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Access Road
As she watches her brother losing the battle with his memories, Rowan wonders how long she can keep her own past at bay
The old family home in Access Road, where Lionel, Roly and Rowan grew up, is crumbling away - but after more than fifty years Lionel and Roly are back. Rowan too, otherwise safe in her 'upper crusty' suburb, is drawn more and more strongly 'out west'.
The past is dangerously alive. Clyde Buckley - violent as a boy; enigmatic, subterranean as an old man - returns to his childhood territory. What does he want? What crimes does he hide? And how is Lionel involved? Rowan must abandon safety if she is to find out . . .
Maurice Gee is a master storyteller. Access Road is at once a novel of chilling tension and expansive humanity; both a beautifully crafted work of literature and an effortlessly seductive family story.
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First published January 1, 2009
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About the author
Maurice Gee
45 books105 followersMaurice 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 26, 2018
Haunting, compelling and horrible. Gee is excellent at creating evil characters who are able to exercise power over others in particularly sinister ways. The way that the elderly protagonists end up struggling with each other physically is ludicrous at the same time it is frightening. Very impressive.
June 27, 2020
Well as someone who grew up in Henderson (the Loomis of the book) I kinda think well...yes horrible things happen but please don't blame Henderson!!!
Yes people drown in the creek, accidentally or deliberately, and there's been murders (I don't keep track) but I think in general people get on with life. Of course if you witness something disturbing you aren't going to have great memories of the place its just reading about it with no resolution isn't really how I want to pass the time.
Now I'm just getting a bit creeped out by all the random violent killers in the area. Maybe it's because male violence is generally accepted - the narrator marries a rugby player, her parents give all siblings hidings, they trash a school, cut birds of heads and porn each other out. Her daughter gets abused. There's implied rape. There's no kind character who is strong enough to say NO thats wrong or that's enough. It kinda drags on and on.
Yes people drown in the creek, accidentally or deliberately, and there's been murders (I don't keep track) but I think in general people get on with life. Of course if you witness something disturbing you aren't going to have great memories of the place its just reading about it with no resolution isn't really how I want to pass the time.
Now I'm just getting a bit creeped out by all the random violent killers in the area. Maybe it's because male violence is generally accepted - the narrator marries a rugby player, her parents give all siblings hidings, they trash a school, cut birds of heads and porn each other out. Her daughter gets abused. There's implied rape. There's no kind character who is strong enough to say NO thats wrong or that's enough. It kinda drags on and on.
August 25, 2024
Really enjoyed this book once I settled into it great characters and well woven story of a typical dis functional Kiwi family
Was really astounded that Maurice wrote this from the point of view of a mature in years New Zealand woman
Think this book will be with me a long time which means it's a great read
Was really astounded that Maurice wrote this from the point of view of a mature in years New Zealand woman
Think this book will be with me a long time which means it's a great read
October 30, 2020
Loved it!
October 30, 2020
Not thrilling but quite interesting. Audiobook kept me entertained.
November 11, 2020
Loved how the siblings reacted to each other
Read
March 1, 2021Great read.
June 12, 2010
Widely considered ‘New Zealand’s greatest living author’, Nelson-based Maurice Gee has penned dozens of beloved tales, ranging from children’s to adult, fantasy to realism. The near-octogenarian’s latest (and reportedly, perhaps last) adult novel, Access Road, may be slim in size (200 pages), but it’s still a very good read, packed with trademark Gee themes, style, and moments.
Elderly Rowan Pinker narrates a brooding tale of family relationships and dark secrets, shifting back and forth in time as she searches her memory for reasons behind her bedridden brother Lionel’s silence. Rowan lives a somewhat-contented life with her “silly old git” of a husband Dickie, a cheerful drunk, in “upper crusty” Takapuna - but regularly visits her siblings Roly and Lionel, who’ve moved back to the old family home in Access Road, Loomis (a fictionalised West Auckland). Visits that spark a flood of memories, not all of them pleasant; particularly those involving sinister childhood friend Clyde Buckley. Is he the key to Lionel’s troubles?
