The Night Book

by Charlotte Grimshaw

Shortlisted for the 2011 NZ Post Book Awards this is an unflinching novel on contemporary NZ society.

'It was this contemplation of the future that made Roza frightened, and that caused her to turn her mind, as she did now, harried and nervous, to the past. And then there was the question of Simon Lampton.'

Roza Hallwright leads a quiet, orderly life, working at her publishing job each day, returning home to the large, comfortable house she shares with her politician husband David and her two stepchildren. But this peaceful existence is about to be changed forever. In the next few months there will be an election, and, if the polls are correct, Roza will become the Prime Minister's wife. She has faced the prospect with relative calm, but a chance encounter with party donor Simon Lampton sparks a chain of consequences that will bring turmoil to both their lives.

Award-winning writer Charlotte Grimshaw has turned her unflinching eye on contemporary New Zealand society in this intricate and elegant novel. Sharp, moving, brimming with insight and observation, The Night Book is at once a meditation on power and politics, and an intensely humane look at the choices people make as they struggle, against the odds, to maintain love and integrity in their lives.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Charlotte Grimshaw is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels and outstanding collections of short stories. She has been a double finalist and prize winner in the Sunday Star-Times short story competition, and in 2006 she won the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award. In 2007 she won a Book Council Six Pack prize. Her story collection Opportunity was shortlisted for the 2007 Frank O'Connor International Prize, and in 2008 Opportunity won New Zealand's premier Montana Award for Fiction or Poetry. She was also the 2008 Montana Book Reviewer of the Year. Her story collection Singularity was shortlisted for the 2009 Frank O'Connor International Prize and the South East Asia and Pacific section of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Grimshaw's fourth novel, The Night Book was shortlisted for the 2011 NZ Post Award. She writes a monthly column in Metro magazine, for which she won a 2009 Qantas Media Award.

Reviews

[Isabella McLoughlin]

Great story line but disappointing ending. Wanted more

[Scott Butler]

I really enjoyed this. Lovely language, great characters and a strong story. I always enjoy stories with calamity, seeing the worst of human traits and the characters doing their best to navigate through them. Love that it was set in Auckland amidst some locations and with characters, which I feel I know well.

[Edit Burla]

A host of unlikable characters that get ever more unpleasant as the story moves along. Even the author feels detached from her creations; she doesn't so much narrate as report what happens. On the whole I found the book fascinating in a weird way but not actually enjoyable.

[Mandy Hager]

I loved the sly 'in' jokes and the games played with names. Felt a bit sad it finished at it's peak and didn't follow on a bit longer.

[Em Maguire]

Simon is... kinda terrifying. But I read this because of my endless crush on the dude in the tv show and it's pretty solid.

[Tracey Lovelock-Butler]

Absolute page-turner, thoroughly absorbing. I love how Charlotte's mind works.

[Karen Ross]

Love this, and Chalotte Grimshaws writing

[Jacob]

You will not leave with any particularly revelatory insight into upper class New Zealand, nor will you find anything much to ponder in the narrative's unwillingness to find a conclusion.

[Maggie]

seriously good

[Henry]

mixed. mostly a soap opera, but an enjoyable enough one.

[Mira Nixon]

Overall I enjoyed it and read it through to the end without checking the back page. The sequel is Soon which I am planning on reading next.

[Kiwiflora]

I read the author's short story collection 'Opportunity', which won the fiction prize at the NZ Montana Book Awards in 2007, and fell in love with it. Most of my experiences of short stories, especially New Zealand ones, have not been very good, but Ms Grimshaw's stories were, to me, works of art. I loved her observations of human behaviour, I can imagine her quietly watching those around her, visualizing their lives and then weaving her stories which seem to reflect so uncannily the little dramas that make up everyday life. I also enjoyed her follow up 'Singularity', all in the same vein, but just a little more sinister and unsettling.

The author has taken one of the stories in this latter collection, 'The Night Book', and made it the first chapter of the novel of the same name. This short story is the foundation of the novel from which the story unfolds, and is also the cornerstone for both the beginning and ending of the novel.

Simon Lampton is a gynecologist/obstetrician, married to Karen. They are parents of two children, when they foster, then adopt Elke who joins the family when she is about eight years old. Simon comes across as very close to his children, very empathetic to them, and develops a close bond with Elke who like him, is a bit of an insomniac and often sits up with him while he is doing work related stuff, hence the title. By the by, much of the action in the book takes place at night. His wife Karen is not a character who endears herself to the reader, being a bit of a flake, sycophantic, and far too consumed by the material world she lives in. It appears that Simon is not 100% happy with his very fortunate life, is mildly unsettled, and probably sitting on the tip of a mid-life crisis. Karen's best friend and her husband are heavily involved in the political campaign that wants to see the election of a new right-of-center prime minister after some years of left-of-center government. Simon, reluctantly, and Karen, enthusiastically, find themselves slowly pulled into the inner circle of the about to be PM David and his very beautiful, enigmatic wife Roza. The plot unfolds from the initial meeting of Simon and Roza. Simon is immediately attracted to Roza, but is not sure why, and this uncertainty and increasing dissatisfaction with his life takes him on a bit of downward spiral. Roza meanwhile, finds herself spiraling down even further with the pressure on her to be the perfect PM-to-be's wife.

The novel is based in Auckland, mainly in the wealthy eastern suburbs, but also in the poorer suburbs of South Auckland where Simon deals with his own demons. It could of course be any big city in any country in the world, but if you live in Auckland, or know the city well, it is very obvious where it is set. There are a number of events and people in the novel based very closely on real recent events, and I couldn't help comparing her writing of them with the real thing! As usual her writing of human behaviour and interactions is spot on, she writes beautifully of the human condition, the reasons and motivations people have for doing things.

