ROGER HALL IS PUZZLED
MUCK (A Memoir) Craig Sherborne
I find this a strange publication altogether.
Why is VUP publishing it instead Black in Australia who published Hoi Polloi the memoir which preceded this?
VUP has put boldly on the front “Muck is a masterpiece”. But it’s said by someone (Raimond Gaita) whose name that means nothing to NZ readers. Why would you do that? Was the whole thing designed in Australia and simply passed over to VUP?
I found it a strange read, too. Set in the sixties, Sherborne’s family lead a dual existence (milking cows in New Zealand and racing horses in Australia) which may well all be true, but it doesn’t read that way, there isn’t enough detail explaining how this has come about.
Irritating to me was his constant referring to his parents as The Duke and Feet
There are many sections of superb writing (clearly the man knows all about milking cows—indeed, a cow should have been on the cover instead of a race horse), and there is a brilliant agonizing surprise visit to neighbours during which the gift bottle of champagne is not consumed… but for me the whole was not the sum of its parts.
I don’t want to put people off reading this (the man can surely write) and I look forward to other reviews or comments to hear what others think… I was just puzzled.
RH
MUCK (A Memoir) Craig Sherborne
I find this a strange publication altogether.
Why is VUP publishing it instead Black in Australia who published Hoi Polloi the memoir which preceded this?
VUP has put boldly on the front “Muck is a masterpiece”. But it’s said by someone (Raimond Gaita) whose name that means nothing to NZ readers. Why would you do that? Was the whole thing designed in Australia and simply passed over to VUP?
I found it a strange read, too. Set in the sixties, Sherborne’s family lead a dual existence (milking cows in New Zealand and racing horses in Australia) which may well all be true, but it doesn’t read that way, there isn’t enough detail explaining how this has come about.
Irritating to me was his constant referring to his parents as The Duke and Feet
There are many sections of superb writing (clearly the man knows all about milking cows—indeed, a cow should have been on the cover instead of a race horse), and there is a brilliant agonizing surprise visit to neighbours during which the gift bottle of champagne is not consumed… but for me the whole was not the sum of its parts.
I don’t want to put people off reading this (the man can surely write) and I look forward to other reviews or comments to hear what others think… I was just puzzled.
RH
4 comments:
Raymond Gaita is actually very well known in New Zealand. He has even been a guest at Writers and Readers Week. If he says something's a masterpiece we ought to pay attention.
Very well known by whom?
I agree with Roger's comment about Gaita: I am a fervent reader, have a reasonable knowledge of Australian writing (including scanning the review sections of the major Aus newspapers) and have been to many Readers & Writers Weeks. I've never heard of him.
I haven't read Muck but I have read Hoi Polloi, Sherborne's first book about his family. Set in a thinly disguised Hastings and in Sydney in the 60s and early 70s I found it a marvellous read. There are some wonderful vignettes especially those concerning his social climbing mother and his father who really just goes with the flow. Highly recommended. MB
Can I make a couple of comments as the publisher? We're publishing Muck in NZ (Black Inc are doing it in Oz) because I really liked Hoi Polloi and thought it a shame that such a pungently NZ book didn't have a higher profile here. Muck's just as good, and I hope that VUP can bring it to the attention of more readers, who I'm sure will love it if they read it. As for Raimond Gaita: I know many people who read and were stongly affected by his memoir Romulus My Father, and I reckon many more will read it after seeing the new film starring Eric Bana.
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