Reviews

I write book reviews for an online film & arts journal called The Lumiere Reader. It's not a paying gig, but it's good writing practice and a great way to get acquainted with the local arts scene.

My difficulty with writing reviews is that I have a strong tendency to sympathise with the author of whatever book I'm reading. If I get bored or confused, my initial reaction is not "This could have been written better," but instead, "Maybe I just don't get it." Plus, if I can see that the author is trying to do something clever, I give him/her all kinds of points for the effort. It's another thing entirely to figure out if the author did it well, much less to decide whether he/she did it better than someone else.

My last review, of The Love School by Wellington writer Elizabeth Knox, is here. I'm also going to be reviewing her latest book, The Angel's Cut, sequel to her internationally famous novel The Vintner's Luck, which has been made into a film. No pressure or anything.