The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

This One Sky Day by Leone Ross

Delighted to see this here and hope it wins.

I think this is a lot better suited here than the Goldsmith which really seemed to have little other justification than the link to the next door university

Very enjoyable book if also I think hugely flawed

Very pleased to see this here. This was a book that took me a bit to get into, but once I did I was hooked!! I don’t know anyone from outside this group who has read it, so hopefully this means it reaches a wider audience - it certainly deserves to!

I must admit I thought this had done quite well in sales and in publicity in the U.K. - it’s certainly the one I have seen most in bookshops perhaps behind the Shafak and Great Circle on this list. Not sure what sales figures are though.

The Goldsmith prize was just on a University of Roehampton love in (half the longlist from the next door university was silly but indicative of the huge insularity of that prize)

It really was not really innovative - the invention was in the exuberance and imagination but that’s pretty common for fantasy and magic realism and here she at times lost control.

It was great fun but definitely overstayed it’s welcome at times

Paul’s daughters English teacher (who is one of the politest and most positive reviewers around) called it well

“There are moments when fulsome description, a digressive tendency, overemphasis or repetition cause the narrative propulsion to snag. A truly bonkers episode in which the oddness of the eponymous day is emphasised is a case in point: seemingly apropos of nothing, the islands’ women are sent into chaos as their vulvas, or “pum-pums”, become loose and fall to the ground. The absurd conceit is at first striking and provocative; it loses its comic charge because it is returned to over and again without engaging development or expansion.”

If there are odds up at any point I will be piling in on this one as it looks head and shoulders above the rest of the list.

You know the world is off-kilter when Paul and I agree on a book, but right now this is certainly my favorite of the long list, comfortably so. I am not typically a fan of magical realism, with a few notable exceptions, but I absolutely loved this book and have recommended it widely. It's one of my top reads of 2021. I am rooting hard for this one at least to get shortlisted.

And definitely if you and I disagree Cindy then things are very wrong!!!

Actually I would love to see this shortlisted also and it would be a good winner: even though I think the book did not completely grasp what makes magic realism really work which is the juxtaposition of the two terms.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "And definitely if you and I disagree Cindy then things are very wrong!!!

Actually I would love to see this shortlisted also and it would be a good winner: even though I think the book did not comp..."

Yes, I take great comfort from our overall simpatico reading tastes!

Hmmm 🧐

Perhaps I had better check my views on this one if Cindy and I agree :-)

Remind me. It was definitely under 100 pages wasn’t it?

Not even close, Paul!

It felt like it. Pure pleasure to read. Definitely the book I most enjoyed last year.

To be fair her first version was in excess of 450,000 words so at least she did edit it significantly - even if it did not to me read like a tightly edited book.

I'd love to read the longer version - her website has characters who didn't make the final book

There are exceptions to any rule, even my book length one, and this really is exceptional.

Completely agree.

I should love this book so it must have been a case of timing for me. Suzanne, you said it took you awhile to get into it then you loved it and I’ve certainly had that experience with more than one book. I’ll give it another go.

It was the book you most enjoyed, Paul, or the book on the Goldsmith list that you most enjoyed?

I’ve lent my book to someone else so hopefully someone can jump in here with the page number - there’s a certain memorable scene, and I think once you get to that scene your reaction will tell you whether you should keep reading or not.

WndyJW wrote: "It was the book you most enjoyed, Paul, or the book on the Goldsmith list that you most enjoyed?"

The book, or at least one of the top few (Ezra Slef perhaps the other)

WndyJW wrote: "I should love this book so it must have been a case of timing for me. ."

I would say that Neil and Marchpane - two of the reviewers I respect most on Goodreads and both prodigious readers, both DNF this book also

Suzanne wrote: "I’ve lent my book to someone else so hopefully someone can jump in here with the page number - there’s a certain memorable scene, and I think once you get to that scene your reaction will tell you ..."

I think you may be meaning the part mentioned in the Guardian review at comment 6 as Michael Donkor (who genuinely does teach English at the school where Paul's girls go) points out - the author seems so satisfied with this scene that she keeps returning to it but with no idea how to develop it.

My own criticism of the book was that she failed to completely pull off (or perhaps to appreciate) the tension that is necessary in my view between magic and realism - or in book terms unlike Xavier her own cooking touch is too heavy on adding the magic seasoning so obscuring the underlying flavours of the sociopolitical realism dish.

Nevertheless this was a very distinctive and fantastically-imagined novel, one that is as vibrant as its beautifully coloured page edgings and which at the end is an exploration of addiction and celebration of the greatest addiction of all - love.

