True, definitive, and objectively correct takes on the biggest prize for the nerds of the nation
This year the biggest category of the biggest book awards in the country, the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, delivers a glorious four book shortlist. Convener of the fiction judges, author Stephanie Johnson’s comments were that they were looking for “a damn good story”—which was certainly delivered. I impart unto you my rapidfire tastes and takes, to ensure you are the most intellectual looking person in UBIQ, and so that you won’t have to spend all that money on a crochet book sleeve from Etsy just to hide the fact that you read Colleen Hoover.
The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)
Please bundle all of your preconceived notions about the depressing NZ literary novel and place them neatly on the chopping block—this book will smash them to splinters. The narrator is sentient, sarcastic, celebrity magpie Tama, raised by a human couple who rescue him as a chick. Rural farm life is painted vividly through Tama’s eyes as he acts as a confidant in a crumbling marriage and a bridge between humans and nature. Trust Chidgey to create a bird just as likeable as any heartthrob or heroine, and the perfect carrier of a richly layered story.
SMASH: If you’re looking for a quirky, laugh-out-loud hilarious, heartbreaking and heartwarming adventure.
PASS: If you’re not willing or ready to become obsessed with Tama’s Twitter account.
Better The Blood by Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) (Simon and Schuster)
Genre fiction like crime can become dangerously repetitive, falling into stereotypical Whitcoulls airport book tropes. It has felt like a long time since I’ve read a crime novel that has all the aspects of the most engrossing thriller while remaining so singular and memorable. Detective Hana Westerman chases a serial killer whose victims connect ancestrally to colonial atrocities. It weaves history and empathy deftly with a badass main character and gritty action.
SMASH: If you’re looking for plot twists at a breakneck pace. You’ve got no time for tomes and epics, you wanna get straight into the action.
PASS: If you have an early bedtime. This is an up all night, texting the group chat with updates kind of read.
Kāwai by Monty Soutar (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Kahungunu) (David Bateman Books)
A long series to me is a borderline masochistic form of delayed gratification. Because as soon as I finished Kāwai, the only appropriate time for the sequel to be published was that very moment. Soutar’s debut novel and first in a planned trilogy, the historian draws upon the oral histories of his tīpuna to build an incredible world of pre-colonial fiction. The story ebbs and flows between past and present in a search for utu, and leaves off at a place that promises the future books will be tackling colonisation through Soutar’s incisive storytelling.
SMASH: If you want an accessible piece of history wrapped up in an engaging and wonderfully crafted story.
PASS: If you have bad taste! This is the winner in my eyes.
Mrs Jewell and the Wreck of the General Grant by Cristina Sanders (Cuba Press)
Now I have to confess, this is one that I have yet to read. My Cersei-style shame walk will be down Anzac Ave imminently and we’ll be sure to publicise it ahead of time. However, I am very excited that this is the next read on my (devastatingly long) TBR. Arguably the underdog on the shortlist, this book promises intrigue and intricacy, a novelisation of the real-life shipwreck of the General Grant on Auckland Island in 1866. It reads as Mrs Jewell’s first-hand account of the 18 months they spent stranded before rescue, and her rippling presence as the only woman on the island. It comes highly reviewed from my coworkers, whose judgement you should trust far more than mine anyway.
SMASH: If you’re me, and there’s a copy sitting on your bedside table.
PASS: How would I know? Guess you’ll have to read it and find out for yourself!
