Monday, November 16, 2009


MAGPIE HALL
By Rachael King
Random House, $36.99
Reviewed by Nicky Pellegrino

I loved Rachael King’s first novel The Sound of Butterflies. To me it felt like she was breathing some much-needed fresh air through New Zealand’s literary scene and I waited eagerly for a follow up.

Magpie Hall is a curious book, as colourful as the tattoos that adorn the bodies of its main characters and yet very much in the dark gothic tradition. There are parallels with King’s debut novel – in particular the theme of greedy collectors of fauna and flora – but she’s not exactly repeating herself for this is a very different story.
The lead character is Rosemary Summers, a young woman in an unhappy place. Her beloved grandfather has died and she’s struggling to complete her thesis on the gothic Victorian novel. Walking out on the married man she’s been seeing, she returns to her rambling, historic family home, the Magpie Hall of the title, which is soon to be ripped apart and modernised.

Rosemary is no ordinary girl. She collects tattoos, is into taxidermy and is saddled with guilt over events in the family’s past. During the lonely days she spends at Magpie Hall the three separate things come together and long-buried secrets come to light.
This story is told mostly in alternate chapters: Rosemary’s modern-day experiences are counter-pointed with those of her great-great grandfather Henry Summers the original builder of Magpie Hall who was widowed in mysterious circumstances and was an obsessive collector, building up a cabinet of curiousities said to have driven him mad. But many things are far from what they seem as the reader eventually discovers.

King is a lovely writer. From her prose you can tell how much joy she takes in words. She has a light touch and a particular talent for evoking atmosphere. Magpie Hall itself becomes a forceful character in the story with its cold, sinister menagerie room and tower, its stuffed native birds and leering, malevolent magpies.

Much as I enjoyed the book I did feel as though it could have been longer – epic like the Victorian gothic works it references. King has created such a magical place and such strong characters I wanted to read more of them. While this is undoubtedly a good second novel (with gorgeous front cover artwork and design throughout) I still think the very best is yet to come from Rachael King.

FOOTNOTE:
Nicky Pellegrino, in addition to being a succcesful author of popular fiction, (her latest The Italian Wedding was published in May this year), is also the Books Editor of the Herald on Sunday where the above review was first published on 15 November.

SUPPLEMENTARY COMMENT FROM BOOKMAN BEATTIE:

I finished reading MAGPIE HALL on Saturday and read Nicky Pellegrino's review the next day in the Herald on Sunday.
I had made a few notes about the book as I read it but when I finished it I wrote in capitals - IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LONGER, MUCH LONGER. I felt this partly because I regretted getting to the end of a fine novel but principally because I wanted to know much more about King's marvellous principal characters - Rosemary, Henry and Dora.
All three are such interesting folk and I reckon King missed a chance to really develop them fully. Also I needed more about the generations between Henry and Rosemary and their lives at Magpie Hall.
So I find myself in agreement with reviewer Nicky Pellegrino, it is a jolly fine read, beautifully crafted but I wanted more...............

As an aside I must add that the book is also a beautiful physical thing with cover design (outstanding) and artwork by Sarah Laing and text design by Laura Forlong.

2 comments:

Sharon said...

After reading the reviews above I had to weigh in with some thoughts about Magpie Hall.

FWIW, when I finished reading Magpie Hall I too was left wanting more. But the ideas and characters have really stuck with (haunted?) me since I finished the book, which is more than I can say for a similar(ish) bestseller such as The Thirteenth Tale - which I finished, thought "huh. a third sister. okay then." and didn't think about again afterwards.

Magpie Hall is not a long, epic, finely detailed story, but rather like an intense, slightly fragmented dream: a little fleeting, showning only glimpses rather than every single minute detail, with some 'gaps' yes, but absolutely filled with symbolism and meaning. It's a dream that - and again here's that word - haunts me long after it's finished.

Initially with Magpie Hall I was disappointed that more plot points weren't explained, such as what happened to Henry after Dora's death, and that we didn't get to actually witness his descent into madness. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised it was so much more effective if left to my imagination.

One of my pet peeves with movies, TV and novels is when they set up a great premise but then over-explain it or tie it up all neatly with a bow at the end in Scooby-Doo style. Interestingly I re-read Fingersmith recently and found myself wishing Sarah Waters had done somewhat less explaining as I found myself getting bored with the extended explanation, wrap-up and dénouement.

The Great Gatsby, arguably the Great American Novel (as well as an extremely short novel), is, like Magpie Hall, also written in dreamlike sequences, depicting only what is necessary and nothing more. In it Fitzgerald elucidates the salient point that dreams are what feed us and keep us going, and the moment our dreams becomes tangible, real, defined and touchable they lose their power and mystique. The story of Magpie Hall, on the whole, avoids becoming tawdy, everyday and explained. It holds its power over the reader precisely because it does not give everything away.

Rather than "missing an opportunity" to write more, I think King has very cleverly held back to ensure we are left with lingering questions and desires. I can just imagine all the fervored book group discussions that will soon be taking place.

Every good entertainer knows the key to success is to 'always leave the audience wanting more'. The genius of jazz Count Basie maintained it wasn't about the notes he played, it was about the spaces he deliberately left between them.

This is the first novel I have read since The Time Traveler's Wife that has kept me thinking about it and questioning it for days after reading. King is brilliant at evoking a mood and getting our senses going, and then she cunningly leaves space for our imaginations to take flight rather than serving everything up on a plate.

Her writing inspired and enthralled me, and also left me with a lingering sense of wonder and 'what-if'-ing mixed with frustration and longing. I'd say that's a pretty big bang for my buck.

Beattie's Book Blog said...

Many thanks Sharon for your thoughtful comments. I'm sure the author will be pleased too.