Meg

Plumb #2

by Maurice Gee

An ambitious young woman struggles to lead her own life and searches for her own identity in the shadow of her extraordinary family

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Maurice Gough Gee was a New Zealand novelist. He was one of New Zealand's most distinguished and prolific authors, having written over thirty novels for adults and children, and having won numerous awards both in New Zealand and overseas, including multiple top prizes at the New Zealand Book Awards, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in the UK, the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship, the Robert Burns Fellowship and a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement. In 2003 he was recognised as one of New Zealand's greatest living artists across all disciplines by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, which presented him with an Icon Award.
Gee's novel Plumb (1978) was described by the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature to be one of the best novels ever written in New Zealand. He was also well-known for children's and young adult fiction such as Under the Mountain (1979). He won multiple top prizes at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults and in 2002 he was presented with the prestigious Margaret Mahy Award by the Children's Literature Foundation in recognition of his contributions to children's literature.

Reviews

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maurice Gee hierarchy
1. Going west
2. Meg
3. Plumb
4. Live Bodies

[Barnaby Haszard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential New Zealand literature, just like PLUMB. It's fascinating how the patriarch, who loomed so largely over all in the first person in PLUMB, is a peripheral figure here, forever shaking his head and disappearing to his study -- not that he isn't loved by Meg, who does her best to find the good in just about everyone, not because of any need to twist the world into shape but just because she's happiest accepting what is. Her husband falls towards temptation, so she pushes him out the door with her amused blessing. Her rotten sister belittles her at every opportunity, so she pockets the slights and pities her. A family member is murdered in cold blood, and she sees the perpetrators as lost children in need of salvation from a society that's more interested in sweeping the whole thing under the rug. You see it even more in the way her benighted brothers Robert and Alfred trust and cherish her: she gets them, and she doesn't judge, unlike her father. It's a fractured narrative, jumping back and forth in time and switching focus from one character to the next at the expense of any overarching plot, just like real life.

[Wendy Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was motivated to read this book again after reading Plumb with the book club. Fabulous - again. Although I find myself more annoyed with Meg than I remember at my last reading. It might be my age....

[Marie Greaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fitting sequel to Plumb.

[Mike]

Not quite up to level of its predecessor, Plumb. And Meg in the first book is soft and gentle whereas here she's a different kettle of fish.
Still worth reading.

[Dorothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of a trilogy of books about the Plumb family in New Zealand. The family is dominated by George Plumb, who was a Presbyterian minister who became a pacifist and a rationalist. Even after his death, the remaining of his 12 children feel his influence on their lives. The continuing saga is set across the backdrop of the development of the nation through 2 world wars and the change from a mostly agrarian population to the growth of Auckland and Wellington as big cities.

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meg is a wonderful character. As before - almost anthropological in its examination of character - and builds pace and tenor so quietly you don’t even notice how breathlessly you’re reading by the end.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good ol' reread.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

brilliant.