The Free-Range Bookclub
Bookclubbers without boundaries in Nelson, New Zealand
Death In Her Hands – Otessa Moshfegh
READ FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Rachel
An investigation of an elderly woman’s mental wanderings after finding a note referring to a murder. Vesta Gul is an expected Moshfegh character: a female loner with convoluted, dangerous thoughts. She is 72, living alone in the woods after the death of her husband, with only her dog Charlie for company.
After discovering a note in the woods that reads ‘Her name was Magda. No body will ever know who killed her. It wasn’t me. Here is her dead body’, Vesta starts a crusade to discover the truth about Magda. However, her over imagination gets away with her to the point it is difficult to work out what is real and what is imagined.
But this is fiction, so everything is imagined, and Magda is as much a character as Vesta. As such, it becomes a kind of post-modern scrutiny of the processes of fiction writing, with a power play of narrative authority between Otessa Moshfegh writing Vesta Gul, and Vesta Gul writing Magda.
Brutes, those cops were, talking about me that way. Didn’t they know I’d been the wife of a scientist? Didn’t they know I’d worn the most elegant silk blend dresses, gone to dinners at the university? The wife of a state senator had complimented me on my hairdo. They’d printed my picture in the paper a few times. I’d sung in a chorus at college. I’d studied Japanese calligraphy. I once saved a kitten that had crawled up into the wheel well of an old man’s car. And what were those cops good for? Pulling people over for speeding?
⫸ “A fabulous study of loneliness and of the impact of living with an oppressor on the psyche. Vesta slowly reveals the details of her suffocating marriage at the same time as she imagines the life of the unknown Magda. The two are clearly linked. Her obsession with the murder allows Vesta the same freedoms and clarity as she has given her imagined Magda and so her unreliability deepens. Death In Her Hands is a dark, mysterious novel which I found compelling as a character study on madness. I could not predict the outcome and had to invest time and effort into working out what was real and what was imagined. I really enjoyed it.” – Rachel
⫸ “Reading this book over a relatively short period of time I almost felt like I was experiencing the same uncertainty and confusion as the main character Vesta. As we moved into her spiralling thoughts I felt increasingly uncomfortable – I was less concerned with ‘solving the mystery’ and more worried for her wellbeing. Overall it was a very compelling read. Side note – this is the second fictional dog called Charlie I have come across where things have not gone well for the owner (I’m looking at you A Star is Born).” – Suzy
⫸ “The protagonist started off as someone who seemed sane and quite interesting, though somewhat neurotic, and her gradual slide downhill into incoherence was convincingly portrayed. It was often difficult to interpret what was real and what wasn’t and this added to the intrigue. Revelations about Vesta’s marriage became darker and darker as we moved through the book. It was almost as if she was slowly choosing to open up to the reader, revealing more intimate details as the story unfolded. The novel had a great ending that was sad but strangely satisfying.” – Jo
⫸ “I appreciated the concept of the novel which is essentially a story within a story and found that quite interesting. The second half of the story became more thrilling as Vesta’s mental health began to decline and her confused state led us into the sometimes dark, sometimes pitiful meanderings of her mind. A clever and well written book but to be honest it wasn’t really for me.” – Jodie
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Published 2020
Penguin Press
259 pages
Summerwater – Sarah Moss
READ FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Jo
Apt for a loch setting, there is dark and mysterious element at work in Summerwater. Its title is a reference to “The Ballad of Semerwater” by the poet William Watson. This was based on a legend in which the waters of a lake rise up and drown a village, saving only the household who have offered a stranger from a distant land food and drink.
On the shore of Moss’ loch are several holiday cabins, encased in a typical Scottish deluge of rain. Their inhabitants’ tales of rainy day gloom, boredom activities and wild imaginings are told, and from the outset it’s clear tragedy will befall one of them by day’s end, but who? Everyone has a secret, no one has mobile phone coverage, and there are many personalities and natural dangers at play.
