John McCrystal - Columnists

For the old salts: How to Sail a Boat, by Matt Vance

Issue 3815 13th Jun 2013

When Vance introduces the personal stuff, it really picks up its skirts and skips along.

Issue 3811 16th May 2013

Stevan Eldred-Grigg brings his fictional family through the 1960s and onward.

Issue 3809 2nd May 2013

This is a brave subject for a woman to tackle from a male first-person perspective, writes reviewer John McCrystal.

Issue 3783 2nd Nov 2012

John Sinclair explains the background to his revolutionary China-set debut novel, this month’s Listener Book Club choice.

Issue 3780 20th Oct 2012

CK Stead takes masterful aim at the moral bankruptcy of the times.

Issue 3779 13th Oct 2012

What simple pleasure can be had thrashing someone else’s car around in the snow and ice.

Issue 3766 14th Jul 2012

You’ll go a long way before you find a collection of stories that so engage, tease, taunt and thrill your intelligence as these, says John McCrystal.

Issue 3734 5th Jul 2012

Paula Morris’s rangatira is a triumph of characterisation in this adroitly told historical novel.

30th May 2012

An extraordinary debut.

Issue 3757 12th May 2012

Stephanie Johnson’s great-great-great-grandmother is the subject her career has been waiting for.