Comments on The Arts

Based on a belief that effective teachers of reading and writing should be interested in the art of reading and writing, I want to share Comments on The Arts with teachers on the books that I read, the movies that I watch and the theatre I attend. I hope to maybe interest you in books, films and plays that have had (or are having) an impact on me. But I am fully aware of the adage that ‘one person’s passion is another person’s poison’…. Maybe you could in fact share your responses or your preferences with me in the comments section – or feel free to send me a tweet.

Books From The Past

I am often asked whether I have any favourites from a life-time of reading literary fiction. I always reply that five novels – published many years apart – have moved me more than I could ever have imagined and have stayed strongly in my mind for many years:

• ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (published 1970). This novel, which I read as a first year teacher in the 70s, introduced me to the world of magical realism which I have relished ever since, through both novels and the cinema. Even as a young man who knew little of the world, I realised that its depiction of the jungle settlement of Macondo (somewhere in South America) was a fantastical metaphor of what was happening in the rapidly changing world around me. I’d never read such mesmerising language and I recall devouring it on my daily train and bus trips between Wellington and Upper Hutt.
• ‘Strangers and Journeys’ by Maurice Shadbolt (published 1972). This New Zealand novel, a political and social saga of two New Zealand families set within a landscape that I instantly recognised, moved me more than any other New Zealand novel that I had read to that point in time. I read it on my OE in London in the late 70s and immediately got a sense of ‘what being a New Zealander’ actually meant to me. It not only helped to draw me back home but sent me back to university to write an MA thesis on the pattern of experience in all of Shadbolt’s fiction.
• ‘Midnight’s Children’ by Salman Rushdie (published 1981). This beautifully written Booker Prize-winning novel introduced me to India (a country that I then knew little about) through the life story of Saleem Salai. The hero was a true midnight child of India – he was born on the same stroke of midnight August 15 1947 that saw India gaining independence from Great Britain – and his story became a social and political map of the contemporary sub-continent for me.
• ‘A Fine Balance’ by Rohinton Mistry (published 1996). This saga, also set on the sub-continent, had me weeping buckets as I experienced the torments that its main characters (three humble tailors) experienced during Indira Gandhi’s ‘State of Internal Emergency’. Realism to the extreme. From time to time, I could not believe what I was reading. One critic described it as ‘compulsively readable ‘ – I can avow to that in that I took the book on a work trip to Tonga in 2001 and read all 614 pages from Friday night to Sunday night in the first weekend, only stopping for a few hours sleep every now and again and the occasional light meal!!
• ‘A Little Life’ by Hanya Yanagihara (published 2015) also moved me immensely as I compulsively read its 720 pages. Set in New York, it’s the life story of four male friends and the ups-and-downs of their relationships, both with each other and with others. I could relate to them more than I can recall relating to almost any other character in contemporary fiction. Yes, its depictions of pederasty and self-harm are very disturbing, but they in fact strengthened my feelings for its vividly depicted characters. A friend who loved it as much as I did has recently re-read it and subsequently stated that “It is still a masterpiece”.

I wonder what books have been pivotal in other people’s lives?  Add your comment below or drop me a note if you wish!

Recent Books

Over the past two years, the following novels have made a particular impact on me:

• ‘4321’ by Paul Auster. A slightly poorer version of ‘A Little Life’ but only slightly poorer. A little bit of magical realism as one person’s story (a young contemporary New Yorker) is told from four different perspectives.
• ‘The Silence of the Girls’ by Pat Barker. A re-telling of the Trojan War from the perspective of the women who were forced to support the men. Brings characters like Achilles and Agamemnon vividly to life. Makes we want to return to ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’.
• ‘Days Without End’ by Sebastian Barry. How two young men (in an undefinable relationship) find their way through the horrors of the American Indian and Civil Wars. Beautifully written.
• ‘Love is Blind’ by William Boyd. Ever since I read ‘An Ice Cream War’ in the 1980s, I have devoured (and generally loved) everything by William Boyd. A strong narrative of a young Scotsman’s escapades across Europe in the late nineteenth century and the woman he is infatuated with.
• ‘The Heart’s Invisible Furies’ by John Boyne. This is Boyne’s coming out novel that I related to strongly. Another strong narrative; this time of a young gay Irishman finding his way in the world across continents. For me, a real page turner.
• ‘Milkman’ by Anna Burns. Quirky; set amongst the Troubles of Northern Ireland in the 70s; not an easy read but I’m pleased that I stuck with it.
• ‘Little’ by Edward Carey. I loved this fictional account of the early life of Madame Tussaud set amidst the throes of the French Revolution. As well as enjoying the evolution of this interesting woman, I learnt so much history that I did not know before.
• ‘The Girls’ by Emma Cline. A much easier read. A woman recalling her coming-of-age amongst the Charles Manson tribe that Quentin Tarantino has recently brought alive.
• ‘Middle England’ by Jonathon Coe. A very funny book with a rich narrative and a strong cast of characters, this is a contemporary Brexit tale.
• ‘Washington Black’ by Esi Edugyan. A saga of an eleven year-old slave escaping from the West Indies, only to find ongoing dangers wherever he ventures. Very moving from time to time.
• ‘The Mermaid and Mrs Handcock’ by Imogen Hermes Gowar. A bit more magical realism that I really liked. The ups and downs of a man’s life in eighteenth century London, all pursuant on his unlikely ownership of a mermaid.
• ‘In Our Fast and Furious City’ by Guy Gunaratne. A tale told by many voices of multicultural London, this was long-listed for last year’s Man Book Prize and I believe should have won. I suspect that this Sri-Lankan born writer is a major voice in literature coming through.
• ‘The Friendly Ones’ by Philip Hensher. Have loved Hensher over the years, particularly ‘King of the Badgers’ and ‘The Emperor Waltz’. Quirky and funny and moving; as is this novel of two very different families’ interactions with each other in contemporary Britain.
• ‘An American Marriage’ by Tayari Jones. This novel moved me immensely in its depiction of a middle-class African American’s downward spiral generated by (possibly covert) racism in today’s America.
• ‘A Day at the Movies’ by Fiona Kidman. I’ve only recently discovered Fiona Kidman and could not put this book down as it swept me through the (any my) New Zealand experience from the 1950s to the 2000s. Another strong narrative, beautifully told.
• ‘This Mortal Boy’ by Fiona Kidman. A novel based on fact; the story behind one of the last executions in New Zealand’s history. A strong evocation of the underworld in 1950s Auckland.
• ‘The Mars Room’ by Rachel Kushner. A strong and humane narrative of the horrors of the American justice system, told vividly by a woman beginning two consecutive life sentences in the harshest of prisons. Sounds unlikely, but very readable.
• ‘The Great Believers’ by Rebecca Makkai. I could not put this prize-winning American novel down. A novel of the AIDS-generation; an untangling of relationships as its main characters move between Chicago and Paris from 1985 to current times.
• ‘Warlight’ by Michael Ondaatje. I never loved ‘The English Patient’ (by Ondaatje) like everyone else did, but I loved this tale of a young boy and his sister recalling how they moved mysteriously through the twilight world of London at the end of WW2 and what it meant to them.
• ‘The Essex Serpent’ by Sarah Perry. Yet more magical realism. Almost Dickensian in its breadth and style, this novel set in Victorian times looks at the relationship between a keen amateur naturalist and her clergyman friend as they seek out the truth behind the mythical Essex Serpent.
• ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’ by Arundhati Roy. I hadn’t loved ‘The God of Small Things’ (also by Roy) like so many others did, but I was mesmerised by this saga of diverse Indian characters as they move between Delhi and Kashmir. A really good yarn, but with depth.
• ’10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World’ by Elif Shafak. I was lucky enough to spend a week in Istanbul at this beginning of this year, and this short novel evoked it beautifully. Its main character is a prostitute recalling the key points and characters of her life as her brain shuts down soon after the point of a rather brutal death – hence 10 minutes and 38 seconds. Sounds depressing but it’s uplifting.
• ‘Spring’ by Ali Smith. Part of Smith’s quartet of the seasons (‘Summer’ is still to come) that I have been reading since 2016. This, in my opinion, is the best – a tale of hope as diverse English characters find ways forward in Brexit times. Quite poetic but very accessible.
• ‘All That Man Is’ by David Szalay. This set of short stories – all with male protagonists and linked only through the first and last stories – bowled me over as I gathered a collective picture of ‘all that man is’. I’ve recommended this to many male friends, both straight and gay.
• ‘Do Not Say We Have Nothing’ by Madeleine Thien. This novel opened my eyes to the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s in China and its impact on the general population, but particularly (in this novel) on those of an artistic bent. A young woman of Chinese heritage and living in Toronto discovers her background and what made her the person that she is.
• ‘The Underground Railroad’ by Colson Whitehead. A gripping and beautifully told American novel of a young American female slave making a desperate bid for freedom via the underground railroad. Again, this novel opened up to me a world that I knew little about.
• ‘Fran Kiss Stein’ by Jeanette Winterson. I hadn’t read Winterson for years, but loved this updating of the Frankenstein story as it moved between time zones (1816 and the future) and depicted hysterically but scarily what the future might look like.

Some of my friends – and many critics – have also raved about ‘The Porpoise’ by Mark Haddon. Its retelling of the Pericles story over several time zones did not engage me, though I admired its use of language.

I’ve also recently found time to read several novels that I’ve been intending to read for several years:

• ‘Life After Life’ and ‘A God in Ruins’ by Kate Atkinson. I love anything by Kate Atkinson and these WW1 tales didn’t disappoint. Like delicate jigsaw puzzles that you had to put together.
• ‘The Stranger’s Child’ by Alan Hollinghurst. I also love anything by Hollinghurst (especially ‘The Swimming Pool Library’ and ‘The Line of Beauty’ and their evocations of gay Britain during the 20th century) and had put off reading this novel because of its size. This was silly. This is a beautiful and very readable novel set across the 20th century bringing all of Hollinghurst’s main themes together.
• ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ by Hillary Mantell. Liked them – found the history interesting – but didn’t love them like some of my friends did.
• ‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt. This strong narrative of a boy who is suddenly orphaned in New York hooked me from the beginning. A real page-turner. Wonder what the film will be like? I must read ‘The Secret History’ now.

Current Books

My current reading is driven by the publication of the 2019 Man Booker shortlist.

I’ve most recently read ‘Ducks, Newburyport’ by Lucy Ellman. This mammoth book is an interior monologue by a middle-aged American woman as she ponders her family, her relationship and the world around her. In particular, she tries to make sense of the new Trumpian America that has emerged around her. I thought this was going to be a struggle – it is 1002 pages long and is written as one sentence with a capital on page 1 and a full stop on page 1002 – and I almost gave up on it several times. But once I ‘got into’ the main character’s mind, I found that I wanted to know even more about her. Not everyone’s taste, but I note with interest that it is the bookies’ favourite for this year’s Man Booker prize.

I’m currently reading ‘An Orchestra of Minorities’ by Chigozie Obioma. I love books that take me into foreign cultures and this novel certainly does. It begins in Nigeria (a country I know nothing about) and is the tale of an unsuspecting young chicken farmer who falls in love, is badly scammed by someone he believes is a friend and goes on a subsequent downward spiral. Hints of light and hope coming through though. The narrator is actually the man’s spirit but his tale is fully accessible. Really liking it so far.

Can’t wait to read ‘The Testament’ by Margaret Atwood next. Having read and loved ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ 30+ years ago, can’t wait to see where this sequel goes.

Theatre Recently Attended

My most recent visits to the theatre have been in Auckland –

• ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ (by John Guare; about a wealthy Manhattan couple duped by a young Afro-American guy pretending to be Sidney Poitier’s son),
• ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’ (by Tom Stoppard; an existentialist comedy set in the real world of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’), and
• ‘Mr Red Light’ (by Carl Bland; a very clever laugh-aloud depiction of a robbery that goes wrong).

All productions (the first two from the Auckland Theatre Company and the other from Stampede Productions) were beautifully presented with excellent performances. The stand-out for me was Jennifer Ward-Lealand in ‘Six Degrees of Separation’.

Movies Recently Seen

During the International Film Festival (July 2019 in Auckland) I attended seven screenings. Of the films I saw, I’m recommending four to my friends as ‘must sees’ should they return. They are:

• La Belle Epoque (a time travelling but very smart French film);
• Les Miserables (nothing to do with Victor Hugo or the musical – instead a knife-edge police drama in contemporary Paris);
• Mr Jones (a British-Russian co-production – Mr Jones was the first journalist to bring the world’s attention to the horrors of Russian rural life under Stalin);
• Peterloo (a documentary style depiction of the massacre of working folk as they protested peacefully for democracy in the Midlands in the early 1800s).

Since the Film Festival, the standout film for me has been Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This movie, linking the lives of “has-been” movie folk with the Charles Manson murders in 1969, both stunned and excited me. A great screenplay going in directions that I would never have expected; beautifully shot with amazing colours; a music score that took me right back to the late 1960s. All that I would’ve expected of Tarantino. And furthermore, spectacularly good performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.