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the long cloud: a novel
i had been a male model since i moved to london and initially i was making lots of money and then suddenly i wasn’t making any.
Xander is ageing out. A former high school jock turned model, he’s spent a decade in London riding a carousel of validation and success. Now the ride is slowing down.
When his much-more-successful actor girlfriend, Tessa K, buys him a plane ticket home to New Zealand for the first time in ten years, Xander returns as a stranger. The family farm is for sale. His mother is overbearing. His high school ex wants to reconnect. And his life is unravelling.
Then he meets someone younger, someone vibrant and unburdened, who makes him fall back in love with the small town he fled. But is she the cure for his problems or just another symptom of how empty his life has become?
In the long cloud, newcomer Hector Mackenzie captures the anxious rhythm of life in the 20s — a tender, often funny meditation on masculinity, beauty, and mortality that proves you might be able to go home, but you can never truly go back.
Xander is ageing out. A former high school jock turned model, he’s spent a decade in London riding a carousel of validation and success. Now the ride is slowing down.
When his much-more-successful actor girlfriend, Tessa K, buys him a plane ticket home to New Zealand for the first time in ten years, Xander returns as a stranger. The family farm is for sale. His mother is overbearing. His high school ex wants to reconnect. And his life is unravelling.
Then he meets someone younger, someone vibrant and unburdened, who makes him fall back in love with the small town he fled. But is she the cure for his problems or just another symptom of how empty his life has become?
In the long cloud, newcomer Hector Mackenzie captures the anxious rhythm of life in the 20s — a tender, often funny meditation on masculinity, beauty, and mortality that proves you might be able to go home, but you can never truly go back.
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 30, 2026
“her voice sounded like caramel and she looked like caramel and i had a craving for caramel.”
The Long Cloud follows Xander as the success that once seemed to define him begins to slip away. At 30, his modelling career is fading, his girlfriend is far more successful than he is, and a return to New Zealand forces him to face the life and relationships he left behind.
Mackenzie’s choice to write entirely in lowercase, in a series of short, vignette like passages, gives the novel a wonderfully restless, stream of consciousness feel, as though we’re right inside Xander’s constantly whirring mind. He can be immature and frustrating, but there’s a sadness beneath the vanity and self mockery. He’s mourning his youth, his sense of home and the future he thought he’d have. The novel finds so much humour in his anxious spirals while also exploring masculinity, failure and the way nostalgia can turn sour when reality catches up with it.
There’s something wonderfully dry and absurd about Xander’s observations, and I found myself laughing throughout. The family dynamics felt wonderfully familiar too, all that love, history, irritation and the uncanny ability to get under each other’s skin in about three seconds flat. Returning home brings up all the complicated feelings you’d expect, along with the uncomfortable realisation that nostalgia has a funny way of making the past look a lot tidier than it actually was.
I loved how unique this novel felt, and how much it had to say about masculinity, beauty, getting older and the strange business of trying to find your way back to yourself. It was such a pleasure to read, clever, funny, tender and completely absorbing. I absolutely inhaled it. I’m super keen to see what Hector Mackenzie writes next.
Read this book! I implore you.
My highest recommendation.
Thank you to Scribe Publications and Hector Mackenzie for my early readers copy.
Available now!
The Long Cloud follows Xander as the success that once seemed to define him begins to slip away. At 30, his modelling career is fading, his girlfriend is far more successful than he is, and a return to New Zealand forces him to face the life and relationships he left behind.
Mackenzie’s choice to write entirely in lowercase, in a series of short, vignette like passages, gives the novel a wonderfully restless, stream of consciousness feel, as though we’re right inside Xander’s constantly whirring mind. He can be immature and frustrating, but there’s a sadness beneath the vanity and self mockery. He’s mourning his youth, his sense of home and the future he thought he’d have. The novel finds so much humour in his anxious spirals while also exploring masculinity, failure and the way nostalgia can turn sour when reality catches up with it.
