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Transit Lounge
Cryptic fable, social commentary, black comedy, subverted myth, potted history, cautionary tale, psychological drama, flight of fancy, slice of life, redemption story - Transit Lounge explores the artistic possibilities of short fiction while introducing the reader to an eclectic cast of characters confronting various personal crises during times of historic instability and change. The stories in this collection are rooted in a New Zealand consciousness but also interrogate Aotearoa's place in the world. Each story stands alone, yet characters reappear and themes resonate throughout the collection, resulting in a complex mosaic that connects past, present and future, while laying bare the effects of cultural, social and political influences on human experience.
268 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 19, 2024
What struck me about this collection of short stories, mainly but not exclusively set in New Zealand, is the writer's ability to create a wide range of realistic and recognisable characters in a way that allowed me inside their heads. Too far in and too realistically in one case, as I came to detest one character and was unwilling to grant him the redemption given to him in a later story. Some characters appear in a number of stories and their individual stories intersect with each other. Others appear in stories that stand alone. The writer, J C L Purchase, provides in this collection a variety of stories, a few tinged with magical realism, one with a new telling of a legend, many based in every day New Zealand.
A question I sometimes ask myself about some books I read is would I be willing to not just recommend it but gift it to others. I've already read Transit Lounge twice and and am likely to read it again so the answer is yes, I'll be giving it as a gift to two other people I know. It's worth the time to read and to reflect on, and not just once.
A question I sometimes ask myself about some books I read is would I be willing to not just recommend it but gift it to others. I've already read Transit Lounge twice and and am likely to read it again so the answer is yes, I'll be giving it as a gift to two other people I know. It's worth the time to read and to reflect on, and not just once.
September 15, 2023
This collection deserves a wide audience.
Jenny’s writing is assured, clever and compassionate.
We enter the lives of misfits, ne’er do wells and ordinary folk making their way in a world changed by COVID-19 and other catastrophes. Some names recur and complete their jagged arcs. This second and third look at characters deepens them and makes their motivations clearer.
I’d love to read more by this author.
Highly recommended.
Jenny’s writing is assured, clever and compassionate.
We enter the lives of misfits, ne’er do wells and ordinary folk making their way in a world changed by COVID-19 and other catastrophes. Some names recur and complete their jagged arcs. This second and third look at characters deepens them and makes their motivations clearer.
I’d love to read more by this author.
Highly recommended.
April 16, 2023
The simple beauty of this collection by Jenny Purchase lies in the characters. This is not so much a collection of stories with plots but a series of vivid characterisations. Rough and ruggedly drawn likes the environments many of them inhabit. The variety is what makes the collection sing. Where some of these characters are the marginal or the no-hopers, it is that very lack of hope that brings them to life. For others it is the realism of the situation. I’m sure that I have read the pupil’s version of how they could distract the teacher from their lessons, but I can’t recall ever hearing the teacher’s perspective, as we have here with Mrs B in Transit of Mercury.
Although all of the nineteen stories in the collection feel different, I did begin to notice that some of the character names appear more than once. As if we pop in and out of their lives at different points. Jake Lazarus appears early in the book as an aging widower who befriends a young girl who comes to hide in his woodshed. Before long she is helping him in the garden and sharing meals. Jake appears again at the end of the book, but this time he is a young man, fresh out of school and making his way into a career in construction. Are they the same person? That is for the reader to find the clues. The fluidity of time is one of the pleasures of the stories – they float in an indeterminate period during the last thirty or forty years, and at one point even leap back into early New Zealand history.
Part of my personal enjoyment came from knowledge of some of the settings and locations – Warkworth, Wellsford, Maungaturoto and Whangerai all feature. Even Mount Tamahunga, which I climbed many times with my daughter when we lived nearby. Knowing them all makes it easy to conjure up mental pictures, adding richness to the stories.
One or two of these pieces will stick in my mind for some time, their characters haunting me because of both their depth and also their sadness. I particularly loved Too Much of Nothing in which the glamorous Mercedes washes up in Maungaturoto, where she not only breathes life into the hapless Frank who runs the car wrecking yard, but also brightens the local tavern with Friday and Saturday night honky-tonk renditions. Suddenly the pub is full, a new chef is needed and even business at the car wreckers is picking up.
The other stand out was Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV in which Purchase uses the formula of words from Donald Trump’s mental health check as a way into the different narrators in the story of a drug-addicted daughter returning home to the support of her family. The mother and the step-dad struggling to find a solution. I particularly liked the skill in which she portrayed the step-dad, always trying his best, but sometimes feeling on the outside, slightly remote:
Although all of the nineteen stories in the collection feel different, I did begin to notice that some of the character names appear more than once. As if we pop in and out of their lives at different points. Jake Lazarus appears early in the book as an aging widower who befriends a young girl who comes to hide in his woodshed. Before long she is helping him in the garden and sharing meals. Jake appears again at the end of the book, but this time he is a young man, fresh out of school and making his way into a career in construction. Are they the same person? That is for the reader to find the clues. The fluidity of time is one of the pleasures of the stories – they float in an indeterminate period during the last thirty or forty years, and at one point even leap back into early New Zealand history.
Part of my personal enjoyment came from knowledge of some of the settings and locations – Warkworth, Wellsford, Maungaturoto and Whangerai all feature. Even Mount Tamahunga, which I climbed many times with my daughter when we lived nearby. Knowing them all makes it easy to conjure up mental pictures, adding richness to the stories.
