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The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea QUOTES

The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea QUOTES

1 " He came to the boundary gate, and wheeled, and dismounted. From the high land Sandalwood stretched out like a relief map: pale brown under dead barley grass, silver under dead rye grass, yellow under stubble; the folds of the bare hills marked dark green with wattle and gum. Sandalwood and young gums looked almost grey in the brown-purple hills, and the farthest hills, and the cloud shadows, and the far clumps of scrub were dark blue, and the east wind was dry as fire, and the whole huge land smelled of eucalyptus and dry grass and a harsh sweet smell like the stems of everlastings. The huge, huge land rolled out like a blanket under the world-enlarging cry of the crows, which made the screech of a snowstorm of white cockatoos in the river gums by the creek sound busy and trivial and frail. "

― Randolph Stow , The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea

2 " I wonder what I’m going to be when I grow up,’ Rob asked himself.

‘Well, not a film star,’ Mike said. ‘And not an all-in wrestler. Why don’t you be a drunk? You don’t need any talents for that.’

‘It’s got to be something in your blood,’ Rob said. It was his view that all history was a matter of blood.

‘That’s a lot of bullshit,’ Mike said. ‘Hell, Australia was built by people who didn’t know who their grandparents were. You can be anything you want to be, and you ought to be what you want to be, not what your grandpa was.’

‘Well, what are you going to be?’ Rob demanded… ‘A drunk,’ said Mike. ‘I haven’t got any talents. "

― Randolph Stow , The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea

3 " It was late afternoon, and the sun laid sharp golden halo on the ridges of the dunes, glinting on the grey-green leaves of the scrub. Behind the line of dunes that closed the valley to the south, the sea was peacefully snoring. Blue shadow crept across the flat sand floor, and the air grew sharp. "

― Randolph Stow , The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea

4 " He sat in class next to Graham Martin, who was a white boy and lived in the next street to the Corams. The classroom smelled of chalkdust and children and the sour ink that was brought around in earthenware bottles. It was a different smell from the smell that school had had before he went away, when he had been in First Bubs. In First Bubs the smell had been of biscuits and oranges for play lunch, mouldering bean-bags and paint-boxes and crayons. The desks had been different too, with green cloth bags on the backs of the seats for putting things in. The desks were wrought-iron and shiny wood, carved with people's names. "

― Randolph Stow , The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea