The Hut Builder

by Laurence Fearnley

It was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen and I didn't have the words to describe it. I felt it though. I let out an incredible whoop of joy and skipped into the air, laughing and laughing; there was so much joy inside me. For the first time in all my memory, I could not contain myself.

As a boy in the early 1940s, young Boden Black finds his life changed for ever the day his neighbour Dudley drives him over the hills into the vast snow-covered plains of the Mackenzie country. Unexpectedly his world opens up and he discovers a love of landscape and a fascination with words that will guide him throughout his life, as he forges a career as a butcher and poet, spends a joyous summer building a hut on the slopes of Mount Cook and climbs to the summit in the company of Sir Edmund Hillary.

A moving exploration of onw man's journey and the events which shape him, The Hut Builder is also an evocative celebration of the mountain world and the wonder of life.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Laurence Fearnley is an award-winning novelist. Her novel The Hut Builder won the fiction category of the 2011 NZ Post Book Awards and was shortlisted for the international 2010 Boardman Tasker Prize for mountain writing. Her book Edwin and Matilda was runner-up in the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards and her second novel, Room, was shortlisted for the 2001 Montana Book Awards. In 2004 Fearnley was awarded the Artists to Antarctica Fellowship and in 2007 the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago. Laurence Fearnley lives in Dunedin with her husband and son.

Reviews

[Suzzanne Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hut Builder, a New Zealand Post Book Award winner, is a story of a young boy (then young man), who learns secrets about his past at the same time he learns the strengths of his character. Boden Black's hometown is Faerlie, NZ, (the town has a Facebook page) in the beautiful Central Otago region of the South Island. The body of The Hut Builder is built upon a sense of place that forms Boden in thought, word, and deed.

As a young man in the 1940s, Boden accidentally spends time with Sir Edmund Hillary, and he builds a hut on the slopes of Mount Cook--a favorite snow-covered place for mountain climbers. Boden is an unusual mix of butcher and poet; the knowledge and skills of both underscore his tale.

Author Laurence Fearnley's portrayal of Boden is poetic prose. My favorite scene is eight-year-old Boden's exuberance at his first sight of the Mackenzie Basin:

"Stretching before me, as far as my eye could see, was a vast plain of snow-covered tussock and grass....I couldn't believe how much space there was. Everywhere I looked, I saw uninterrupted views of land and sky. If I had set out walking I would be traveling well into the night and throughout the following day--and perhaps the day after that.
[Dudley] pulled the truck off the road and we all got out and just stood looking. I could feel the stubbly, frozen ground through the soles of my shoes and when I kicked my toe, snow--like fine powder--spun around my ankles, landing on my socks like fairy dust. The light was so bright that I was dazzled, but I didn't want to shade my eyes with hand as Ted was. I wanted to be dazzled. I wanted to stand in the full glare of the snowfield.
I saw tiny pinpricks in the snow where drops of water had fallen from the tussock. I saw the way the snow was an intense blue in the patches where it was shaded by the larger bushes. I saw footprints made by rabbits and hares, a crazy zigzag of steps going nowhere in particular, and I saw a spider's web, caught on the upper twigs of a matagouri bush, glistening like the most precious jewels strung on a bracelet or a collar or something--I didn't know what because it was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen and I didn't have the words to describe it. I felt it though. Even though my feet were wet and freezing and my hands had turned to ice, so that I clasped and unclasped my fingers until they hurt--despite all that I could feel the scene in front of me and all at once I let out an incredible whoop of joy and skipped in the air, laughing and laughing; there was so much joy inside me. For the first time in all my memory, I could not contain myself."

It was this experience that drove Boden as he matured to find the words to describe.

"With the image of what I had seen still burning within me, the words tumbling about like loose marbles in my mouth, I experienced a sense of failure. But it didn't really matter--for I had seen the glorious Mackenzie Basin and I had almost composed my first poem."

[Bexie Towle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hut Builder is a poet that is awakened in the heart of a sheltered small-town butcher from spending time in the mountains. The main character in this book struggles with his emotions and relationships.. Having just read Bernadette’s By The Light of the Moon, I again appreciate the rawness that is admitted to, that sometimes gets in the way of the awe. But this one is fiction, of course. The main character is not quite relatable or likable, but somehow that makes him more real. I love a good NZ historical fiction. In another version of reality, I grew up in New Zealand (in this version of reality, i live in New Zealand but grew up in the States). Sometimes I can almost remember my uni days in Dunedin. I also love NZ huts and spending time in the outdoors. Thus, this book had all the elements to absorb me as I read it on the plane. Oh, and bonus. I picked it up at the recycle centre for $1! I love picking up random books and how they can then become a part of my life, my memories.

