I remember smiling when I first saw this title - as it brought to mind 'The Goon Show' as scripted weekly for Beeb Radio way back in the day. I got more interested in, and bought the book, by becoming intrigued parts of it being scripted in MS Powerpoint.
I remember smiling when I first saw this title - as it brought to mind 'The Goon Show' as scripted weekly for Beeb Radio way back in the day. I got more interested in, and bought the book, by becoming intrigued parts of it being scripted in MS Powerpoint.
We are in a secluded backroom playing high stakes poker in the company of a Bruce Willis wannabee, formerly a known high roller in Vegas, aren't we Terri?
Oh yes, make no mistake I'm going to go try and locate this Tessa Hadley title out, Thanks for signposting Terri.
To me, "So Late in the Day" has a kind of poetry. Adding more words would take away from it. But this is all so subjective, somebody else may feel differently.
Mary, I've now read the story. I actually bought the book. Her style is fascinating - so dry yet gets to the heart of things. The second story in the book was A Long and Painful Death. Also wonderful. The pod cast is next.
Good on yer Terri. I think there is a book, bearing the story title, out with a couple of her other - each and every one - notable shorter form fictions collected withing its covers.
Not sure how, let alone why, another title of a novel by an outstanding English female writer comes to mind but as it has I'm more than pleased to commend it to you and other Story Clubbers happening to pass their reading 👀 this way. The title is The Pure Gold Baby, the writer is Margaret Drabble, date of publication was 2013 (which signals it as being a later work in her canon).
Ah yes! Penny drops. In regard of Claire Keegan, whose wordage is slim in total but in each instance viscerally etched on this reader's memory, what I'd borrow and repurpose from Margaret Drabble's title is the thought that whenever we first read, re-read or take notice of a freshly forthcoming new story title the expectation that rises is something along the lines of "Pure Gold Prose".
So write, I now, how right written - albeit so visceral wrote - is your, so deeply engaging and deeper though provoking substantial novel entitled 'The Seasonwife'. No small, yet in my reading, utterly novel achievement Saige. I do, have and will, encourage all passing this threaded way - as I have in other, similar, such ways I have chipped a suggestion of a warp this way and a weft that way - to find and read your recent long form fiction.
Took my breath away... broadened my insight... couldn't wait to turn the page, begin the next chapter, find out what the outcome was going to turn out to be.
Just my personal, airing and sharing of, my personal point of view, and I have the temerity to repeat "utterly novel achievement". The title raised an sense of expectation; the published novel delivered.
"I noticed; I read; I discovered."
Or to splay it in the Latin I'm not, the least, claiming to command:
"Animadverti; Lego; Inventus sum."
😂 < He to the left being laughing at my inadequate Latin. > 👑 to my right being, simply, salutation to you story-telling prowess Saige. 🙏
Oh Rob, thank you so much for your kind response to my debut novel. Your words reached me today after a week of writing scenes for the next novel. The experience of time-travelling - being deeply immersed in another time and place. I came out drenched and felt quite sick to be torn away from the characters. You remind me that writers write and readers read to reach that other place and those other people, honouring that other time and place. Thank you for reminding me that it is worthwhile.
You are welcome to my words Saige. A tad, deliberately so, convoluted though they may be they do endeavour to convey this reader's experience: "utterly novel achievement".
Glad to be made aware that you are writing to etch story into another time and place; I will look forward to reading myself into such setting as you are making and to meeting and making acquaintance with the characters you populate it with.
Yes, indeed, both are wonderful but what - in your desiderata - makes Hadley's prose style richer than Keegan's Terri? And which matters more, if I may further enquire, to you 'style' or 'story'? And, pushing the limit of fair asking, which in your view matters most to Hadley and to Keegan?
Not so much seeking deep. reflective, bet my house on the veracity of my POV answer but rather hoping to provoke your gentle, genial consideration.
The rythm in the title 'Ying tong' reminds me of the rhtym in some old dialects. The familiar resonance, something we can't grasp, it feels nonsensical and yet it rises us up and sings us out to play and home again.
One American College's variant on a powerful, powerplay, punt it out and punt loud rhythmic better than mere chant. Best version, being first version, for me is the one inclusive of the key line of rough hewn lyric reading "Get 'em down you Zulu Warriors / Get 'em down you Zulu Chiefs".
"Ying tong, ying tong, ying tong piddle high po!"
I remember smiling when I first saw this title - as it brought to mind 'The Goon Show' as scripted weekly for Beeb Radio way back in the day. I got more interested in, and bought the book, by becoming intrigued parts of it being scripted in MS Powerpoint.
To your bid of "Late in the Day" I counter bid and up the ante with "So Late in the Day" by Cliare Keegan https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/02/28/fiction-claire-keegan-so-late-in-the-day .
We are in a secluded backroom playing high stakes poker in the company of a Bruce Willis wannabee, formerly a known high roller in Vegas, aren't we Terri?
Oh yes, make no mistake I'm going to go try and locate this Tessa Hadley title out, Thanks for signposting Terri.
