Walkabout review James Vance Marshalls novel In this novel Peter and Mary wake up to find themselves stranded

d in the Australian Outback due their plane crashing. The pilot and the other passengers were killed when the plane exploded, but Peter and Mary got out just in time. Then they began to wander in search of food in a nearby gully. Mary and Peter woke up the next day and walked forward through the gully. Then found a fruit called quondong. Later Peter thought he heard something and turned around the find and Aborigine boy. Mary at first felt threatened by the boy, but then she noticed that he was unarmed. Mary and Peter were shocked that the Aborigine boy was naked. They all just stood there and stared at each other for a while. Then the Aborigine said something and responded by saying, We dont know what your saying. Then the Aborigine disappeared into the brush. Peter and Mary chased after him. And asked him where they could find some water and food. The Boy only knew what they were saying by their body language. Peter and Mary followed the bush boy. He took them to food and water. Then they all started on a trek across the desert. Even though the circumstances brings them together, the differences between them ensure their new friendship is only temporary. As the trio gets closer and closer to civilization, their relationships to one another begin to shift, producing life-altering consequences. Soon they came to a valley were there where many birds. For lunch they ate uncooked worwora. They stayed near the pool they found for three hours avoiding the heat. They hiked some more then when it was night the bush boy made a fire.They left early in the morning. Peter sneeze the whole time them where hiking that day. When they getting ready to go to sleep that night unexpectedly the bush boy sneezed. The bush boy walked off in the morning and Peter chased after him. They went and caught some fish to eat. Peter later started to worry about the bush boys cold. Since in the Aborigine had a weak immune system his cold kept getting worst. Until the Bush Boy died. Mary and Peter sadly and worrily buried him. And then, they sat up camp for the night. The next day Mary and Peter saw what appeared to be smoke signals. They responded by asking for help using smoke signals. The people giving the smoke came to Mary and Peter. They turned out to be Aborigines. They motioned for Mary and Peter to follow them, and they did. They hiked for a long time until time reached a house. Mary and Peter couldnt believe it they were back in civilization. The novel is least satisfying at its most obvious -- in heavy-handed sequences contrasting the primitive, idyllic desert world with the ugly violence of civilization. Far more intriguing is the novel exploration of the ways the three characters -- each under the influence of a beautiful, brutal environment -- communicate and fail to communicate, need and reject one another, become more human or less human or both.