[JulietA · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy McKenzie country and mountains this is a must read. Wonderful mix of fact and fiction, beautifully written, poignant story of a man in his twilight years reflecting on life. Easy, interesting read.

[Margaret Willoughby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written very descriptive book. Although it is fiction. I found myself convinced it was a memoir of the butcher and poet Boden Black. It is set in Fairlie 5he story of a boy born in the lare 1930s. his twin brothers who were much older than him went down with the ship they were on.during thecwar. His mother never got over her grief and was a sad withdrawn person. Boden was himself a shy quiet child. He learns ge is adopted when his father blurts it out on evening because he thinks his wife who was on a train trip yo Auckland was on the train the night of the Tangawai disaster. Boden works for his father in the butchers shop and writes poetry. Several of his poems were published. He never marries or has children but does meet his resl sister and the understands why he writes poetry. Love of mountains climbs Aoraki Mt, Cook once helped along by Ed Hilary. Loves the mountains but never climbs a peak such as Cook again.

[Todd Wines · Rating 2 out of 5]

the writing repeatedly went to "this reminded me of the time in my childhood when...." which took away from the moments that were worth reading. It felt like the most interesting parts of the story were short and never actually got to read any of the poet's poems.

I did appreciate the characters from NZ history and the settings though.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting slice of NZ history well told

[Neil Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply gorgeous, wonderful, beautiful. So good

[Cheryl Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evocative.

[Richard Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book beautifully written at a lovely pace, delivered by a benevolent voice about his life in New Zealand…absolutely delightful.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess that a lot of this novel is about disconnection - and this is best conveyed through the main character who is oddly diconnected from the people around him and even from his own life. He is also disconnected from his gender and writes in an oddly androgynous voice. However, when you realise the author is female, this makes some sort of sense - and even further develops the disconnect. (In fact I felt the same kind of androgeny in Emily Perkins' 'A Novel About My Wife' and Katherine Mansfield's 'Je ne Parle Pas Francais' - it's almost like the voice on an audio book, when a female reader deepens her voice to become a male character.

Unfortunately, for me, the disconnection is so pronounced that he, Boden Black, disconnects me. I never quite care about him. He describes himself as being named after his mother's brother, who died in the war, 'Unlike Boden, who died befofre I was born, my mother battled on and, lo, one day, victorious, another healthy child appeared - me.' This has the sound of an oft told story, or family legend, with something missing (which indeed it is), but the image of 'appearing', rather than being born increases the disconnect.

Boden's voice is curious. 'For as long as I could remember - insofar as my own personal experience enabled me to see - my mother seemed frail, hollow'. This image is continued with her fascination/need for jigsaw puzzles - fractured images of 'exotic locations and grand buildings' which couldn't be more different from Fairlie, a small South Canterbury town near Geraldine, New Zealand. 'insofar' feels a strange word to use - it was odd to read. My eye didn't naturally scan it, and I had to go back to read it a couple of times. It also feels a very formal word to be talking about his memory of his mother - further showing the disconnect of their relationship.

The writing about New Zealand, and the mountains, in contrast, is much more connected. Descriptions of scenes are evocative and sensual, 'Beside me, drops of melted ice plunked into a billy next to my sleeping bag. I watched as each drip formed, a small nipple of water that lengthened and stretched before falling, splashing into the container below.' Boden's journey up the mountain feels much more 'real' than his life journey, 'The ridge was increasingly steep and icy in places and on several occasions I had to kick my boot into the ice, taking my full weight on the front points of my crampons. This development unnerved me. It was one thing to have one's feet planted squarely on the ground, but to be clawing one's way up a steep mountain was terrifying.' Even here, the character is distanced through the use of 'one's'.

Rather than connect me, I felt that the use of NZ icons was forced and didn't sit well. Tangiwai, Hillary, Brasch (the poet), James K Baxter and the iconic Mt Cook and MacKenzie Country feel a little too 'kiwi kitsch', but that could just be a reaction to the real thrown in with the unreal.