Hearing the author read the scene in person, and in one of the first post lockdown events (the authors there all said it was their first) made this particularly memorable.

That was that bizarre event held a week earlier than it was meant to be wasn’t it.

The one I nearly missed as you turned up late —— a week late.

I trust Marchpane as well, and Neil, but Neil likes the sort of dense, inaccessible books that elude me so I wouldn’t expect him to be a huge fan of this type of story. I’m surprised Paul liked it, actually. It seems like I book I would find fun to read-magic realism, interesting characters, Caribbean setting, but I tried 2 or 3 times and it never hooked me. I can’t say reading Mr. Donkor’s review gives me much hope.

For those who enjoy this, the audible version is a delightful experience - read by the author in her Caribbean accent. You can sense her joy and love for her creation with every sentence. The only caveat being that this makes the audible a little harder to follow if you haven’t read the book yet.

And I think Paul loved a (very oddly scheduled) reading with the author for the same reasons

Yes I have had a live version of the audiobook.

I like this book. I did not love it and that could well be because of the pom poms emphasis!

Ah Linda. Every mention of the pom poms made me grin with glee!

This is a nice interview with Leone Ross from last spring when the book was published: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

It's interesting that she expressly situates this in the magical realist tradition. I think of this book as using magical realist elements in a fantastical setting, but it's clear that Ross sees her work well within that tradition.

Yes very much so. In 2016 she said

I’m writing magic realism for a simple reason. It’s this: it’s fun. I was the kid who loved Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, who always loved weird crap, and so it took time for me to give myself permission to write weird crap. It took Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez at university for me to think, ‘oh my God, the adult version of weird crap, that’s so cool!’.

As I think we discussed on the Goldsmiths thread though this doesn’t tick all the usual boxes of magic realism.

What are the boxes of magic realism? It’s a fine line between fantasy and magic realism, I read something that said magic realism are magical elements in our normal world, fantasy involves world building.

It’s not really either - not enough realism for magic realism (in typical magic realism the realism dominates and the magic is a surprise when it occurs) and not enough coherent world building for fantasy - it’s more I would call it fictional activist magical exuberance - FAME.

Although it’s really a love story of course.

Ultimately it is a unique and wonderful creation that doesn’t fit neat genres hence the Goldsmiths Prize listing.

I think that's right, GY. This occupies ground between magical realism and fantasy. But I think there's enough realism that the magical elements still have an impact. The magical elements are highlighting a distinction between Popisho and our world - and inviting us to examine our assumptions. If this were straight fantasy, the magical elements would be more about world building and taken at face value by the reader.

Realism: no magical elements

Magical realism: magical elements that are taken at face value by the characters but invite the reader to examine assumptions about our own world.

Fantasy: magical elements are part of world building and taken at face value by characters and readers alike.

Have to gently agree to disagree David although your distinctions are very helpful - for me this tipped too far and too frequently into nonsensical to query anything about our world and hence also why I think a number of very discerning readers abandoned it. Nice love story though.

The Roehampton Prize listing has I feel a more proximate explanation.

I think David described the differences well. I guess I didn’t pay close attention or I forgot, but I thought you liked This One Sky Day, Gumble.

I liked it yes - I think ideal for WP

You did like it then. I misunderstood your last comment.

Ok, this was weird. Sometimes even hilariously so. And also: I now know what pum pum means.

Ha! It’s important knowledge!

Cindy wrote: "Ha! It’s important knowledge!"

Absolutely! :-)

Maybe since I’m enjoying Creatures of Passage I can segue into Popisho/TOSD. I know I’m missing out on a fun book and it bothers me!

I tried to read this and got 50 pages in it just wasn't clicking - now I don't mind magical realism and I felt that there were shades of Garcia Marquez (Leone Ross likes to gradually introduce the magical realism elements) but when I read that one of the characters has a tail, the whole thing just irritated me and I put it down.

If it gets shortlisted, I will definitely reread, If not I'll wait until I'm in the mood

Wait until you get to the pom poms.

She adds the magic realism gradually at first Robert but she just does not know when to stop

Unlike Xavier her own cooking touch is too heavy on adding the magic seasoning so obscuring the underlying flavours of the sociopolitical realism dish.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "She adds the magic realism gradually at first Robert but she just does not know when to stop

Unlike Xavier her own cooking touch is too heavy on adding the magic seasoning so obscuring the underl..."

Haha I liked the way you put that!