Gee writes with spare elegance, ably evoking the landscape (natural and human) of small-town Loomis. He is a maestro at creating layered characters full of ambiguity, depth and conflict; shades of grey rather than black and white. Rowan is a geriatric everywoman, but has she compromised her morality in the past, allowing darkness to flourish? Once again Gee scratches below the surface, finding the menace behind the mundane, the evil behind the everyday. A solid addition to a remarkable writing career.
This review was originally written for WildTomato magazine, and first published online at Crime Watch, the hub for all things New Zealand crime, mystery and thriller writing.
Elderly Rowan Pinker narrates a brooding tale of family relationships and dark secrets, shifting back and forth in time as she searches her memory for reasons behind her bedridden brother Lionel’s silence. Rowan lives a somewhat-contented life with her “silly old git” of a husband Dickie, a cheerful drunk, in “upper crusty” Takapuna - but regularly visits her siblings Roly and Lionel, who’ve moved back to the old family home in Access Road, Loomis (a fictionalised West Auckland). Visits that spark a flood of memories, not all of them pleasant; particularly those involving sinister childhood friend Clyde Buckley. Is he the key to Lionel’s troubles?
Gee writes with spare elegance, ably evoking the landscape (natural and human) of small-town Loomis. He is a maestro at creating layered characters full of ambiguity, depth and conflict; shades of grey rather than black and white. Rowan is a geriatric everywoman, but has she compromised her morality in the past, allowing darkness to flourish? Once again Gee scratches below the surface, finding the menace behind the mundane, the evil behind the everyday. A solid addition to a remarkable writing career.
This review was originally written for WildTomato magazine, and first published online at Crime Watch, the hub for all things New Zealand crime, mystery and thriller writing.
May 18, 2012
This is not one of Maurice Gee's better books, but it's still ok. He was 78 when he wrote it in 2009 and suggested then that it may be his last, although he has written one more since - The Limping Man.
The title of the book refers to the name of the street where the narrator of the story, Rowan, and her two brothers Lionel and Roly grew up. The story is told with a mixture of flashback and present day narrative, as Rowan, now 78 (same age as the author) tries to account for her brother Lionel's withdrawn, hostile personality and his decision to give up on living life.
Their house in Access Road and their childhoods there provide memories that hint at an answer. That past is filled with the presence of a cruel boy called Clyde Buckley who seemed to have Lionel under his spell. Rowan is certain that something happened between Clyde and Lionel that has tainted Lionel's whole life.
Present day events lead to the reappearance of Clyde Buckley in Lionel's life and the past collides with the present in a dramatic way.
The story is mildly engaging and told sparingly but well. Rowan is an interesting narrator and it was great to read a book where all the main characters were in their seventies. But unfortunately at the end of the day it was just an ok story.
The title of the book refers to the name of the street where the narrator of the story, Rowan, and her two brothers Lionel and Roly grew up. The story is told with a mixture of flashback and present day narrative, as Rowan, now 78 (same age as the author) tries to account for her brother Lionel's withdrawn, hostile personality and his decision to give up on living life.
Their house in Access Road and their childhoods there provide memories that hint at an answer. That past is filled with the presence of a cruel boy called Clyde Buckley who seemed to have Lionel under his spell. Rowan is certain that something happened between Clyde and Lionel that has tainted Lionel's whole life.
Present day events lead to the reappearance of Clyde Buckley in Lionel's life and the past collides with the present in a dramatic way.
The story is mildly engaging and told sparingly but well. Rowan is an interesting narrator and it was great to read a book where all the main characters were in their seventies. But unfortunately at the end of the day it was just an ok story.
January 10, 2016
Gee is an author like Helen Dunmore or Rose Tremain that I can always rely on for a reading experience that offers insight, wisdom and skilful wordcraft.
In this novel, Gee successfully uses a woman narrator (Rowan) who is 78. This is her story – a story of her past and of her frustrating but in the end contented marriage (in coming to this contentment, did she achieve a victory or a defeat?)
