Just Arrived: “The Axeman’s Carnival” by Catherine Chidgey
Sometimes, we hear about a book long before we get to read it, either because everyone seems to be talking about it, or because the author, or the book, have won a major prize.
In the case of The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey all of the above apply. A great many people have discussed the book in very positive terms, both in the media and bookish circles.
The author, Catherine Chidgey, is a previous Ockham NZ Book Award (the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction) winner (for The Wish Child in 2017), as well as having received a large number of other awards and accolades for previous works. Last, but by no means least, The Axeman’s Carnival has also recently won the 2023 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction.
So naturally I am very pleased to finally have a copy of The Axeman’s Carnival on my own to-read table and am looking forward to meeting the famous Tama Magpie. 😀
(After I have finished reading Tan Twan Eng’s The Garden of Evening Mist, of course, and reported back to you here.)
In the time-honoured tradition of my Just Arrived posts, I shall leave you with what the backcover synopsis (or “blurb”) has to say about the story within the covers:
“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 unforgettable Tama – taken in and raised by Marnie on the Te Waipounamu high country farm she shares with champion axeman husband Rob – constantly entertains with his take on the foibles and dramas of his human companions. Catherine Chidgey’s writing is masterful, and the underlying sense of dread as the story unfolds is shot through with humour and humanity. The Axeman’s Carnival is unique: poetic, profound and a powerfully compelling read from start to finish.’ —Judges’ comments, Ockham NZ Book Awards 2023
Sadly I have never been able to engage with Catherine Chidgey’s novels. While I admire her writing and the skill of her plots, the subject matter leaves me cold and “The Axeman’s carnival” is no exception. Sometimes one has to persist with an author until you come to appreciate them at other times you just have to admit an author is not for you and move on.
We all enjoy different stories and storytelling styles, Sue — and if we all liked the same thing I suspect the world would be a far duller place, with far fewer authors on readers’ shelves. 😀