Under the hedges, in the hollows of small trees, birds droop and wilt, grounded, waiting. Small creatures in their burrows nose the air and stay hungry. There will be deaths by morning.
⫸ “The beauty of Summerwater lay in its skilful representation of the myriad different characters. It was if different authors were writing about each of the characters. My attention was captured from the outset of the book; I felt the tension immediately. Throughout the pages there were so many potential tragic scenarios and the skilful prose kept me guessing until the end. The conclusion was fairly swift, and I thought that it was a bit of a shame to not have the characters’ post-tragedy perspectives.” – Jo
⫸ “Summerwater was a slow paced read but waiting for something terrible happen helped keep me engaged. Moss did a great job conjuring up images of each family. It felt real and natural. The ending was tragic and completed the novel with the punch it needed” – Jodie
⫸ “Moss’ ability to build atmosphere and conjure up the many iterations of family life was of particular note in Summerwater. The pace matched the drum of the constant rain and the sense of doom grew page by page. Despite intently trying to guess the tragedy, I did not pick how things would end up. Summerwater was a quick but intense read and I really enjoyed it. ” – Rachel
⫸ “Summerwater was such an evocative read and conjured up many memories of family holidays – mainly the not-so-fun parts that inevitably occur when the weather plays up or the full-on time spent together becomes a little too much. Although we only got small glimpses into the characters’ lives I was somehow left with the feeling of knowing them all so well. The wee twist that was brought about by Jo’s research definitely put a more sinister spin on the novel, and left me thinking about it for weeks after.” – Suzy
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Published 2020
Pan MacMillan/Picador
208 pages
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
READ FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Jodie.
Esther Greenwood’s story is remarkably similar to Sylvia Plath’s own life and struggles and is considered autobiographical fiction, despite being written under a pseudonym.
Esther is an editor with mental illness who soon succumbs to being institutionally committed, fighting off her suicidal tendencies. Despite its grim plot, the book is considered a telling of truth and one which has helped women find acceptance in themselves and each other.
The Bell Jar was published 30 years ago when such acknowledgement of mental illness was not forthcoming. Perhaps this makes Plath a leader in the frank discussion of this topic. Certainly the content of her book only becomes more and more relevant as times goes on.
Because wherever I sat—on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok—I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.
⫸ “Weeks after reading The Bell Jar I was still affected by it, and found myself thinking about Esther like she was someone I knew. It’s a very power novel – a heartbreaking insight to the suffering that inflicts people with depression. Sadly the novel is semi autobiographical, and I was haunted throughout the novel knowing that Sylvia herself battled with the same struggles.” –Jodie
⫸ “The Bell Jar is less shocking the second time around but there is one image that has stayed with me, and that was the protagonist squashed into a space under the floor of the house after taking loads of pills. It is utterly horrible. I think Sylvia has described or explained depression so convincingly and in a captivating way that this dark story is not hard to read but, surprisingly, a joy. How on earth did she make such a depressing story not depressing? The dark humour was clever, perhaps that helped.” – Jo
⫸ “This was my second read of The Bell Jar and my vague recollection of it being mostly a bit of black humour akin to Catcher in the Rye turned out to be very wrong. While there were the occasional bleakly funny moments it was the brutal account of Esther’s descent into mental illness that was central to the book and made for a distressing read. Knowing the author’s history made it even harder to bear. I often think of Esther’s beautiful words towards the end of the book: “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am”. I will never not feel sad about Sylvia Plath and The Bell Jar.” – Suzy
⫸ “Investing one’s time into 300 pages of a break down is not usually considered fun. However, despite the misery and sadness of The Bell Jar there is an abject realism to the story that makes it not only accepting but strangely enjoyable. Esther is such a real character that her loves and lives and thoughts formed in my mind like a truth and I felt her pains, her joys and every tiny step she took both forward and backward in her mental health journey. There are very few authors who can write so succinctly yet so convincingly in a way that breaks your heart. Well mine anyway. Stunningly beautiful.” – Rachel
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Published in 1953
Heinemann
294 pages
2021 NZ Book Awards
Suzy: “All four books seemed completely deserving of their place on the shortlist. While I would have thought the judges may have leaned more towards Nothing to See I am not mad at all about Bug Week winning. There are flashes from the various Bug Week stories that still sit with me and resonate – I think about that damn talking toroa a lot more than I would like to admit. Please stop haunting me talking toroa!
