Posts by Cecelia
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Busytown: A new (old) sensation, in reply to Ngaire BookieMonster,
If reviving a dead thread is not a crime against blog etiquette, I like to say that Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf is a helluva read. Thank you Listener Reviewer.
Outrageous sex and violence with a tinge of irony bathed in a sauce of cultural references and thickened with a heavy dose of existential angst lightened by tender observations of people and light and crunchy one-liners.
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overly and self-consciously “writerly”
What I was struggling to say ...
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Jolisa, where would we be without authors? But maybe readers have some unpredictable tastes and I think I'm one of them. I'm thinking of buying the Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan because it sounds as if it will break my current novel reading deadlock. Whether to buy online where it seems much cheaper and wait for it or to walk down to Whitcoulls and see if it's on the shelves is my dilemma. And then I thought I should read Wulf first (no connection thematically but you suggested it) - a New Zealand book and therefore a patriotic thing to do.
However, I have just read extracts from both books. (I've read several extracts from Glen Duncan's books.) Wulf would be a very interesting read I'm sure but it sounds kind of lyrical and Mister Pip-ish and I just don't feel like that. Glen Duncan on the other hand is so witty and precise. The narrative voice is erudite and unforced and funny. At this point in my reading journey I don't want a simple, poetic narrator but something more detailed (?) which will deeply engage me.
I read Mister Pip in one sitting. I enjoyed it but I wouldn't want to read books with that sort of voice very often. Lloyd Jones has written a rave review. It's his sort of book? I'm sure Wulf it will be a super read for lots of readers and maybe for me at a later date. But for now I want something different. (I did enjoy Guardian of the Dead BTW)
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Why do we all love the 10 PM Question so much? Is it because of its warmth? It's gradually revealed psychological truth? The way we can definitely relate to the main character? Is this what we're missing, "relatable", characters as Jolissa says in her conclusion? I loved Emily Perkins' first book of short stories. The protagonists of my favourite stories were lovable in their quests for identity. One story is written entirely in the second person but is such a fabulous slice of childhood (and adulthood) that I can't sing its praises enough. Subsequently I have gone off her novels because they lack that warmth, although I really enjoyed Novel About My Wife. I was left cold by Alison Wong's "As the Earth Turns Silver" although it gained rave reviews. For me it was too thin; I couldn't relate closely enough to the characters. It's that cool despairing tone or something. I love it in JM Coetzee but other writers don't seem to be able to get away with it in my book!
Decades ago I read Albert Wendt's Under the Banyan Tree and can remember nothing about it except that I wanted a Maori village to be given the same novelistic treatment.
And on a completley different note. The Last Werewolf reviewed in last week's Listener sounds like a must-read. -
Hard News: Getting dressed for the party, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Thanks for the interesting responses from you and Sacha re the "holiday highway". I accept what you say and hate to think of Auckland expanding well beyond its present boundaries.
Nevertheless, the term "holiday highway" seems unnecessarily emotive from my Northland pov.
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Gosh you people are mean to us Northlanders. I live in Whangarei and have to travel to Auckland quite often, initially for cancer treatment. Through the main street of Wellsford, through the busy lights at Warkworth, through the notorious Dome Valley and eventually onto the toll road at Puhoi where the driving is easy. On the road around me I see trucks: logging trucks and milk trucks and huge trucks containing God know what. Surely they're contributing to the economy? Or would you rather we had our own economy up here separated from the rest of the country. Sob.
Now, I'd rather the contents of those trucks were transferred to trains. that's not going to happen anytime soon so please can we have our "holiday highway".
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Lhaws is well past his use by date.
Did he ever have one?
Or "well past" would be a massive understatement.
I have just read his latest SST column. Based on that column and everything I've read and heard about him in the last few years, he is nasty, vicious, hypocritical, vindictive, sleazy, intolerant, and uninformed. I hate it when he waxes sentimental about his own kids as if he were a decent bloke and then lashes out brutally at poor people or disabled people.
I'd almost like the Hell's Angels to march down the main street of Whanganui in full regalia just to spite him.
As for print columnists out there, I've always been an admirer of Linley Boniface. She is wasted in the Health section of the Listener. (Her latest effort there is very shallow - homoeopathy mentioned uncritically etc) But she's witty, insightful and fluent when writing about issues of her own choice.
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Muse: TV Review: Night in the Garden of Pain, in reply to Islander,
Islander, I was very fond of "Hooks and Feelers", story and film too. Same series? Winners and Losers????
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Mounting horror is how I’d describe my reaction to Nights in the Gardens of Spain. It was a giant step back for television drama in NZ. I wanted to like it, but from early on the poor acting, poor productions values and unenlightened storyline just did my head in.
I persevered for an hour or so and then had to turn it off. If there was reconciliation at the end, I missed it.
Does anyone remember the film of Ihimaera’s short story, “The Maketu on Mrs Jones”? Made in the 70s I think with Annie Whittle - and much better IMHO.
A couple of specific gripes:
• The main character said, “I can’t be Maori and … that.” I thought Polynesian cultures had always been more accepting of homosexuality. Was he referring to kaumatua status or what?
• Some of the action took place “up north”. Looked like Mangawhai Heads to me. Heck, it’s in the Supercity, isn’t it, or nearly! Looked cheap … -
Geoff, wrong thread, sorry ... a bit removed from puppy dogs and pussy cats ... I wondered what you thought of the media influence on the Tucson shooter. Just read Kiwipolitico and picked up a nice phrase: "right wing media frothers".