Feather Man
by Rhyll McMaster
published by Marion Boyars
price 9.99
The early pages of Feather Man are full of beguiling though disturbing, shocking images of suburban life in Brisbane in the 1950s. Sooky is surrounded by objects and social rituals that have become, for some people, powerfully nostalgic emblems. The Thor washing machine thunders away. A kookaburra is perched on the oven door. Sooky's mother is often chained to the treadmill of her sewing machine.
This is, nevertheless, a dark world. The novel follows Sooky through four relationships with men, and her entry into the art world, but the truth is, she is never able to survive unless a relationship is providing the context, however bad it may be. This dark social comedy of manners reveals the fictions of the heart in an edgy and dangerous work of portraiture.
Lisa Glass, Vulpes Libris:
“Let me say first that Rhyll McMaster is an extraordinary writer. Her prose is dazzling, poetic and thought-provoking, and this is literary fiction at its best...I have likened Rhyll McMaster to Margaret Atwood. Atwood is brilliant, but in my view McMaster is even better.”
Catherine O'Flynn:
“Feather Man is at once both unflinching and poetic. McMaster's unique perspective illuminates the hidden corners of the lives she portrays.”
Rhyll McMaster, born 1947, started writing poetry whilst a child. Washing the Money won the Victorian Premier’s Prize and the Grace Leven Prize. Her poems have been broadcast on national radio and television, in Australia, but Feather Man isher first novel.
Comments
Beautifully written. Very revealing about human beings
20 October 2008
This is a beautifully-written novel, full of imaginative and original images and details. Most interesting to me was the psychological portrait of the central character, Sooky. She is a complex character but an absorbing one. I found this is a very brave book - almost painfully honest in places - but very revealing about human behaviour and full of insights and it was that aspect that had me gripped.
A friend, who I have great respect for, recommended it to me and I have since recommended it to a couple of people - who have come back to me begging to discuss it! So I imagine it might be a very good choice for bookgroups.
I'd love to hear what other people think.
Brilliant on every level.
21 October 2008
This is the one of the best books I have read in recent years. It works fantastically well at every level. The prose and imagery are virtuosic, the long term psychological effects of both sexual abuse and various other betrayals and failures of trusted adults are heart breakingly detailed and realistic, while at the same time there's a thread running through which is resolved in the most wonderfully gratifying way. There is also a killer last line which sweeps the rug from under your feet. This book by no means a light or easy read, but it has much to say about the human condition, and says it brilliantly
A literary masterpiece.
23 October 2008
If you're interested in intelligent poetic fiction, Feather Man is for you. It's a challenging read but worth the effort. The best books show us something we've missed, both in the world and in ourselves - Feather Man does this in spades.
Totally involving, moving, and manages to be funny also
31 October 2008
This is a book by a writer who has immersed herself in crafting words for many years - her sentences make you smile because she uses language so well. It is spit into four parts - although the book is about a woma, each part has a man's name. Sooky's life is just that - a series of relationships which define her but against which she rails, using humour to be the individual she knows she is underneath. But she is powerless. Read it for yourself. I am sure you will not regret it.
Very Persuasive
03 November 2008
This is a book I thought I knew in the first few pages - an abuse novel from the Colonies - but boy was I wrong. Rhyl McMaster is a clever, subtle and incisive writer who pulls some extraordinary tricks from her writer's bag. A very, very assured and exciting book.
Fantastic
21 November 2008
This book is a masterpiece! The characters haunt you long after you have finished reading it. I loved the blackness of the humor and the precise yet poetic language. Fantastic!
Synesthesia
24 November 2008
I read this novel non-stop.McMaster must have synesthesia because her images are so beautifully and constantly visual. I particularly love the descriptions of Sooky's art. This novel should be winning lots of major prizes, it's a masterpiece.
Talking Point
25 November 2008
I ran a book club discussion about Feather Man (which Rhyll attended) in my bookshop in Sydney.
