Otago Daily Times - By Shane Gilchrist on Sat, 3 May 2014
The Central Otago town of Alexandra is at the core of two new novels by New Zealand writers Owen Marshall and Paddy Richardson. Shane Gilchrist finds out why.
The clock that looms large on the hill bordering the eastern edge of Alexandra attracts all sorts: from inquisitive tourists, to teens (sometimes hand in hand), to tots (hoisted by adventurous elders), all of whom climb towards a vantage point from which the town can be seen in its entirety.
In the winter chill, covered in haze, houses drift in and out of view; in summer's shimmer, the same dwellings offer a faint sense of movement.
In Central Otago, the seasons conspire to create a paradigm shift that is both repetitively banal and brutally magnificent.
Owen Marshall recognises this in his new novel, Carnival Sky, which offers a commentary on life, love, family and, in particular, death. All are rendered in small, quiet details, the opposite of melodrama.
As Marshall points out, his novel also has touches of dry humour.
That's typical of a writer whose short-story skills have been compared to Katherine Mansfield and Frank Sargeson, but whose talent extends to longer forms, from 1995's A Many-coated Man to 2007 effort Drybread, which was also set in Central Otago.
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The clock that looms large on the hill bordering the eastern edge of Alexandra attracts all sorts: from inquisitive tourists, to teens (sometimes hand in hand), to tots (hoisted by adventurous elders), all of whom climb towards a vantage point from which the town can be seen in its entirety.
In the winter chill, covered in haze, houses drift in and out of view; in summer's shimmer, the same dwellings offer a faint sense of movement.
In Central Otago, the seasons conspire to create a paradigm shift that is both repetitively banal and brutally magnificent.
As Marshall points out, his novel also has touches of dry humour.
That's typical of a writer whose short-story skills have been compared to Katherine Mansfield and Frank Sargeson, but whose talent extends to longer forms, from 1995's A Many-coated Man to 2007 effort Drybread, which was also set in Central Otago.
More
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