Over the month of April (well, so far) I’ve been elbow deep in writing from writers across genres and tone. It’s been gorgeous stuff, and incredibly exciting to get a look at the work being done by storytellers right now.
Kicking off the month I took part in a day-long seminar by writer Paddy Kelly held at the New Theatre in Dublin. Drawing anecdotes from his own career, and teaching from materials in his to-be-published book on writing, Kelly easily filled the day-long talk with great pointers on structure, character building and elements of something called “The Western Narrative”.
Buzzing with ideas (and still yawning from the all-nighter I pulled finishing an outline for a long-overdue story) I headed for Reilly Towers, ready to writer the Great Expat Novel…
And was distracted by the bright cover art on my fresh copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Lacuna“.
Bought in a huff of defence after a harsh bookclub-slating of her earlier masterpiece “The Poisonwood Bible“, I’d held off on Lacuna for fear of being disappointed. Not to worry.
Known for her rich, scenic language and biologist’s eye for nature, I drew deep into the vibrant world of early twentieth century Mexico as seen through the eyes of budding writer (and wan hero) Harrison “Insolito” Shepherd. The tale was a partial revisit to Kingsolver’s successful formula of dual-citizenship growth for American hearts in foreign lands, with central figure Shepherd’s upbringing in pulsing, ethnic Mexico balanced against an adulthood in the US, his birthplace and eventual courtroom.
Again, as done so elegantly in Poisonwood, the author wove real history and historical figures into the narrative – this time bringing the powerful personalities of Rivera, Khalo and Trotsky to life around her ghostly hero.
Reviews for Lacuna have been mixed, with some readers finding fault and vacancy in the bright and dusty journey to adulthood amidst larger-than-life embodiments of infamous legends, and others singing high praise (I’m in that choir) for Kingsolver’s clear gift for description and character. I might be in white-knight mode after defending a Kingsolver favourite last month, but when the fangirl blinders are off I still find the meat of this story to be well worth savouring*.
Rounding out the last week, as I swept volcano ash off window sills and ignored most of the hand-wringing that passed as news coverage (long story short: travel sucks this month), I got my hands on a few manuscripts passing through Irish publisher Maverick House. With two reader reports to send off this week, I’m already delighted with the variety of titles passing through this small Meath press. All in all, not bad for a month with Mars in retrograde (or so I’ve been told).
So that’s me, how are you?
* So there.
