In the Land of Oz

By Howard Jacobson

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'A wildly funny account of his travels ... it actually is a book which makes you laugh out loud on almost every page' - Literary Review

'The most successful attempt I know to grip the great dreaming Australian enigma by the throat and make it gargle' - Evening Standard

'A marvellous read ... he is a comic explorer in the grandest mould' - Financial Times
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The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Finkler Question went Down Under - and this is what he found...

On what he calls 'the adventure of his life', Howard Jacobson travels around Australia, never entirely sure where he is heading next or whether he has the courage to tackle the wild life of the bush, the wild men of the outback, or the even wilder women of the seaboard cities.

In pursuit of the best of Australian good times, he joins revelers at Uluru, argues with racists in the Kimberleys, parties with wine-growers in the Barossa and falls for ballet dancers in Perth. And even as vexed questions of national identity and Aboriginal land rights present themselves, his love for Australia and Australians never falters.
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'Entertaining ... this is a book about exotic Australia - the fringes, the deserts, the opal mines, the Aborigines, and the North Queensland rednecks' - Guardian

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Sep 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781408825105

Howard Jacobson

Howard Jacobson

Reviews for In the Land of Oz

[miaculpa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

These days new travelogues are released every day, recording the travails of a lonely traveller in a strange land. One tends to forget the works of the pioneers who first sat in some sort of vehicle, passing commentary on the local people and their customs.For many years, "In the Land of Oz" held a prominent position in the Australian psyche, being the first major work on looking at Australia from an outsider's eyes. Jacobson and his wife lap Australia, taking in the sights and the local customs. There is nothing too much of a revelation in here but Jacobson's writing is sharp, as is his eye for detail. Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburnt Country" is better and funnier but "In the land of Oz" is still worth thumbing through.

[Maretha Krige · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Felt like I was there myself...love his way of looking at the world