Author: Anne Kennedy
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 2013
ISBN: 978-1743313862
Format: Paperback
Pages: 386
Rating: –
By Anne Logan
I am lucky enough to be hosting a Wordfest event this year, which means I was the giddy recipient of a box of books a few weeks ago. The festival sends each host a copy of the book(s) that will be included in the event they are managing, so in my case, I was sent six books in total, including The Last Days of the National Costume by Anne Kennedy.
I chose to read this book first because Kennedy is a New Zealand author living in Auckland and I had some guests staying with me this past weekend who had been living in Auckland for the past four years. So, I thought I could “get to know their experience a bit better” by reading some of their literature from down under. Other than a few strange words that I wasn’t used to, it read much like North American literary novels do, which was of course a great relief to me!
Now to the book. This is a scandalous novel. It’s not erotica by any means, but it does delve into the dicey world of extra-marital affairs, lies between couples, and people just being altogether naughty. Have I piqued your interest yet? If that doesn’t sound appealing enough, the narrator and protagonist “GoGo” is an absolute hoot. She has got fun little quips and observations about everyone around her and she talks directly to the reader as if you’re also a character in the book–so you really feel like you’re a part of the story, even though you’re only an observer.
About the Author
Anne Kennedy’s first novel was an experimental work titled 100 Traditional Smiles (1988). She then went on to write Musica Ficta (1993) and A Boy and His Uncle (1998). Her most recent work was to write the screenplay for The Monkey’s Mask,a highly successful film based on Dorothy Porter’s verse novel. Anne is also a well known and award winning poet. She lives between Auckland and Honolulu. | Author Page
Text © 2014 Anne Logan
Re-print © 2014 The Black Lion Journal
Re-printed with permission.
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