Penguin Books Australia

Book Club Notes for The Hunter by Julia Leigh

Book Summary 

Uncompromising and compelling, Julia Leigh's stunning book does not give up any of its secrets easily. The Hunter is a haunting tale of obsession that builds to an unforgettable conclusion.

M, the main character of The Hunter, is a 'mystery man' searching for the mythical thylacine, the Tasmanian tiger. Assuming a false identity, that of Martin David, Naturalist, he presents an everyman figure, pursuant of unknown objectives. A biotechnology corporation has employed him to find the animal for its own hidden purposes, and he has arranged to board with the Armstrongs, a family who live on the edge of the Central Plateau, a vast wilderness area in Tasmania. When he arrives, he finds the family bereaved by the recent disappearance of the father, Jarrah, a scientist, up on the plateau. Jarrah's wife, Lucy, is grief-stricken and leaves her children, Sass and Bike, unsupervised, as she spends most of her time in her room in a drug-induced stupor. M will use the Armstrong house as the base camp for his frequent trips into the wilderness, and he must rely on the children to raise the alarm should he disappear on one of his journeys.

The interplay between the various 'missing' and 'mystery' beings in the book is cemented by the spectre of the lost Jarrah Armstrong, for whom M becomes a sort of 'substitute'. Fundamentally, though, M is the antithesis of Jarrah, for where Jarrah's science is about
preservation, M's is about destruction; where Jarrah loved his family, M's feelings towards them remain obtuse. M is not naturally comfortable in a family situation, and for him the role of substitute is just that, a role. It is as if a part of M is missing - the part which feels compassion, or real love.

The legendary tiger is 'missing' too. Its elusiveness has made the tiger an iconic figure: the town is named Tiger Town, there is a Tiger Creek, the local butcher has on display a stuffed thylacine pup. It also raises the question of the tiger's presumed extinction: is this a tragedy or a necessity? M has a dream in which he is pursued like the animal he is searching for; he is a figure who embodies the dichotomy which the tiger represents. About to commit what many would consider a monstrous act; he is also dangerously attractive. The 'last' tiger's plight raises complex questions - is survival always a preferred option? Is extinction necessarily bad? No answers to these questions are offered - they are simply raised in an effort to highlight the uncertainties implicit in existence. The tiger also represents the 'beast within' us all. As M becomes more obsessed with his quest, he assumes the nature of his quarry.

About the Author

Julia was born in 1970, graduated from arts/law at Sydney University, and has taken a variety of part-time jobs. When researching this book she spent time off-track in the Walls of Jerusalem National Park,Tasmania.

 Book Club Discussion Questions

1. Is M genuinely fond of Lucy, Sass and Bike? Or is he simply toying with the idea of having a family?

2. Is M capable of true feeling?

3. Does the book offer any guidelines to survival? What sort of world are we offering 'survivors'? Which of the characters are survivors?

4. If M is no hero, then is there a heroine in this novel?

5. At times M seems to feel a strange connection to the boy, Bike. What is the nature of this connection?

6. What are M's attitudes to women?

7. What do you think of Lucy, the mother? Is she a sympathetic or a selfish character?

8. The book considers topics such as human nature's need for spiritual beliefs, the loss of certainty or faith, and the issue of bio-ethics. What does it have to say about these concepts?

9. What role does myth play in M's life?

10. Tasmanian 'issues' such as its violent history of settlement and the geographical isolation of its terrain are extremely evocative in the novel's thematic geography. Read and compare with another novel set in this landscape, for example Richard Flanagan's Death of a River Guide.

11. '. . . the inadequacy of language, leads him down a slippery slope, until he is almost persuaded never to talk again. Like some kind of monk.'  Can we ever truly convey our emotions through language?

12. 'Luck is for the unlucky, for those who lack precision.' Do you agree?

13. Is M a tragic figure or an unforgivable one?