John chose Came A Hot Friday by Ronald Hugh Morrieson. Book club night was held at John's place 'out West'. Present: John, Anne, Chez, Nicole, Georgia, Kirsten, Andrew and Marnie. (Numbers were somewhat down – especially due to University exams being on.) We still had a great discussion of the book (and of a certain judge, in the warm-up part of the evening). John (aided by Kirsten who had made a glorious lime cake) excelled on the food front; the emphasis being on dessert. It was a freezing night and many were amused by the antics of John's cat. The funniest part was the cat's rendition of the dunce.
Everyone had read the book, but there was divided opinion on enjoyment level. We had a lengthy discussion about provincial New Zealand at that time. There was reference to there being a certain Kiwi cringe element; others enjoyed it for what it was; some didn’t like it at all. The response to reading distinctly Kiwi literature was fascinating. While some were comfortable with (and amused by) this part of New Zealand culture, some felt very uncomfortable about it. This strongly correlated with reading enjoyment level. Our reactions to New Zealand small town culture portrayed in literature were varied. It reflected how although New Zealand is 'growing up' culturally, there is still a sense of 'looking up' to European and North American culture. Andrew strongly identified with this perspective, seeing such Kiwi 'hick' towns as reaching extreme heights on the 'hickness' barometer. John however, raised the important point that these isolated, hick communities exist all over the world.
The most popular favourite character was Don's father. Andrew's favourite was Sel Bishop. Most found Sel Bishop an extremely unsavory character. Several found the Te Whakinga Kid annoying/implausible; and many thought that Wes Pennington was an unlikeable character due to him being highly egotistical.
Chez found the alcohol abuse shocking. Others, particularly the criminal lawyers amongst us, found this a sad but realistic portrayal of many New Zealand families and an accurate representation of New Zealands' drinking culture. (Perhaps this is an extension of Morrieson's own relationship with alcohol. It is popularly understood that Morrieson had alcohol issues.) Kirsten and Marnie thought that The Scarecrow was his better book of the two. Some said they would now read The Scarecrow though RHM won't benefit from the royalties!
Although on one level, the book is comedic and indeed in parts hilarious, Morrieson had cleverly juxtaposed this quality (intentionally or otherwise) against a level of sadness in the community. Kirsten strongly related to this idea, in relation to the portrayal of women in the novel.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete