Thursday 17 November 2022

 

Fight Night, by Miriam Toews.

 


            9 year-old Swiv (an abbreviation never explained) lives with her actress mother in Toronto.  Swiv’s Grandma has recently come to live with them too, which is handy because Swiv has recently been expelled from school for being recalcitrant, incorrigible and impossible in the classroom.  Fair enough.  The break will do everyone good – you know:  clear the air, calm the waters (for her teachers), that kind of thing, the only disadvantage being that Grandma has a severe heart condition (Swiv is the custodian of Grandma’s myriad medications:  she knows to the minute what should be taken when), and Swiv’s mum is rehearsing for a stage play, even though she is hugely pregnant.  Life and its problems has become ‘very complex’ to say the least and, as part of a grandmotherly stab at home-schooling, Swiv has been instructed to write a daily letter to her absent dad.  According to mum and Grandma, he is off fighting as a guerrilla for some obscure foreign cause, so he must be kept up to date with news from home.

            And that is the heart and soul of this lovely story – Swiv’s daily version of life and love with the two most important women in her life – mum, who is on a short fuse a lot of the time – not good in Swiv’s opinion for Gord, the mysterious occupant of mum’s womb – Swiv is really looking forward to being a sister – and Grandma, unfailingly optimistic despite her many health problems.  It has to be said that daily life with Grandma is never dull, from watching their favourite basketball team on TV to meeting up with Grandma’s old friends (and they really are old!), to deciding to take a trip to Fresno, California, ‘The Raisin Capital of the World!’ to visit Lou and Ken, two of Grandma’s many nephews, whom Swiv is shocked to find are a couple of old Hippies with long hair.  Lou prefers to walk everywhere – it clears his head – and Ken has  a girlfriend called Jude who likes oil massages with Ken,  an incomprehensible reason for using oil in Swiv’s opinion;  regardless, they are both thrilled to see their beloved aunt and make their visitors hugely welcome – until a visit to Grandma’s friends for lunch at a local rest home takes a very serious turn, and their time in the Raisin Capital of the World is cut short because Grandma decided that she could still do a high kick for her friends – with predictably disastrous results.

            Swiv’s letters to her dad (and we find out the real reason for his absence) become a marvellous chronicle of familial love, secrets laid bare, and a hymn of praise for humour, resilience and resistance in the face of adversity:  Swiv is unforgettable and it’s a shame she is confined to just one book.  SIX STARS.      

              

Wednesday 9 November 2022

 

Peninsula, by Sharron Came.

 

 


           This mighty collection of short stories is Ms Came’s first book – and that’s hard to imagine because her writing is relaxed, polished and assured, as if she had been a published author all her working life.  She has set her stories and their characters in the small fictional town of Hereford, north of Auckland;  it is a farming community, recently gaining popularity because of its proximity to the Big Smoke as a weekend bolt-hole for rich city-dwellers, and the locals that haven’t sold parts of their farms for development are chuffed because of the extra business flowing through the district.  Times certainly are a-changing!

            And not always for the best:  along with the Big Smoke Folk come all their faults, particularly alcohol consumption and methamphetamine use, an illicit market that soon has its own local suppliers and dealers.  The farmers who haven’t sold up and sold out watch their world disappearing in front of their eyes, powerless to stop the rot.

            The Carlton family is a case in point:  Jim Carlton has been farming the area all his working life;  now his son Jack is doing the heavy work and cheekily trying to make the big decisions without consulting him – so what if he drops off to sleep in the hayshed sometimes – he’s still there to do his share of the milking and if anything needs fixing he’s right there.  Jack never was any good with mechanical things.  Jim’s wife Di hasn’t been too chipper lately, though:  her ticker’s been playing up, she needs an operation.  Still, Jack’s not ready or experienced enough to take over the show yet (even though he has his own family and house down the road):  nah, Jim won’t be able to retire for a while yet.  It’s a shame his other two kids, Jack’s twin sister Rachel and second son Willy aren’t interested in the farm – Rachel has a high-powered legal career but only visits when she wants to go running, and Willy has worked very hard at being the family Black Sheep:  he is a recovering P addict.  It’s enough to make ya wonder what bloody life’s all about, doesn’t it?  Jim certainly doesn’t have a clue.

            Ms Came guides us expertly through the experiences of her great short story cast of protagonists; we see through their eyes the sad and inevitable effects of ageing, the irrevocable changes wrought on their beautiful environment by ‘progress’ and greed as opposed to need;  and the ever-hovering threat of climate change, all here in this wonderful microcosm of Kiwi country life.  SIX STARS.