Sucking feijoas

by Jeff Buchanan

Not so long ago in provincial New Zealand, anyone who has identified as homosexual was treated as an outcast. This entertaining and revealing first novel follows the lives of three gay men in New Zealand during the 1940s, 60s and 80s. This richly rewarding novel places Buchanan alongside the likes of big names such as Janet Frame, Witi Imimaera and Noel Virtue.Jeff Buchanan was born in 1955 and left New Zealand at 17, spending the next two decades in South America, The Middle East, The USA and Melanesia, before returning home.

Genres: LGBT

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Jeff Buchanan was born in 1955 and left New Zealand at 17, spending the next two decades in South America, The Middle East, The USA and Melanesia, before returning home.

Reviews

[Jerri]

I’m not sure quite how to feel about this one. It’s complex- lots of characters and locations, and a few different time frames. It’s almost philosophical in it’s ruminations and conversations.
The detail comes more in thought than description. What would you expect from a work that mentions Dostoyevsky so much? I’m think the focus is more on the persecution of homosexuals in New Zealand than the men or love stories. There is love, to be sure. There’s also loss. And hope for the future.
I was drawn in and had to keep reading. I find myself liking old George better than young George, mid-age Garth, and Neddy not much at all. I feel horrible that any of the characters went through such things. Except perhaps for Garth’s mother, I have no sympathy for her at all.
While I feel the book is about the times rather than the characters, it’s the characters that hooked me. They are strong even under persecution. They loved. Deeply.

[Janine]

Sucking Feijoas was the first writing of Jeff Buchanan’s that I read. He not only gives a fascinating insight into what it was like to be gay in New Zealand before it was legal but he also gives the reader a taste of what New Zealand as a country was like forty to eighty years ago. He also portrays the perennial longing that New Zealanders have for travel and connection with the history and culture of the Old World, and the feeling many have of being in the wrong place.