Favorite and least favorite parts of the book?

Use this forum to discuss the October 2019 Book of the month, "Skills of the Warramunga" by Greg Kater.
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Ferdinand_Otieno
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Favorite and least favorite parts of the book?

Post by Ferdinand_Otieno »

The book has a lot of favorite moments from action, humour,espionage and romantic scenes. What parts or scenes from the story were your favorite and which parts were your least favorite?

For me, the most favorite part of the story was col. Johnny Cook's kidnapping and his entire experience in the Malay jungle. How he grew to be one of them. My least favorite part of the story was keeping track of all the organisations and their abbreviated forms like the BMA, MSS,MCP, MI6, and CIS.It felt like a chore attached to the story.
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Post by Aditi Sapate »

My favourite parts were the descriptions of the Malay jungle too! I really loved reading about the nature. However, I did not enjoy the crime aspect of the book. Same goes for the action part.
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Post by Phikim »

Sincerely speaking, Greg Kater has done a wonderful and thorough job. There are so many factors to consider as favourite in this book and to mention but a few is sense of humour. For instance, one time Johnny Crook borrows a car and a driver from Major Algie Browning. The author says, "that it was an old two-door Alvis which struggled and groaned as they navigate the rugged thirty-five mile from the village of Tapah." Another instance is when he describes a Chinaman chief and his speed of talking. He says, " his words came out like a machine gun."

Apart from humour, I love the softened of the language and grammar used by Greg. He's made it possible for any reader to crack the nut without much struggles. Any reader can readily comprehend vividly and instantaneously this read.

The least favourite is the use of numerous characters. Sometimes you have to ignore others because the more you add a new one, the more you become more confused. However, this doesn't deter a reader from more sweeter things in the book.
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Post by Akpome1 »

My favorite part of the book is the kidnapping and rescue part. My least favorite part is that of murder.
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Post by DC Brown »

I enjoy the scenery and the weather. Because of the excellent descriptions you feel like you're there. I did not like all the detail about the attempted uprising. How many weapons and what kind and who had them seemed like trivial information and, yes, the alphabet soup of organizations was distracting.
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Post by Sam Ibeh »

The jungle experience was my best moment. Surviving in the jungle is always a breathtaking experience.
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Post by Howlan »

I loved the scene when the bandits kidnap Samuel Martin a lot of action there, especially the scene when Johnny Cook arrests the bandit chief as it was a sort of payback.
My worst experience had to be keeping track of all the new characters in the story. There were a lot of times when I had to check to understand that Russel and Fairweather were the same people.
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Post by Amina Yusuf »

My favourite parts of the book is Colonel Johnny Cook living in the Malayan jungle with the bandits and bonding with the Temiar, the indigenous people living in the jungle. I also love the second rescue mission by the team with commandos into the jungle to rescue Samuel Martin who didn't fare well in the jungle like Johnny Cook did. However, my least favorite is the gore details, grenades bombing up the bandits and body parts flying everywhere.
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Post by Howlan »

Phikim wrote: 05 Oct 2019, 15:47 Sincerely speaking, Greg Kater has done a wonderful and thorough job. There are so many factors to consider as favourite in this book and to mention but a few is sense of humour. For instance, one time Johnny Crook borrows a car and a driver from Major Algie Browning. The author says, "that it was an old two-door Alvis which struggled and groaned as they navigate the rugged thirty-five mile from the village of Tapah." Another instance is when he describes a Chinaman chief and his speed of talking. He says, " his words came out like a machine gun."

Apart from humour, I love the softened of the language and grammar used by Greg. He's made it possible for any reader to crack the nut without much struggles. Any reader can readily comprehend vividly and instantaneously this read.

The least favourite is the use of numerous characters. Sometimes you have to ignore others because the more you add a new one, the more you become more confused. However, this doesn't deter a reader from more sweeter things in the book.
Exactly so. I also really liked how despite using Malayan, Japanese and Dutch and other native phrases the narration felt very smooth. It was a job well done by the author.
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Post by Syson Dolph »

I loved every section of the story, but Cook braving his way through the mind of the tiger is out of this world yet possible.
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Post by Poppy Drear »

It's always interesting how authors balance worldbuilding with plot and action, but I think the former will always be my favorite part of a book, at least when it's done well. I really love it when stories are immersive, after all.
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Post by Howlan »

Syson Dolph wrote: 12 Oct 2019, 06:04 I loved every section of the story, but Cook braving his way through the mind of the tiger is out of this world yet possible.
Yes, I was thrilled by that scene too. I was really awed how Cook gained respect among the bandits and got the book through which he learned Malayan phrases.
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Post by faint9 »

Sense of humor is manifestly evident. Who doesn’t enjoy smiling while reading story. Humor adds bonus to a story. Johnny Cook one time borrows a car from Browning. He says, ‘that it was an old two-door Alvis which struggled and groaned as they navigate the rugged thirty five miles.’

The story also predominately revolves around the jungle of Malaya, the cover theme and graphics constantly reminds a reader that what is on the cover is actually a jungle. Initially, I wouldn’t connect what the theme was all about but immediately the many questions that lingered in my mind were answered promptly.

The least enjoyable thing about the book is the use of too many abbreviations. They tend to confuse a reader. You keep referring to the initial words that were written in full. This once in a while brings flow disconnect.
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Post by e-tasana-williams »

My favorite aspect of the book is the portrayal of the local and expat communities in Malaya at the time. It’s easy to envision a monolithic culture when I think of that part of the world, but it makes sense that there would be Chinese, Indian, Dutch, German, Japanese and other groups there in the mid- and late-40s. Just imagining all the food choices...mmm!

My least favorite part, similar to other readers here, is the abundance of characters. Perhaps if they were introduced more gradually it would have felt like a more natural flow. The way it is, I felt like I needed a chart containing all of the characters and their relation to each other.
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Post by Nuel Ukah »

Ferdinand_otieno wrote: 01 Oct 2019, 23:59 The book has a lot of favorite moments from action, humour,espionage and romantic scenes. What parts or scenes from the story were your favorite and which parts were your least favorite?

For me, the most favorite part of the story was col. Johnny Cook's kidnapping and his entire experience in the Malay jungle. How he grew to be one of them. My least favorite part of the story was keeping track of all the organisations and their abbreviated forms like the BMA, MSS,MCP, MI6, and CIS.It felt like a chore attached to the story.
What about you?
My favorite parts were the parts they spoke Malayan language...
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