One could almost play a parlour game along the lines of ‘Let’s open Cayleigh’s book and see how many times a character is drinking wine, or looking for a wine glass’. There is the sense of alcohol is part of the background static of these character’s lives,” said Irwin. “Partying, drinking and drugs permeates the narrative. Bright wondered aloud whether this was a stage that they pass through.
“Detachment and alienation seems to affect a small but rarefied band of students,” he said. Irwin said the book had changed the way he saw undergraduate students. There is a lapse, not disillusionment, but yes … ennui.” Not while everybody is energised and inspired, but in those hours between class and whatever happens at night. Bright said, “There’s so much energy, enthusiasm and fun that happened while I was at UCT, but there is something that creeps up on you. He asked Bright about her encounter of the student scene. Walking around campus daily he said he didn’t perceive this in particular, but sensed there was something going on behind the scenes. Irwin said the novel posited a world of disillusionment filling the pages and the character’s lives with boredom. He described his various calls to Jacana, telling them that Close to Home was an excellent prospect from one of his best students, “Something like a South African Donna Tartt meets Brett Easton Ellis but better for lacking the ’80s chintziness.” He shared a hilarious anecdote (complete with Maggie Davey’s Irish accent!) of the process the book had travelled to publication. Describing it as a narrative that was so dark he wasn’t sure he should show it to his colleagues, Irwin reflected on the incredible feedback the manuscript received. He mentored Bright, who wrote the book while undertaking her MA in Creative Writing at the University of Cape Town. It is no leap of imagination to envision the characters of this exciting new book stepping off the page to drop in for a facial or a manicure.īright was joined in a convivial discussion by Ron Irwin, UCT academic and author of Flat Water Tuesday. This vivacious young magazine journalist, who is GQ South Africa‘s books editor and Glamour’s online editor, chose to celebrate the momentous arrival at Chanel Bettison Beauty Concept Store, an entirely fitting venue.
The book launch for Cayleigh Bright’s debut novel Close to Home was never going to be a regular affair.
0 kommentar(er)
