Negative Positive
Title: Terrible, horrible, false
Review: I have spent two years of my life living with Australian Aboriginals, and I can tell you that this book was inauthentic from page one. It does not accurately depict how Aboriginals talk or act. It is a get-rich attempt to cash in on the "Celestine Prophecy" type "the primitives must be smarter than us" gravy train. It is the worst kind of "noble savage" tripe. At least if she had offered it as fiction, it would have been just juvenile. But to offer it as fact is simply dishonest. Obviously she was trying to start a cult following and become a celebrity. As a professional anthropologist, I deeply resent this kind of lying, and all of her readers should resent being lied to. If you want an authentic Aboriginal experience, rent the movie "Rabbit Proof Fence." No romantic claptrap there, just honest portrayals of the courage and struggles of Aboriginals, who are not supernatural beings but humans just like you and me.
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