Event Review

An Afternoon with Liane Moriarty at Sweeny Hall, Oswestry discussing her new novel:  Here One Moment

I attended a literary event where I was lucky enough to see Lianne Moriarty, bestselling author of Big Little Lies. When I saw this event being advertised, and realised that it was affordable and within an hour and a half of my house, I was somewhat ecstatic. Moriarty is an Australian author with huge success, not least because many of her novels have been turned into major Series with actors such as Nicole Kidman, Reece Witherspoon, Melissa McCarthy, Meryl Streep, Sam Neill and Luke Evans, to name a few. As a fellow writer, to have such global success is what dreams of made of and I’m in genuine awe of what she’s achieved. One of the things I enjoy most about Moriarty’s writing is her ability to create characters who are wholly believable, she captures relationships between her characters in a realistic and intimate way and seems to pull thoughts from my mind, thoughts that make no sense even to me, and transfers them to her pages. Her accuracy often makes me laugh out loud, the realism I feel when reading her words is often incomparable. She manages to include the idiosyncrasies of the human condition with a perfect amount of humour and yet portraying an equal amount of the pain that being human also inevitably brings.

Having attended a similar event a year previously with Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, I think I expected to have a similar response. Picoult is the also the best selling author of incredible books, that have also made it onto the big screen, in films such as My Sister’s Keeper, and I have read all of her books. It was incredible to be sat to close to both authors, who had worked together to write the moving and brilliant Mad Honey, but I didn’t feel any connection to them. Picoult, to me, came across as a well-educated, middle-class woman who has enjoyed a great deal of success. She was direct and honest, articulate and interesting but (and this is just my opinion) lacked warmth. I didn’t leave feeling inspired to write, mostly because it was hard to see myself and  my dreams in her.

I found Moriarty different from the outset of her conversation with the interviewer. She seemed, and I mean this in the positive way, very normal and relatable. Though not outspoken and commanding of attention, Moriarty shared her wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise with such humour, grace and personality that I was immediately drawn in. Despite having stories about writing a part for Meryl Streep and meeting Nicole Kinman, she was incredibly down to earth and genuine. When she talked about her sisters and parents, it was clear to see where her depth of emotional intelligence stemmed from, and she told stories with the same humour and warmth that I had come to love in her novels.

I felt so inspired and simultaneously at ease during the event, that I was propelled to ask advice about how prospective writers can maintain resilience in the publishing industry; I was moved by her response. Although I am paraphrasing, Moriarty said that if it was difficult at first to find an agent to represent your work, it was most likely due to the fact that your work stood out as something different and it would take a braver agent to step outside of what they know is currently selling and be prepared to represent work that challenged social and literary norms. I will continue to return to these words when I feel my resilience waver.

Afterwards, Moriarty took the time to sign our books, meet us and take pictures. It felt like a genuine honour to meet this author, whose work I’m sure will continue to move me and cause me to cry with laughter for many years to come.

Book Review

Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

A beautifully written, poignant and tragic story, one that promotes empathy and understanding of the characters. The dual narrative allows a unique insight into somewhat opposing characters, the murdered girl, Lily, and the mother of the boy accused of killing her, Olivia. The reverse chronology of Lily’s story is ingenious in allowing the reader to gain an insight into who she was and how she got to this point. Picoult and Boylan each took a character and authored alternative chapters, although they did each write one in the opposing character’s chapters, Picoult says this was in order to challenge themselves and see whether the reader would notice (which I did not!). The twists and turns of the narrative keep the reader guessing as to the murderer’s identity until the last minute. I highly recommend this insightful and thought-provoking novel and guarantee its story will stay with you long after closing the book.

Jason Manford’s A Manford All Seasons (A Work In Progress)

I’ve just returned from watching Jason Manford in The Lyceum in Crewe, Cheshire. I always forget what a beautiful venue The Lyceum is until I visit, but the grade II listed building is architecturally elegant and the theatre itself is highly impressive.  

My friend ended up with a spare ticket for the show, so it wasn’t something I’d booked myself, but I do enjoy watching Jason on the various panel shows so was quite looking forward to it. I have never attended ‘ A Work In Progress’ of any show before, but my friend explains that the show wasn’t finalised and these shows are for the comedians to taste out what material works etc and that the comedians will often have a pen and paper on stage to make a few notes, and to finalise the show for their bigger tour with larger venues.

