I confess I expected more from Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn, especially as it is - apparently - 'now a major motion picture'. Tinsel Town must have worked its magic to turn something so slight into something 'major'. Not that I have a problem with little really happening (a lot of life's like that after all!), but … Continue reading “Brooklyn”
Category: Uncategorized
“Them!”
There are 96 pages of 'poetry' in Harry Josephine Giles collection Them! - 37 of those pages are totally unreadable. Not poetry at all. Linguistic masturbation and gimmickry. A significant number of the other 59 pages are more or less prose, and 8 are small black-and-white photographs. One piece contains a title and six words; … Continue reading “Them!”
“Belief Systems”
Ekphrastic poetry needs, I believe, to have a link to its source material which is suitably strong and to some degree self-evident in order for it to work. The twelve poems sitting alongside images of Robert Rauschenberg's work which are at the heart of Tamar Yoseloff's Belief Systems for me just fail to hit the … Continue reading “Belief Systems”
Portal to a range of new content…
Some recent posts from my Substack site: "Writing until the light goes out" "Writing until the light goes out"
“The House of Bernarda Alba and Other Plays”
The thing that strikes me most about the three plays in this collection (even in translation) is how powerful they must be to witness performed live. Indeed, should I ever get the chance to see The House of Bernarda Alba I will be hard-pushed not to take it. I imagine that with an entirely female … Continue reading “The House of Bernarda Alba and Other Plays”
“Laughable Loves”
One of the remarkable things about the stories in Milan Kundera's Laughable Loves is how he can create such an array of despicable, shallow, self-centred characters! They're so easy to despise! Perhaps that's what makes the stories funny, but I can't help but take them literally / seriously - which probably makes the characters all … Continue reading “Laughable Loves”
“The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea”
I did something slightly unusual for me when reading Mark Haddon's The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea - I put it to one side for a while. The reason was that I hadn't made up my mind about it; I wasn't sure how good it was, or if … Continue reading “The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea”
“Days at the Morisaki Bookshop”
I think it not unreasonable to claim that Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a 'slight' book. Not in terms of size (though it isn't that large) but rather in terms of narrative and style. Not a huge amount happens it seems to me, and there is a lightness in the style which is presumably … Continue reading “Days at the Morisaki Bookshop”
“This Other Eden”
This Other Eden is certainly up there with Paul Harding's other novels, Enon and Tinkers. It's a bit of a slow-burner to begin with which, given the subject matter, is somehow fitting. Part social and historical narrative, part love story, it lays bare a slice of unsavoury history. We may associate eugenics with the Nazis, … Continue reading “This Other Eden”
Performing “Crash” again was great!
It was tremendous fun to perform "Crash - the last thirty minutes of a life" once more, this time at the inaugural Market Rasen 'WordFest' event on Saturday. It could end up being something I do regularly while I am able to... me performing 'Crash' at the Old Courthouse, Market Rasen, 6th July 2024 The … Continue reading Performing “Crash” again was great!
Ian Gouge - Writer 