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Cargando... The Axeman's Carnivalpor Catherine Chidgey
   Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro.   ) adzebill | Dec 4, 2023 |  and I was right to do so. Deceptively easy to read, Catherine Chidgey's seventh novel is a stunning achievement. The Axeman's Carnival could have been the bleak story of a farming Otago couple struggling to stay afloat while their relationship deteriorates past the point of no return, but the quirky presence of its narrator makes it a different story. Marnie rescues a magpie that fell from its nest and raises the chick, which becomes her saviour in more ways that one. It is not just that this magpie can speak and narrates the story in an utterly convincing voice... it is also that its presence changes the dynamic in the couple's relationship and lifts the curtain to reveal it to the wider world. Social media is both a villain and a hero in this novel... Marnie has lost a baby in circumstances not revealed till late in the novel, and in her loneliness and grief she mothers the chick. Its bed is in the nursery, and she surrenders to its every need. Prompted by the jealousy of her husband Rob, she names it Tama as a salute to the virtual pet Tamagotchi but soon discovers that its talent for mimicry extends to copying everything it hears. (As she showed so brilliantly in The Beat of the Pendulum (2017), see here) Chidgey depicts the intersection of social media and real life with what happens next... a Tweet with a cute photo and caption leads to a growing horde of followers and suddenly Tama is a social media presence like no other. There are photos of him in all kinds of situations, wearing all kinds of cute costumes and reproducing the funny things he says. 'Don't you dare!' becomes his tag line. As Tama's fame on social media grows, Marnie's creativity is revealed. She grows Tama's audience with daily stunts and photo opportunities, and with help from an agent, Tama's 'brand' is monetised. The sale of Tama merchandise — mugs, T-shirts, all the usual stuff — becomes full-time work which augments the family income. Marnie is able to give up her casual job in town, but Rob's resentment grows. Inevitably, there are negatives. Animal activists don't approve of a wild bird being domesticated... To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/06/28/the-axemans-carnival-2022-by-catherine-chidg... (  ) anzlitlovers | Jun 27, 2023 | sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
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''Everywhere, the birds: sparrows and skylarks and thrushes, starlings and bellbirds, fantails and pipits – but above them all and louder, the magpies. We are here and this is our tree and we’re staying and it is ours and you need to leave and now. Tama is just a helpless chick when he is rescued by Marnie, and this is where his story might have ended. ‘If it keeps me awake,’ says Marnie’s husband Rob, a farmer, ‘I’ll have to wring its neck.’ But with Tama come new possibilities for the couple’s future. Tama can speak, and his fame is growing. Outside, in the pines, his father warns him of the wickedness wrought by humans. Indoors, Marnie confides in him about her violent marriage. The more Tama sees, the more the animal and the human worlds – and all of the precarity, darkness and hope within them – bleed into one another. Like a stock truck filled with live cargo, the story moves inexorably towards its dramatic conclusion: the annual Axeman’s Carnival. Part trickster, part surrogate child, part witness, Tama the magpie is the star of this story. Though what he says aloud to humans is often nonsensical (and hilarious with it), the tale he tells us weaves a disturbingly human sense. The Axeman’s Carnival is Catherine Chidgey at her finest – comic, profound, poetic and true''--Front book flap. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNingunoCubiertas populares
 Google Books — Cargando...GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)823.2Literature English English fiction Pre-Elizabethan 1400-1558ValoraciónPromedio: (4.13)
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