Blog Archives
Human error, Stephanie Johnson
A Mistake Carl Shuker Victoria University Press, $30.00, ISBN 9781776562145 Carl Shuker is a writer who is not afraid to take risks. His previous four novels were all hailed for their innovation in form and espousal of post-modernism. He is,…
Tagged with: Carl Shuker, Issue 126, Stephanie Johnson, Victoria University Press, Winter 2019
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Bleak stuff under total control, Stephanie Johnson
The Wish Child Catherine Chidgey Victoria University Press, $30.00, IBSN 9781776560622 When Dutch writer Herman Koch visited New Zealand as part of the 2016 Auckland Writers’ Festival, he expressed his belief that WWII was losing its allure as a subject…
Tagged with: Autumn 2017, Catherine Chidgey, Issue 117, Stephanie Johnson, Victoria University Press
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Maybe, maybe not, Craig Cliff
The Writers’ Festival Stephanie Johnson Vintage, $38.00 ISBN 9781775537984 Taken together, Stephanie Johnson’s The Writing Class (2013) and her latest novel, The Writers’ Festival, are a study in ambivalence. Can creative writing be taught? the first asks. Maybe, maybe not.…
Tagged with: Craig Cliff, Issue 112, Stephanie Johnson, Summer 2015, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Mending and pairing, Heather Roberts
The Writing Class Stephanie Johnson Random House, $38.00, ISBN 9781775532590 The Last Days of the National Costume Anne Kennedy Allen and Unwin, $37.00, ISBN 9781743313862 Two writers of a similar age and stage in the development of their writing careers,…
Tagged with: Allen and Unwin, Anne Kennedy, Heather Roberts, Issue 104, Random House, Stephanie Johnson, Summer 2013
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
A life of relative freedom, Penelope Todd
The Open World Stephanie Johnson Vintage, $38.00, ISBN 9781869797836 The Open World was my introduction to Stephanie Johnson’s substantial body of work. This is a complex novel, not easy to consider as a whole, or to sum up in…
Tagged with: Issue 99, Penelope Todd, Spring 2012, Stephanie Johnson, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
A less than perky light, Stevan Eldred-Grigg
Gith Chris Else Random House, $27.99, ISBN 9781869790134 Show of Hands Anthony McCarten Random House, $29.99, ISBN 9781869419950 Swimmer’s Rope Stephanie Johnson Random House, $29.99, ISBN 9781869790257 At the first look there’s not much to tie these three novels together.…
Tagged with: Anthony McCarten, Chris Else, Issue 86, Random House, Stephanie Johnson, Stevan Eldred-Grigg, Winter 2009
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
All-seeing but poorly briefed, Linley Boniface
John Tomb’s Head Stephanie Johnson Vintage, $28.00, ISBN 1869418263 You have to admire The Rev Mr Taylor, whoever he might have been, for chronicling, in the manner of Nigella Lawson discussing the preparation of a steak and kidney pudding, the…
Tagged with: Issue 76, Stephanie Johnson, Summer 2006, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Previously unthought ways, Stephanie Johnson
These Lives I Have Buried Lindsay Rabbitt Four Winds Press, $14.95, IBSN 0958251452 What Makes A Teacher? Jack Lasenby Four Winds Press, $14.95, IBSN 0958251444 Ghost Who Writes Martin Edmond Four Winds Press, $14.95, IBSN 0958251436 A directive for enjoying…
Tagged with: Four Winds Press, Issue 67, Jack Lasenby, Lindsay Rabbitt, Martin Edmond, Spring 2004, Stephanie Johnson
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Review
Reading teeth, Jane Hurley
Music from a Distant Room Stephanie Johnson Vintage, $26.95, ISBN 1869416171 Nola Lane is a dental nurse who loves her job. By day she peers carefully into small mouths, tamps down zinc and mercury into tiny jaws and snips cottonwool…
Tagged with: Issue 67, Jane Hurley, Spring 2004, Stephanie Johnson, Vintage
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
The novelist as poet, Nick Ascroft
Lazy Wind Poems Graham Lindsay Auckland University Press, $21.99, ISBN 1869402855 Moody Bitch Stephanie Johnson Godwit, $22.95, ISBN 1869621050 Vanilla Wine Geoff Cochrane Victoria University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0864734719 Summer on the Cote d’Azur Alistair Paterson HeadworX, $19.95, ISBN 04730980244…
Tagged with: Alistair Paterson, Auckland University Press, Geoff Cochrane, Godwit, Graham Lindsay, HeadworX, Issue 64, Nick Ascroft, Stephanie Johnson, Summer 2003, Victoria University Press
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review
Posted in Literature, Poetry, Review