My latest readings have taken me from Nagasaki to Gundagai to Saigon, following the journeys of central characters as they deal with loss, love and childhood memories.
While each book explores the same themes and tells the story of a central female character, that is the extent of the similarities. But it got me thinking about universal themes and story structures.
A Pale View of the Hills (Kazuo Ishiguro)
I started out with Kazuo Ishiguro's 1982 classic - A Pale View of the Hills - the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman living in London, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. But most of the story is set in Nagasaki, when she and her friends struggle to rebuild their lives after the war and she develops a strange friendship with Sachiko, a wealthy woman reduced to poverty.
It's an interesting cast of very distinct characters. Some are lovable, some are not, but you can't help but be intrigued by their stories.
What I love most about Ishiguro's work (and it's common in other books of his that I've read) is the depth of story and undercurrents. At only 183 pages, it's a short novel with a lot of things unsaid, a style I personally enjoy in a book.
Purple Threads (Jeanine Leane)
The subject matter lightened with the reading of Jeanine Leane's debut novel Purple Threads for which she won the 2011 David Unaipon Award. Leane weaves a beautiful tale based on her life growing up on a sheep farm in Gundagai with her Aunties and Nan who you warm to in the first page. Told through the eyes of a child it has all innocence and honesty you'd expect, and more.
For me the stand out was the characterisation of the dialogue and Leane's evocative descriptions of place. There was a real sense of seasons turning, time passing and an unquestionable connection to the land.
Like Ishiguro, Leane's book was short - 10 short stories and an epiloque, but again it felt like it contained so much more.
The Rainy Season (Myfanwy Jones)
Myfanwy Jones, The Rainy Season (2009) is a full length novel where everything is spelled out. Through the central character; Ella, who is coming to terms with her feelings of rejection, Jones explores expatriate life in Vietnam; a country in the midst of change, and the unacknowledged soldiers of the Vietnam War. It creates an interesting landscape and dynamic for a story.
Although I tend to shy away from full length novels (it's a time issue!) there were many parts that resonated and I was intrigued to know how the story ended. I also liked the insight into Vietnamese life but was secretly happy when the central character ventured beyond her expat friends and into the dusty back alleyways.
Reading each book it was clear that even though they had similar themes, they were very different stories, each told in their own style. Where A Pale View of the Hills appealed for it's 'white space', Purple Threads shone through the characters and setting and The Rainy Season for it's clarity.
Image: Cover designs by Blue Cork, Miriam Rosenbloom and Two Associates.