Rawness of prose suits topics

15-Always-a-grunt

ALWAYS A GRUNT by Mike Ledingham (BMS Books, 2014. Available from BMS Books, Rotorua: www.bms.co.nz, or inquire at booksellers); $29.95. Reviewed by PETER GRACE.
15-Always-a-grunt
This 150-page paperback consists of 14 short stories in three sections: Nessy’s Story, Army and Beyond, and The Boy.
Almost all stories are characterised by raw New Zealand male language, featuring vulgarity and coarseness. However, the language gives the stories energy — the roughness of the language is not for its own sake, but because it is how the kind of characters portrayed actually speak.
The author has, among other careers, been a soldier, so he knows how soldiers talk. Twelve of the 14 stories relate to army incidents, “based loosely on events he has witnessed or been involved in”, the “About the Author” paragraph says.
Most of the stories also feature humour — again of a rather rough, male kind.
The final story in the book is told from the point of view of a young boy who is being sexually abused by a Catholic priest. This is a powerful story, but it could have been stronger. The author editorialises in this story, and that weakens it somewhat: “The poor mother was not going to get much sleep that night, worried as she was. Nor was she going to get any answers in the rest of her lifetime. The answers would only begin to come nearly half a lifetime later. Late, almost too late, for one already shattered and ruined young life.” The story is strong enough for readers to form their own conclusions without being led to them by a commentator.
The book would be better if it did not assume readers knew the meaning of various acronyms, such as TOD (tour of duty?), RAP, RTNZ, LOBs, and a word like “sked” or phrase like “O Groups”.
It is also let down by inadequate sub-editing and/or proofreading.
A quick recheck over part of the book picked up things like the words “be” and “were” missing, “a;sp” instead of (probably) “especially”, “been” instead of “being”, missing end quote marks, instances of “alright” instead of “all right”. There were other typos and errors.
This book won’t suit everybody, but I enjoyed much of its raw and energetic style of prose.
I hope the author keeps writing, but perhaps with better quality control.
Peter Grace is editor of NZ Catholic. He has also worked as a farmer, livestock officer, probation officer, work scheme supervisor and taxi driver.

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Comments

  1. Leo says

    Perhaps with more foul language control, too.
    For God’s sake, literally, let’s not promote vile literature to our Catholic people.
    Is there nothing better with which to fill the pages on NZ Catholic ?

  2. Michael Smith says

    Hi, thanks for the great review of Mike Ledingham’s book. Good that you picked up the subbing errors too. I would just point out that the web page on which the review was placed slewed the paragraphs all over the place, so the reader didn’t know where they started or ended. Or was that just one of the formatting things that creeps in on web pages? Also “I enjoyed much of itsraw and…” I think you meant to say “I enjoyed much of its raw and…”

    Re Leo’s comments, it is a shame his sensibilities have been offended. People, including Catholics, come in all shapes and sizes and many, particularly ex-SAS soldiers, do swear. So it would be wrong to change the language used by the characters too greatly and to pretend they are anything but what they appear to be. Or would he have it otherwise?.

    But thanks again for taking to time to do this review. It is great to have received your feedback.

    • Leo says

      Yes, I would indeed have it otherwise.
      There was a time when films and literature were able to provide entertainment, information and inspiration without portraying their heroes as foul-mouthed, drug-taking, serial fornicators.
      One knows full well that many characters written by Shakespeare would have been foul-mouthed in the real world. But that didn’t require Shakespeare to have them speak that way for his messages to be conveyed.
      Catholics do come in all shapes and sizes, and they all sin occasionally in various ways. But we do well not to celebrate their sinning, or to treat it as inevitable and irreversible.
      The real world is quite a terrible place, and it needs not to be replicated in literature or cinema for the consumption of the impressionable and/or for affront of the decent.
      Michael seems to be unaware that life copies “art”, or perhaps he doesn’t care that it is because of exposure to foul language via cinema and television that such language has become the norm.
      Catholics, especially the young, deserve a helluva lot better.

  3. Francis says

    Completely agree with Leo. Michael, so if the characters would in real life used Blamphemy, would that make it morally ok to include in the book? Is making something realistic more important than avoiding offending Our Lord? Of course not. So in the same way swearing/coarse language should not be used. And as Leo rightly points out, is there nothing better for the NZ Catholic to review???

  4. Michael Smith says

    Is the sinning you are referring to swearing or the abuse of a nine-year-old boy. To be enlightened on the reality facing families and the impact on those involved, you could do worse than follow the continuing updates available from the Royal Commission underway in Australia. Here is a link to some witness statements from a current hearing:
    http://www.tjhcouncil.org.au/royal-commission/case-study-28,-ballarat,-may-2015,/case-study-28-opening-and-witness-statements.aspx

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