Book Review: The Axeman’s Carnival, by Catherine Chidgey
Tama the talking magpie is many things – a social media star, an observer of the human condition and a friend to Marnie who rescues, nurtures and raises him as a pet. As the protagonist, the clever bird drives the story along with the subplots – but despite this unlikely hero Tama does retain characteristics of the crow family. He collects and hides small objects, eats meat and carrion, chats to his family who remain in the wild and is a brilliant mimic.
Catherine Chidgey’s anthropomorphic novel concerns the lives of struggling sheep farmer Rob and his long suffering abused and beaten partner Marnie who finds a new lease of life with Tama the talking magpie. At times extremely funny, at times poetic and at times an insight into sheep farming and competitions for axemen (essentially showcasing the skills of the lumberjack), but for much of the time it’s the shocking story of domestic violence and domination. When Marnie discovers her pet magpie Tama can earn cash as a social media star Rob becomes increasingly irritated since Tama constantly bates him knowing how to wind him up. As with so many victims of domestic abuse she remains blind to it through fear and a lack of confidence – while they both irritate each other with their incompatibility.
It’s a characteristic of some of the other characters – saying and doing the wrong thing without the self-awareness they are making matters worse. Marnie’s mother can’t help herself in pushing mentally damaged Marnie to lose weight and to squeeze into an inappropriate cowgirl outfit, while her sister cajoles her into performing a song and dance routine in front of jeering rednecks.
There are lighter moments like the botched kidnapping of Tama by a couple of bungling idealists and when two backpackers turn up to take selfies of Tama – ‘we’re German homosexuals’ – much to the disgust of Rob. Catherine Chidley had to make numerous judgements of how much a highly intelligent bird could interpret the human world. Tama notes Rob likes watching crime dramas in which there’s a beautiful female victim, sees CCTV as the eye, a public address system as the voice of God and cars as moving cages where he is trapped. Some of the strongest sequences are where Tama chats to his family who continually advise him to leave Marnie because humans are killers. Advice which he ignores adding to an element of jeopardy which menacingly hangs over the unfolding story to the very last chapter. Clever, witty, a bit predictable but an easy and enjoyable read – and an original take on rural life in New Zealand.
Harry Mottram
The Axeman’s Carnival, by Catherine Chidgey is available from all good book shops and online.
There’s more on the author at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Chidgey