Reach
Laurence Fearnley
Penguin, $38.00,
ISBN 9780143571728
Novels about art sometimes also seem to be novels about novels. Laurence Fearnley’s latest work, Reach, not only explores the relationship between life and creative expression but also, in a sense, enacts it. It picks out recognisable elements of contemporary New Zealand life, shakes them around a little, turns them inside out, and searches for the meanings within.
The Naturalist
Thom Conroy
Vintage, $38.00,
ISBN 9781775536482
Lives We Leave Behind
Maxine Alterio
Penguin, $38.00,
ISBN 9780143565710
The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt
Tracy Farr
Fremantle Press, $35.00,
ISBN 9781922089465
Here we have a trio of historical novels that, with varying degrees of success, bring characters and environments from our past (real and imagined) to life: The Naturalist by Thom Conroy, Lives We Leave Behind by Maxine Alterio, and The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt by Tracy Farr.
The Children’s Pond
Tina Shaw
Pointer Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780473274023
The Faceless
Vanda Symon
Penguin Books, $30.00, ISBN 9780143567202
I am Rebecca
Fleur Beale
Random House, $20.00, ISBN 9781775535492
These books form a disparate collection apparently linked only by the words “compelling” and “thriller” appearing on the dustjackets of each, words which mislead and possibly confuse rather than inform. All three do have an element of suspense, and so become thrillers in the broadest sense, but the real link is that they are totally compelling in very different ways. Jennifer Lawn has identified New Zealand’s burgeoning crime scene, noting that our crime writers use fully realised local settings with confidence and it is, in part, the development of the settings which unites these three books.
Encounters: The Creation of New Zealand. A History
Paul Moon
Penguin Books
ISBN 9780143568506
The Voyagers: Remarkable European Explorations of New Zealand
Paul Moon
Penguin Books
ISBN 9780143570554
In a year in which the historical focus is very much on the centenary of WWI, two recently published books by Paul Moon remind us that we have a much longer history than our involvement in that conflict and that there are many ways, other than warfare, through which New Zealand’s identity can, and has been, defined.
Joe Victim
Paul Cleave
Penguin Books
ISBN 9780143570424
Drowning City
Ben Atkins
Vintage
ISBN 9781775535522
“The Christchurch Carver” is the name bestowed by the media upon Joe Middleton, the central character of Paul Cleave’s debut novel, The Cleaner. Joe is a serial rapist and killer of attractive young women and – a brave but successful move by Cleave – the narrator. Joe enjoys his criminal adventures, describing them with relish and flashes of dark humour. He also enjoys being smarter than all the cops, especially as he works as a cleaner at the police station, where he pretends to be retarded.
John Key: Portrait of a prime minister
John Roughan
Penguin Books
ISBN 9780143570752
The early to mid-career prime ministerial biography has become an established genre of publishing well represented in New Zealand. This is one of the better examples. The publisher commissioned The New Zealand Herald editorial writer John Roughan, and the book was written with the co-operation of John Key. But it is not an authorised version: Key did not see or comment on the text prior to publication.
Beyond the State: New Zealand State Houses from Modest to Modern
Bill McKay and Andrea Stevens (Simon Devitt photographs)
Penguin Books, $75.00,
ISBN 9780143570653
In the catalogue of the exhibition, Homebuilding 1814-1954: the New Zealand tradition, held at the Auckland City Art Gallery in 1954, James Garrett deplored the “loss of individuality and difference for the sake of difference” that he saw reflected in the housing programme of the New Zealand Department of Housing Construction. According to Garrett, these houses “ACHIEVED A UNIFORM SUBURBAN STYLE BASED ON MINIMUM STANDARDS AND SOCIAL, NOT PERSONAL, QUALITIES. LACKING INDIVIDUAL OR REGIONAL VARIATIONS, THE OVERALL PATTERN IS MONOTONOUS”. Garrett’s insistent capitals stand alongside an elevation and plan of a standard state house, its foursquare geometry, high-set windows, weatherboard walls and tile roof all instantly recognisable to anyone familiar with New Zealand’s domestic architecture.
The Demolition of the Century Duncan Sarkies Penguin Books, $30.00, ISBN 9780143568902 The Mannequin Makers Craig Cliff Random House, $38.00, ISBN 9781775533849 The Wind City Summer Wigmore Steam Press, $30.00, ISBN 9780992257804 Traditionally, the gothic is a northern genre. The…
Destiny: The Life and Times of a Self-Made Apostle Peter Lineham Penguin Books, $38.00, ISBN 9780143568919 A Rising Tide: Evangelical Christianity in New Zealand 1930-65 Stuart Lange Otago University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781877578557 Recently, the International Association of Religion…
The Bright Side of my Condition Charlotte Randall Penguin, $30.00, ISBN 9780143570660 Charlotte Randall’s many strengths don’t, in general, extend to the provision of compelling plots. Tellingly, in an interview, she states, “I don’t really believe in ‘stories’ ”, and has…