'Singularity' by Charlotte Grimshaw
This is a brilliant collection of interlinked short stories - the kind you can read individually, but which if read together, build up into a rich portrait of a cast of intriguing characters. Don't think that that makes for a narrow scope or tight timescales though: the stories range about in time, location (Grimshaw's native New Zealand, but also Australia, London, Los Angeles) and of course, subject matter.
There are very grown-up problems here: drug and alcohol addiction, standing trial for rape, domestic abuse, dealing with the death of a partner. But then there are some very simple, childhood problems too: getting lost, trusting a brother or sister, learning to expect less from a parent. The book's strength is in weaving these themes in and around a cast of characters so that they occur, recur, and are subtly echoed.
The first time we meet Larry, for instance, he is a child. Seen through his younger sister's eyes, we see him leading an over-ambitious walking expedition which almost ends badly. Later, now a husband and parent himself, he makes an appearance at a funeral party, but is more interested in the hallucinogenic properties of the local plantlife. He's referred to in another story. But it's only really at the end of the collection that we learn what happened to Larry, and how his life panned out. It's not comfortable reading.
This is an intelligent, resonant collection from a writer who was previously unknown to me. I'm considering it a great find.
Susan Tranter
Published 01/03/2010 |
