I don't know how many times I've read this short story. Certainly enough times to get it and almost enough times to love it. It's right in the middle of Mutes and Earthquakes, so every time I randomly open the book in search of something short to read, I tend to get Holloway Road. And every time I stumble across it like this I re-read it and get a slightly new angle on the story.
It takes us into the world of a group of broke students and ex-students in 1990s Aro Valley (still a favourite student area of Wellington). They all have crappy jobs and whinge incessantly about the cold, squalor and poverty they live in. Their lives aren't terrible, just nasty, and they're all bored and tired of each other... until Jessica comes up with her own way of saving them all.
What I like best about this story is its coherence. The characters are consistent and believable, even likeable, and there's no excessively crafted symbolism. Instead Wellington and its inhabitants are allowed to speak for themselves. The morality of Jessica's actions isn't, fortunately, questioned, so we are allowed to ponder her decision for ourselves. Ultimately we're left with a strong and almost physical impression of the young people's struggles and their tragic solution.
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Sunday, August 27, 2006
9 comments:
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That might be interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteI rented a 4 bedroom house in Mt Vic in 1987 and 1988 and sublet 3 of the rooms. It was pretty crappy, had other houses 1m - 2m from either side of it, no grass (except for the badly broken up and totally overgrown tiny yard in the back), and an outside washhouse. I didn't actually own a bed -- or any other furniture -- yet, and slept on a mattress on the floor. The rent was $300/week, which is more than than the $240 I'm paying now for a far nicer 3 bedroom place in Churton Park, or the $250/week I was paying from 1996-2004 for a 4 bedroom (but unmaintaned) place in Tawa.
I wouldn't call it squalor, though I suppose some might.
As it happens I was working for a stockbroking firm, and some of the other employees lived a little firther north in Mt Vic. Elizabeth St, for example. Already then there were a lot of 100 year old houses that had been totally yuppified.
That story was brilliant. I thought it was about the passage of youth and how the dead are idealised- the loss of the memory of Boy is somehow more poignant than his literal death.
ReplyDeleteApparently Holloway Road used to have a prison, and it's still a pretty horrible run down area.
Hmm .. the only Holloway Road I know goes down a gloomy litttle overgrown offshoot of Aro valley, on the left just before you go up the hill to Kelburn/Karori. I think there's some sort of little reserve at the end?
ReplyDeleteSo it's not in Mt Vic? Dern, I shall have to edit.
ReplyDeleteThe cold and squalor makes much more sense now. But my original comment doesn't :-(
ReplyDeleteMeh. I'm now puzzled as to the prominence of Oriental Parade in the story when they actually lived on the other side of town. It does explain why they took a vehicle to get to the pub, though.
ReplyDeleteI want to live in Mount Victoria, too.
Jessica drove them to drink?
ReplyDeleteHeh. Yes, totally.
ReplyDeleteWell Gael did spend some time in Mt Vic, but she would not remember it. Like, about the 8 or 9 months just before she was born.
ReplyDeletedowwboi