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frejola's review against another edition
4.0
I bought this memoir at the Woman's Bookshop on Ponsonby Rd in Auckland... That's a good memory in itself. Laing's book is a really affecting introduction to Katherine Mansfield. She's now in my urgent bucket list. Could there be an author more suited to be understood today, in face of this new tsunami of feminism (in the West, not in the East where I live, unfortunately)? This is a rather long comic novel, it covers a lot from Mansfield's life as well as from author Sarah Laing. Laing's life is not as interesting as Mansfield's (obviously), but the connection between the two and the question about how we use our heroes as yard sticks were very compelling by book's end. I recommend it.
kathleenivy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
mostlyshanti's review against another edition
4.0
I haven't read much (or any?) Katherine Mansfield which probably makes me a bad literary inclined New Zealander. Especially because I live about five minutes from the Katherine Mansfield museum thingy. But I read this anyway. I loved how Laing explored the idea that you have to leave New Zealand to be a writer when she (unlike Mansfield) was able to make her career right here. The mansfield/laing sections are intertwined really well, and the art is just so gorgeous. I did find the writing a bit hard to read at times, but that's okay. One thing I did find was that the inclusion of both character's non-straight sexual identities was a bit...unresolved? but it's real people so I guess it doesn't always work out that way.
kathrynvanbeek's review
5.0
What a treat. A moving insight into the lives of two important New Zealand writers, rendered with humour and accompanied by fresh and evocative illustrations.
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