There’s something wonderfully dry and absurd about Xander’s observations, and I found myself laughing throughout. The family dynamics felt wonderfully familiar too, all that love, history, irritation and the uncanny ability to get under each other’s skin in about three seconds flat. Returning home brings up all the complicated feelings you’d expect, along with the uncomfortable realisation that nostalgia has a funny way of making the past look a lot tidier than it actually was.
I loved how unique this novel felt, and how much it had to say about masculinity, beauty, getting older and the strange business of trying to find your way back to yourself. It was such a pleasure to read, clever, funny, tender and completely absorbing. I absolutely inhaled it. I’m super keen to see what Hector Mackenzie writes next.
Read this book! I implore you.
My highest recommendation.
Thank you to Scribe Publications and Hector Mackenzie for my early readers copy.
Available now!
August 4, 2026
This book consumed me and I need everyone to read it!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
IMMEDIATE favourites add. LOVED!!!
sparse, funny, modern. opens with somewhat of a nihilistic "less than zero" vibe until it doesn't. extremely relatable musings on insecurity, body image, masculinity, self-perception, indecision. adore the writing style as a diehard lower case writer. an incredible debut
sparse, funny, modern. opens with somewhat of a nihilistic "less than zero" vibe until it doesn't. extremely relatable musings on insecurity, body image, masculinity, self-perception, indecision. adore the writing style as a diehard lower case writer. an incredible debut
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August 21, 2026Happy 50th Scribe! I loved hosting the Scribe Salon last year. I interviewed Hector having only been given a few chapters of The Long Cloud and my god does it hold up. Ageing out of male modelling, returning home to New Zealand and nothing being how you thought it would, this book is asking questions of youth, beauty and the nature of homecoming. It’s funny and acerbic and filtered with ennui.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This is my favourite book of all time and that’s all there is to say about it.
September 20, 2026
When I opened up The Long Cloud by Hector MacKenzie my heart sank when I saw that it was written entirely without capitalisation. Oh no I thought this will be a difficult read. But almost immediately I was enthralled with the voice of the main character Xander.
Xander is a male model who was discovered in his late teens in his small town in New Zealand and after moving to London hit the big time. He has been in a relationship with a successful actress Tessa for a number of years but as he closes in on 30 he is starting to age out of his industry. Tessa buys him a plane ticket as a present and Xander goes home to see his family and friends for the first time in almost a decade. Here he is confronted by his old life. His father is selling the family farm. He struggles to spend time with his mother. He runs into his high school ex who wants to reconnect. But then one night he meets a younger woman whose vibrancy and beauty dazzle him. Is she the love of his life or is she just reminding him of his youth and his old life?
In The Long Cloud each chapter is very short with most being a page or less. The chapters are also cleverly titled and sometimes are almost the lead in sentence for the chapter. Despite my initial reservations the structure really worked for me. If you have followed me for a while you might know that I absolutely love a novel told in vignette form and the structure of The Long Cloud really lent into vignette style while also being a chronologically told story. The writing was sparse yet funny and really articulated the insecurities of a young man at a crossroads in his life. It touched on ageing and masculinity as well as what it means to go home and reflect on your life.
I really enjoyed my experience reading this book up until the last few pages when it takes a bit of a violent turn I wasn’t expecting. The ending then swoops in quickly with an emotional and opaque ending. The final sentences were beautiful in their simplicity and uncertainty.
I definitely recommend checking this debut out.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Xander is a male model who was discovered in his late teens in his small town in New Zealand and after moving to London hit the big time. He has been in a relationship with a successful actress Tessa for a number of years but as he closes in on 30 he is starting to age out of his industry. Tessa buys him a plane ticket as a present and Xander goes home to see his family and friends for the first time in almost a decade. Here he is confronted by his old life. His father is selling the family farm. He struggles to spend time with his mother. He runs into his high school ex who wants to reconnect. But then one night he meets a younger woman whose vibrancy and beauty dazzle him. Is she the love of his life or is she just reminding him of his youth and his old life?
