MICROFICTION: by RACHEL TREZISE
books
BOOK OF THE MONTH
NW
Zadie Smith( Hamish Hamilton) Zadie Smith’ s latest offering – currently long-listed for the Women’ s Prize For Fiction – is a down-to-earth tale of urban life. The novel follows four Londoners( Leah, Natalie, Felix and Nathan) reflecting on growing up on a council estate and how their lives have transpired over the years. As each character receives a dedicated section within the novel, there is a sense of more to discover about each individual. Such is the strength of prose the author can be forgiven for the occasional lack of depth due to each character’ s dedicated section in the book. Recently announced on Granta magazine’ s list of the 20 most promising young British novelists under 40, Smith is definitely one to watch. On the whole an enriching novel that I found difficult to put down. RHIANON HOLLEY
THE SHINING GIRLS Lauren Beukes( Harper Collins) Part time travel fantasy, part serial killer novel, and part tale of retribution under impossible circumstances, The Shining Girls is a thriller which rewrites the rules. In 1931, a desperate killer is on the run in Chicago when he discovers a house that transcends the space-time continuum and allows him to visit any decade he chooses to meet and murder his‘ shining girls’, until he picks on the wrong victim who vows vengeance at any price. Not to be missed. MT
TEN THOUSAND SAINTS Eleanor Henderson( Quercus) Set in 1980s New York, we follow three teenagers trying to find their way through life after the sudden death of their friend Teddy. Lost and guilty, they turn to the punk music scene and adapt to a‘ straight-edge’ lifestyle of no drink, drugs or sex in the hopes of redeeming themselves, all feeling that they played a hand in Teddy’ s death. Henderson takes us back to a gritty time of sex, drugs and punk music, combining her flair for fiction with an intimate knowledge of the 80s music scene. GH
WHISPERS OF A REAPER Karla J. M. Brading( self-published) In Whispers Of A Reaper kids die far too easily, but it certainly doesn’ t stop them from continuing to be nasty to each other. Kyle finds this out when he runs into Tammi on the other side. She killed herself a while back after he rejected her and he’ s just been very unlucky on a motorcycle. Brading uses just the right language to make this grim fantasy a real page turner and, in the right light, it’ s kinda fun. BL |
ITALIAN OUTSIDERS STORIES Various Writes( MacLehose Press) This is an interesting mixture of four short stories written by individual Italian writers, one story written by a collective called Wu Ming, and an essay. Big international events create a myriad the microscopic loners and misfits waging their own quiet wars. The experience, though Italian in flavour, is not confined to Italy, various stories take the reader to the USA, to London and to Eritrea. Most memorable, though, is the essay on the virtues of isolation by Simona Vinci. BL |
INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE Maggie O’ Farrell( Tinder Press) Award-winning novelist Maggie O’ Farrell returns with an intriguing family drama. The oppressive nature of the heatwave replicates the situation. Robert has disappeared, leading his three grown-up children to return to the family home to support their mother Gretta. The Powerful narrative evokes emotion and warmth with descriptive prose setting each scene vividly in the imagination. Beautifully written and expertly crafted, O’ Farrell is a masterful storyteller and this is a novel I would highly recommend. RH |
PUNK + Sheila Rock( First Third) Right from the introductory pages of this lavish cloth-bound tome, photographer Sheila Rock and the punk pioneers she snapped and fraternised with are keen to point out their youthful amateurism and haphazard creation of a culture. Thirtysomething years on, said amateurism costs £ 50 to look at. Accordingly, most of the 199 photos herein are probably of most interest to someone coming at punk from a fashion perspective, as opposed to musical or political. Not really me then, to be honest, but this is still objectively great visually. NG |
MICROFICTION: by RACHEL TREZISE
BUZZ 44
MAMMY was doing her moustache again, the smell of the beeswax strong, steam curling off the pot. She was fierce obsessed with hair removal; it was the second time in a week. The counter at the front of the café had turned messy with her things, the gummy tubs of wax mixed up with the dusty sweet jars, the wooden spatulas sprouting from the cup meant for coffee stirrers.“ With a bit of luck you won’ t need to do this,” she said as she spread the golden solution over her top lip. She checked her reflection in the mirrored Coca-Cola sign hung on the tongue-and-groove, pressing a strip of gauze onto her mouth before the liquid hardened.“ See me, I’ m Sicilian. Covered in hair I don’ t want, like the Turks, the Greek. But you’ re Irish, Majella, and that’ s as Caucasian as it gets. It only takes two generations to assimilate. That’ s what your old Nonno told me when you were born.‘ You’ re Irish now, Bonfilia. An Irish bambina to prove it.’” She pointed the spatula at me.“ But you didn’ t turn me blonde now, did ye?” My Nonno was sitting at the back of the room, at the booth
nearest the window. He got up at four o’ clock every morning, dressed in his Y-fronts and an inside-out woollen cardigan, and went and sat there in the cafe. He’ d stay put until eight in the evening, eating malted biscuits and smelling of pee, the way that ninety-year-olds do. Sometimes he acted the maggot; shouting at people who weren’ t there, throwing his arms about in a rage. Mammy said he was reliving his days in the Italian Navy, fighting the Spanish Civil War. He didn’ t pay any attention to us because in his loo-la head we weren’ t born yet. We didn’ t pay much attention to him either, which is why we failed to notice he’ d suffered his second stroke a week ago. Migrants, immigrants, travellers, and holidaymakers feature in Dylan Thomas Prize-winner Rachel Trezise’ s second collection of short fiction, Cosmic Latte. Eleven dazzling stories of lives lived on either side of boundaries, and on the fringes of society, teem with unforgettable characters whose dreams, yearnings and regrets are at once unique and universal.