I was disappointed not to see or read any of this poetry that Boden Black wrote - especially as it was so iconic as to have been one of the top three NZ poems - apparently. It was hard to get that from this very prosaic character. 'His' prose writing (as these are supposedly his memories) felt formal and clumsy at times - telling much which could have been left just shown. For example, when the young Boden is curious as to how Edna - who works at the telephone exchange - ''How does she know?' I asked to which Ted just laughed and gave me a look that implied I was too young - or too stupid - to understand.' I feel it would have worked better had the sentence ended at 'gave me a look'. The reader is often either told a bit too much, or not quite enough. Maybe that is a deliberate strategy, but I think it is a risky one.

Parts of this book I enjoyed very much indeed. Walter was the best developed character, I felt, and the landscape was the next best. I would read it again, just to reconsider, but probably not for a little while.

I would like to read the other nominations for the NZ Post Book Awards, 2011, to understand more clearly what made this the winning nomination.

[Pip Lewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, particularly how historical facts were woven through the story. Quite a beautiful story.

[Sally906 · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first surprise was that Laurence Fearnley is a female, my second was that there was such a sense of place in THE HUT BUILDER that I was transported back to the three days I spent in the heart of Mackenzie Country at The Hermitage mid-winter in 2011 surrounded by the very mountains that inspired her story. Boden is suffocating in his grief-stricken home after the death of his older brothers has driven his mother into a depression that she never recovers from. Boden moves in with his neighbours and it is while he is living with them that he is taken to the scenery that inspires him to write poetry. However it is not until his early twenties when trapped by a blizzard in an ice cave in the company of the reticent Walter that Boden finally grows up; learns his meaning of life and becomes a nationally known poet. It is a slowly paced story, subtle in its depiction of laid back country life where men do not talk about their problems and do not show their emotions, but just get on with life. Boden found his outlet for his passion – his poetry. As he relates his story there is one excerpt that stood out and spoke to me – it is from Chapter 14 and

Sir Edmund Hillary (yes the real life person has a cameo appearance) has just taken Boden on his one and only mountain climb up one of the easier routes on Mt Cook:

“…The first rays of sun touched the peaks and ridges and the sky was suddenly drenched in salmon pink. As far as the eye could see, the tops were bathed in warm skin tones whereas on the snow slopes and cliff faces beneath us everything was slate-black. I couldn’t believe that anyone – not even a man who had climbed the highest mountain in the world – could ever grow blasé about being, simply, in the mountains…”

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hut Builder by New Zealand author Laurence Fearnley was the July choice for the ANZ LitLovers online reading group: the novel was the 2011 winner of the NZ Post Fiction Award, and is her eighth book.

The novel traces the evolution of a poet, not a poet from a privileged literary background, but a butcher’s son growing up in the obscurity of postwar Fairlie (on the South Island). Boden Black leads a very circumscribed life, socially and emotionally, but he is inspired by the beauty of the landscape around him and the quality of his work eventually places him in the company of New Zealand’s major poets.

...

... sequences in these hostile environments enable Fearnley to raise interesting questions about the nature of bravery. Her central character (who narrates the story) is not really a brave man. Although it takes some courage to follow the muse and become a poet in an unsupportive rural community, all his life Boden funks emotional engagement: he fears displays of emotion and he is terrified of revealing himself to others. His love of environment does lead him to take some risks, but these are muted in the narrative. Even when he takes the plunge and heads off up the mountain he does so in the company of very experienced climbers who nursemaid him through the experience.

To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/07/08/th...

[Remcamoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading for book club again. Didn't warm to the "mountaineering" theme when I fist picked it up, but as usual, I am two chapters in and the writing is stylish and interesting and the time period (40s,50s) is interesting and I am enjoying it.

Have finished this book now and remain ambivalent about it. I couldn't igure out if it was autobiographical or fiction until the end. The credits etc make it clear it is fiction. The inclusion of real people such as Ed Hillary and many real landmarks like The Hermitage had made me unsure. The writing style is very realistic too.

I did not warm to the main character. He often appeared self-indulgent and arrogant. Then suddenly he would say something quite self-aware and humble. The complete lack of romance in the book is quite interesting as I respect the author for not being tempted to over-analyse or include romance in this book. The book is essentially the life story of one man, although I was irritated by very few references to how old the main character was along the way (but that's because I am a black and white kind of person).

