So, you'd hardly know it, but it's NZ Book Month. This used to be celebrated with a Six Pack competition for short stories, published and sold for $6. However, this marketing and bookseller driven exercise rewarded, with few exceptions, fairly bland fare. Perhaps it was just a victim of the recession, but the Six Pack is dead, at least for this year. And its website has been left dustily forlorn, although as I check now there is some interesting absurdity - a communal story. Neat.
It would be nice to see NZ books given the treatment music and fashion gets. A segment each day on the breakfast and morning shows. The difficulty is, perhaps, how to choose who gets the publicity? It is hard to tell who is deserving. That's why Lloyd Jones' success with Mister Pip was such a relief: there was a book tested and proven on the international stage, without question. Otherwise NZ fiction is a bob of "exciting new" and familiar names and a few relentless self-promoters, in such a small group that the knives might shoot out if the media favours one over another. And as a body, they all fall out of the limelight.
So NZ Book month has been handed over to "book activists" - probably in a vein much like Yvonne's failed effort on Shortland Street (nice catch by the writers). Lively is giving a good show, though. Personally, I haven't read enough NZ fiction to muse over its strengths and weaknesses. In the spirit, however, I'll wave to a few of those I have.
6. Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones. It deserves its accolades as a strong tale told through a young girl's eyes. First two (short) chapters are a bit stiff, and I'd shift the end to the beginning... but worth anyone's read.
5. Huia Short Stories 7. This is a really dynamic collection of short stories and novel extracts by Maori writers. There's a bit more hope and life to these stories, I feel than in the current "8th" collection. Probably a sign of the times, with society snaking further to the autocratic right.
4. The Method Actors, by Carl Shuker. I admit, I bought this out of curiosity, wondering what sort of tale was worth a prize of $65,000. It was good, full of interesting ideas and factoids and characters as a mostly NZ cast get around in Japan. Not a strong narrative, but enough to draw you through.
3. The Sound of Butterflies, by Rachel King. Okay, so my wife read this, but on my recommendation. She enjoyed it a lot. Sounds like Rachel does her research. I look forward to reading it one day.
2. The Rehearsal, by Eleanor Catton. The current "exciting new thing", I give her props here, cos she might be overseas at the moment. Whoever is judged top of the pops deserves at least a year's publicity. Hopefully my next NZ read.
1. The Halfmen of O, by Maurice Gee. You know how teen fiction is all cool right now? Do yourself a favour, run, don't walk, right past Under the Mountain and pick this puppy up. Then The Priests of Ferris. Then Motherstone.
I've read others (yes, including Katherine Mansfield) but these are the only ones my writerly instincts move me to mention. I NEED to read Janet Frame in her entirety, I know that. I've picked up C.K. Stead, but the time has never been right. Personally, I don't "read NZ fiction" in the same way I don't consider myself "a NZ writer". I'm a writer, and a reader, and I pick up whatever catches my eye.
Frame's 'To the Is-land' is one of the most moving and brutally honest pieces I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteThe writing won't be to everyone's taste, but Frames ability to firstly project the fascination a child has in the most mundane aspects in the world, and then blur the boundaries between childish imagination and the taught reality of an adult is remarkable. It's my favourite work of kiwi fiction.