The discussion was wide and varied and very deep. The ending in particular divided the participants and
we talked just about that for a long time. Highly recommended for reading groups, but it's also a fascinating read for anyone who loves good writing. I endorse all the comments above about this stunning novel.
Poetic images so real I could touch them
25 November 2008
I read Feather Man once, very quickly, to get the storyline out of the way. I then settled down, and read it a second time, more slowly, more leisurely, just to savor the marvelous poetry. The book is filled with sharply imagined imagery that I could almost touch them. The main character, Sooky, became so very real to me... Rhyll McMaster created her in bold poetic strokes... I was given a dual portrait of both Sooky's internal, and external, lives. It's a great bookclub selection... I read it on Barnes & Noble's online bookclub; the participation was energetic and thought-provoking. Highly recommended.
Already a winner
25 November 2008
'Feather Man' won the 2008 UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing in the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. The judges wrote: 'This is a novel written with a poet’s love of language. The prose dances and twists out of the darkness of Sookie’s childhood and into her emergence as an adult. Sookie sees the world in a completely idiosyncratic and unconventional way, never allowing us to paint her as a stereotyped victim of abuse. Rhyll McMaster has done what only the best writers do – she has used the richness of language to create new layers of story, giving us a novel that is witty, disturbing and completely alive.'
And I couldn't put it down!
brilliant!
26 November 2008
a writer that takes you into the darkest recesses of the heart/mind with such brilliant atmospherics and poetic humour. i found it a hard but haunting read.
A Creative Writer with the right touch.
01 December 2008
This was a hard read. Any type of molestation of children will chisel deep into the souls of the readers. Ryll is so creative that she dealt with the pain, the ugliness, the horror and explained it in a very intelligent manner. The story whirled around a couple that neglected each other 's feelings and the ability to see the pain happening to their little girl. This was alot of realism as to the descriptives of the characters involved in this story. A very excellent read for adults to enjoy.
credible journey
03 December 2008
Resonant in its selection of details, and moving in its depiction of the vulnerability of childhood spent in a less than functional setting, the emotion of this book lived with me from the confronting opening to the fairytale ending. Some very satisfying descriptions of people and events underpinned my feeling that here is an author to pursue in the future. Loraine L.
Anyone..
04 December 2008
Anyone who could write
" Her brain is stripped
to its inessentials.
She's disposed of the gears.
Her mind is full of old shoes
that don't fit.
Clothes. Which? Which?
She twitches a pair of slacks
over her shoulders.
'I used to have such lovely...lovely...' "
extract from 'On My Empty Feet' 1993
HAS GOT MY VOTE!
More, please!!
09 December 2008
Rhyll McMaster's writing is extraordinary - fierce and delicate-minded at the same time, she never puts a word wrong. This is an amazing first novel, a world of its own, and I am confident that any prose McMaster chooses to publish in the future will have the same marvellous qualities. Feather Man is comic, tender, savage, sad and then hilariously wild just when you're expecting no such turn of events. I love this kind of writing.
Poetic, insightful, absorbing
10 December 2008
A startling story. yet somehow familar. Told with all the skills and style of an inimitable poet.
Evocative, elusive, absorbing
11 December 2008
Fabulous book - you think you know where she's coming from, and you don't. You think you know where she's going, and you don't. It's surprising, engaging, uncompromising. A great read.
WISH I COULD VOTE TWICE!
14 December 2008
I could not put this down, though at times the honest and brutal writing made me want to. So vivid and wonderfully rendered were McMasters characters and narrative that I nearly picked up the phone to call Sooky, the main character, i nearly composed hate mail for Redmond, i nearly searched for Sooky's art. This book will stay on my shelves forever to be read and reread and im sure it will surprise me time and time again. A WINNER!
A GOOD READ
22 December 2008
A gripping story hard to put down. The author very deftly delves into the darker sides of human nature and the characters appear very real. At the same time it is full of sensitive humour and to anyone growing up in that period it is realistically evocative.
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