‘With Remote Sympathy set outside NZ it felt quite separate from the other books, but this was neither a good or bad thing – it just felt ‘different’. I don’t think I will ever be able to face finishing Sprigs, but I deeply appreciate Brannavan Gnanalingam diving so sensitively into such a distressing topic.
“I regret not being able to finish these books before the actual winner was announced, hopefully 2022 will be a more settled year!”
Rachel: “The commonality I found in the four shortlisters this year was how the voices of those we might not usually hear from formed a powerful discussion point. All these books went to extra lengths to ensure their characters, whether good, bad or misunderstood were human, with all their personality traits out in the open. As the reader I connected with them all, for better or worse, because they were so fully developed. I heard point of views I had not before. I also felt ownership over how I could feel about them, even the truely terrible ones, rather than pushed into an emotional corner. To me, this gift of understanding was the best feature of this lineup.
“I did enjoy all the titles for their brave storylines, though to varying degrees and that doesn’t mean I’d recommend them all. Full disclosure, we are a little late this year and I am writing this knowing who the winner is. And I can see why it won. Though not a short story fan myself, Bug Week was probably one of the best short story collections I’ve read. However, the book that stood out most to me was Remote Sympathy. I was captured by every character’s tale and enjoyed just how uncomfortably comfortable I was, lost in the plot.” – Rachel
Remote Sympathy – Catherine Chidgey
Read for NZ Book Awards
An inmate at Buchenwald concentration camp aids the commandant who is trying to save his wife’s life
⫸ “Remote Sympathy tells the stories of several people and families who all have one thing in common: the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany.
“At the midst of the story are a commandant, placed in charge of the problematic camp, and his young, sick wife whom he’s trying to save; and a prisoner searching for information on his family, who invented a strange medical invention which may just save the commandant’s wife.
“The story is told in alternating dialogues from these characters, Doktor Weber, Herr Hahn, Frau Hahn, who tell their stories, their dreams, their hopes, their personal trials and tribulations living in a most unique situation, where captor and prisoner are secretly working in partnership. A fourth narrative is provided by the “citizens of Weimar” a community which stood by while men were starved and tortured all around them; a community wiling to be silent bystanders.
“The camp was a real place and Chidgey has combined a good portion of fact alongside the fiction. Several real Germans are detailed, along with their crimes and punishments, and some of Herr Hahn’s contributions are comments made by the real Buchenwald commandant when interrogated by the Americans in 1954. This foundation of truth builds a solid base to help humanise the fictional characters and their stories.
“The fact that Chidgey speaks German, has spent a lot of time living in Berlin, and was a recipient of a Berlin writing fellowship are probably why she writes with such authority about this era.”
⫸ “At the onset of reading this book, I looked at the 510 pages and wondered how this war story would be different to the many others that have been recorded over time. But, from the opening pages Catherine Chidgey proved there are so many more stories to be told. I was hooked immediately. Lenard Weber is likeable and I immediately felt connected to his story and his family.
“What’s more I also felt connected to Dietrich Hahn and his family. He was a despicable person who oversaw and instigated Holocaust crimes we are all familiar with. It’s disturbing and revolting and like the residents of Weimar it is sometimes easier to look away. But what stuck with me just as much was the image of Dietrich carving wooden animals for his doting son and desperately trying to save his dying wife whom he loved so much. I wouldn’t say I liked him, but these affections made him more of a complete person, rather than just the villain. I enjoy this conflicting feeling towards a character. It indicates to me an incredibly talented author.” – Rachel
⫸ “Remote Sympathy felt to me like one of the most perfectly written novels I have read in a long time. I wonder whether it was the circular nature of the storyline that felt so satisfying?
“The content was at times completely horrific and it was interesting to get perspectives from characters on both sides. Humanising a leader of a concentration camp is certainly a skill and Catherine Chidgey does this so well, even though of course we are left in no doubt that the man in question is a monster.
“The meticulous research that is referred to in the Author’s Note never felt laboured while reading Remote Sympathy and the blend of fact and fiction was seamless.” – Suzy
——
Published 2020
VUP
522 pages
Bug Week And Other Stories – Airini Beautrais
Read for NZ Book Awards
From 1960s Wellington to post-Communist Germany, Bug Week is a collection of short stories that traverses the weird, the wry and the grotesque fragments of people’s lives.
There are bug collectors, necrophiliacs, an albatross at an open mic night, and body parts washed up on a river bank. The social settings and voices are never the same, rather the stories showcase a varied and authentic collection of characters, relaying unexpected stories of human relationships. Despite the focus on the cynical and perverse, there is an element of comedy amongst the tragedy.
⫸ “I have some kind of weird resistance to short stories in general – maybe too much analysis in sixth form at school rather than reading for pleasure? So I started Bug Week with a bit of trepidation. I wasn’t just pleasantly surprised, but genuinely enjoyed these beautifully written stories.
“Often a gentle tone would lead into an unexpectedly grim event however as a reader I continued to be drawn into a story and lulled into a rhythm only for a turn of events to throw things off balance. This was never jarring in a way that made for an unpleasant reading experience, it was done perfectly.
“I tried to guess which of my colleagues would play the starring roles of the eponymous Bug Week and for that I can only apologise to them. I also do need to mention the final story which probably goes down as The Worst Short Story I Have Ever Read.” – Suzy
⫸ “Bug Week is a good example of why I don’t often read short stories. Just as I fall in love with the story and become emotionally invested in the characters, it is over. I get new book apprehension and end-of-book despair repeatedly and the mid-story joy doesn’t long last enough. I know this is a bit of a backhanded compliment, in that I enjoyed the book so much it annoyed me there wasn’t more to enjoy, but this is my usual reaction to excellent short story collections. I will add that this is one of my favourite ever short story collections and I would strongly recommend it.
“I felt connected to each and every story in this collection; they were engaging, connected and piqued my interest instantly. My favourite story was The Baddest Toroa In Town in which an albatross takes the stage at open-mic night, interrupts a poetry recital by a fisherman and urges the crowd to stop plundering the oceans. While funny and slightly absurd it makes the point that art is often a more effective medium for societal and political messaging than formal appeals to the higher ups.
“Beautrais has a knack for conveying a maximum amount of content in a minimal amount of words and has an appealing wry humour. The characters are structured in identifiable Kiwi ways, their social quirks and their chill, no-nonsense tone. And the New Zealand settings anchor the narratives geographically and historically. Even the German-set stories gave me a NZ Lit vibe in that they reminded me of Katherine Mansfield’s In A German Pension, in which she had a satirical focus on the grotesque behaviours of ordinary people.” – Rachel
——
Published 2020
VUP
184 pages
Sprigs – Brannavan Gnanalingam
Read for NZ Book Awards
A brutal story of rugby, rape and toxic masculinity.
⫸ “After a Wellington School’s revered rugby final, a 15-year-old year is gang raped at the after party. We are then made privvy to the thoughts, actions and emotions of all involved. From the victims, to the perpetrators, the families, friends and even the school leaders, unsure how to deal with the aftermath. And that is the real point of the novel, understanding how far the damage of such a crime extends. Obviously the victim is deeply harmed but such a display of hurt and hate damages all of the community.
“The book opens with a trigger warning, and though the defilement is not detailed as it happens, we are fed disturbing snippets of memory and large chunks of reaction and emotion in the remainder of the pages – a reminder of the flashbacks and stabs of emotion which are with victims forever.
⫸ “There were two things that put me off Sprigs before I even started reading: a ‘content will disturb’ warning, and a three-page character list. Then there was a 70-page rugby game …
“However, in the end I did enjoy the book more than I thought I would. It was horrible, revolting and downright sad, but I appreciated how the author took us into the minds of everyone involved. Not only the victim but the rapists, who all reacted in very different ways after the event, from remorse to indifference.
“I hadn’t thought (hadn’t want to think) about what goes through a rapist’s mind afterwards, but I imagine this is a realistic portrayal. That ability to produce a study of their minds was ultimately what impressed me. It is a grim book, with a heavy storyline, but there is life too, and a little bit of hope. Though I can’t think of many people I would recommend this to.” – Rachel
⫸ “I kind of scoffed at the content warning at the start of Sprigs – I have read so many books where so many horrible things happen and therefore thought I was kind of immune to whatever storyline might be presented to me.
“I think Sprigs is one of the very few books I have not been able to finish due to the upsetting content. Over the years I’ve become very adept at skim reading or skipping sections that linger on violence. It was impossible to do this with Sprigs as assault isn’t just part of a storyline, it is the storyline.
“The scene in the hospital with the victim and her mother made me feel physically ill – the sadness, the deflection, the shame, the guilt, the how-do-I-make-this-go-away-forever. It indicated the beginning of a horrendous journey that as a reader I did not want to be a part of.
“I felt at that stage I couldn’t accept any storyline outcome that didn’t involve justice at the least and extreme vengeance at most and I did not get the sense from Sprigs that this was going to happen – it was this accurate reflection of reality by the author that was perhaps hardest to bear.” – Suzy
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Published 2020
VUP
438 pages
Nothing To See – Pip Adam
Read for NZ Book Awards
The lives of friends Peggy and Greta are detailed in three different decades in this book. In 1994 they are aged 24 and breaking free of alcohol and a traumatic past; in 2006 they have jobs and are coping well; in 2018 Margaret is working in surveillance technology and struggling with mental illness.
“It sounds banal but the book is about more than the sum of their every day activities. It showcases how trauma can lead people to live in a transitional state with a fragmented sense of time, space and self; people who, just by existing, challenge the norms of society.
“Without adding a spoiler alert, the characters in this book certainly do have complexities that challenge society norms and your own understanding of personality and identity. For the characters, self-acceptance is no easy feat, but they persevere for if they do not accept their own intricacies, no one will. And ultimately, understanding their intricacies is the beauty of the story.”
⫸ “Nothing To See had me interested and engaged right from the start. A relatively straightforward storyline soon gave way to the sense that something was definitely not right, but what that was exactly …hmmm.
“I was somehow in the position throughout the novel of discomfort with the main characters. I just wanted everything to be normal. Was that the author’s writing or was it more an indictment on me and my own lack of tolerance? It couldn’t have been empathy because the characters were clearly happier when in their state of being ‘different’.
“There was a bit of confusion for me at the end but the twists were definitely nowhere near The New Animals. A beautiful read and one I would definitely recommend.” – Suzy
⫸ “I’m torn on the success of Nothing To See. Part of me admires it for its unique take on character constructs, for it certainly was unique and offered an insight into the minds of people who identify differently to what we expect. This storyline is complete and interesting and in my mind was story enough.
“However I expected the “surveillance capitalism” slug that accompanied the book’s marketing to play a bigger part in the story. I was constantly analysing the plot to see how this fits in. There’s mention of surveillance technology in the 2018 chapters, but to be honest I didn’t think this made it a major theme of the book, unless how we perceive Peggy and Greta is a metaphor for this.
“If I had accepted the book as is and didn’t look for extra meaning I think I would have enjoyed it more. But all in all, it is very cleverly written and intelligent, and it represents the New Zealand fiction genre with mana.” – Rachel
——–
Published 2020
VUP
380 pages
Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
Chosen by Becks
Political satirist George Orwell’s nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one man’s attempt to find individuality..