One or two of these pieces will stick in my mind for some time, their characters haunting me because of both their depth and also their sadness. I particularly loved Too Much of Nothing in which the glamorous Mercedes washes up in Maungaturoto, where she not only breathes life into the hapless Frank who runs the car wrecking yard, but also brightens the local tavern with Friday and Saturday night honky-tonk renditions. Suddenly the pub is full, a new chef is needed and even business at the car wreckers is picking up.
The other stand out was Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV in which Purchase uses the formula of words from Donald Trump’s mental health check as a way into the different narrators in the story of a drug-addicted daughter returning home to the support of her family. The mother and the step-dad struggling to find a solution. I particularly liked the skill in which she portrayed the step-dad, always trying his best, but sometimes feeling on the outside, slightly remote:
The man replaced the alcohol as soon as his partner asked him to. Even if it meant a last minute dash to the liquor store just before closing time. He swept up after the girl when she stubbed cigarette after cigarette out on the railing, discarding her butts across the deck. He picked up her empties and carried the recycling bin, overflowing with empty Cody’s cans, to the kerb as fast as she filled them.
He felt as if he were playing a bit part in a horror movie – as if his reactions to the main storyline were a foil, intended to reflect just how much could go wrong in someone else’s life.
I love that all these stories are not as simple as they may first appear, but ring with a depth of experience and understanding. Rich with detail and emotion.
June 13, 2024
I adore collections of short stories. I was gifted Jenny’s book just in time for a trip to Fiji. Great! Something light to dip into, to while away siesta time under the cooling air con blast; an easy bit of entertainment while I waited for my meal in the restaurant.
Boy! Was I in for a surprise! Each story was weighty, meaty, deep, delightful. Beautifully crafted and individually surprising. Three of the stories brought a lump to my throat and one actually made me weep.
The characters and the situations they make for themselves or inadvertently find themselves in are solid and believable. I despised some, feared for others. Purchase writes with master strokes, gifting us tiny hints and details skilfully inserted into the narrative, weaving characters between stories, bouncing joyfully and easily between generations, time zones and themes.
I shall read this book again and again and have placed it in pride of place alongside my H C Bosman, Janet Frame, W W Jacobs amongst others.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Boy! Was I in for a surprise! Each story was weighty, meaty, deep, delightful. Beautifully crafted and individually surprising. Three of the stories brought a lump to my throat and one actually made me weep.
The characters and the situations they make for themselves or inadvertently find themselves in are solid and believable. I despised some, feared for others. Purchase writes with master strokes, gifting us tiny hints and details skilfully inserted into the narrative, weaving characters between stories, bouncing joyfully and easily between generations, time zones and themes.
I shall read this book again and again and have placed it in pride of place alongside my H C Bosman, Janet Frame, W W Jacobs amongst others.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
April 12, 2024
Transit Lounge is a journey through the eyes of New Zealanders- established residents and newcomers, some vibrant and optimistic, some broken and scarred. We meet hope, hate, optimism and death through vivid characters that will stay in your memories.
As an immigrant from six generations ago, the questions of heritage are unanswerable and far away, but these words brought me home. Quote-‘when you feel the dew -tinseled fan of a fern frond brushing across your cheek, and see herons flying high above you with awkward arching grace, their wings outstretched across the sky, when you return home after a winter walk, windblown and wet to the bone, to hug your cosy fire and draw your loved ones close, and when, on a clear, warm night, you venture outside to marvel at the stars and witness how the wayaway white moon illuminates the darkness, you can lay your burdens down. Your journey is over.’
As an immigrant from six generations ago, the questions of heritage are unanswerable and far away, but these words brought me home. Quote-‘when you feel the dew -tinseled fan of a fern frond brushing across your cheek, and see herons flying high above you with awkward arching grace, their wings outstretched across the sky, when you return home after a winter walk, windblown and wet to the bone, to hug your cosy fire and draw your loved ones close, and when, on a clear, warm night, you venture outside to marvel at the stars and witness how the wayaway white moon illuminates the darkness, you can lay your burdens down. Your journey is over.’
September 24, 2023
Crafting short stories that engage readers through skilful character development, memorable settings, and quirky storylines can be a challenge, but JCL Purchase pulls it off with aplomb in her collection Transit Lounge. Many of her characters are on the move or should be or believe someone or something has the potential to change their lives for the better. Historical figures and contexts often serve as backdrops, for example, in ‘Gone to Ground’ and ‘Refining Him’. News items such as the death of a Pope act as a conversation prompt. One narrator writes to Frida Kahlo, telling her that she also transforms grief into art. Characters reappear, as do particular themes, a feature that deepens the reading experience. Highly recommended.
September 12, 2023
The title of this book suggests the space where travelers are surveyed and their lives imagined. They venture inside, we join them, and they depart. With Purchase at the helm, the reader is offered an opportunity to join characters, to venture inside their worlds.
In this world, people connect, interconnect, and depart. There is change through travel and change through experience. The stories also weave together and apart. Characters meet and merge, voices echo from field to field across the chasm beneath. Some characters are surprising, some tear at the heart.
I recommend Purchase's book and look forward to her adventures writing memorable characters and five-star books.
In this world, people connect, interconnect, and depart. There is change through travel and change through experience. The stories also weave together and apart. Characters meet and merge, voices echo from field to field across the chasm beneath. Some characters are surprising, some tear at the heart.
I recommend Purchase's book and look forward to her adventures writing memorable characters and five-star books.
September 14, 2023
Strangely I read this book whilst travelling , on trains,busses and planes - so the title perfectly suited my adventures.... dipping in and out of transit lounges. Each story so different from each other. Perfect reading for the moments I had at that time.
December 2, 2023
JP Purchase's short story collection is a masterclass in storytelling. Each captivating tale offers an unpredictable journey, leaving me both entertained and emotionally moved. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews