Waikato Times Book Review: At the Point of Seeing

Posted: Sunday Jul 30, 2023

Megan Kitching’s poetry has appeared in The Frogmore Papers (UK), takahē, Poetry New Zealand, and Landfall. In 2021, she was the inaugural Caselberg Trust Elizabeth Brooke-Carr Emerging Writer Resident. Her debut collection, At the Point of Seeing (Otago University Press, RRP $25), is out now.

Poetry and non-fiction make up a lot of my reading these days, but every now and then I scurry to catch up on fiction.

Two novels which have stayed with me recently have carried the long shadow of Covid-19. Fiona Farrell’s The Deck is a heart-wrenching affirmation of the power of storytelling in dark times. The crib by the sea was so appealing I longed to hunker down there, like the characters, until all our crises were over.

Sarah Hall’s Burntcoat was another tough but essential read, also a love story about art in a time of plague. Both novels made me cry and I would read both again in a heartbeat. Closer to home, I’ve just finished Vanda Symon’s Expectant. It’s an uneasy kind of pleasure to read about murder a few blocks away, but Expectant has the gutsy language and social commentary of great crime fiction. I loved the way empathy as much as justice drives the plot.

I’m also reading Whiti Hereaka’s Kurangaituku, an intriguing revisionist take on a story I only knew from childhood picture books.

There’s so much fresh poetry to enjoy at the moment. Claudia Jardine’s frank and funny Biter has added a bright note to my winter book pile. Ash Davida Jane’s How to Live with Mammals is a re-read currently on its last library renewal, which tells me I should probably buy a copy. I admire this collection so much for its ability to live in this world while longing for the pasts and futures we’ve lost.

Finally, I’m savouring Landfall 245. It’s not only the quality and variety of the writing and art but the tactile pleasure of flipping through the pages that makes every Landfall such a treat.

The Waikato Times