The Young Desire It

The Young Desire It follows fifteen-year-old Charles Fox during a transformative year at boarding school in Western Australia. Set in the 1930s, the story traces his departure from the familiar comfort of his family's farm to navigate the complex social and academic demands of his new environment. At the prestigious boarding school, Charles faces multiple challenges that test his resilience and innocence. His experiences range from academic pressures to complex relationships with both students and faculty, forcing him to adapt to an institutional life far removed from his rural upbringing. This award-winning novel by Seaforth Mackenzie captures the psychological and emotional landscape of adolescence in early twentieth-century Australia. Its themes of innocence, power dynamics, and the transition from childhood to adulthood remain relevant to contemporary readers.

Readers describe this as an introspective coming-of-age story with rich psychological depth and lyrical prose that captures adolescent experiences in 1920s Australia. Readers appreciated: - The authentic portrayal of teenage confusion and awakening - Detailed descriptions of the Western Australian landscape - The poetic, dreamlike writing style - Complex character development - Examination of social class dynamics at boarding school Common criticisms: - Slow pacing, especially in the first half - Dense, sometimes ornate prose that can be difficult to follow - Limited plot development - Some found the introspection excessive Ratings: Goodreads: 3.7/5 (43 ratings) "Beautiful but demands patience" - Goodreads reviewer "The prose is stunning but the story meanders" - LibraryThing user Text Australia readers highlighted its "raw emotional honesty" while noting it requires focused reading due to its literary style. The book has limited online reviews due to being out of print for many years before its 2012 reissue.

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🌟 Published in 1937, the book was Seaforth Mackenzie's first novel and received immediate critical acclaim, winning the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. 🌟 The author drew heavily from his own experiences at Guildford Grammar School in Western Australia to create the authentic portrayal of boarding school life. 🌟 Despite its initial success and literary significance, the book fell into obscurity until Text Publishing republished it in 2013 as part of their Text Classics series. 🌟 Mackenzie wrote only two novels in his lifetime, with The Young Desire It being considered his masterpiece. He struggled with alcoholism and died at the young age of 42. 🌟 The novel's depiction of Australian rural life and landscape was groundbreaking for its time, moving away from the stereotypical bush narratives that dominated Australian literature of the period.