In The Long Cloud each chapter is very short with most being a page or less. The chapters are also cleverly titled and sometimes are almost the lead in sentence for the chapter. Despite my initial reservations the structure really worked for me. If you have followed me for a while you might know that I absolutely love a novel told in vignette form and the structure of The Long Cloud really lent into vignette style while also being a chronologically told story. The writing was sparse yet funny and really articulated the insecurities of a young man at a crossroads in his life. It touched on ageing and masculinity as well as what it means to go home and reflect on your life.
I really enjoyed my experience reading this book up until the last few pages when it takes a bit of a violent turn I wasn’t expecting. The ending then swoops in quickly with an emotional and opaque ending. The final sentences were beautiful in their simplicity and uncertainty.
I definitely recommend checking this debut out.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Funny, tender and poignant. All the over-used words but in this case true. I am still thinking about this book, long after finishing it. It's a book that slowly creeps up on you and leaves you a little bereft, in a good way.
September 19, 2026
One man and his insecurities
3.25
3.25
September 22, 2026
If this book doesn’t become a cult classic something is wrong with the world. Honestly, just wow. My favourite book of 2026 and probably my favourite book of the 2020’s so far.
September 27, 2026
damn this has got to be one of the best recommendations i’ve gotten (ty matt)
October 6, 2026
I was super engrossed in this little book but was very sick of Xander’s shit by the end (tbh I think this was the point).
October 17, 2026
I finally got around to reading "The Long Cloud" by Hector MacKenzie, a New Zealand-Australian novelist and artist, after having an advanced reader copy with me for a while. At the heart of the story is Xander, a thirty-year-old male model living in London, whose career is slowly losing its shine while his girlfriend’s stardom continues to rise. When he returns to his hometown in New Zealand after almost a decade away, he finds himself confronting the life he left behind, his changing family, old relationships, and the uncomfortable feeling that time has moved on without him. What makes this book interesting to me, though, is not just the story but the way it is written. The chapters are incredibly short, sometimes barely a page or even a few lines, and the entire book is written in lowercase with very little punctuation. It might take a little getting used to, but once you settle into the rhythm, the storytelling feels surprisingly easy to follow.
I think this is the kind of book I would happily pick up when I am not in the mood to read anything too heavy. Sometimes, especially when I am going through a reading slump, I prefer books that allow me to take my time without making me feel like I have to push through lengthy chapters or keep track of too many things at once. The Long Cloud works well for that. I could read a chapter or two at night, put the book down, and return to it whenever I felt like reading again. Beneath its casual, sometimes funny narration, the novel explores aging, insecurity, vanity, and the strange feeling of becoming a stranger to the place you once called home. Xander is not always an easy character to like, and there are moments when his self-absorption can become a little frustrating, but I could still understand his struggle to figure out who he is beyond his looks, his career, and the life he has built around other people's expectations. His return home also brings an uncomfortable realization that you can revisit a place, but you cannot expect everything, or everyone, to remain the same.
Overall, "The Long Cloud" was an interesting change of pace for me. I enjoyed how readable it was and how the short chapters made it easy to fit into my everyday reading, even when I did not have the energy for something demanding. I may not have connected with every aspect of Xander's journey, but I appreciated the vulnerability hidden beneath his humor and the way the book explores the fear of growing older while still trying to understand what you really want from life. One little thing I do wish I had, though, is the original cover instead of the advanced reader copy cover. The final cover is genuinely pretty and has a distinctive look that makes me wish I could have had that edition in my hands while reading. Sometimes, a beautiful cover adds to the whole reading experience, and this is definitely one of those books for me. If you enjoy short chapters, unconventional writing styles, and character-driven stories that are easy to read but still leave you with something to think about, this one might be worth picking up.
I think this is the kind of book I would happily pick up when I am not in the mood to read anything too heavy. Sometimes, especially when I am going through a reading slump, I prefer books that allow me to take my time without making me feel like I have to push through lengthy chapters or keep track of too many things at once. The Long Cloud works well for that. I could read a chapter or two at night, put the book down, and return to it whenever I felt like reading again. Beneath its casual, sometimes funny narration, the novel explores aging, insecurity, vanity, and the strange feeling of becoming a stranger to the place you once called home. Xander is not always an easy character to like, and there are moments when his self-absorption can become a little frustrating, but I could still understand his struggle to figure out who he is beyond his looks, his career, and the life he has built around other people's expectations. His return home also brings an uncomfortable realization that you can revisit a place, but you cannot expect everything, or everyone, to remain the same.
Overall, "The Long Cloud" was an interesting change of pace for me. I enjoyed how readable it was and how the short chapters made it easy to fit into my everyday reading, even when I did not have the energy for something demanding. I may not have connected with every aspect of Xander's journey, but I appreciated the vulnerability hidden beneath his humor and the way the book explores the fear of growing older while still trying to understand what you really want from life. One little thing I do wish I had, though, is the original cover instead of the advanced reader copy cover. The final cover is genuinely pretty and has a distinctive look that makes me wish I could have had that edition in my hands while reading. Sometimes, a beautiful cover adds to the whole reading experience, and this is definitely one of those books for me. If you enjoy short chapters, unconventional writing styles, and character-driven stories that are easy to read but still leave you with something to think about, this one might be worth picking up.
September 10, 2026
I’ve just seen that The Long Cloud, the debut novel by Hector Mackenzie, has very few reviews and mine is the distant outlier.
It is the story of a fading male model whose partner is a successful actress whose star is rising. He goes home to New Zealand to visit his parents, has a liaison with a local girl, realises his life is at the crossroads, spends a lot of time at the gym, drives his dad’s old Land Rover a lot and mourns his dad’s decision to sell the farm.
And that’s about it.
In its defence, it is an easily read and harmless book that has the vibe of a Derek Zoolander what-I-did-on-my-holiday diary and about as much intellectual depth.
What I despised about this book was the writing style. I have no idea what some (thankfully very few) authors are thinking when they write a story devoid of capital letters. In the case of The Long Cloud, with the exception of full stops and nowhere near enough of them, it was also devoid of any grammar. Instead sentences were blown out to single long diatribes held together by as many uses of the word “and” as there should have been commas and full stops. In one case a 25 line sentence with “and” used 26 times. And that wasn’t an outlier.
The story was also a collection of chapters of little thought bubbles and insignificant activities that generally filled half a page and often just a few lines.
I am a self confessed grammar cop so if you are like me and have OCD in that area, you won’t like this writing structure. And the story doesn’t have the depth to offset that.
It is the story of a fading male model whose partner is a successful actress whose star is rising. He goes home to New Zealand to visit his parents, has a liaison with a local girl, realises his life is at the crossroads, spends a lot of time at the gym, drives his dad’s old Land Rover a lot and mourns his dad’s decision to sell the farm.
And that’s about it.
In its defence, it is an easily read and harmless book that has the vibe of a Derek Zoolander what-I-did-on-my-holiday diary and about as much intellectual depth.
What I despised about this book was the writing style. I have no idea what some (thankfully very few) authors are thinking when they write a story devoid of capital letters. In the case of The Long Cloud, with the exception of full stops and nowhere near enough of them, it was also devoid of any grammar. Instead sentences were blown out to single long diatribes held together by as many uses of the word “and” as there should have been commas and full stops. In one case a 25 line sentence with “and” used 26 times. And that wasn’t an outlier.
The story was also a collection of chapters of little thought bubbles and insignificant activities that generally filled half a page and often just a few lines.
I am a self confessed grammar cop so if you are like me and have OCD in that area, you won’t like this writing structure. And the story doesn’t have the depth to offset that.
September 26, 2026
At first I hated this book with its annoying lack of punctuation and shiny cover but then I found I really quite enjoyed the story of a male model returning from London to the small country town he grew up in.
October 6, 2026
Life's beauty is captured in Xander's story of going home, with lyricism, humour and love running through it all. Hector MacKenzie's novel is nourishment for the soul and the journey. Can't wait to read his next one.
Review of advance copy
Long stream of consciousness from man child with no punctuation was just not interesting. Struggled to finish.
October 22, 2026
To be clear this is at face value another glorious book about nothing by a lost cis male. But its kiwi and beautiful and pure and I loved it and I just can’t put my finger on why
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews