This is the place to be if you’ve got something to say about Fiona Kidman’s The Trouble with Fire, Paula Morris’s Rangatira or Sue Orr’s From Under the Overcoat and don’t want to worry about revealing anything that might spoil the books for other readers.
If you want to talk more discreetly, you should be in our No-Spoiler Zone.
Please tell us your thoughts on the books individually. How do they stack up – against each other and against previous books by the authors? Which would you like to win the New Zealand Post Book Awards fiction prize?
Gillian Croad Jul 25 2012, 2:12pm
Cathy Clarke Jul 14 2012, 3:43pm
From Under the Overcoat I read last year, but none of the stories stick in my memory that well, although I do remember liking ‘Scratchy’ the most, and wanting to read the original inspiration for each story as well.
Rangatira I thought a well written story, but the narrative was constrained by its historical basis. It was a sad decline as Paratene’s chiefly mana seemed to (understandably) desert him in England, but as a fictional story I would have liked a bit more tension.
The Trouble with Fire was easy to read, very polished and smooth writing. I enjoyed the historical stories the most, especially the linked stories and unifying fire theme.
My choice, however, for the Fiction award would have been The Larnachs. The psychology of an affair was what I found most fascinating - motivations, self-delusion and justifications all artfully controlled and manipulated by the author.
So four books for the price of one – and a shame the list was so short.