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    Albert of Adelaide: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Albert of Adelaide: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Albert of Adelaide: A Novel
    Audiobook6 hours

    Albert of Adelaide: A Novel

    Written by Howard Anderson

    Narrated by David Franklin

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    At once an old-fashioned-buddy-novel-shoot-'em-up and a work of deliciously imagined fantasy, Howard L. Anderson's dazzling debut presents the haunting story of a world where something has gone horribly awry . . .

    Having escaped from Australia's Adelaide Zoo, an orphaned platypus named Albert embarks on a journey through the outback in search of "Old Australia," a rumored land of liberty, promise, and peace. What he will find there, however, away from the safe confinement of his enclosure for the first time since his earliest memories, proves to be a good deal more than he anticipated.

    Alone in the outback, with an empty soft drink bottle as his sole possession, Albert stumbles upon pyromaniacal wombat Jack, and together they spend a night drinking and gambling in Ponsby Station, a rough-and-tumble mining town. Accused of burning down the local mercantile, the duo flees into menacing dingo territory and quickly go their separate ways-Albert to pursue his destiny in the wastelands, Jack to reconcile his past.
    Encountering a motley assortment of characters along the way-a pair of invariably drunk bandicoots, a militia of kangaroos, hordes of the mercurial dingoes, and a former prize-fighting Tasmanian devil-our unlikely hero will discover a strength and skill for survival he never suspected he possessed.

    Told with equal parts wit and compassion, ALBERT OF ADELAIDE shows how it is often the unexpected route, and the most improbable companions, that lead us on the path to who we really are. Who you journey with, after all, is far more important than wherever it is you are going.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJul 10, 2012
    ISBN9781611137194
    Unavailable
    Albert of Adelaide: A Novel

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    Reviews for Albert of Adelaide

    4/5

    41 ratings8 reviews

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    • 3/5


      I received this as a First Read Giveaway. I enjoyed the story, the writing style and the reflective moral compass of Albert and his new friends.

      Perhaps the most salient paragraph is on the next to last page; "He had walked into Old Australia with an empty bottle, and he would walk out having learned about fame and friendship. He hadn't come from Adelaide to look for those things, but he had found them. He hadn't discovered why he had come to the place he was leaving, and probably never would. The why of things had ceased to trouble him, and he was content with what he'd been given. "
    • 5/5
      In which a platypus, angry and embittereed but also likable and a bit naive, escapes from his unloved home in the Adelaide Zoo and sets out on a trek to find an edenic Old Australia. He quickly enough finds colorful friends, such as a firebug wombat, antagonists, notably the wallabies and kangaroos who are sworn enemies of all non-marsupials, and more ambiguous local color like the enigmatic dingoes who worry him and a pair of drunken bandicoots who are the ball-and-chain to his every move, however simple it might have been without their help. This starts out as a vehicle for the protagonist's wry observations on life on earth, and it would have been a very good novel on that level, but it eventually develops a fascinating plot as interesting as any cliff-hanger out there.
    • 4/5
      Albert of Adelaide is, perhaps, best described as a fable; in part, because all of the characters happen to be animals who live in a world where marsupials wear clothes and engage in commerce, etc, but also for the way it talks about the act of living. Our title character, Albert, is a young platypus who manages a rather daring off-the-page escape from the Adelaide zoo in a quest for what he hopes is the Australia of his dreams. What he gets is the outback. The setting and characters very much have the feel of a western adventure full of guns, desert, and double-crosses but also deep friendship and pathos. Albert learns a great deal about himself as he waddles through the dusty expanses of an unforgiving country. Albert of Adelaide is a rather quick read with some surprising subtleties if you can get through its unusual setting. The characters are well presented and eminently likeable, which makes their rather difficult tribulations all the more touching. We are never made privy to the true nature of this Old Australia, though a few suggestions are dropped to keep us thinking while wisely leaving it all up to interpretation. I am very grateful I picked this up at my local library, and look forward to see what other little nuggets Mr. Anderson can produce to help me while away future afternoons.
    • 4/5
      Delightful novel about a platypus, his adventures, the different animals he meets and the social and moral issues he deals with. A wonderful novel that can be enjoyed for the story or for the complicated moral and social issues encountered.
    • 5/5
      First Line: The county that stretches from Melbourne in the south to Sydney seven hundred and fifty miles up the coast is green with trees and paddocks.If you're the type of reader who pays attention to the dedication page, once you've read the dedication in Albert of Adelaide, you'll know you're in for something a little different: "It seems fitting to dedicate this book to an Australian soldier I met at a bar many years ago in Sydney. All I can remember about him was that he had a bad bayonet scar from service in Malaya and that he got me hopelessly lost on the New South Wales rail system before he passed out."Albert is a platypus who was orphaned and brought to the Adelaide Zoo at a very young age. He's grown up remembering his childhood and listening to the tales of other zoo inhabitants about the "Old Australia," a place far away in the desert where nothing's changed since the beginning-- a place that's filled with freedom and peace for all animals. Tired of being stared at, laughed at, and called names, Albert begins hoarding grubs and filling a discarded soda bottle with water. One day someone's careless, and Albert makes his break for freedom, riding the rails as far as he can, until he finds himself lost in the desert. Undaunted, Albert trudges on, holding on to his dream of a place where he belongs.What he finds is a bit more than he expected (and the reader, too, for that matter). Jack the wombat saves Albert, and it's not until they spend the night drinking and gambling in the mining town of Ponsby Station that Albert learns Jack is just a little too fond of matches. Accused of burning down the mercantile, the two run for their lives and split up as they enter dingo territory.Albert goes on to make the acquaintance of a pair of drunken bandicoots, a militia of kangaroos, packs of dingoes, a former prize-fighting Tasmanian devil, and a raccoon straight off the boat from California. Every step of the way, Albert discovers that his "road less traveled" and the companions he finds are actually putting him on the path to finding out who he truly is.I was entranced by this book. When I met the author in July, he said that the genesis of Albert of Adelaide began more than twenty years ago when he began telling bedtime stories to his then-girlfriend's five-year-old daughter. He didn't want these bedtime stories to be run-of-the-mill stuff, and I would've loved to have listened in. As it is, I fell in love with Albert, his journey, and the friends that he made. I don't listen to audio books, but I think that it would be the perfect format for this book. You're never too old-- or too young-- to hear Albert's story of adventure, friendship and self-realization.
    • 4/5
      A platypus escapes from a zoo in Adelaide to search for Old Australia where everything is wonderful and free. In the desert, he meets a pyromaniac wombat, an aging Tasmanian devil (who was once a well-known fighter), a roguish raccoon (he’s a foreigner), assorted marsupials, and a several dingoes. It’s a kind of Watership Down Under with anthropomorphized animals interacting with each other in their own culture apart and uninvolved with humanity. It’s also has the feel of an old TV Western story with gun-toting bad guys, prospectors, dusty little towns, and dingoes playing the role of American Indians. Mainly, it’s a classic quest tale. Albert (the platypus) is ostensibly looking for a legendary promised land but is actually discovering himself, learning that each new experience, in a way, begins a new life.
      It’s charming, as anthropomorphized animal stories often are. I can’t say I saw much in the way of profound thoughts, cultural satire, or anything of that nature, but it does touch a bit on questions every person asks at one time or another. Is there is more to life? Is the grass greener on the other side? What am I? These are not explored at any length in this book. They are simply hinted at, and the answer, if one is presented, is that you just muddle through, take things as they come, and keep wondering.
      I enjoyed the story. The characters are simplistic but likeable. There is not much of a plot, but the characters and setting are engaging enough that you want to keep reading to see what Albert finds next.
    • 4/5
      Thanks to First Reads giveaways for this great book.

