[Moorf]

Did anyone see this story in the Sunday Star Times yesterday about a new "damning" book about NZ?


If accalimed British writer Duncan Fallowell ever returns to New Zealand, it might have to be on a false passport.

His new book, about a three-month trip to New Zealand four years ago, Going As Far As I Can, is released in March and paints a scathing picture of the country: our people are ugly and fat, our cities are architectural ruins and our wine is over-rated.

Although it's apparently not all bad :laugh

Not every sentence is damning, however. Fallowell had the best fish and chips of his life at Invercargill's Ascot Park Hotel.

He thought Cheltenham Rd in Devonport, Auckland, was "one of the great residential streets in the world"; that Akaroa was heavenly; and that Christchurch people have "spontaneity, madness and sexiness. They dress more smartly than other New Zealanders too". :roll

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4376361a11.html

The book "Going As Far As I Can" goes on sale in March: http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781846680694

Gotta be worth a read!

[JWR]

I'll definitely want to read that out of curiosity and an interest in 'discovering' NZ. Not much bad ever said about NZ, and neither there should be I would suggest, but nice to get a bit of balance. He might be just trying to be interesting, and writing bad things gets good publicity and sells books, after all who wants to read another sycophantic book about NZ.

He was born and bred in London, so probably just sour grapes and having a whinge, so surprising he found the NZ fush and chups the best he has ever tasted. Can't wait to read his book, should be interesting and fun.

[Moorf]

He might be just trying to be interesting, and writing bad things gets good publicity and sells books, after all who wants to read another sycophantic book about NZ.

Very true - from experience I know of a few publishers who'd rather have something rather less warm and fuzzy and "it's lovely here" - the market's crowded with that... his will at least have some controversy to help drive sales and, as you say, give balance.

Maybe we should order an ENZ copy and ship it around :nice1

[wiki]

If I get a review copy coming my way I'll certainly pass it around.

As for Ascot Park having the best fish and chips... they're quite good for hotel fish and chips, but it's all much better out of newspaper :D He should have saved himself $20 and walked three minutes across the road to the Ascot chippy.

[dharder]

Although it's apparently not all bad :laugh
:roll

Just out of curiosity, I just checked on the amazon uk site for a review, and the blurb there concludes with the following sentence:

"The faraway paradise gradually turns into a glittering stranger on the Pacific rim, filled with the uncertainties of our times - but also a wonderful place to breathe. The result is a moving encounter with the past, an anxious gaze into the future, but most of all a vivid voyage through the contemporary world, by turns profound, comical and erotic."

Sounds like a perfectly benevolent, if slightly quirky travel account. Eye of the beholder and all that again, ey?

Daniela

[JWR]

Hi Daniela, thanks for that, here's the full review...
Reviews

Synopsis
When Duncan Fallowell was left some money by a friend he decided to put into practice a long held idea - to travel as far as possible from home so that he need never travel again and could relax. For him this meant travelling to New Zealand, where another fantasy soon asserted itself - 'to find the place of perfect exile'. Fallowell's curiosity leads him onto the strangest paths and he found himself in pursuit of unknown painters and lost buildings and sex underground, of Karl Popper and a creature with the third eye and rose wine, of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier who'd toured the country in the year of Fallowell's birth, of suicidal writers and nuns and elusive answers to impossible questions. The faraway paradise gradually turns into a glittering stranger on the Pacific rim, filled with the uncertainties of our times - but also a wonderful place to breathe. The result is a moving encounter with the past, an anxious gaze into the future, but most of all a vivid voyage through the contemporary world, by turns profound, comical and erotic.

Doesn't sound too scathing to me, bummer!
unknown painters and lost buildings and sex underground
Think he might have had a different agenda from the average immigrant. ;)

[Pookeko]

...and that Christchurch people have "spontaneity, madness and sexiness. They dress more smartly than other New Zealanders too".


That's really made me laugh! :laugh :laugh

[dharder]

So, has anyone else read it? Just out of curiosity :)

We've both just finished it, and I couldn't find anything in there that would justify the negative press the book got here.

I thought it was quite a personal account of a trip, with observations made that were personal as well. He does not understand, and I tend to agree with him there, why almost everything 'old' has been torn down and replaced with rather unattractive new, or, often the case here in Auckland, nothing.

There are a couple of other things he can't quite understand, but I think he raises them rather benevolently, or sometimes, surprised. My partner (the Kiwi) wasn't offended at all, and tended to agree with him in large parts as well.

Anyway. I quite liked it, and was wondering if anyone else had a look.

Daniela

[alan999]

Did anyone see this story in the Sunday Star Times yesterday about a new "damning" book about NZ?



I always seem to get things wrong!

[katandbob]

If I get a review copy coming my way I'll certainly pass it around.

As for Ascot Park having the best fish and chips... they're quite good for hotel fish and chips, but it's all much better out of newspaper :D He should have saved himself $20 and walked three minutes across the road to the Ascot chippy.

well done! and the chinese meals are good too - but I am trying to stay off the fast food...:exit
but Rachels not helping with her Mrs Beaton impression!

shes cooking bagals as we speak!:( well there goes my waistline again:p