The story is particularly about Rowan’s two brothers who now live in their childhood home. Neither ever married. The elder, Lionel, was a dentist; the younger, Roly, moved around New Zealand doing odd jobs but particularly gardening. Lionel has a secret that has poisoned his life; Roly is someone at ease with himself. Rowan has disturbing memories of a friend of Lionel’s friend, Clyde Buckley. When Clyde reappears at the bedside of the dying Lionel, issues from the past drive a dramatic conclusion.
In this novel, Gee successfully uses a woman narrator (Rowan) who is 78. This is her story – a story of her past and of her frustrating but in the end contented marriage (in coming to this contentment, did she achieve a victory or a defeat?)
The story is particularly about Rowan’s two brothers who now live in their childhood home. Neither ever married. The elder, Lionel, was a dentist; the younger, Roly, moved around New Zealand doing odd jobs but particularly gardening. Lionel has a secret that has poisoned his life; Roly is someone at ease with himself. Rowan has disturbing memories of a friend of Lionel’s friend, Clyde Buckley. When Clyde reappears at the bedside of the dying Lionel, issues from the past drive a dramatic conclusion.
April 11, 2014
This was my first introduction to Maurice Gee and I found myself enjoying his elderly protagonist Rowan greatly and laughed at my introduction to her cheerful drunk, old git, of a husband Dickie. The comfort of Rowan's life with her husband is soon over turned and turns darker and more melancholy as she worries about her siblings Roly and Lionel who live in the old family home in Access Road. The introduction of Clyde Buckley, an old childhood friend of Lionel's (who is behaving very bizarrely) adds a somewhat sinister tone to the slowly developing mystery.
The characters, particularly Rowan caught my interest and the developing mystery kept me firmly engaged to the end.
The characters, particularly Rowan caught my interest and the developing mystery kept me firmly engaged to the end.
March 10, 2012
I love Maurice Gee's fiction. He always has a great story to tell, and this was no exception.
The story is told by Rowan, and is told in flashbacks, all culminating in a tragic present. Rowan has two brothers, who are very different, but both loners. Eventually the brothers return to the old family home in Access Road, and the secrets of the past play themselves out.
As in the other Maurice Gee's works that I have read, there is a dark brooding sense that something went terribly wrong in one of the characters lives, and the suspense builds throughout the novel.
The story is told by Rowan, and is told in flashbacks, all culminating in a tragic present. Rowan has two brothers, who are very different, but both loners. Eventually the brothers return to the old family home in Access Road, and the secrets of the past play themselves out.
As in the other Maurice Gee's works that I have read, there is a dark brooding sense that something went terribly wrong in one of the characters lives, and the suspense builds throughout the novel.
April 30, 2013
Maurice Gee has a way with the written word and Heather Bolton has a way with the spoken word. Rowan is an elderly woman living in a fictional part of Auckland writing about her life as a child and as an adult with her elderly brothers. It's not a brilliant book but it is an engaging one and Bolton makes it come alive. She's a revelation.
January 6, 2015
This was quite similar to Blindsight in storyline and themes, although with a bit more octogenerian action!! Loved the fight scene. Writing, as always, impeccable and evocative. I am a kiwi but I find the place names often confusing in the Auckland books especially. A map would have gone down well for me!!
November 23, 2014
This book spoke to me as I sort of knew the area where part of the book was set in West Auckland and it was great reading about characters I felt had familiar parts to them. I thought the main character was great and it was an interesting story
June 25, 2013
Good read and nice to read a local book
September 24, 2014
Wonderful narration - Kiwi accent brought the book to life. Excellent characterisation.
August 2, 2011
Normal fantastic Maurice Gee
October 31, 2016
Didn't finish. The voice of Rowan, the principal character, was unconvincing.
April 29, 2017
I believe that this was the first Maurice Gee book that I have read.It was a fast read with colourful characters. It does read a bit like a play that you would see in a London theatre. The character of Lionel although talked about frequently in the book still left me wondering what was his deal, perhaps this was the intent of the authour.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews