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You Should Have Come Here When You Were Not Here
Published January 1, 2013
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About the author
Brannavan Gnanalingam
8 books47 followersBrannavan Gnanalingam was born in Sri Lanka and moved to New Zealand via Zimbabwe at the age of three.
He is a music and film reviewer for the Lumière Reader, Under the Radar, and the Dominion Post, and also works as a lawyer in Wellington, New Zealand.
He is the author of five novels, all published by Wellington publishing collective Lawrence & Gibson which specialises in experimental non-fiction and heavyweight literature.
He is a music and film reviewer for the Lumière Reader, Under the Radar, and the Dominion Post, and also works as a lawyer in Wellington, New Zealand.
He is the author of five novels, all published by Wellington publishing collective Lawrence & Gibson which specialises in experimental non-fiction and heavyweight literature.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 7, 2025
Not a bad read but the title’s probably the best thing about the book; apparently a phrase that Parisian’s would offer underwhelmed Nazis during the occupation. So good.
The book follows Veronica as she escapes New Zealand for Paris to live out her journalist fantasies with a modicum of faultering conviction. The book does a great job of charting the journey from alienation through a growing familiarity as Veronica gets used to Paris. I feel that she’s a she before her gender is revealed. Gnanalingam does a great job of evoking his female character. I really enjoyed joining her everyday wanderings, even if she’s not particularly likeable; judgy, pretentious in her fear of pretension.
The second person narrative is an uncommon one.
The book is peppered with numbered references to bloody political events that have taken place where Veronica walks. These didn’t add much for me, in fact I just felt annoyed every time as I was obliged to turn to the back pages and find out what had taken place. The final pages offer some sort of payoff though as the bloody events break through the time lock, but by then Veronica is a bit of ghost, unaffected.
Would go three and half stars but there’s no half stars in Jeff Bezos’s night sky so I’ll go four in honour of this being by a Sri Lankan/Kiwi writer. Veronica wouldn’t be so patriotic.
The book follows Veronica as she escapes New Zealand for Paris to live out her journalist fantasies with a modicum of faultering conviction. The book does a great job of charting the journey from alienation through a growing familiarity as Veronica gets used to Paris. I feel that she’s a she before her gender is revealed. Gnanalingam does a great job of evoking his female character. I really enjoyed joining her everyday wanderings, even if she’s not particularly likeable; judgy, pretentious in her fear of pretension.
The second person narrative is an uncommon one.
The book is peppered with numbered references to bloody political events that have taken place where Veronica walks. These didn’t add much for me, in fact I just felt annoyed every time as I was obliged to turn to the back pages and find out what had taken place. The final pages offer some sort of payoff though as the bloody events break through the time lock, but by then Veronica is a bit of ghost, unaffected.
Would go three and half stars but there’s no half stars in Jeff Bezos’s night sky so I’ll go four in honour of this being by a Sri Lankan/Kiwi writer. Veronica wouldn’t be so patriotic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2019
I really enjoyed reading this book. It took me a while to get used to the writing style (short, abrupt sentences) but once I had it was very engaging.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews