.

The story is not particularly fast moving, but who cares when I can read it and feel the luxurious nostalgia of it all?

Americans politicians are portrayed extremely negatively - with it being fairly obvious that Bush, Rumsfeld and others in the Republican party are taken from reality, names changed and dropped into the story as stupid bullies that look for an excuse to smash up a small, apparently defenceless country for internal political gain.

Outside of the US, this feeling of the Bush administration is very common and the parallels with the second Iraq war are striking.

The French are also portrayed negatively, reflecting the general Australian sentiment that the French are similarly arrogant, just not as powerful. There are pointed reminders of the Auckland harbour sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by the French foreign intelligence Service and the generally resented French presence in the South Pacific where they like to set off nuclear devices.

Being a comedy, its fun reading the effortless and massive loss of life dealt out to the US and France by this tiny underdog island. On a serious note though is the definite political message that this sort of thing happens for real all of the time - usually with western powers dishing it out to 3rd world countries.

I have to say that I was wondering how Robert was going to wind up the novel, and for some reason has the only sad parts in the whole book. Its different - that's all I'll say. Perhaps Robert is eluding to the sometimes shallow nature of relationships and families in Australia, and that despite the fun and magnificent environment, it can be vacuous and nihilistic as well.

Nice one, Bobby. 5 stars.

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Product Description
This is the next instalment in the Les Norton story. It includes a short story "The Mystery of Nan Madoll". ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Robert G. Barrett is a popular Australian author of numerous books, most of them featuring the fictional Australian character Les Norton. He has also written others which are single book story. 'So What Do You Reckon?' is a collection of Robert's columns from when he was a columnist for the Australian People magazine. He has sold over 1,000,000 books in Australia. People is a weekly Australian lad's mag published by ACP Publishing, a division of PBL Media. It has been published since the 1950s. It is not to be confused with the gossip magazine known by that name in the United States; that magazine is published under the name Who in Australia. People focuses on celebrity interviews and scandal, glamour photography, sex stories sent in by readers, puzzles, crosswords, and a jokes page. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Every Typical Beer Drinking Aussie Bloke's Fantasy !!!
In this book the author once again introduces the reader to Les Norton who appears in most of Barrett's books. Les works as a doorman (read "bouncer") in a Casino owned by a criminal. As usual Les finds hismself in all manner of predicaments which he manages to escape from. Les Norton's Life would have to be every Ausralian man's (aussie bloke's) Ultimate Fantasy. He drives expensive luxury cars, always wins whenever he is in a fight, always manages to 'hook up' with the best looking girl and is never impotent in bed no matter how much he has had to drink and of course, he never suffers from a hangover!!! I give this book 5 stars because Mr. Barrett has succeeded in writing about the same guy who is a figment of his imagination and bears no resemblance to any Australian man.Why on Earth Les has Legendary Cult Status in Queensland is a total mystery to me. ... Read more