“Living in the Maniototo” by Janet Frame (New Zealand)

Book Club Favourite of Season 15

Review

Readers found this book most interesting both from the point of view of the story as well as the style of writing. They thought that there was an incredible use of language, which required their full attention, and they liked the clever interspersing of poems. Some readers didn’t like the long, meandering sentences as they felt that they interrupted the flow of the story. Everyone agreed that the author makes some wonderful observations about people. They especially enjoyed the parts with the two couples that they found were like clichéd representations of certain types of couples. They appreciated the fantastic metaphors and the humour. One reader described it as fanciful, illogical, but interesting! Overall, the book averaged an 8.1 out of 10, the highest score of the season.

Synopsis

In a sweltering basement in downtown Baltimore, Mavis Halleton, writer, ventriloquist and gossip, is struggling to write her novel when an unexpected invitation arrives. The Garretts, a couple Mavis has never heard of but who admire her work, are to spend time in Italy, and offer the use of their airy home in the Berkeley hills.

During her stay, an earthquake hits northern Italy and Mavis, to her surprise, inherits the house. But, surrounded by museum replicas and tasteful imitations, she finds reality itself is on shaky ground.

In this highly inventive novel, reality, fiction and dreams are woven together as Janet Frame playfully explores the process of writing fiction.

Nicola’s Book Club reading list 

Season 15 – “Fantasy and the Fantastic” (Feb – Jun 2012)

“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka (Czech Republic)
“Living in the Maniototo” by Janet Frame (New Zealand) *
“A Brief Life” by Juan Carlos Onetti (Uruguay)
“The Icarus Girl” by Helen Oyeyemi (Nigeria)
“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe (U.S.)

* The book club favourite

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Re-read in September 2020 as part of the 2020 Vision Read-a-thon

Readers described this book as well-crafted and poetically written. However, they found it difficult to get into and didn’t warm to the characters. They liked the descriptions of the different places, but they felt that the story suffered somewhat from a too clever use of language. Nicola asked readers to give the book a score at the end of the discussion and it averaged just below a 7 out of 10.