Books
TRAVH DRAMA WILLIAM RHODE Paperback Raita tSiinon & Schuster 8‘10; 0...
A ‘.'.'ord of ~.'.’arn:ng 'f you are treading off on your gap yea" to I". Mt: tl‘ts is not a travel gutte. l-leawer tl‘a't Are You Experienced? and set in a sch /op"-"en :: ‘.'.':;r!:t' of poverty {t'ttl prosper t\.. Joshua. the ma 'l 'na" o‘ the pece. ll‘i)‘~.'()§5 fro'n fine streets u‘ De h: it: t'te paaces o‘ M..' Yoa in
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nun/\t DRAMA KIRSTY GUNN
Featherstone tl'aber S‘ltlflftu COO.
Scratch the surface of Kirsty Dunn's rural eyerytown. and discover a site of repressed emotions. desires and loneliness. lhe perspectwe shifts. chapter by chapter. hett'xeen characters; whose lives are touched over the course of one ‘.'./eeken(l by the spirit of a mysterious returning angel. l rancie. Among the protagonists are an lllll)()l(?'li minister and his lonely x'xtfe. a fanciful pubescent girl and a hotel proprietor.
(Ettnn ‘~.‘/l'il(}t3 in a lyrical. subjective ster to wtrch readers will quickly adjust though occasionally the central issues :>‘ the novel ‘itS lrancte alive or (lead? Has she returned to the (I()Y“.'lltlf‘.l't‘) i‘ l)(,‘"53()l‘. or in SMITH/z): get held up in reams of' superfluous desorption.
Yet. (‘tunn really gets inside the heads and under the skin of he" characters. retaii‘ing
l irtfRAnv MEMOIH FAY WELDON
Auto Da Fay tFlainingo $315.99) 0...
A major force in English letters since the 603, Fay Weldon recently claimed that she was happy for her novels to be read as historical documents, this most
opinionated of authors having so refined her controversial views and ideas over the years.
Weldon has also frequently asserted that the world needs fiction, however fantastic or unlikely, in order to render ‘real life’ more palatable. Significantly, Weldon’s first overtly autobiographical work, which deals with the 30 or so years leading up to the publication of her debut novel, reads like one of her notoriously over-the-top
works of fiction.
The memoir betrays aspects familiar from Weldon’s
novels - clipped, pithy sentences, exaggerated
description and wry humour - as well as the poetic symmetry, the beginning, middle and end of a novel,
which can be imposed on any piece of writing.
But it’s the particular, improbable craziness of Weldon’s early life that makes this work so compelling. Raised in a fatherless ‘homie’ family in New Zealand, Franklin ‘Fay’ Birkinshaw was brought up by her proud, fiercely independent mother, who led the family onto the
first boat bound for Britain after the war.
After university, Fay moved to London, became
You’ll fall for Fay
pregnant, spent several years on the breadline enduring crummy jobs and name-changes and married a sexless schoolteacher, before achieving success in the advertising industry and finally getting a career (writing) and a name (Weldon) with which she could be happy. Like a colourful novel, Auto 03 Fay will make readers fall for its heroine. (Allan Radcliffe)
close rein over the various strands of her story and creating a finely oosen/etl. striking
portrait of life in a close-
Kltlt community. (Allan Radcliffev
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98 THE LIST x -, Ma. r
ADVENTURE NOVEL ARTURO PEREZ- REVERTE
The Nautical Chart (Picador £715.99)
0...
NAUTICAL
Arturo Perez-Reverte is a former TV journalist whose novels. with their rich lust for old fashioned adventure. have become bestsellers on the continent. This. his fifth novel. delivers a gutful of salty brine along wrth plenty of Melvillian extrapolation and Conradian procrastination. two authors he clearly adores.
Coy is a land-stranded shortarse sea lag who's killing time in Barcelona after being exiled from the sea for letting his ship run aground. One day he wanders into an auction of naval objects and before he knows it he's einbrofled with a young lady called Tanger Soto. using an ancient nautical chart to find the wreck of the Dei
Gloria. a Jesuit ship sunk by corsairs in the 17th century. They are however not the only ones interested in the considerable treasures that lie beneath.
The scintillating yarn Often sits awkwardly with this author's delicate detailing of the very minutiae of old navigational techniques. but the two-pronged thrust of the plot and Coy's creeping vulnerability make this an exiting page turner. Also. Margaret Sayers Peden's translation from the Spanish is Superb. (Paul Dale)
ETIOUETTE GUIDE
KIM IZZO & CERI MARSH
The Fabulous Girl’s Guide To Decorum (Corgi $36.99) 000
What do you do when a gentleman holds the door open for you? How do behave when yOu can't stand the sight of your best friend's boyfriend? If your brow
is furrowing at the mere mention of these quandaries then Kim Izzo and Ceri Marsh's guidebook will come as a blessed relief.
Friendship. love. mobile phones: all the big issues are covered here and handled with humour. You get the feeling that this book was borne from years of Slightly squiffy conversations between friends about the Obnoxious guy who doesn't tip enOugh in the restaurant or the girl who only calls yOu when there isn't a man in her life.
If you're looking for a set of rules to live by. this is a much more attractive package than any organised religion. Lightweight on the Surface but wrth some genuine advice inside. it'll remind you that being nice isn't a flaw. (LOuisa Pearson)
ROMANTIC COMEDY INDIA KNIGHT Don't You Want Me? (Penguin £6.99) 0.
India Knight's second novel charts the efforts of single—mum Stella De La Croix as she tries to get herself laid. And that's pretty much it. lt certainly pulls the giggles: big, laugh out loud sessmns that actively enc0urage you to disregard the plot drivel in faVOur of the