But despite the writing, the book as a complete package just did not fully gel for me. Some days after finishing I still can't put my finger on it, it is almost as if there is too much going on, as if she has tried too hard to make something bigger and deeper than the short stories. And I really did have some trouble with Simon being the deep thinking, totally empathetic, in touch with his feelings kind of guy that the author has created! I just don't seem to know any men like that! Most of the characters are stereotypes of the wealthy eastern suburbs type, social and political climbers, and I really wonder if the author likes the type of people she is writing about. Apart from the one character from the wrong side of the tracks, I didn't actually like any of her characters. Perhaps that is what she set out to do - how too much money, too much time can corrupt the soul.

[Maureen Crombie]

Roza Hallwright who leads a quite, orderly life, working at her publishing job by day and returning home to the large, comfortable house she shares with her politician husband David and her two step children.

But this peaceful existence is about to be changed forever, for in the next few months there will be national elections and if the polls are correct Roza will become the Prime Minister’s wife. Because all is calm until she meets Dr Simon Lamptom, who is a character from Grimshaw's earlier stories: a reputable Auckland gynaecologist-obstetrician, and a financial donor to the National Party - spurred on by his snooty wife Karen.


Very contemporary New Zealand with a few in-jokes and unmistakeable parallels: Grimshaw has fun with being bitchy about Parnell and Remuera society-women swathed in their “Trelise” clothes. And David Hallwright - who is heralded as the next Prime Minister - who is a man that ‘grew up poor and talented, who became rich’ and lines like “but when will he tell us about his policies, which is obviously John Key.

Grimshaw clearly makes a good study of her characters and our society - she reflects the world of Auckland back to us. The two halves: rich suburban Remuera and South Auckland where she describes "the lawns covered in dead cars. Every wall and fence was sprayed with graffiti ... rubbish piled everywhere" – and then at a private National Party dinner - "the pool with domed pool house and vast, shrine-like barbeque over looking Rangitoto Island.” The beauty and the raw.

The Night Book is about love and relationships, power and past. It is one of the most enjoyable quick reads this year so far. I liked the easy narrative, the pace and elements of suspense. I couldn’t put it down.

[Tiffany]

If you've read the article in August's North & South about New Zealand fiction and thought to yourself "I really must read more Kiwi authors" then here is a great one for you. Charlotte Grimshaw’s The Night Book contains enough clever imagery and well-written prose to appeal to the NZ Post Book Award judges (it's a finalist) and more than enough of a tantalising plot to keep readers engrossed until the very last page.

Roza Hallwright is married to the man who is about to become New Zealand's next prime minister. Simon Lampton is a wealthy obstetrician and party donor. Between the two of them they carry enough emotional baggage and secrets to sink David Hallwright's political ambitions. Grimshaw has an enviable ability to create characters that are so intensely human and strangely familiar that, despite their many flaws, they remain surprisingly likeable. Many pages are dedicated to outlining the upbringing of all of the main characters. Some come from terrible poverty and hardship, others from more middleclass backgrounds, but all are shaped by their pasts and carry secrets into their present. When Roza and Simon meet, those secrets threaten to derail more lives than just their own.

In an election year, this story is even more riveting. There are more than a few unsubtle digs at the National Party, its policies and its people. Readers will have fun playing spot the real personality with some of Grimshaw's thinly disguised characters (a rags-to-riches politician with a clumsy way with words, a high-flying policeman brought down by an unproved rape allegation, wives that lunch in their Trelise couture - ring any bells?). The Night Book is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining read.

[Serendipity]

A interesting character study of upper middle-class New Zealand where people are not what they seem on the surface. Roza is the wife of a man soon to be elected Prime Minister. She’s an alcoholic, hates politics and when she was 16 gave birth to a baby that was adopted, something her husband doesn’t know. Simon Lampton is a wealthy obstetrician with secrets of his own. The two meet at a party and he feels a connection. The nature of that connection sends them both spiraling into dangerous behaviour - an affair, drugs, secretly contacting a man seen by the public as being guilty of a sexual assault. Lots of tangled tentacles and complex interactions. Most plot details are unresolved at the end of the book but it doesn’t really matter because the plot always felt secondary, more a background on which the characters can reveal themselves.

[Emma McCleary]

Sometimes when I give a three-star rating I really mean 3.5 stars or almost-but-not-quite four. This time I mean three and not a dot more.

I felt the story was vaguely interesting, the characters one-dimensional and found myself just reading for readings sake to get to the end. It was interesting enough that I wanted to keep reading but not so interesting I took it home with me - I left it in the holiday house we stayed at so someone else could read it instead.

While I was reading I kept thinking, "this would make a much better short story' - and from Good Reads I learnt afterwards that that's how it had started life.

It was topical to read prior to the Election but could have been shorter and tighter.

[Sally]

Not sure

First time read of this author. But will I rush to read her again? Thoughts:
Interesting parodies of social types - laughing hyenas
Interesting characters drawn from our own political scene
Seedy personality weaknesses & blow outs - do I prefer the strong controlled types? Or just people comfortable in their own skins
But happy ending improved my opinion, or was it too simple outcome after complexities?
So not sure

[Zar]

This was an interesting book with vaguely dark undertones. It was definitely not what I was expecting - and I am unsure if my favourite character was murdered so welcome anybody who can who tell me if I am right about that.

[Caroline]

Interesting tale but somewhat predictable.

[Sarah Sinnott]

Airy goings on of wealthy and powerful ppl.