 I must say that he did not disappoint. Unlike many comedians I’ve seen, he worked hard initially to put the audience at ease and rather than the traditional ‘picking on people,’ he thanked people for coming out, commenting that he was sure most people had regretted buying the tickets earlier in the day, as who can be bothered to go out again on a dark miserable Saturday night? The laugh he received confirmed that he’d hit the nail on the head with that one. It’s true that the pace of life today makes our time our precious and valuable commodity. Whilst in our teens, a night in would have left us with a definite ‘fear of missing out,’ for me a weekend with no plans is a rare and valued treat.

When he came onto the stage, Manford took a seat, had some water and welcomed us all in such a way that I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding. Whilst I often find myself feeling nervous for a comedian, from the moment he entered the stage, I felt I was in the hands of a professional. Despite his success as a comedian, acquired wealth and television personality, Manford still comes across as a normal, Northern, very likeable, working class person, which for me makes him extremely relatable. As soon as he got started, I found him hilarious. The astute observational comedy about parenthood was particularly good, my belly actually hurt from laughing so much. His final words involved a discussion about the concept of ‘The Arts’, and whether comedy itself is art. I won’t give away the joke element of this in case anyone who reads this ends up seeing the show, but the content of the discussion part interested me. He discussed how when we think about the Arts, we often consider Ballet, Opera, Artist exhibitions, live theatre etc but what is art at its core? Apparently the arts are ‘a vehicle through which human beings cultivate distinct social, cultural, and individual identities while transmitting values, impressions, judgements, ideas, visions, spiritual meanings, patterns of life, and experiences across time and space.’  For me, comedy would certainly be captured by this definition. Manford pointed out though, that the main difference between many art forms and comedy, is that for the most part, comedy belongs to the working class. The comedy circuits are affordable nights out for many, and whilst comedians do often sell out large arenas, even these shows aren’t anywhere near as expensive as most concerts, ballets or opera performances. Comedians often uses the inequalities in society, the arrogance of politicians and the instability of the world as material for their jokes, and who needs to laugh at the craziness, and often, unfairness of life, more than working class people, especially right now? Yet, if you regularly attend comedy nights, are you considered to be a connoisseur of The Arts? Very possibly not . Is this a classism issue? Definitely food for thought at the very least.

Overall, Jason Manford has very much made the venturing out on a cold Saturday night worth it, as well as, of course, enjoying a rare and precious night out with my lovely friend.

The evening did make me think about how writing can be so many things, I can’t imagine writing comedy shows myself, but then I suppose script writers write prose, just as novelists do, but often they also write comedy within that. And poetry has so much in common with song writing but they are both different forms. Words are just incredible in so many ways and can hold so much power, whether that’s the power to make someone laugh or move them to tears.

Event and Book Review

An Evening with Cecelia Ahern, discussing her new novel; Into the Storm by Cecelia Ahern.

I attended the above mentioned event and had the opportunity to meet the incredible Cecelia Ahern. Having been a fan since the days of PS I love you, the best-selling book that later became a huge Hollywood film, I was very excited to be able to see and hear her talk in person.

Firstly, I want to tell you about the novel itself. It is very much inspired by nature, folklore and paganism but follows a forty-seven year old woman who has left her husband (and son, though not through choice) and is at a crossroads in her life. Up until this point she has lived as a respectable, level-headed, committed GP in a shared practice with her husband, but suddenly finds herself dealing with grief that has been repressed for over three decades. Whilst I don’t want to give anything away, this novel explores a woman whose whole life has been lived for others, at a time when she has no choice but to face herself.

The evening was an interesting one. Having met Liane Moriarty only a couple of weeks earlier, I was just as excited to meet this heavy-weight in the literary world. Ahern had huge success with her debut novel, the aforementioned PS I love You and incredibly this book is her twenty first novel. She is published in over 40 countries and have sold over 25 million copies of her novels. For such a prolific writer, you may be surprised to learn that she also have various television and film credits to her name.

The event itself felt somewhat different to the Liane Moriarty event. Although both were set up as ‘In Conversation With’ type events, I felt that the interviewer for this book was also a fan. Whilst in theory this works, and perhaps it was as a result of excitement or nerves, I felt the interviewer for Cecelia Aherne spoke more than the author herself and actually spoke over her on a few occasions. Whilst there were odd snippets of information revealed, I did feel that we learnt more about the interviewer than the author, which was a little disappointing. As you would expect from a person in her position, Aherne came across as confident and proud of what she’d accomplished with her work, despite being unwell on the evening in question. I didn’t feel that we learnt much about her as a person, or even her creative process, but then whether a well-known person owes such information to her ‘fans’, or in this case readers, is a different debate entirely. Overall, I really did enjoy the evening, and I’m very much looking forward to her next release.