- Free Article: No
- Contents Category: Letters
- Review Article: Yes
- Article Title: Letters to the Editor - August 2006
- Online Only: No
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Owen Richardson’s review of D.B.C. Pierre’s novel Ludmila’s Broken English (ABR, May 2006) was a bit harsh – not to mention mean-spirited and way off the mark. As a Texan, I can tell you that Pierre nailed the big-haired women who surrounded Vernon. I, for one, was immediately transported back to small-town Texas. Pierre has the most unique voice I’ve read in a long, long time. ‘Sophomoric and tritely executed satire’? No. It is very funny, it is original and it rings true.
Perhaps Richardson doth protest too much. Who wouldn’t be jealous of Pierre’s seemingly effortless ability to write words that jump off the page with sparkling originality. This isn’t ‘high gloss effects’ – this is damn good writing. You can open to any page and find a jewel of a metaphor that works so well you are awed by the power it evokes. At random, page 262 of Ludmila’s Broken English: ‘With the confidence of a truffle pig, Ludmila skirted all the deeper drifts, found a path where there seemed to be none, and led pair grunting, occasionally bickering, through the moonless night.’ That is good writing. I don’t know about Richardson, but I was stomping through that snow with them, freezing my butt off and worrying whether the twins were up to the challenge.
Sally McDonald, Port Douglas, Qld
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