tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post8640936497690286884..comments2024-03-14T04:35:06.209+13:00Comments on Beattie's Book Blog - unofficial homepage of the New Zealand book community: MacLehose Press in London are happy with London reviews of C.K.Stead's novelBeattie's Book Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01505389626725979100noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36622997.post-90176447722397791792012-11-19T08:19:17.077+13:002012-11-19T08:19:17.077+13:00After purchasing Risk some weeks ago, I finally go...After purchasing Risk some weeks ago, I finally got around to reading it this weekend when we went down to stay at a friend's in Oamaru for the Victorian Fete. Read 80% of it across the two days and probably have annoyed everybody for being anti-social. (Actually, I think I have).<br /><br />It's not his best novel, but the phrase in this review, 'a pleasure to read', hits the mark well. One of his characters, Tom the poet, friend of protagonist, Sam, will become one of my favourite characters in NZ (and world-wide) lit, though some of the other characters, like the newly found daughter, Letty, just don't quite seem to work for me as fully realised characters. But I've still got the last twenty percent to read. I suspect he'll bring me around.<br /><br />I love the political undertones (overtones) in the novel, and Stead is probably showing the way to write a 'political' fiction (not for the first time - must read 'Smith's Dream'; a big gap in my reading).<br /><br />Postscript: part of the joy of why I read so much this weekend is because there was no Internet working on my iPad ... big lesson in that :)Mark Hubbardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02541153163041831880noreply@blogger.com