Susi’s Comments (group member since Jul 24, 2012)

Susi’s comments from the Janet Frame group.

kymdotcom wrote: "Text Publishing in Australia have also published http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17... which is a previously unpublished novel that Frame apparently didn't want published..."

Jodi wrote: "Thanks for the link. Good to know that's out there."
I believe I read that she didn't want it published until most of the people in her life upon which the characters in the book were based were gone, so as not to insult or hurt anyone she knew.

Here is a link to the website of the Trust: http://www.janetframe.org.nz/default.htm

It is sad to think of her work in finite terms now, but I believe she had a pretty good amount of unpublished work, so there may be more even than we know. I don't know much about the Janet Frame Trust that published this collection...a trust is only as good as those running it. I'll try to find out more about it.

I never have introduced myself here. I, too, found her thru the Jane Campion film about her life. I felt compelled to search out who she was. Then, I became a collector of her works and have an entire Janet Frame shelf on my book shelf, but it's now overflowing and displacing books on the next one over. I've not read them all yet, but I'm working on it. Hands down, she is my favorite author. I prefer her more auto biographical works to her works of pure fiction, and love to spend time in her childhood. She described what goes on in one's mind as a child so well...the weird thoughts, the conversations....and with such a brutal honesty that is so refreshing....she's never sappy about it.

Yes, for me reading her autobiographical works is like being pulled into the story as a participant, not just reading it as a passive observer. She lets you into her head.

Yes! Jodi, to what you said: "Had she (or any of the more impressionistic writers) written within the confines of these rules, their writing would have been so constrained that it would have lost all meaning. I think the style is certainly an extension of herself, her mind and soul, rather than a mere telling of a story."

You said what I was not able to articulate! Thanks.

I, too, had never heard of her before seeing 'An Angel at My Table.' I just happened upon the film one night on TV when I was having trouble sleeping. I was so mesmerized by the film that I did research to find out about her which, of course, turned me into a collector of her books.

What I connect with in her work is her bare honesty and descriptions of her childhood....and how she's able to tell you what's going on in the mind of a child. Just wish I could write like her.

I am reading the new collection, "Between My Father and the King" and am enjoying it a lot. There are 28 short stories...I've read 8 of them and enjoyed them all of them so far. I hadn't read any of her works for a while....these have reminded me of how much I have always liked her writing.

Hi! I am a Janet Frame fan. I discovered her writings after seeing the movie 'An Angel At My Table'. I was so intrigued by it that I began to research her and found the treasure trove of her writing. I have collected all of her works. I love her uniqueness!