The Road from Coorain

Few things seem further from North America than Australia. Not only is it half-a-world away, but the culture varies dramatically. Conway grew up in the back-country of Australia where she often did not regularly see other families and neighbors were tens-of-miles away. That simple start, told as well as it is in this book, sparks the reader’s interest. The fact that she ended up at Harvard by the end of the book should pique even more interest.Conway details her life in the outback, her transition to a private school in Sydney, and her undergraduate days at the University of Sydney. As such, this memoir is a real-life coming-of-age tale. She describes how she fell in love with the field of history and decided to dedicate her life to being a scholar of women’s history.Her writing style is impressive and entertaining. Not only does she describe things accurately and with a healthy distance, but she also picks interesting details that bring her world alive to the reader. Obviously well-read, she shows the character that brought her from an oppressive environment towards eventually becoming a leader in women’s education.I find personal inspiration from feminists like Conway. Often, men are not encouraged to find their own place in the world like many women (especially ambitious women) are forced to. As such, the narrative of male lives often does not involve the quest for being and existence. However, I find that I, too, have those questions. Conway’s tale gives me some more rungs to hang my experience on, and for that, I am grateful.

Summary: "Cursed be my intellect, affluence, and robust life experiences because there may never be someone so exceptional as to live up to my image of myself."This one book is many books. It is a remarkable recollection of a young life in Australia. Then, in one of the nine chapters, it takes on a literary bent with brilliant and entertaining use of language. Often, it devolves into segments of self-pity as well as loathing toward others. Does that make it a psychological thriller, a mystery, or a narcissistic treatise? Discuss amongst yourselves and support your ideas, as the scholarly Jill Ker Conway probably charged her students and peers over the years.Psychologically, the reader is presented a person who, through her twenties, couldn't be bothered to hold any work position for any length of time. Whether in law, political administration, fashion, education, or simpler tasks, some aspect of that work was beyond her tolerance. Such attitude is at least partly owed to the affluence that did not require her to work, but that is rarely raised as a factor.The thrilling aspect of the psychological spaghetti in these pages is the roller coaster of angst poured out by the author, with the reader along for the ride. There is family, social, climate, political, historical, and enough other kinds of angst to fill a world's fair. That may be interesting (the angst or the fair), but one tires from a non-stop intake of it.Mysteriously, we learn little depth about any characters surrounding the author other than her father during her astounding telling of early years on the Australian prairie, and of her mother as the anchor (with both good and bad meanings inferred) of her life. There are rarely more than brief mentions of others and name-dropping lists; nary a vignette to develop surrounding characters.I relished the onsetting story set in the unfamiliar Antipodal pastoral land to which the first four chapters were devoted. I was thrilled by bits of artfully-crafted phrasing through that section, which then flourished in most of chapter five and made me feel I was on a journey through life that was discovering literary potential just as it might have evolved for the young lass as her life shifted toward education.Yet by the end of chapter five to the final pages, the clarion call was that of the prototypical picture of the opera singer in preparation for a performance: "Me, me, me; Me, Me, Me!; Me, Me, ME!!" There was sound and fury but too little substance and story to mold a truly interesting tale despite the litany of subject matter that was mentioned.Many readers will enjoy this exploration of soul by commentary. The author presents herself as an interesting character. I might have enjoyed the effort had there been more introspection and less outwardly-focused criticism. There were times when I was ready to recommend this work to a teenage relative in the United States, that she might appreciate another kind of life in another part of the world, presented by someone of intellect. Such desire was not there by the end of the book.

Jill Ker Conway’s autobiography, “The Road From Coorain”, is a beautifully written memoir. The flow of the narrative and the broad vocabulary used throughout the book are exquisite. Although the impact of her life story is sometimes slowed by her mother's wants and needs, these experiences helped shape Conway and, as such, are an integral part of her story.Detailing her life growing up in the Australian outback during the second third of the twentieth century, Conway is able to draw the reader into that era. The beauty of the landscape and the harsh reality of the elements, the economic cycles, and the psychological impact on both men and women of these influences are vividly described. The elitism and the class differences between landed individuals and those who managed or worked on the stations become evident as the Conway family’s fortunes roller coaster between wealth and economic hardship.Societal attitudes toward women’s roles and acceptable occupations could have discouraged Conway from ever progressing. However, Jill Ker Conway’s intellectual strength, coupled with her work ethic, propelled her beyond those roles accepted and available to women in the mid-twentieth century to becoming a university professor and eventually president of Smith College.Today’s young women may view much of “The Road From Coorain” as ancient history. Women who came of age in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s may remember or may have experienced situations similar to those Conway encountered. All will be inspired by and amazed at Jill Ker Conway’s life and accomplishments.

This is quite a book, well written by a highly successful academic who is the unusually objective about her own life, particularly interesting about her early years on an outback farm - heartbreaking in parts.

Jill Ker Conway came from Australia and grew up on a sheep station in the outback. She eventually became the President of Smith College in Massachusetts and this is not her only foray into writing. An engaging and literate story (an autobiography I suppose) of a strong-minded woman who at a time when it was unusual for women in Australia to do much else than get married and keep the home fires burning, sought to better herself and gain a place in higher education, so she departed via Britain to the United States in the 50's and never looked or went back. As poignant as 19th century families who left Europe to make their fortunes in the US and Canada or even Australia, and never saw their families again. Gives you pause. Worth a read.

I bought this book as it weas the choice of my Book Club. I have visited Australia a few times but learned far more from this book than I had ever known. It is a fascinating book, thr life of thre writer described in geeat detail and in beautifully written prose/

We know this is a true story so the childhood on the isolated Coorain and the academic life in Sydney are unexpected. Also the contrast in her mothers life in both places is surprising. Another contrast are the periods of great happiness and sadness, wealth and limited income, poverty would be too strong a word. I am always reluctant to say too much in reviews so not to spoil the read.

Beautifully written, evocative, one I will re-read again and again