For me, "So Late in the Day" lands better than "Late in the Day." The "So" adds to the wistful, melancholy feel of the title.
Can we just keep adding words? How about
So late in the wrong day
To me, "So Late in the Day" has a kind of poetry. Adding more words would take away from it. But this is all so subjective, somebody else may feel differently.
Different vibe - a comedy perhaps?
And almost foreshadows "Too..."
I just saw the Keegan in the bookstore last Monday. I've been meaning to read her - this will give me a push. Thanks!
George Saunders reads Claire Keegan on the New Yorker Fiction Podcast. (Spoiler alert: he doesn’t read it, but discusses it with Deborah Treisman.) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-new-yorker-fiction/id256945396?i=1000618960228 This is a story that will knock you sideways and live in your mind forever.
Will look this up. ... One comment and now a list of wonderful things to read. Maybe I can manage to live to 110 - LOL
Exactly how I feel reading this. Being a slow reader, I’d have to add more years to this.
DO read this. And listen to the podcast. It’s an incredible story, and of course George.
Mary, I've now read the story. I actually bought the book. Her style is fascinating - so dry yet gets to the heart of things. The second story in the book was A Long and Painful Death. Also wonderful. The pod cast is next.
Once you read a Keegan there is no going back.
Good on yer Terri. I think there is a book, bearing the story title, out with a couple of her other - each and every one - notable shorter form fictions collected withing its covers.
Not sure how, let alone why, another title of a novel by an outstanding English female writer comes to mind but as it has I'm more than pleased to commend it to you and other Story Clubbers happening to pass their reading 👀 this way. The title is The Pure Gold Baby, the writer is Margaret Drabble, date of publication was 2013 (which signals it as being a later work in her canon).
Ah yes! Penny drops. In regard of Claire Keegan, whose wordage is slim in total but in each instance viscerally etched on this reader's memory, what I'd borrow and repurpose from Margaret Drabble's title is the thought that whenever we first read, re-read or take notice of a freshly forthcoming new story title the expectation that rises is something along the lines of "Pure Gold Prose".
A title is an expectation. A proposal, a promise, and the novel or novella is the delivery.
So write, I now, how right written - albeit so visceral wrote - is your, so deeply engaging and deeper though provoking substantial novel entitled 'The Seasonwife'. No small, yet in my reading, utterly novel achievement Saige. I do, have and will, encourage all passing this threaded way - as I have in other, similar, such ways I have chipped a suggestion of a warp this way and a weft that way - to find and read your recent long form fiction.
Took my breath away... broadened my insight... couldn't wait to turn the page, begin the next chapter, find out what the outcome was going to turn out to be.
Just my personal, airing and sharing of, my personal point of view, and I have the temerity to repeat "utterly novel achievement". The title raised an sense of expectation; the published novel delivered.
"I noticed; I read; I discovered."
Or to splay it in the Latin I'm not, the least, claiming to command:
"Animadverti; Lego; Inventus sum."
😂 < He to the left being laughing at my inadequate Latin. > 👑 to my right being, simply, salutation to you story-telling prowess Saige. 🙏
Oh Rob, thank you so much for your kind response to my debut novel. Your words reached me today after a week of writing scenes for the next novel. The experience of time-travelling - being deeply immersed in another time and place. I came out drenched and felt quite sick to be torn away from the characters. You remind me that writers write and readers read to reach that other place and those other people, honouring that other time and place. Thank you for reminding me that it is worthwhile.
You are welcome to my words Saige. A tad, deliberately so, convoluted though they may be they do endeavour to convey this reader's experience: "utterly novel achievement".
Glad to be made aware that you are writing to etch story into another time and place; I will look forward to reading myself into such setting as you are making and to meeting and making acquaintance with the characters you populate it with.
"Worthwhile." The very word.
Did you read the Hadley? It's a richer prose style than Keegan. I can now say both are wonderful.
Yes, indeed, both are wonderful but what - in your desiderata - makes Hadley's prose style richer than Keegan's Terri? And which matters more, if I may further enquire, to you 'style' or 'story'? And, pushing the limit of fair asking, which in your view matters most to Hadley and to Keegan?
Not so much seeking deep. reflective, bet my house on the veracity of my POV answer but rather hoping to provoke your gentle, genial consideration.
The rythm in the title 'Ying tong' reminds me of the rhtym in some old dialects. The familiar resonance, something we can't grasp, it feels nonsensical and yet it rises us up and sings us out to play and home again.
Aye! Zigga Zoomba
Aye zigga zoomba zoomba zoomba
Aye zigga zoomba zoomba zay
Aye zigga zoomba zoomba zoomba
Aye zigga zoomba zoomba zay
Roll ’em down you Tar Heel Warriors
Roll ’em down and fight for Carolina
Aye zigga zoomba zoomba zoomba
Aye zigga zoomba zoomba zay
One American College's variant on a powerful, powerplay, punt it out and punt loud rhythmic better than mere chant. Best version, being first version, for me is the one inclusive of the key line of rough hewn lyric reading "Get 'em down you Zulu Warriors / Get 'em down you Zulu Chiefs".