Wow. I love the way Sebastian Barry writes, and in The Long Long Way - a story about Irish soldiers fighting in the First World War - he really puts us through the wringer. Some of the imagery (e.g. men in trenches walking over the bloody fragments and broken bones of fallen colleagues) is so … Continue reading “A Long Long Way”
Category: Reading
“That They May Face the Rising Sun”
Not very much happens in John McGahern's "That They May Face the Rising Sun" - but don't let that put you off! The novel paints a considered and in-depth picture of slow, rural Irish life which, even though the scale of it is quite narrow, still manages to touch on the universal. If I had … Continue reading “That They May Face the Rising Sun”
“The Tattoo Collector” & “no matter how it ends a bluebird’s song”
I include both these poetry collections in the same post not simply because I finished with both today, but because I couldn't finish reading them... I read Tim Tim Cheng's "The Tattoo Collector" about two months ago. Not being sure about it, I put it to one side and recently came back to it. Whilst … Continue reading “The Tattoo Collector” & “no matter how it ends a bluebird’s song”
“The Brueghel Moon”
A small confession. I had no real idea what was going on in Tamaz Chiladze's "The Brueghel Moon" - though I suspect this says more about me than the book! It was the first time (to the best of my knowledge) that I've read any Georgian fiction, and whether my confusion had anything to do … Continue reading “The Brueghel Moon”
“The Black Snow”
The language in Paul Lynch's "The Black Snow" possesses a kind of sustained lyricism which blends the poetic, the archaic, and the rural vocabulary of old Ireland. If you're not au fait with the language, occasionally you can get lost in it (in the sense of not being quite sure what is being said) and … Continue reading “The Black Snow”
“Ham on Rye”
I have just read Charles Bukowski's Ham on Rye in double-quick time. It's urgent, powerful, raw - and like Henry Chinaski himself, doesn't pull any punches. It's a book which also peels back layers on society, on belonging (and not belonging), on the treadmill of vacuous routine. Pointlessness is never very far away, and romance … Continue reading “Ham on Rye”
“The City and its Uncertain Walls”
Having read just about everything he's written, it's fair to say that I'm a huge fan of Haruki Murakami. On that basis, I started reading "The City and its Uncertain Walls" with a degree of relish. However, whilst in many respects "City" is typical Murakami, there are a couple of things that bother me about … Continue reading “The City and its Uncertain Walls”
“An Arbitrary Light Bulb”
There is a challenge in reading poetry which is intrinsically personal to the poet. Often, in order to get the most from a piece, you need to know the people concerned or the places described or the events which happened. Without this, striving for interpretation can feel a little like reading with one metaphorical hand … Continue reading “An Arbitrary Light Bulb”
“Constructing a Witch”
One of the many dangers in putting together a largely single-themed collection of poetry is that the poet may find themselves working with a restricted suite of words - this in addition to running the risk of 'sameness' or good poems/lines simply getting 'lost'. Painters do something similar of course (think Rothko or Picasso's 'periods'), … Continue reading “Constructing a Witch”
“Held”
Given Anne Michaels is also a poet, it is unsurprising to find there is something lyrical and musical about her prose. "Held" is filled with splendidly musical writing. Indeed, many of her phrases and sentences would not be out of place in a poem. This characteristic is undoubtedly one of the reasons I found "Held" … Continue reading “Held”
Ian Gouge - Writer 