Bullet Points
Oct. 27th, 2008 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysLast week on my friends page I noticed a bunch of mentions of Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels. It looked a bit orchestrated, but then again, perhaps not - perhaps just buzz that followed the launch. In any case, to go with that flow, I thought I'd do this post as a bunch of mini posts. Of course it has nothing to do with my inability to string more than a couple of sentences together without losing track of (umm where was I...)
Dymocks in Wellington have this book. They even have it on their main display for the hottest books in the genre. When I congratulated their buyer on giving it prominence, he pointed to the Neil Gaiman quote on the front cover as the reason. An interesting lesson for budding publishers.
Tender Morsels has a couple of elements that would normally really irritate me - odd speech styles (Pseudo-medieval peasant) and a meandering plot line. But while of note, they didn't detract the way such things usually do.
For those of you at Conflux and others who go to cons regularly, its no big deal that I got my copy at a launch event and that it is inscribed by the author to reflect that. But I find that it sometimes really impresses people - go figure.
It isn't a nice book - incest, rape and ingestion by bear feature. Yet the writing style has a light charm while still having emotional power. It is an interesting contrast and it works well. Remember that quote on the front cover - now you can see perhaps why it fits.
Odd devices like switching between first person and third person narrative are usually the tricks of writers who are more interested in style over readability. Yet the book is a page turner - on a wet Labour weekend, it held my attention firmly.
Perhaps there are other authors who write like this. You can see hints of other writers here and there, but overall Lanagan has a distinct voice. I could say that it reads a little as if Gaiman (see above) tried to write a Charles de Lint story set in the sort of village that seems to be the start point for so many "medieval" fantasy trilogies, you might get an idea. But then again you wouldn't.
Dymocks in Wellington have this book. They even have it on their main display for the hottest books in the genre. When I congratulated their buyer on giving it prominence, he pointed to the Neil Gaiman quote on the front cover as the reason. An interesting lesson for budding publishers.
Tender Morsels has a couple of elements that would normally really irritate me - odd speech styles (Pseudo-medieval peasant) and a meandering plot line. But while of note, they didn't detract the way such things usually do.
For those of you at Conflux and others who go to cons regularly, its no big deal that I got my copy at a launch event and that it is inscribed by the author to reflect that. But I find that it sometimes really impresses people - go figure.
It isn't a nice book - incest, rape and ingestion by bear feature. Yet the writing style has a light charm while still having emotional power. It is an interesting contrast and it works well. Remember that quote on the front cover - now you can see perhaps why it fits.
Odd devices like switching between first person and third person narrative are usually the tricks of writers who are more interested in style over readability. Yet the book is a page turner - on a wet Labour weekend, it held my attention firmly.
Perhaps there are other authors who write like this. You can see hints of other writers here and there, but overall Lanagan has a distinct voice. I could say that it reads a little as if Gaiman (see above) tried to write a Charles de Lint story set in the sort of village that seems to be the start point for so many "medieval" fantasy trilogies, you might get an idea. But then again you wouldn't.