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Fictional flesh on real bones

29/8/2016

Napoleon's Willow
by Joan Norlev Taylor

This is a delightful historical novel set mainly in New Zealand in the first half of the nineteenth century, as Europeans with different backgrounds and conflicting loyalties attempt a land grab. The author has methodically researched historical facts and characters. By blending this with fiction and superstition she has created a story that makes history come alive and takes us on an emotional journey into the founding of the Akaroa settlement in what is now known as Banks Peninsula.
  The story evolves through two characters. The first is a French artisan from a lowly background fired with enthusiasm for the Napoleonic values of liberty, equality and fraternity. After Napoleon's defeat he has been forced to watch France and Europe slip back into a hierarchy that required ignorance and poverty to survive. Determined to plant the shoots of enlightenment in the new world, he joins a whaling ship.
  The second lead character is part English and part French. She is pregnant, dumped and a potential victim of prudish British social attitudes. Misfortune follows her escape to sea and Australia. But she finds work as a nanny and dreams of working with the Catholic church and buying a plot of land to start a school. But the new land isn't a clean sheet of paper where people can write their own future. It is a molten alloy of European prejudice, religious intrigue and traditional Maori values.
  The book is well written and presented. I recommend it to anyone interested in an intriguing insight into the formation of our nation.

Review by Peter Thomas

Title: Napoleon's Willow
Author: Joan Norlev Taylor
Publisher: RSVP Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9876587-8-4
Available: in print in/via bookshops, print and e-book from Amazon, and directly from the publisher RSVP Publishing (Auckland)

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Literal road trip to musical places

23/8/2016

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A Road Tour of American Song Titles – From Mendocino to Memphis
by Karl Du Fresne

Amarillo, Muskogee, San José, Wichita, Galveston ... these American place names are so ingrained in our cultural cache, even here in New Zealand.
   In A Road Tour of American Song Titles – From Mendocino to Memphis, author Karl Du Fresne takes a literal road trip through the towns and cities that feature in some of the most recognisable songs of the last century.
He asks the question most of us have probably not thought to ask – why are so many songs written about or after places in America? He concludes that it’s three-fold. Firstly, in some cases, it’s as simple as the place name rhyming with a key word in the song title – Amarillo, pillow – but also, that some of the places are really quite off the beaten track and therefore lack the glamour of the classic tourist destinations of say, New York and Los Angeles (and indeed, Du Fresne covers five places in the state of California, none of them the expected pitstops). In fact some of the towns evoke a sense of isolation, decay, desolation which make fantastic material for songs. Thirdly, Du Fresne explains that there’s an “indefinable” mystique to these places, perhaps a kind of romance, even though not all of the songs have happy endings.
   The premise of a road-trip travelogue is not new, but what this book offers differs a little from the usual eating-and-drinking travel extravaganza. The author's research is impeccable and it’s hard not to become absorbed in the depth of this even from the first chapter, “Walking to New Orleans”. Here, as an example of that contextualising of the music, the author covers the influence of French and African culture on this city, and its proximity to the Caribbean too. The surprise fact in all of this is that the rock and roll (or thereabouts) music of Fats Domino pre-dates that of Bill Haley, who is widely accepted as the having performed the first rock and roll song. Du Fresne is also able to describe musical styles and instrumentation in some depth, but if that becomes all too much for a reader, he also describes some of the eateries and local fare and there's plenty of historical referencing too. There's also plenty of biographical detail about the artists.
   Du Fresne has given the book a real emotional centre – he loves these songs. He also hooks into the idea that aspects of American culture, and the lowbrow, anti-intellectual nature of the songs, reveals a really attractive, folksy side of an America that we don’t often see promoted.
   Who would like this book? Certainly, music buffs, or budding ones at least. Music, the writers, and musicians are the core of this work. Secondary to that it would appeal to would-be travellers who were keen to stay out of the main centres. It would also appeal to readers who want a fresh perspective on some of the greatest songs ever written. The overarching tone of the book is 'wide-eyed', as the author drinks in what make these songs tick.

Review by Katherine Stewart

Title: A Road Tour of American Song Titles – From Mendocino to Memphis
Author: Karl Du Fresne
Publisher: Bateman
ISBN: 978-1-86953-938-2
Available: bookshops

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Fast-paced book

18/8/2016

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Ladder to the Moon
by P J Fry

This is a love story set around the Arab–Israeli war of 1967. The couple at the centre are Captain John Ferris a New Zealand army captain serving as a UN military observer on the Israeli–Lebanon border, and Leila, a Palestinian woman he meets while rescuing a child from a burning building.
   Their relationship grows in the midst of the confusion and violence of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, but must remain secret because the UN observers are forbidden to show any bias or favouritism towards either side. They make plans to marry and travel to New Zealand to start a new life together, however the conflict has other plans for them. It is a story that reveals the suffering endured by the Lebanese and Palestinians during the fighting that devastated their country. It is a tale related by someone who has clearly experienced the region and its difficulties first hand.
   John Ferris risks his military career by continuing to meet Leila, but she takes a far greater risk, as discovery of her relationship by the PLO or her own brothers would mean disaster for her. Her mother also plays a significant role in the story, disapproving at first, but finally accepting that marrying John would mean a much better life for her daughter. However, nothing is easy at that time in Lebanon. The couple are caught up in the confusion of the conflict, and the final outcome is really unexpected.
   The author has been a New Zealand army captain who served the UN as an observer in the Middle East and in East Timor, and this military experience makes the battle sequences seem very realistic and vivid. One thing it impressed upon me was the danger that the unarmed UN observers were exposed to, and the isolation they experienced while doing their job on the border between Israel and Lebanon. At the time of the Israeli invasion there were only 15 of them in small observation posts stretched out across the whole country. They were in constant danger of attack by Israelis who did not want them there, or PLO soldiers who saw them as a source of money and took every opportunity to rob them at gunpoint. Being unarmed they had no defence against either side.
   This is a fast-paced book, which captured my attention early on and did not release it until the end. I was grateful for the map at the front of the book and found myself turning to it many times, just to visualise where the action was.
If there is one criticism, it is that the relationship between the couple develops a little too quickly to be believable. However, I really enjoyed the book and can confidently recommend it to anyone.

Review by Harold Bernard

Title: Ladder to the Moon
Author: P.J. Fry
Publisher: Longview
ISBN: 978-0-473-33930-2
Available: bookshops

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Images speak for themselves

12/8/2016

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HOPE: In the Hands of Fatima
Christine Spring

This is a book of images and portraits with a message concerning the plight of Syrian refugees marooned in Lebanon.
H.O.P.E. is an acronym for the UNICEF programme which assists the refugee camps, and is also the basis for the structure of this hard-covered book. The design revolves around shades of blue, and a motif of outstretched hands, reflecting the concept of the Hand of Fatima, which is explained towards the end of the book. Colours abound in the photography, especially in the blue and violet habibs worn by the Syrian women, but also in the western brand clothing of the kids.
Christine Spring joined Mike McRoberts and cameraman, and Sonny Bill Williams, for the visit. But any celebrity aspect is not highlighted, other than a few introductory shots of the film crew, and some later ones showing SBW listening and learning.
One of the best shots of the group shows the kiwi blokes looking over some refugees towards a Syrian woman in black and purple dress carrying a cast iron or metal fitting on her head, and oblivious to the arrival of the westerners. On the opposite page is a photo of a boy poised on a tyre in the middle of a stream full of various forms of waste and discarded objects, while groups of women and children sit on the bank above. The latter image could have been spread over two pages of the layout, but most choices for the size of the images seem about right, if not always in the best sequencing possible.
Most of the later images are close-ups of children as individuals, in a group, or with their mothers. This is effective but somehow also intrusive.
I do have a couple of critical points. Even though there is a structure to the book, and clear sections, there is no contents page. And in trying to keep to the H.O.P.E. themes there is a bit of a sacrifice for what could have been a more effective photo-essay. I also think that the ‘Hands of Fatima’ concept could have been placed at the beginning rather than near the end. And there is also a caption of sorts for every photograph, with some relatively long explanations. This might help a younger reader, but seems rather unnecessary at times, as some of the images speak for themselves. After certain aspects of the life in the camp are explained, and cultural practices examined, I think that the reader can draw their own conclusions without a rhetorical question.
This book is well worth a look, but probably best used in an educational setting.

Review by S A Boyce

Title: HOPE In the Hands of Fatima
Author: Christine Spring
Publisher: Beatnik
Available: bookshops

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Sensitive handling of serious subject

5/8/2016

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When the Roller Coaster Stops
by Susan Tarr

Although it is 29-year-old Bethany who is diagnosed with colorectal cancer, When the Roller Coaster Stops is as much Kate’s story as it is Bethany’s. And yet, Kate is in the story, in Bethany’s life, almost by accident and frequently, at least initially, against her better judgement.
It is easy enough to sympathise with Bethany as her doctor makes his uncompromising diagnosis, as she rails against her cruel fate and as her health deteriorates. I found it far more difficult to feel any liking for her. For much of the course of her illness – and she is already ill when we meet her in chapter 1 – she is decidedly nasty, catty, manipulative … and vain. Although others tell Kate how kind, funny, intelligent and generous Bethany is, being nice is something that Bethany is forced to learn: a trait that she eventually masters in the novel’s final chapters.
Kate is Bethany’s opposite in every way. In her mid-thirties, Kate is shy and serious, a little unworldly and, luckily for Bethany, Kate really needs a job. Taken on by Bethany as a casual cleaner, Kate finds herself becoming Bethany’s housekeeper, driver, carer and most importantly, confidante and much loved friend. After several unsuccessful attempts to give Bethany her notice and escape from her jibes, Kate learns to stand her ground, to face up to Bethany and to recognise her own worth. Throughout the book, Kates grows stronger, more determined and more confident as Bethany’s illness worsens.
A handful of complicated friends cluster around Bethany and through the times that they spend chatting together, Tarr has explored such issues as abortion, adoption, jealousy, coming to terms with a friend’s imminent death and so on. These sometimes quite boisterous evenings and dinner parties inevitably come to an end, the guests go home and it is Kate who is left to clean up and to cope day after day, week after week, with Bethany’s mood swings and sudden whims: her sorrow and misery and unexpected - and short-lived - bouts of euphoria. At the same time she is a buffer between Bethany and some of Bethany’s less welcome visitors and also a shoulder to cry on for the friends who really love Bethany.
In this respect, When the Roller Coaster Stops is a very worthwhile handbook for any untrained friend or family member who is to be a loved one’s carer during a terminal illness. Tarr has kept the medical details to a minimum, meaning that Bethany’s journey through her cancer is far from colorectal-specific. Much of what Kate learns to deal with can be just as well applied to someone caring for and living with a patient with any other type of cancer. There are no truly gory details and often there is wittiness and laughter; serenity and contentedness. The language is uncomplicated: a sad situation is recounted without using an overly emotional register. Tarr lets her descriptions of the winter weather convey the down-beat sentiments of Bethany, Kate, Simon and George. The novel is set in Wellington, New Zealand, but in such a low key way that it could be almost any coastal city in the world.
I would have liked to see the aspect of Bethany’s genetic make up and its relationship to colorectal cancer explored in more detail. A little less bickering and sobbing in the Bethany-Simon-George triangle would tighten up the story’s pace too, but these two points apart, I feel that Tarr has very competently and sensitively dealt with the path of terminal illness from the intertwined view points of patient, carer and friends.

Review by Carolyn McKenzie

Title: When the Roller Coaster Stops
Author: Susan Tarr
Publisher: Susan Tarr
ISBN: 9781515055082
Available: print within NZ, message via https://www.facebook.com/susan.tarr.330; print or ebook via https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0125U3DVK/

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Fictional flesh on real bones

Literal road trip to musical places

Fast-paced book

Images speak for themselves

Sensitive handling of serious subject

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