If you were to ask me what I like best about writing prose then the answer is simple: making people. There is nothing quite like that feeling of giving life to a previously non-existent character, of forming them, building their history, giving them emotions, ambitions, plans. For each and every one of them the potential … Continue reading Why I love making people…
Category: Fiction
“Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead”
"By no means a conventional crime story" - according to the blurb on my copy of Olga Tokarczuk's "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead". Let's face it, a conventional crime story is the last thing you'd expect to emerge from the slightly surreal worlds of the Nobel Prize winning Tokarczuk. And in … Continue reading “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead”
“The Death of Francis Bacon”
If Max Porter's "The Death of Francis Bacon" is intended to represent the ravings of a dying man, then job done. Tick. The danger - from a reader's perspective, however - is that you're not entirely sure exactly what's going on. There is a balance to be struck, of course, a tightrope to be walked, … Continue reading “The Death of Francis Bacon”
Short-term, long-term, short-term; the Shifting Horizons of our lives
There is an immediacy about childhood. We are impatient, fickle; we want today's new thing, an ice cream, to go to the park. And we always want them now. For young children, tomorrow simply doesn't exist. Then things change. School does that to us. It introduces us to "school days", "weekends", "holidays"; eventually it becomes … Continue reading Short-term, long-term, short-term; the Shifting Horizons of our lives
“Summer”
The final instalment of Ali Smith's quartet, "Summer", is lorded on the front cover of my copy as 'a tour de force' - and for once the publishers are not wrong. In many ways "Summer" is an extraordinary achievement: stylistically inventive, politically astute and opinionated, accomplished in the depiction of character and relationships... Yes, it … Continue reading “Summer”
“Redhead by the Side of the Road”
It would be a little disingenuous for me to say that I've no idea why I chose to read Anne Tyler's "Redhead by the Side of the Road". I chose it because the front cover boasted Booker long-listing; the back cover made it sound interesting; and it was on the 'buy-one-get-one-half-price' table at Waterstones. There. … Continue reading “Redhead by the Side of the Road”
“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”
Ocean Vuong's novel, "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous", pulls few punches. The subject matter almost demands it does not: homosexuality, the Vietnam war, being a post-war Vietnamese resident in the US, old age, love and death. Not a cocktail of subjects which lends itself to kid gloves perhaps. And given that cocktail, there could be … Continue reading “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”
Home is (not) where the sales are…
With the exception of a couple of short stints in Europe and the Far East, I have lived in the UK all my life. This is where my - extended - family lives, and is home to the vast majority of my friends and ex-work colleagues. Two weeks ago I published my latest novel, On … Continue reading Home is (not) where the sales are…
Music: the barometer of your Happy Place?
If you're like me, there will be music you listen to which reflects your mood - particularly at the extremes. Right now The Cure's "Galore" is blasting out of my stereo, one of my 'go to' albums when I'm in a really good mood. Today the weather's great, I went for a run first thing, … Continue reading Music: the barometer of your Happy Place?
Is it acceptable to say ‘Thank You’?
Whether conventional or not, I'd just like to recognise those people who have bought my latest novel, "On Parliament Hill", in the last week. So, "Thank you". It means a lot to me. When you don't have some massive publishing behemoth behind you driving publicity, working with bookshops etc., your readers - inevitably in smaller … Continue reading Is it acceptable to say ‘Thank You’?
Ian Gouge - Writer 