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Archive for the “Uncategorized” CategoryOur 6-year-old just codified our household’s mealtime lore and pinned it to our message board, in scenes reminiscent of Luther nailing his Theses to the church door. See below for photo and transcript. Read the rest of this entry »
Brisbane, 20th September 2008
THE OTHER HAND by Chris Cleave
This novel, which explores the nature of family and friendship, identity, loss and hope, is one of those books that you discover with child-like glee and simply do not want to finish. The Other Hand is all at once completely engrossing, profoundly moving and thoroughly entertaining. The plot’s surprising twists and unfurling details are part of the joy of this second novel from Englishman Cleave whose debut work, Incendiary, impressed critics two years ago. So, without giving too much away, I will simply say that is the story of the relationship which develops between Little Bee, a brave teenage Nigerian girl newly released from a British immigration detention centre and Sarah O’Rourke, a somewhat lost magazine editor with a five year old son, Charlie, who refuses to change out of his beloved Batman suit. At a time when Sarah is dealing with a sudden, major life-challenge, Little Bee turns up on her doorstep, asking for help and, simultaneously offering a different sort of aid herself. The two women’s lives have been inextricably linked by a chance meeting and tragedy which neither can put behind them. Yet the key to their attainment of happiness, freedom and independence lies in the joint facing of both their past and their shared future. One major subtext of the story is a condemnation of the way the West handles (or mishandles) illegal immigrants from the Third World by locking them up, often for years, when no crime has been committed by them beyond being destitute and/or poorly educated and arriving at our borders without valid visas or documents. The relevance of Little Bee’s plight to our Australian context is clear and will resonate with the reader. You will laugh and cry through The Other Hand, whose characters, hopes and dreams will stay with you long after you have put the book down. Bravo Mr. Cleave! Scott Whitmont Lindfield Bookshop
Here’s why I think you should come to the events! First, because of Alain-Philippe Durand and Naomi Mandel, the faculty members who invited me to visit and whose work I think is special and unique in the study of modern writing. Their published work on Novels of the Contemporary Extreme is an exciting and provocative look at a new movement in literature which “forces the confrontation between irreconcilable differences, most notably the difference between reality and art”. This is a wild and wonderful space to be working in as a writer, and Alain-Philippe and Naomi through their in-depth work and their eclectic interests (in subjects as diverse as the Holocaust and hip-hop culture) are a great deal more than commentators on the new field; they are defining it and they are challenging and helping writers to explore its possibilities and push its boundaries. They are the kind of academics, in other words, with a pulse – and anything they’re running is going to be fun. This stuff isn’t only for students of English literature; it’s for everyone who enjoys thinking and talking about the loops and whorls of contemporary culture. Alain-Philippe and Naomi’s work has informed and influenced the way I write, and I feel very lucky to be asked by them to visit URI and contribute to what promises to be an enjoyable and highly charged week of discoveries. I also have a very high opinion of the students at URI, having participated in an intensive online forum with them last year. The level of honesty and the insights that were shared exceeded anything in my experience of public literary discussion, so I’m looking forward most of all to the series of interactive sessions that have been arranged for next week. I will be involved in four creative writing workshops and two classes where we will explore the outer reaches of our creative and analytical powers. I am a writer who believes that the writing is the first word and not the last word in a conversation, so I will show up with all my energy and I hope you will too. I will also be giving a public talk on the use of humor in changing widely-held opinions, and later in the week I will be reading from and discussing my forthcoming novel. I can promise that the reading from my new novel will be good. As to the public lecture, I can offer no such guarantee. I’m about halfway through drafting the lecture right now, and so far it’s looking totally unhinged. I suggest you show up to that event, if only for the spectacle of an Englishman potentially becoming spectacularly unstuck at the podium. There is a good URI press release that gives some of the timings of the week’s events. If you do decide to come along, I look forward to meeting and learning from you. In the meantime I want to send my sincere thanks to all of you who have worked so hard to put the week’s events together, and to all of you who are working right now to stage the week’s sessions. See you there! |
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