tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post3982721144462246476..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: This is HowJim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-58986040986337806352010-05-12T08:01:26.436+01:002010-05-12T08:01:26.436+01:00Thank you, Steerforth, I put quite a bit of time i...Thank you, <b>Steerforth</b>, I put quite a bit of time into this one. This is certainly a book that leaves you with a sense of unease: these are all the facts you’re going to get; these are all the facts there are. It’s human to fill in the blanks. We look at the stars and the clouds and see patterns. We need to make sense out of things and it’s frustrating being deprived that but that’s life. As I wrote myself once, “There are no reasons for unreasonable things.” <br /><br />When I realised the connection with <i>The Outsider</i> I looked out my old copy and re read all the relevant sections and I found myself feeling the same: there must be some more words around here, this can’t be everything, maybe I’ve turned two pages and there’s a whole chunk that explains it all. But no.<br /><br />Where we all struggle here is with the fact that the crime is murder, the most extreme case she could've picked. It might have been better had the man survived perhaps in a coma so that the core argument is explored and yet the comparison with Camus isn't quite so obvious. I don't know.<br /><br />Premeditation we understand. Bad people think about a crime, plan it and see it through. People like you and I commit crimes (trivial ones by comparison) all the time (5 mph over the speed limit, that kind of thing) without thinking about it. That's what's interesting here, not that it's a murder, but the ease with which we can commit a criminal act. <br /><br />Like I said, the book made me think. And I'm still thinking.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-1581641813150440322010-05-11T21:37:51.254+01:002010-05-11T21:37:51.254+01:00That's a far more thoughtful review than I'...That's a far more thoughtful review than I've read in the press and you make a very strong case. However, I actually like the fact that there's no "Why?". It makes Patrick's story all the more tragic, because he feels so detached from the crime and doesn't understand how it happened. <br /><br />"This is How" doesn't console us with explanations. What's so unsettling is the ease with which a naive young man can cross the line from being a normal person to become a murderer, without even realising that they've crossed a line.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-26850137846014658572010-05-11T17:09:15.624+01:002010-05-11T17:09:15.624+01:00That’s all very interesting, Lis. The word I would...That’s all very interesting, <b>Lis</b>. The word I would tend to associate with her, having read what I have, is ‘sincere’. It’s obvious that she takes her writing seriously. And, as I said at the very end of the article, despite any qualms or niggles I might have had – I’m a writer, I want to edit <i>everything</i> – the book still left me thinking. That has to be the minimum requirement for me as a writer. I’m happy if someone reads and enjoys my stuff but I’m so much happier when I learn that what I’ve written has affected them even if they can’t articulate it. I gave some poems to a woman once and when she gave them back to me, with very little comment, she had held one back and asked if she could keep it. It had touched something in her that none of the others had; she had made it her own. <i>That</i> is success.<br /><br />Where Hyland was on a hiding to nothing is that she has taken a book that so many of us have made our own and done stuff to it. I know it’s nothing as crass as that but as soon as I started to see the parallels between <i>The Outsider</i> and her book the more her book was up against the wall without a paddle. I would certainly read her again though. <br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-68326105684130596852010-05-11T13:08:01.584+01:002010-05-11T13:08:01.584+01:00I took a particular interest in this book, Jim bec...I took a particular interest in this book, Jim because many years ago when I was trying to write my autobiography of my childhood, which in those days I tried to present as fiction, I spent some time with Maria Hyland as she was then known. <br /><br />I had met her when she took a one off short story class here in Melbourne and I was so taken by her ideas about writing that I approached her to mentor me for a time. <br /><br />She read several pieces of my writing and for a fee she helped me to think on ways I might improve them. <br /><br />She read the piece I wrote about my father baptizing the baby that died when I was still very young. I shall never forget her suggestion then. <br /><br />I told her about the fact of my many siblings and our Catholic names and how each of us is named after a certain saint and how our various namesakes seem to represent different aspects of our personalities. <br /><br />We met once for coffee and although I told MJH a great deal about my life, as I'm prone to do in such circumstances, she was far more circumspect. <br /><br />The thing that stays with me most of all is how excited she became when I described my childhood bedroom, which I shared with my sisters. She could imagine, she said, above each of our beds a portrait of the saints after whom we were each named. <br /><br />t was then I realized MJH is a fiction writer first and foremost. <br /><br />I have not yet read this her latest book, but I loved 'Carry me Down'.