AUDITION, by Pip Adam (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35)
The night before I write this review, a new TV show catches my eye. I'm a Virgo features Cootie, a 19-year-old giant living in contemporary America. Hidden by his family, he longs for the outside world, but to keep him safe, his father has told him lies about what's beyond the front gate (that if young black men don't have jobs, they go straight to jail), and some truths (that being a giant will lead to him being treated like a freak, possibly killed for science).
It's a timely coincidence that Audition, Pip Adam's fourth novel, explores similar territory - using tropes from folklore to examine how society treats people who don't fit the mainstream idea of humanity. We've seen it in films like Ali Abbasi's Border, which drew on stories of trolls to comment on the refugee crisis, but also in Adam's own work, specifically the brilliant Nothing to See, in which women who have endured trauma and addiction became their own doppelgängers. In that novel, the world looked the other way rather than question why there were now two versions of the same person. Adam deals inventively in characters who don't fit the shapes society has cut out for them.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 15 - 21 2023 من New Zealand Listener.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 15 - 21 2023 من New Zealand Listener.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.