The Luminaries Eleanor Catton Little, Brown 9780316074315 Winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize I’ve woken up around 4am the past couple of nights thinking about this book. My thoughts on it aren't final but this is a space where conversations happen, and I need to talk. The Luminaries is an engaging page-turner, a mystery … Continue reading The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
New Zealand authors
Review of Janet Frame’s In the Memorial Room for The Australian
Janet Frame is one of my all-time favourite authors. Her writing is surprising, absurd, knowing, funny, sad, dark, moving, imaginative and honest. She was an incredibly hard-working writer, often having to work in uncomfortable or strange conditions (while overcoming much personal tragedy). I've read quite a few of her novels; plus her short fiction, her … Continue reading Review of Janet Frame’s In the Memorial Room for The Australian
That noticing thing: Emily Perkins on The Forrests
Bloomsbury, May 2012 9781408809235 (buy paperback, ebook) I recently posted my review of New Zealand author Emily Perkins' latest novel The Forrests (read it here), one of my favourite books of the year so far. I was also asked to conduct a Q&A with Emily Perkins for Bookseller+Publisher's April/May 2012 issue. It's re-published here with their permission. I hope you enjoy … Continue reading That noticing thing: Emily Perkins on The Forrests
Sensation and survival: The Forrests by Emily Perkins
Bloomsbury, May 2012 9781408809235 (buy paperback, ebook) A version of this review first appeared in Bookseller+Publisher, April/May 2012 Dorothy Forrest is seven years old when the Forrests move from New York, with dwindling money, to New Zealand. At the opening of the novel, Frank, the father, is capturing his children on a movie camera, trying to make … Continue reading Sensation and survival: The Forrests by Emily Perkins
Ink, dust & darkness: Magpie Hall by Rachael King
Vintage (New Zealand, 2010/Kindle) 9781869792886 Rosemary, a vintage-dress-wearing tattooed taxidermist, decides to spend some time in her family’s run-down old manor Magpie Hall – to work on her gothic literature thesis and simultaneously escape an affair with her supervisor. But there are plenty of distractions at Magpie Hall: memories of her recently deceased grandfather, her … Continue reading Ink, dust & darkness: Magpie Hall by Rachael King
Eleanor Catton’s The Rehearsal
Granta 2009 (Aus/NZ, US) 9781847081162 All the world’s a stage… A novel as a performance, more – a novel as flirtation (the performance of flirting): self-conscious, inviting yet exclusive. The reader is all the roles, all the characters and all the actors – for in The Rehearsal there are layers of fictional existence – blended, … Continue reading Eleanor Catton’s The Rehearsal
Mo Zhi Hong's The Year of the Shanghai Shark
Penguin New Zealand 2008 9780143008934 The Year of the Shanghai Sharkcharts a series of encounters, tales and incidents in one year of a boy’s life in Dalian, China. His immediate existence is determined by his Uncle, who possesses many big books and conducts dubious business, his best friends Po Fan and Xiao Wang, plus basketball, fast food … Continue reading Mo Zhi Hong's The Year of the Shanghai Shark
Such sensual books I've read lately – Rachael King's The Sound of Butterflies
Picador, 2008, 9780330449175 (Aus, US) In 1904, Sophie awaits her husband at the train station in Richmond. He is returning from the heart of the Brazilian jungle, seeking a mysterious, rumoured species of butterfly. When he arrives at the station Thomas is a shadow - scarred with insect bites, thin, and not speaking at all. The narrative of … Continue reading Such sensual books I've read lately – Rachael King's The Sound of Butterflies
The Goose Bath: Poems – Janet Frame
9780980416541, WilkinsFarago (2008, Australia) After reading Faces in the Water by Janet Frame about a year ago, I vowed I would read more of her work. The prose was absorbing and raw, and really striking. When I heard that Melbourne publisher WilkinsFarago were bringing out a collection of her poetry I couldn't wait to dive … Continue reading The Goose Bath: Poems – Janet Frame
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