<br /><br />MJH is a sensitive and dark writer. She is a serious and sensitive woman. On the cusp of her fame in 2006, she has a piece about her time in Larundel psychiatric hospital as a very young woman, which features in the same magazine Meanjin in which I have an essay about my analytic experience. I admire her honesty and the vigor with which she writes. <br /><br />I'm glad you've reviewed this book, Jim. I like the sound if it, too. MJH's writing is not for the feint hearted. <br /><br />She's a force to be reckoned with. Thanks.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-53910135305605707572010-05-11T11:00:13.900+01:002010-05-11T11:00:13.900+01:00No, I tend to agree with you, Art, but I have to s...No, I tend to agree with you, <b>Art</b>, but I have to say I’m curious now about <i>The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick</i> but it’ll have to wait. My to-read shelf has now started to leak books onto the shelf above. I need to knuckle down and make some space. I miss my first wife at times like this. I used to get books out of the library I didn’t have time to read, she’d read them and then summarise them for me. And she could do a book a day.<br /><br />Very witty, <b>Kass</b>. And stop confusing Rachel.<br /><br />And, <b>Rachel</b>, there I told off Kass for you. The problem I find with bookstores is overkill. There’s always too much on offer and so it’s the catchy titles and pretty covers that draw us in. This is not a bad title but it’s not exciting and the cover is nothing special although I think I would have picked it up on both counts. <br /><br />You are right too. This particular book may not be for you but the author might be. I’ve just finished a very hard book by an Austrian author and now I’ve finished it I realise that this is the last book of his I should have read. In doing my research the other titles seem far more accessible. But that’s how it goes sometimes. I bought the book based on reviews I’d read that piqued my interest. The trouble with them is that most books can be made to sound intriguing if you only write two or three hundred words about them. Hopefully when you read my thoughts you’ll see the book’s pros and cons and be able to make a more informed decision. And you may still hate it.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-60972560744544031502010-05-11T05:47:27.653+01:002010-05-11T05:47:27.653+01:00Kass made me forget what I was going to say!
I&#...Kass made me forget what I was going to say! <br /><br />I'm not sure I would have gravitated towards this in any bookstore but I find, after reading your reviews,my curiosity gets a shot of someting that has me googling away ro another ten minutes before I give my own verdict on to read or not to read.<br /><br />Not very eloquently put but I'm all worded out this week.<br /><br />I really like how you get behind the text and you are fair to the words and to the readers and don't fluff the author's pillow. Great review.Rachel Fentonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10046917627054462214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-68200241989894827172010-05-10T21:17:37.860+01:002010-05-10T21:17:37.860+01:00Hmmm. Go ahead, put the loaded rifle on the stage....Hmmm. Go ahead, put the loaded rifle on the stage. Make us wonder until we fire the author.Kasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-46803990259580177092010-05-10T16:46:00.145+01:002010-05-10T16:46:00.145+01:00Well, I'm not sure that Camus NEEDED updating,...Well, I'm not sure that Camus NEEDED updating, but okay. <i>L'Etranger</i> is not his best writing, not nearly his best novel or story, although it's the one everyone is made to read in school, largely because it's a philosophical novel about existentialism. At least in Camus we do get told WHY as well as how. <br /><br />I certainly like, as you do, books that make me think. This doesn't sound too pleasant, though. I pay attention lately to what books make me think about, because I don't really need to be injecting myself with unnecessary dark and dour thinking right now. (As you know why, as well as how.)Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-84496705308267352942010-05-10T12:13:35.587+01:002010-05-10T12:13:35.587+01:00That’s a good way of describing how I reacted to t...That’s a good way of describing how I reacted to this book, <b>Peter</b>. To be fair there are very few instances where I am willing to unreservedly recommend a book because I can always see how some people might not care of it. What I find especially interesting is where a book polarises opinions, like <i>The Road</i> which really falls into the love-it-or-loathe it category. I’ve just reviewed a book where two people actually threw away their copies in case someone else got their hands on them. They didn’t want to be held responsible for anyone being as upset as they had been. When I read stuff like that I almost <i>have</i> to read the book to see what would make someone react in such an extreme way. I think <i>This is How</i> will do perfectly well without any help from me, it’ll sell loads of copies, make the girl lots of money and I’m pleased for her. It kept me fully occupied for a few days and made me think and that’s the least I expect from any book; anything else is gravy.<br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-30588408886167144392010-05-10T03:57:46.180+01:002010-05-10T03:57:46.180+01:00I liked the complicated reactions you had to this ...I liked the complicated reactions you had to this book. I don't mind being left with questions if the questions are creative ones. I don't mind feeling uncomfortable if the feeling is genuine. Hmm.<br /><br />Great review, by the way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com