⫸ “Winston Smith is both an anti-hero and an everyday man who re-writes history for a living. He lives in Oceania in an apartment where the all-seeing leader, Big Brother, can observe his every day activities via a telly screen. There are no freedoms, no liberties, not even to say how one truly feels for fear of being vaporised by the thought police.
Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
“This is Nineteen Eighty Four. Set in 1984. Written in 1947 when such things as telly screens and Speak Writes did not exist, though the atrocities of Hitler and Stalin were firmly in Orwell’s mind.
“It is therefore no surprise that freedom and enslavement are at the heart of the story. Via Winston’s life, Orwell warns us what can eventuate if we allow absolute power to reign again; if we allow our rights to freedom and free speech to be eroded. He builds real places, real characters, real predicaments and places them in a dystopian reality where Government has total control over everyone’s day-to-day thoughts, actions and relationships. It is hard not to transport yourself and feel the desperation and the urge to rebel that Winston does.
⫸ “I was a Nineteen Eighty Four virgin before this bookclub and as I put something into words I realise the book has stirred up many emotions in me. I mean, wow what a truly scary book! I found it fascinating especially with my first read being at a time when its seems so relevant.
“I was left feeling acutely saddened by the idea that an entire population could so easily be brainwashed. This made me look at our reality in a whole new light. Is this happening to us in today’s world? Is the coverage of world events we are fed through our media subjective? What of the information we are bombarded with via social media? Is this not a form of brainwashing and censorship? This book has raised many questions in me.
“I can see how Nineteen Eighty Four has been an influential novel not only for the dystopian novels that followed it, but for us all.” – Jodie
⫸ “I loved reading Nineteen Eighty Four again, but there was a sense of disappointment attached this time – because I knew I could never feel the same shocked delight I experienced on my first reading.
“Although I knew the story, and knew what was coming, and there was no shock value, what I still did marvel at was Orwell’s incredible ability to invent such a unique and enthralling world that felt so close to home. Winston is a likeable character whom I felt I understood, and that is important to me when reading fiction. His situation is unbearable and impossible to overcome and I felt this intensely.
“Without spoiling anything, this reading also reminded me how perfect the ending is.” – Jo
⫸ “After becoming spellbound with Nineteen Eighty Four as a teenager, I have grown up considering how small aspects of the story were evident in real life. In current times, where liberties have been tightened due to global events, I feel as though Nineteen Eighty Four is more relevant than ever. And that is scary.
“But Orwell is not prophetic, rather he wrote a timeless novel about leaders at their worst and human beings at their weakest, something that is completely relatable when studying the world history of events. A clever man who has written a warning in fiction, and something that can, literally, change the world.” – Rachel
——–
Published 1947
Secker & Walburg
298 pages
Victory Park – Rachel Kerr
READ FOR NZ BOOK AWARDS
Kara is a young widow, living in the Victory Park council flats with her young son Jayden. She makes a living by minding other people’s tamariki in her home but struggles to get by financially and emotionally.
Her new neighbour, Bridget, interests her. She is the wife of a disgraced Ponzi scheme fraudster and is lying low, albeit while maintaining her luxury lifestyle. In need of friends, Bridget manages to draw Kara into her complex, privileged and exploitative life. The characters are convincing and well drawn. I had a lot of empathy for Kara and could understand why she was lured into Bridget’s world, why she wanted to help Bridget be a better person and how she got trapped by her own kindness.
Kara took a few deep breaths, as if calming herself down would help Bridget, then she hustled the kids on. What kind of comfort could she offer when she had no idea what was happening? Bridget could have warned her she was in the middle of a meltdown.
The book is very Kiwi, with recognisable locations, situations and character behaviours. It raises important topics such as how women are (or are not) valued, and highlights the plights of low-paid, single working parents. It could have been easy for the story to be moralistic or the characters to be caricatures but it felt authentic and I was invested in their outcomes. – Rachel
Published 2020
Mākaro Press
243 pages
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