OnlineBookClub.org

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?

Well, the focus of the book is on adventure, and it seems that women, at least those raised in civilization, are unlikely to cope in the bush. And an author writes about what he is comfortable with. It is a matter of take it or leave it.

Sarah does have a larger part in a later book. The ladies of the night get the focus in this book.

I think throughout history, women have created their own world, separated from men. There are still amazing stories coming to light about the brave women throughout history. While their actions might have been incredible, they were never recorded by our male historians. There is always a way to include female characters in a story if an author has the intention. With that being said...I think we should accept the fact that some stories have a more predominant female audience, while others rely heavily on male characters, and that is ok. Thankfully, there is enough for everybody at the moment.

While female empowerment does not seem to be a theme of the story, I think almost anything based in history could use a stronger female presence. Though I don't feel that the author is intentionally leaving them out or anything like that. Women have been heavily present in adventures throughout history, but unfortunately their roles have often been dismissed, painted over, or forgotten. I think it's important we don't continue that trend. That being said, while I haven't read the whole story, I don't get the impression the author is sexist or anything like that.

I think the novel would be much better with a greater female presence, because that's reality. And not all the women have to be young and adventurous. How about a middle-aged anthropologist like Margaret Mead wandering about the jungle? There's plenty of room for a more even treatment when creating minor characters.

Jacko's half-sister really was an inspiration. As you mentioned, I too would have enjoyed reading about more of such female characters. But if the author had included more such characters, the story would have seemed a bit unrealistic due to the time it is set in.

At first, I think it would be inappropriate for the setting, but I think females from way before have been making headway on things, not just on the headlines though. I think it wouldn't have made that much difference since the story was good enough with the current main characters. Greater female characters might have captured more audience a bit since female readers could possibly relate more.

Given the time period of the book along with the setting, a greater female presence would not have been realistic. I think the author did a fantastic job with his female characters. Given how young Sarah is, her character is remarkable but more strong female characters would have diminished Sarah's role.

I always enjoy any novel that has a strong female presence. However, I think anything dated back in historical times would not put emphasis on females as strong characters since it would have made the story seem unrealistic for the time period. Yes, there have been strong females since Biblical times, but they were definitely in a minority. I imagine the author didn't even think about it because of the era of the story.

Lindsey Klaus wrote: ↑02 Oct 2019, 17:33 While female empowerment does not seem to be a theme of the story, I think almost anything based in history could use a stronger female presence. Though I don't feel that the author is intentionally leaving them out or anything like that. Women have been heavily present in adventures throughout history, but unfortunately their roles have often been dismissed, painted over, or forgotten. I think it's important we don't continue that trend. That being said, while I haven't read the whole story, I don't get the impression the author is sexist or anything like that.

I agree; and I'm also with you on discontinuing the trend of dismissing the roles of women in adventure prose as well as factual accounts.

Strong female appearances in stories are cool and tend to give credit to women. Yet, one must take into consideration the fact that at that time, women were now getting comfortable and getting out of their shells. Because dating way back to the time before civilization and modernization, women were barely given recognition and rarely played huge part in society due to either fear or the implanted notion that certain things are not meant to be done by women. So men being lead characters didn't show sexism or make the book less interesting. In fact, the fact that he gave a woman a key supporting role in the novel showed that whether women are given small roles or big ones, their possessed qualities will glare and play a huge part in serving its purpose. Remember, the best supporter or fan one can get and never beat is a female. Because women are great support systems.

I think that including more female characters just for the sake of satisfying a requirement is misguided. But I also think that the story would benefit from the author recognizing the significance of the interaction and confrontation of genders in a given society (e.g. the role/struggle of women in a given society). This, I believe, will make a story more dynamic.

ArriettyClock wrote: ↑02 Oct 2019, 08:20 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?

Based on the historical setting and the plot of the book, I believe the author wrote an amazing book that required no changes whatsoever, including those in character-selection.

I think most novels would benefit from a greater female presence. More so books written in this day and age. It's important, I don't deny, to depict what life was like in the past but talking about the present is just as important. Maybe even more.