      Well, Albert is, as you can see form the cover, a platypus. And he is looking for something. So there you have it, the great setting for an adventure. Did I mention this adventure takes place in the Australian outback? Not a great place for a water-loving platypus to be, so I was interested in how the author dealt with that. The answer: clothes. That will bother some people. A part of me wished that it could be a book with exactly the kind of storyline, but animals acting more like animals, without clothes and guns. But it is impossible to imagine a platypus prancing around in the desert for days without sun protection. Given this limitation, I think the characteristics of each species was dealt with in a deft manner. Each had its idiosyncrasies and odd habits as well as those habits that limited or liberated them. The mood or temperament of each animal was well studied and suited the plot development.

      The writing is clean, with a few subtle glitches (two also's in the same sentence, for example). At times, I felt like some paragraphs were written to explain the unreal or unbelievable too much. It is a tendency I understand well as a writer, the writer explaining why someone does something a bit questionable. And perhaps if it is lacking, then we complain things didn't make sense or it was unrealistic, so can't keep everyone happy.

      The plot is fast-paced enough to keep things going, but knows to slow down for inner contemplations of the characters. In other words, Albert does a lot of soul searching, but the plot keeps us turning the pages.

      All in all, a unique and good read. A great way to learn about some strange creatures and Australia. I am not aware how much violence kids are allowed in books these days, but this one does have a lot of shootings and deaths and even a throat slitting, so parents might want to keep that in mind.
    • 4/5
      Albert of Adelaide by Howard Anderson is a fantasy about a platypus who, having escaped from the zoo at Adelaide, is on a journey of discovery. He has heard of a different Australia, an “old Australia’ where animals can live in harmony and freedom. While searching for this mythical place, he also embarks on a journey of self-awareness and learns how powerful friendships can be.Finding himself in a harsh desert landscape and having to fight for survival was not what Albert had planned on, but he rises to every occasion and, wearing his heart on his sleeve, learns what it is like to become a hero. A difficult book to describe, I will borrow the words of Mary Doria Russell, author of Doc and The Sparrow:“If Larry McMurtry had written Wind in the Willows, he might have come up with something almost as wonderful and moving as Howard Anderson’s Albert of Adelaide. This is a novel that defies analysis and summaries. Trust me, just read it.”