I am going to get his first book, Edwin & Matilda, and see if I enjoy reading that one more or less.

Thanks book club once again for bringing me to a second book in a month that I would probably not have picked up myself but enjoyed reading.

[Emma McCleary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure what my problem is - I've had The Hut Builder at home for ages but didn't pick it up to read because I found the cover 'blokey' and the blurb on the back off-putting. Boy was I wrong...

This was a fantastic read from start to finish. The plot and central characters were so believable that The Hut Builder could easily pass for autobiography. I loved the language in the book, the setting of mid Canterbury - and especially Mount Cook - and the quiet and incredible storytelling within.

There was something about The Hut Builder that reminded me of other New Zealand-based novels that touch on history - namely Oracles & Miracles and Janet Frame's autobiography series.

There was a real South Island stoicism within these pages: something you can really appreciate if you have that in yourself or know others like the main characters. These people are earnest, quiet, hard-working and deeply interesting and it's the characters and quiet, well-timed delivery of The Hut Builder's story that takes it straight to my list of favourites.

I can't recommend it highly enough as a job well done and a thoroughly enjoyable story.

This was the first of Laurence Fearnley's books I've read and I'll now be hunting out the other seven-odd.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it - partly it was cool that it was set where I live (so excited that the author is coming to visit us in November!) but mostly it was just a really well written book. I thought the main character was so well written, he has fears, foibles and doubts, but he also has talent. All of those things put together made him so real. Somebody said to me they thought the ending was odd and somebody else said no it was just perfect, I read the book and totally 100% agree with the second opinion. Totally worth a read, you absolutely do NOT have to like tramping or the outdoors. You can never have set a foot outside a city or town and still enjoy this very much. The hut is just the setting.

[Sarah Laing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful writing - filled me with a desire to go back to Mount Cook (I went there once in 1998 - it was an extraordinary place). It was a very internal novel - not much was said, an awful lot was thought. I was intrigued by this portrait of a man who had, to my urban eye, a quiet, circumscribed life with one defining experience. And it reminded me of Janet Frame - an awful lot of thinking went on, and Boden was constantly gauging the emotional responses of others but not saying very much himself. Perhaps it was a novel in praise of silences and unsaid things between people.

[Kelvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourites. A well written, beautifully spun story based in New Zealand's rural Canterbury and on the slopes of Mount Cook. I love this story and could not put the book down.

The story covers the life of a Boden Black as he discovers nature, poetry and relationships. At times the beauty in the book was so totally awe-inspiring that I could smell the fresh snow on the slopes of Cook.

Definitely the best New Zealand book that I have read to date.

[Rob Tapper · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very quick read on this cold and wintry day - good practice for the speed reading I lack.
The book ? Still a mystery for me; the separation of biography, historical fact, geographical research, and fiction.
As a novel; just a bit thin --- what is a would be poet without some quoted poems? life within the mountains and precious little climbing? relationships without some depth and romance?
Would have loved more "inside" into the butcher's world and much less "poor me".

[CB · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was gripped by this book , but really didn't like the main character. I found him smallminded and egocentric but having said that , a character that makes you have a strong reaction is obviously well portrayed. The region is close to my heart and loved some of the descriptions ...Interesting topic and period

[Bachyboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book and well deserving of its award. A boy in the early 1940s, young Boden Black finds his life changed by his first glimpse of the MacKenzie Country. Somehow he manages to align his career as a butcher with poetry writing and there is a wonderful episode of building a hut up Mt Cook. Really well crafted and beautifully written.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A popular writer from New Zealand. Follows the life of a solitary boy, the son of a butcher, who is struck by the muse at an early age when visiting the mountains and decides he wants to be a poet.

[Ginger Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found the "know nothingness" of the main character tedious beyond belief, but everyone else in my book club loved it.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving story about an artist. It's not cheerful, the tone is quite gloomy and sad and most places. Well worth the read.

[Anthea]

An easy and enjoyable read but why don't books have real plots anymore?

[Susan Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Butcher at fairlie. Hut up on mt cook. Conscientiouss objector. Adoption.

[Cath · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Pants.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the Mackenzie country descriptions and small town musings. Enjoyable local read.

[Arran Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mum and Dad bought me this book for my 36th birthday

[Gavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful coming of age in a country town story. Beautifully written. I loved the development of Boden Black as he questions everything around him & tries to find his place. A little melancholy.