(Random NZ) 2013
Tara McClusky lives in a
leaky home with her father who has been struck down by repeated strokes. Her mother, who is a nurse on the night shift
at the local hospital, only exchanges the practicalities of life with her
daughter before rushing off to work.
Tara’s days are spent at school before heading to work as a nurse aide at
a retirement village, and finally returning home to care for her father. Day to day life is hard for Tara which is
exacerbated by the lack of love and affection in the family’s ramshackle
house. The one member of her family that
she did connect with, her sister Van, died several years ago.
The redeeming feature of Tara’s life is her artistic
talent and love of Vincent Van Gogh.
Tara spends her mornings at school painting her reinterpretations of Van
Gogh’s images for her scholarship exams.
She is nurtured by her art teacher who wants to see Tara utilise her
talent and go to university. Tara’s
appreciation of Van Gogh also connects her to a rest home resident, Professor
Max Stockhamer, who shares her passion for art.
Max came to New Zealand to escape Austria after the
Second World War, and Tara’s parents immigrated to escape the Troubles of
Ireland. The narrative shows how political
circumstances affect individuals and how they struggle to come to terms with
the past, and how this affects future generations. Max relates his life story to Tara and
explains how he has come to make peace with his past, and make a life in New
Zealand. While Max’s perspective offers
a positive way to move forward, Tara’s parents have not come to terms with
their past. Throughout the novel Tara comes to learn the truth about her sister,
and why her parents moved to New Zealand and ultimately understand their
feelings of bitterness.
The main concern of the novel is how to find the strength
to live when you cannot see a way out of the darkness. Art is one way in which Tara can interpret
and express her feelings, yet her artistic muse ended his own life (this fact is
debated later in the novel). Tara loves
not only Van Gogh’s art but his words.
The chapters are headed with excerpts from Van Gogh’s writing which
illustrate feelings that Tara relates to.
While Tara believes that Van Gogh speaks to her, Van, her sister, also
does. Tara often intuits what Van would
say in given situations. The conflation
of Van Gogh’s and her sister’s nickname Van suggests that the two people become
one person who struggles to find hope, and the crux of the novel is Tara
deciding whether to choose the same ending as her beloved Vans, or whether she
decides to listen to her own voice.
Hager’s writing is clear and has a strong pace. At the end of the novel she elicits sympathy
for all of her characters. She also
brings to the fore the concerns of teenagers who struggle to find their
identity when their parents can’t or won’t divulge the truth. Hager successfully gets inside Tara’s head
and the portrayal reminded me what it was like being a teenager and the
struggle for identity. The novel tackles
the issues of self harm and suicide with honesty and sensitivity. Hager illustrates that love, understanding,
and art are the ways to move forward.
About the reviewer:
Rebecca Styles is a Creative Writing PhD student at Massey
University. She completed the MA at the
IIML in 2011 and has published short stories in local journals and
anthologies.
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