Shena Mackay
Mon, 2006-01-30 12:23
#1
Shena Mackay
Does anyone else agree that she is one of the best writers we have, and that she is terribly underrated... People always think of McEwan and Amis and Ishiguru when they think of 'big' UK writers, but I always think of Shena Mackay.
Her writing is beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful, imaginative and challenging too. I love her writing.
Just wanted to say that really.
Brooklands
I liked Music Upstairs,
it didn't knock my socks off but I liked it.
I wonder whether Amis, McEwan, Ishiguro are thought of as the BIG writers just because they sell most. Mackay is not a very well known name, which is not to say that she isn't more talented than the big boys...
Joe
fergal
Yeah, maybe... but she did write Music Upstairs when she was 17 - unbelievable.
Yes, but I suppose I wonder why they sell so much and someone like Mackay doesn't?
markbrown
I read "The World's Smallest Unicorn and Other Stories" a few months ago and thought that it was absolutely terrific.
I haven't read a book of short stories for ages, apart from this, where I've thought 'Hey! I was just getting used to those characters. why'd you have to go and end it there?'. Every story in the book is like a chapter from another book, except the books that they come from don't exist, only these little peepholes into the possible worlds and lives that they contain.
She's very good at interior life.
And there's a great story about an old people's home. For clowns.
Get it from Amazon.co.uk here:
http://tinyurl.com/d896n
The review on Amazon is a wonder of 'Will this do?'
"A collection of stories that combine the macabre and the mundane, by a writer with a sharp eye for the telling detail. "
Cheers,
Mark Brown, Editor (on leave), www.ABCtales.com
tara_hanks
Shena Mackay is one of my favourites too. 'The Orchard On Fire' is a masterpiece IMO. Years ago, I read 'Dust Falls On Eugene Schlumberger', published at the same time as 'Music Upstairs'. I can't remember a thing about it now, except that it was wonderful.
I also like the early work of Nell Dunn, who wrote 'Poor Cow' and 'Up The Junction' during that same kitchen-sink, mid-sixties era. And Shelagh Delaney's 'A Taste Of Honey'. But I'm getting a bit off-topic now.